Birthday Bunkum!

The Big Day: Spilling the Beans

Xuli's POV:

My eyes glistened with tears at the sight of my mentor and boyfriend, looking at me with worry. I didn't want them to see me like this, yet there they were.

I glared at Abigail. I told her not to call them, and I threatened to stab myself so she would stop. Despite all that drama, however, she called them and told them about my current state, and she must've told them to come over ASAP. She returned my glare with a simple shrug, then looked away.

Kyan sat next to me on the bed, and I couldn't help but collapse onto his shoulder, crying into it like mad. He took me in his arms and comforted me while I continued to sob.

"I-I'm so-*guh*...I'm so-*guh*," I whimpered, trying to apologize to him, but I was sobbing so hard my words became illegible.

"Shhh...it's okay," He whispered into my ear, still holding me close.

In a few minutes, when I was somewhat calmer, Ubercorn came to me and put his hoof on my shoulder, his eyebrows arched with concern. "Xuli, what's going on..?" He asked me, lifting my chin up to look at him. I felt so small while looking at him. The question he asked me was harder to answer than it looked, as at that moment, a large lump rose in my throat.

I remained silent for a while, tears falling down my cheeks in a single file, waiting for Kyan to wipe them away. I didn't feel like talking at all. My mouth was compressed up to a point in which I couldn't move it to form words.

My dream came back to me. I remembered the voice I heard, and the things it told me, about how it helped me with all my problems, and offered to help me some more. I, however, refused to do it, so the source of the voice, a possibly haunted twin of me, came to me and started chasing me as I ran away. The last thing I remembered was falling through the darkness as the girl looked down at me, her smile plastered to her face, as I wanted it all to end.

I looked back at Ubercorn, then at Abigail, then at Kyan. Their eyes were all related in some way, despite that Ubercorn's were cyan, Abigail's were turquoise, and Kyan's were ocean-blue. But in this case, it wasn't the color.

It was the expression that imprinted in them; worry, concern, and confusion.

I burst into tears again as I finally confessed:

"I'm a failure!!! I couldn't clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and save the earth, which is basically my job!! But I failed!! And what's more, I almost lost my friends because I was so caught up in cleaning up this mess and trying to save my vehicle!! I was the only person who could clean it up!! But guess what? I couldn't do it!! I can't do a single thing right!! And today?! Oh, it was worse!! All my friends, even my brother and sister, are ignoring me and not bothering to tell me why!! And then I wake up feeling absolutely helpless, and nobody comes to see if I'm okay!! So I was forced to walk around, trying to find someone to help me. And then I have to take the long walk to the hospital, getting bumped by a few trees and getting sick all over my uniform!! And when help finally comes to me, I'm too weak to say what's wrong. The next thing I know, I'm waking up and falling unconscious over and over in a vicious circle!! Then I get this stupid nightmare telling me that all my problems will be sorted by some demon inside me, and what happens next?! I'm falling into nothing, with the demon's face looming over me like some big shadow!!"

I finally stopped my whining, feeling weak and exhausted. Slumping into Kyan's arms again, I panted in exhaustion and lifted up my eyes to look at Ubercorn with all the strength I could muster; every other bit of energy was used in all the shouting I had done earlier.

He gasped when he heard all this pop out of my mouth in one breath, and so quickly too. He figured that I've been bottling up all my negative emotions since yesterday, and pretending that everything was okay. He put his hoof on top of his mouth in shock.

"Xuli..." He whispered, "why didn't you tell me? I could've been able to help you feel better..!"

"I didn't know where you were..." I croaked, "you weren't there when I needed you...it made me feel so neglected...so dejected..."

Kyan's arms tightened around my body, pulling me closer to him. I didn't object; not only was I too weak to resist, but also because it felt nice for him to cuddle me tight, and put me under his wing.

Ubercorn looked at Abigail, whispering a few words to her. The doctor paused for a moment, pondering for a reply before she whispered a few words back while occasionally pointing at me. I didn't understand a word they were saying, but it didn't matter to me. All that mattered was gripping onto Kyan, his warm body against my freezing, shivering own.

I remember falling asleep for a few minutes, comforted by Kyan's warmth, before being shaken awake by Ubercorn, who looked like he wanted to say something to reply to my long session of freaking out.

"I didn't want you to feel dejected, Xuli." He said to me, "But I didn't know that you were feeling so downcast. There was something I was working on for a few hours that kept me from finding out. And I bet you've seen some kids who were up to something."

Come to think of it, it wasn't a lie. I remembered seeing Kim and Terry working on what looked like decorations...Tim and Jack giggling to each other as they discussed what seemed to be random pranks...Lily and Audrey running around as fast as they could...Alex cleaning the workshop while telling me he hadn't the slightest clue of where the Vroomster was...

Yet this all didn't make any sense to me...why were these kids acting so strangely today? Was there some sort of special occasion? And whatever it was...how does it have to do with me?

With these questions quickly bottling up in my head, I shivered a bit. Kyan, who was quick to pick up, noticed and asked for what was wrong.

"Wh-what's going on...? I-I feel like I'm missing out on something because of my condition. The cadets are obviously up to something, and maybe a bunch of the Pillars as well. It seems like it has to do with me. Can anyone tell me just what's going on? That's all I want to know." I asked.

The three others in the room looked at each other with shock and indignation. They clearly seemed like they knew very well that the cause of the mysterious events really had to do with me.

"So?" I asked.

Another round of whispers roamed between Ubercorn and Abigail again, and of course, I couldn't hear them. So I looked up at Kyan, begging him with my eyes to tell me what the occasion was.

He looked down at me, before saying:

"Don't you remember, Xu? Today's your birthday!!"