Best birthday ever

underage drinking is why this is teen.

I walk into the dark room, unaware of what awaits me. Thinking back, I should’ve seen this coming. It would’ve been obvious.

 

“Hey, Dylan! Do you have work today?” Marianne asked me, as I logged into my Chatterbox account. I read her message and responded quickly, telling her I did.

 

 

As soon as I sent that, my friend Marie and my ex-girlfriend Alex both asked me the same thing. I told them both I did. Marianne and the others asked when I’d be back. I told them I wouldn’t be back until 9 that night.

I checked the clock on my HP laptop. 6:37… twenty-three minutes until I had to go to work, down at the old lumber yard. I’ve been doing that since I was 16, for nearly three years I’ve been cutting and hauling the ancient trees.

I told the three girls I loved them and would be talk to them tonight. Their replies were odd, but no more so than normal. They all said something along the lines of ‘See you tonight’. It was odd, but they were all pretty strange people.

Alex was 18 as well, though a few months younger. She lived in New York City and took her freshman year of college there. Marie was twenty-one and in her fourth year of college. Marianne was twenty and in her first year of Tokyo University.

It saddened me that I couldn’t be there with her. But… I always got hurt at work if I was dawdling on relationship issues. Most of the time it was accidental…

It was boring, working at the lumber yard. Same thing happened every day. We got about twelve trees down; Birch would get hit by a falling branch. Steven yelled at him, Birch got pissed and left. An hour later he came back bringing drinks. We finished three hours early, and went out for drinks at the local bar.

I always seem weird, when we go to Po’s Pub, a bar that served one drink a night to minors. Birch, Steven and the other three guys were throwing back beers. I always secluded myself from them. Today, I sat at the counter, ordering a tall Vodka. I had tried Dragon’s Fruit Vodka before, and loved it, especially the burn it gave. I knew this one drink would last me all three hours, and if not I’d just get water. I was still sober enough to drive back to my house in Martville.

 

I thought I had locked the door of my house after I left. My grandfather must’ve come by to get tools. The old fool; I told him me or EJ would help him any time of day. I also thought I left my outdoor light on.

When I opened the door, I hit the light switch. Nothing.  I sighed. I thought I paid the bill this month. I threw my coat toward the couch, not caring if it went there or not, and took my boots off.

I walked, knowing the way because I did it every day, straight to the fridge in my kitchen. I opened the large fridge door and grabbed a gallon of milk and took a long swig of it, before putting it in with the other two. I brushed milk off my face.

I stumbled down the hallway to my single bedroom. My hand on the handle, I pause without reason. Why am I not moving? For some reason, I have the feeling of not being alone in my own house. I sighed; it’s been too long since I took my medication. I slid the paper door to the left and entered the dark room.

“SURPRISE!” Lights flared into existence and I was blinded. I blinked rapidly, letting my eyes adjust to the harsh light. Standing before me are the closest people in my life.

A large but simple cake was set on a nightstand in the middle of my room. Behind it stood Marianne, Marie and Alex, all with big grins on their faces. Sitting on the bed, with just as large grins on their faces, were my grandparents. My siblings stood near them. My brother and his girlfriend stood against a wall.

I laugh, “What is the occasion?”

“You!” they all say.

“How could you forget your own birthday, silly?” Alex asks.

Marianne comes over and hugs me. “I couldn’t get you that book from Japan, I’m sorry.” I kiss her and tell her that this, all of them here, was the best gift ever.

“Better than me?” asks a deep and gruff voice from the hallway. I turn, not recognizing the voice, nor the man.

“Who are you?” I say to the stranger. He looks me in the eye and wrinkles crease the corners of his eyes as he smiles.

“I’m your father, boy.”

I smile and pull this stranger into my room with a hug.

This is the best day of my life, I think to myself. My family, even my mother, came. Yes… my whole family. Marie and Alex… We’re family. Family is the people you care about, and who love you.

 

Even better… I met my father for the first time…