Bluejays

Soon

A Bit Over A Year Later

It was Phoenix's birthday, and he was excited.

When he woke up, the others were all in the kitchen.

"Guys?" he asked, looking at all of them. "What's this?"

"Phoenix!" Ashlyn cried, running to him and hugging him. "It's your birthday! We made you breakfast!"

Phoenix smiled. She was so adorable. "Thank you," he said, seeing the food on the table. "Oh, that's...a lot."

"We wanted to make breakfast for us, too," Lydia admitted. "What, do you think you're the only person who gets a nice breakfast, just because you're celebrating your birthday?"

Phoenix laughed. "No, I suppose not," he said. "Thank you for this. I love you guys."

"We love you, too," Ollie said. "That's why we did this."

Phoenix sat down at the table, and the others all sat at their respective places. They ate, then got to practicing. This was a great start to the morning.

While they were all taking a break, Lydia spoke up finally. "So, Phoenix, you're fourteen now. You know what this birthday means."

Phoenix nodded. "I've thought about that all morning," he said. "I'm leaving here in a year!"

Lydia smiled. "I hope you'll do well once you leave," she said. "I think you will. I think you'll be able to adapt, then give advice to the rest of us."

"I wish I had some advice from someone," Phoenix grumbled. "I want some advice."

"Well, you'll figure it out," Lydia said encouragingly. "You always figure things out. Now, what should we do?"

Phoenix thought. "Do I, by any chance, have any presents?" he asked, and the others all laughed. 

"You'll get to open those after dinner, like you usually do," Lydia told him.

Phoenix sighed. He didn't like that. He wanted to open presents now. Oh, well. For thirteen years, he'd opened presents after dinner. He could do that this year.

_

After dinner, Phoenix went to open the gifts. The others had all lined them up. Asher was there as well, looking excited. He knew what all the gifts were, because he had taken the others to buy them. Shopping for gifts for the others was the only reason they ever got to go outside beyond the backyard.

Phoenix did what Lydia said and opened the first present in the line. He gasped when he opened it. 

It was a clarinet case. He'd talked before about wanting one. He hadn't expected to actually get one, though.

"Thank you guys!" he said excitedly, opening it. It was beautiful. He was unimaginably happy about this.

"You're welcome, but you know that you have to actually practice it daily," Asher told him. Phoenix nodded. "Yeah, I know that," he said.

"Open the next gift!" Ashlyn said, and Phoenix wanted to die from the cuteness of her.

He opened the next present. It was a book for the clarinet. He perked up excitedly. This was proving to be a great birthday so far.

He opened the next present. It was a binder, with ten concert pieces in page protectors. There was also a disk that explained it had the rest of a concert ensemble recorded. It was great.

The next gift was a shirt for a band he liked. Phoenix smirked. "I guess I like music a bit much, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we love you for it," Lydia replied. "Open the next one. I'm really excited for that one. It'll help you to function when you get introduced to society."

Well, that wasn't super exciting, but it was important. Phoenix tore open the last gift, and held it up. A pair of gloves. "Gloves?" he asked.

"It's insulated to keep any energy you release contained," Lydia said. "If you touch someone while you're feeling a strong emotion, it won't shock them."

"Oh, that's really cool," Phoenix said. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Phoenix," Ashlyn said.

He smiled at her. She was eight now, and would be nine in a week. He knew she was super excited for her birthday.

Phoenix put on the gloves, wanting to see how they felt. They weren't uncomfortable, but they weren't especially comfortable either. They felt very warm.

"I'd advise you to wear the gloves at all times for the next year, to get used to them," Asher told him.

"Okay, I can do that," Phoenix said. "These are all great gifts, honestly."

"Well, we love you, so we want to get you good gifts," Lydia replied.

"I love you, too," Phoenix said.

"Now," Asher said, clasping his hands together and smiling, "Who wants cake?"

_

Phoenix was in bed that night when Ashlyn knocked on the glass wall around his bed area. He let her in.

"What is it? Why are you still up?" he asked, as she crawled onto his bed.

"I had a bad dream," she said tearily. 

"Okay, well, just go to sleep in my bed, then," Phoenix told her, lying down beside her. She curled into his arms, and he closed his eyes, drained.

Then, after a couple of minutes, she spoke. "You weren't asleep, either."

"I have a reason to be awake," Phoenix pointed out. "I'm going home in exactly a year."

"Isn't this your home?" Ashlyn asked, seeming sad again.

"Well, of course, but you know what I mean," Phoenix said.

"That's true," she said. "I do know."

Ashlyn was quiet for a few moments; then, she said, "How does it feel?"

"Exciting," Phoenix said. "I mean, terrifying. But it's just such an incredible thought, that I'll be where my parents live by this time next year."

"It's a long way away," Ashlyn said.

"A year is only 365 days," Phoenix pointed out. "I mean, it's not that far away. But it feels a lot farther away than that."

"Well, when you say it like that," Ashlyn whispered, "Then it does sound pretty soon."

Soon. Phoenix figured that he could live with soon.

***

This was bad and a filler, I'm sorry. The next chapter will have more happening in it.