Death of a King

Chapter 35

I woke to the sound of my floorboards creaking. With the curtains drawn shut, the room was plunged into darkness but that didn't fully hide the three figures standing near my door or the large objects each of them held in their hands.

    A shadow moved through the room, nearing the side of the bed from where the other two figures remained by the door. I could fight them off one by one so long as they stayed separated. From where I lay under the blankets, my hands fisted and my muscles tightened. After the last few weeks of dealing with Kendra and Jake, and my father especially, I could use a little adrenaline release.

    When the first shadow neared, I persisted in patience. I couldn't attack too early or else the other two would have time to intervene. It had to be perfect, right before they reached the bed. That's when I would strike and, as Dustin taught me, beat them until they stopped moving.

    They were a foot away now, maybe less, crouching beside the bed to disguise their body with the surrounding darkness. Any second-

    Suddenly, light flooded the room, momentarily blinding me. I sat up in a flurry, prepared to swing my fists in whatever direction needed to survive this attack. But no one grabbed at me or jammed a knife into my neck as I expected. Instead, a chorus of voices harmonized as one, screaming out, "Happy birthday!"

    I rubbed at my eyes to clear then and eventually my vision cleared enough for me to see Toby's smiling face standing beside my bed from where he had turned on my lamp. Still near the door across the room were Kendra and Jake, each one holding a balloon and a cupcake; the cupcake Kendra held had a 'one' candle stuck in the middle while Jake's cupcake had an 'eight' candle fashioned carefully into the icing, together counting out my age.

    "Happy eighteenth birthday, Sadie!" Toby said again, flinging himself onto the bed where he clung to me tightly and giggled in response to my vacant expression.

    My birthday? Could it really be the beginning of April already? No, it couldn't possibly be so far in the year.

    But the nagging voice in my head reminded me that quite a bit of time has passed though it has felt like mere days. I was kidnapped in the middle of October, returned in the middle of March, and I've been back for almost two weeks. So technically, that would put us right at the beginning of April.

    Time certainly does fly when you're getting kidnapped, fighting for you life and living out your depression behind closed doors.

    Kendra and Jake started forward, joining my brother in singing Happy Birthday while I scrubbed at my eyes again, just to be sure I wasn't imagining this. When the song commenced and I was expected to blow out the candles with my hearts greatest wish, I didn't just wish, I prayed. I prayed that with the disappearance of the flame, my deepest desires would indeed be granted.

    I wished to have Dustin back, I wish for him with every fibre of my being. I wished for him to suddenly appear in my room and confess his love for me, and offer his sincerest apologies for ever sending me away. Then he'd hold me and kiss me, and everything would be better.

    But even I know that a wish is only embodied hope, and I didn't have much hope left.

    My brother cheered, throwing sparkling confetti into the air while Kendra and Jake hollered their excitement. I smiled and laughed only to save face, providing the joy my friends sought even though it was only a disguise to hide how I truly felt.

    Jake and Kendra saw my feigned delight and took it as truth, but Toby saw what lay underneath. He saw the way my shoulders sagged a little too steep, the way my grin didn't quite reach my ears, and the way my eyes glazed over with that mockery of glee all the while untold depths of suffering swirled just below the surface. He saw it all and he knew something wasn't right.