Find me

Chapter 24

The air is warm, yet that doesn't stop me from playing in our backyard. I'm playing with my barbie doll; my tiny hand holds it gently. I'm brushing her hair just like my mom did every morning, making sure that I looked pretty. I'm in my little pink skirt and floral white top having a pink bow on its neckline.

It has been a few days since she hadn't brushed my hair, I called her so many times but she hadn't replied.

"You look pretty," I say to my doll, and kiss her on her cheeks. She likes it.

"Are you hungry? Wait, I'll give you my cookies" and hold one cookie in her mouth "Is it tasty?"

I heard a noise, I turn my head, there is a boy. His hair is short, lying just above his ear. He looks just as my age.

I stood up on my feet and move closer to him. He is taller than me, having deep blue eyes unlike mine.

I tilted my head "Hi" I say, but he didn't reply. "Are you living next door, I haven't seen you before?" I asked again, but still no reply.

Holding his one hand in mine, I ask "Would you like to play with me?" still no reply.

I shifted my gaze downward. He is barefoot. "Where are your shoes? You need to wear your shoes before stepping outside".

I stare at him for a moment, waiting for his reply. But he only blinks at me.

After a couple of minutes, he says in low voice "I'm sorry" keeping his head down.

"I'm sorry" his voice cracked as he spoke again, suddenly tears starts running down his cheeks.

I can feel him shaking, trembling and shivering under my hand "What happened? Why are crying?"

He faltered backwards as I move closer to him, his leg muscles tightened as he gets ready to run.

Again, I try to lean forward to wipe off his tears but before that he jerks off my hand and ran away.

"Wait" I yell, but he doesn't stop. Without any second thought, I start following him across the street.

Someone shouted right above me "Happy birthday" my eyes flicked open and saw my dad, holding a cake in his hand. It was a dream, me playing with my doll, that boy, all was just a dream. 'Shit! It feels so real' I told myself.

"Happy birthday to you..... happy birthday dear Alice" they start singing the birthday song, wait?

Today is the 6th of October? My birthday. How could I forget that? Birthday is something for which I've waited for a year because on this day nobody goes against your wish. I felt like a queen since it only lasts long for a day still, I love it because I had 24 hours to rule my kingdom.

But this time I forget, I forget my birthday. Maybe lots of things are going on in my life.

I pulled myself and sit up, rubbing my eyes, I smile at my father and of course Angela otherwise dad will kill me.

"I don't believe you turn 18 this year," dad says.

"Me neither" I murmur and remove my blanket. He moves the cake closer to me "Come on, blow the candles". And so, I did.

Angela come forward "Happy birthday Alice once again".

"Thank you" I reply and smile, since this is the only possible option, I have.

"Thank you dad for all these," I say.

He returns and smiles "We'll all go for dinner tonight, okay? Tell your friends to come".

I nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~

We arrive twenty minutes late for dinner. The first ten minutes can be blamed on Laura because she ended up changing her outfit twice before deeming herself appropriately dresses when we reach to pick her up. The second half can blame on the traffic jam we had on the way to the restaurant.

I wore a maroon dress which Laura bought for me as a birthday present which I really appreciate but I thought this is quite exposing especially my neck area, since it is an off-shoulder dress, perfectly showing my collarbone, having full sleeves of lace material, showing my skin underneath it. Its length lies above my knee, again too short for me. And I thought it'll be too much for dinner. So, I wore my white denim jacket on top of it. Perfect.

"Here you are" the waitress at the restaurant says as she leads us to a table.

Dad thanks to the waitress and we all sit ourselves down. Dad and Angela are across the table, while I and Laura sit opposite them. The restaurant is not too large, yet looks perfect, extremely well presented.

"This is nice, having us all together" I comment once we finish ordering our drinks.

I go for water, dad ordered a beer while Angela pick wine for herself.

The drinks arrive and we order our food. I end up pointing to the first option I see.

Laura took a sip of her drink. Her hair fell over her shoulder. She looks pretty in her elegant sleeveless black lace dress, falling above her knee like mine.

"So, Laura, you are in the same class with her?" Angela asks.

"Yeah! We are in the same class" Laura replied. She smiles and pulls me from my shoulder "And don't worry, she's doing great."

"Yeah right," I murmur, forcing myself to smile as I see my dad smiling in relief.

"Sorry for being late" a voice interrupted us and we all looked toward the source of sound and find Luke standing across the table having an apologetical smile on his face.

He is in a black shirt, I have never seen him in formal clothes ever before, hair perfectly jelled. No doubt he looks extremely attractive.

"I'm so sorry," he says again, this time quieter than before. I didn't expect him here. I don't know what to say, how to respond?

"I invited him" Laura whisper in my ear. Of course, she read my mind again. But first of all, she invited him to my birthday dinner without telling me. Why? I know we all are now pretty much close but having him with my family seems very awkward. Very, very awkward. Since I don't have any male friends before.

Dad clears his throat and seems a little confused or surprised or maybe both.

"Umm, he's my friend" I address him. We are in the same class and gave a nervous smile, scraping a hand through my hair.

"Oh... umm...nice!" dad says "Please have a seated gentleman and don't be sorry."

"Thank you, sir," he says while taking his seat beside me.

"May I know your name?" dad asks again, gulping his drink.

"I'm Tylor Luke" he replies. "Nice to me you sir and ma'am you look gorgeous" he added.

Angela chuckled "Thank you, dear".

He turns to us "Hey Laura" and then handed me a silver box wrapped in a beautiful ribbon "Happy birthday Alice" he says, and study me for a moment but I drop my gaze "Thank you, but you don't have to" I reply, feeling little ashamed of myself for not inviting him and still he bought me a gift.

"Why not?" he dramatically narrowed his eyes. "Come on, open it" he instructed.

Crumpling onto the chair, I opened it. And it is a silver bracelet, having ALICE, written on top of it. "It's beautiful," I say, hand covering my mouth in surprise. "Thank you," I say again. And I can see Laura's smirk from the corner of my eyes.

He returns me a smile. So, do I.

Our order arrived. We ate, talked, and laughed. Luke continuously cracks jokes, and dad joins him too. Angela seems happy too, enjoying every moment. So am I.

After such a long time, everything feels this much good, I don't want it to end. It's like, I'm finally at home. Just for a moment, I forget everything, that had happened in the past few months. I am relieved now. I'm home.