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a belated birthday bash
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
Today was supposed to be a good day, and, although many such days that were supposed to be good turned out less than favourable, there wasn't much doubt that this day would stay good, because it had everything going for it. Streams of sunlight bounced off the shiny balloons, which were bunched together and held down with weights wrapped in glittering packages; pool water glistened merrily, fresh from a recent vacuum; streamers were wrapped around fenceposts and fluttered slightly in the wind; and a table groaned from the weight of a huge, red velvet cake, frosted in cream cheese frosting and with fourteen waxy candles perched on top. The cake was accompanied by bowls of chips, meatballs stuck with toothpicks, spring rolls, and mozzarella sticks. Finally, a banner flapped in the wind on the back lawn, with precise, font-like writing, packages of gifts sat strewn around the backyard, and confetti glittered in the air like snowflakes.
In the Burton household backyard, the party was preparing for the belated birthday bash of a lifetime. Clad in bathing suits and with sunscreen smeared on their faces, they giggled excitedly, splashing each other and playing beach volleyball. Maybe everything was a bit overboard, and that was certainly what the person that party was for would say, but this belated birthday bash had been set up by grandparents and seven over-eager teenagers desperate for fun, so what could you expect?
Gabe's birthday had been on the day everything had gone wrong, and everyone had agreed that this was completely unfair. When he was supposed to be riding on the Ferris wheel or playing carnival games, he, along with his friends were instead battling creatures from another dimensions, watching people die right in front of their eyes, and getting beat up. He hadn't gotten the celebration he really deserved, which was why, exactly two weeks after his actual birthday and the day he would come home from the hospital (he'd gotten a mild concussion, a broken nose, and quite a lot of bruises marring his face), the party had set up a surprise belated birthday party for him. Two weeks had been enough time for them to breathe, to come to terms with what had happened, and grow tired of the constant melancholy that had settled into the air. It had been enough time for them to crave amusement again.
