annabelle’s birthday

“Hey, Annabelle?” called Calista, seizing a pile of documents that she had accidentally knocked to the ground. “What are these?”

Annabelle turned on her heel and faced Calista, taking the documents into her grasp. “These are documents from my creator. I believe she documented many important dates.”

Elkhazel slithered an arm over Annabelle’s shoulder and snatched the documents away from her with no resistance. She examined them and tapped one specific date with her thumb. “This is today, you know? Creation date?”

“Like a birthday?” chimed Saber, glancing up from her notes.

“Birthday?” Candy bounced over and seized the documents from Elkhazel’s grasp, nearly ripping them apart from the force. She frowned and dropped the papers, grabbing Annabelle by the shoulders. “It’s your birthday, and you didn’t tell us?”

“Is there a reason you didn’t tell us?” Calista questioned and picked the documents off the floor, returning them to their original placement. “If you wanna talk about it.”

Annabelle stared at her four friends, her expression devoid of emotion. “I did not know it was my birthday?”

The four stared at her, disbelief being the sole emotion written across their faces. The room remained quiet for a few moments.

“What?” Saber abruptly muttered and closed her notebook.

“I am unsure as to what a birthday really is,” admitted Annabelle, gazing at her feet rather than at anyone’s face. “I know that you celebrate them.”

Saber sighed. “Well, if you were confused, couldn’t you have just looked it up?”

Candy whirled to face Saber and planted her hands on her shoulders, playfully but rather harshly shaking her back and forth. “That’s not how it works! That would just give a definition, not the fun!”

Saber shook Candy off and crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows. Before she could remark upon Candy’s sudden outburst, Calista chimed, “What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?” Candy repeated and grabbed Annabelle’s hand, yanking her into the nearby kitchen. “We could bake a cake! We could go to a trampoline park! Birthdays are meant to be full of fun!”

“There’s more to it than that.” Elkhazel grasped Annabelle’s other hand and pulled her toward her, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “You can do anything you want on your birthday. You can play pranks on people. I mean, it’s your special day, right?”

Saber glared and swatted Elkhazel away from Annabelle, tapping her foot against the ground. “Don’t listen to her,” she told Annabelle. “Birthdays aren’t about mischief.”

“And what’s your interpretation of birthdays, Patch?” Elkhazel demanded.

“Don’t call me that.” Saber narrowed her eyes but eventually shrugged. “It’s just another day on the calendar. They aren’t that special.”

“Yes, they are!” Candy cried, now distracted from her task of fishing out ingredients from the cabinets to bake a cake. “And they’re not about mischief! Mischief isn’t fun!”

“It can be,” replied Elkhazel.

“Annabelle didn’t even realize it was her birthday,” Saber pointed out. “It’s just another day for her, really.”

Candy pointed at Saber and began to argue vehemently, defending her position that birthdays were to always be dripping with fun. Elkhazel chimed in occasionally to add that mischief was the most fun thing in the world, to which Candy and Saber both denied. Saber stared at the both of them and claimed that birthdays were not that important. Annabelle sheepishly stood to the side and glanced at Calista, her eyes begging for help.

Calista discovered two pans in the nearest drawer and slammed them together, causing the arguing trio to stare in her direction, stunned.

“Have you considered asking Annabelle what she thinks?” Calista inquired, her voice calm.

Candy blinked, forgetting all about the previous debate. “What do you think birthdays are about, Belle?”

“Well,” Annabelle hesitated, “I think that everyone thinks differently.”

Elkhazel snickered and held out her hand. “What do you wanna do today, then?”

Annabelle accepted the hand and smiled slightly, pondering her answer. The others gazed at her expectantly. “I want to spend the day with all of you,” she said after a minute. “And, um, no more arguing. Please.”

“No more arguing,” Saber agreed, her tone sounding rather reluctant, but her mouth twitched into a smile.

Annabelle giggled and hid her face, embarrassed by all the smiles directed toward her.