If I Die Young

42. Sixteen

The very next week I awoke to a shower of cherry blossom petals that dissolved once they hit the floor, a girl standing at the end of my bed and giggling as she made them rain from above. I smiled wearily and rubbed my eyes, sitting up while she grinned.

"Happy birthday Sable!"

"How'd you know it was my birthday?" I asked her, knowing that I hadn't told a soul besides Ethan.

"Iden opened your fi-le!" She chirped in a musical tone, referring to the file on the computer in the parlor. "He was digging around in everyone's files and he told us your birthday was today!"

"Well, that was sweet of him," I got up and pulled her into a hug, lifting her up against my side as I walked out into the hall, "thank you Delilah."

"We love you Sable," she whispered, "you're our sister."

I paused in my tracks, looking over at her and giving her the biggest smile of my whole life. I squeezed Delilah until she giggled, setting her down to go run off somewhere while I walked down the steps for breakfast. It was still a school day, but everyone was gathered at the breakfast table with the smell of homemade French toast wafting through the house, a rare treat for special occasions and birthdays. Looks like Iden didn't spare the information from anyone.

"Happy birthday to you..." Aurelia began the song to my surprise, her voice echoing in the room as I took a seat. Everyone else joined in, a little less beautifully, but just as appreciated.

"You guys," I laughed in embarrassment, "you really didn't have to do this."

"It's your birthday, of course we did." Elyse leaned over the back of the chair, wrapping her arms around my shoulders tightly. I huffed and glared at Iden playfully, watching as he smiled back at me with a smug gleam in his eyes.

I dug into my toast voraciously, my stomach grumbling and begging for more. I quelled the sounds with a second helping before running back up the steps to get ready, none of the chores mine since it was my special day. I guess there were a few upsides to everyone knowing, besides the raucous singing and ugly, glittery parties. I slipped into a purple sweater with a scalloped hem and black jeans, a little present to myself sitting on the floor beside my feet. They were white creepers with little flowers cut out of the leather, boosting my height just an inch when I stepped into them. I smiled a little bit and brushed my hair out before snagging my bag, reaching for the doorknob but pausing when I actually opened the door: something was out in the hall, staring back at me with odd features. Instantly I grew wary, the feeling of dread creeping up on my shoulders and digging its sharp fingers in.

The figure in front of me was more like a figurine, with the shape and mass of a three-foot tall nesting doll. The body was covered in black lacquer paint, but the face was a simple round circle, painted white, with closed eyes and cherub pink cheeks. At first I thought it was some type of birthday present, maybe an annual joke at that to creep out the birthday girl. With a tentative hand I reached out and was about to knock on the wooden shell when I heard someone running from down the hall.

"HERKIMER!" Delilah rounded the corner, shock and surprise on her face when she saw me frozen to the spot. I was just about to question her when a noise erupted from within the wooden shell, something mechanical and even...living. I yanked my hand back out of fear while it uncurled itself, revealing a lanky, gooey figure that was much taller than I and smelling like tar. I fell on my ass while I tried to scramble away from it, my panic through the roof when I saw what was left of decaying teeth inside a mouth that opened from beneath the mask.

"Delilah, what the f-!"

"He's harmless, I swear!" She screeched, herding the creature away from my door and down the hall, "Herkie, I told you Sable would be scared! Why would you scare her like that?!"