Short Stories By Yours Truly

| #2 Home |

Today was a special day for Casper. It was his tenth birthday and even though he wanted to be happy, he couldn't be. There was no way he could be happy without his father home.

He knew there had been complications where his father was deployed and it meant that he wouldn't make it home for Casper's birthday.

"Casper! Get down here and eat your breakfast. I made you cupcakes!" The boy's grandmother hollered from downstairs. Usually, the boy would jump in joy at the sheer mention of his grandmother's cupcakes, but it wasn't the same without his dad.

It had been almost two years since he last saw his father in person, almost two years since he could hug his father and tell him about all of the random thoughts he had.

When Casper finally rolled out of bed a few minutes later, he dragged his feet as he walked downstairs and followed the scent of cupcakes to the kitchen. He slouched down onto a chair at the dining table and stared down at the cupcake with gloomy eyes.

"Happy birthday, Casp!" The old lady said before sitting down next to him when she noticed how down the boy looked.

"Oh, sweetie, don't be so down in the dumps," his grandmother said as she gently ruffled the boy's hair, "it's your birthday so you just can't be sad!" The boy just frowned at his grandmother's words.

Casper's grandfather looked up from his newspaper, "How about we go for some ice cream? Would that make it better?" Casper did love ice cream. Too bad this was something icecream could not fix.

"Alright. Eat that cupcake and get dressed, young man. We're going for ice cream." The grandfather said and chugged the last bit of his coffee.

"Chop chop."

Casper ate his cupcake - even if it didn't taste the same as with his dad - and rushed up the stairs to change his clothes. He didn't want to keep his grandfather waiting.

As he was walking down the stairs he heard his grandmother speak, "...and don't bring him home until one o'clock." Casper knew immediately that she was speaking about him.

Why wasn't he supposed to be home until one?

C

asper walked down the rest of the stairs and over to his grandparents who stood in the living room. "I'm ready to go," he said boredly. The old man only nodded and kissed his wife's cheek before gently pushing the boy outside.

...

They walked inside the ice cream parlour and were immediately greeted by a smiling employee. Walking up to the counter, Casper looked over the flavours of ice cream and decided on mint chocolate chip.

"What can I get you lads?" The employee asked in a cheery tone, still smiling.

"We would like one strawberry sorbet in a cup and one..." The old man gestured for the boy to speak.

"Mint chocolate chip in a cone." Casper said, refusing to look at the employee.

"Alrighty! That'll be 5.90."

Casper's grandfather pulled a weathered wallet out of his pocket and took out the money in cash, his hands shaking slightly as he did so. The man's hands always shook like that, so it wasn't anything uncommon to Casper.

Now with their ice creams, the two sat down in a booth and began eating. The elderly man tried his best to lighten up his grandson's mood but to no avail.

After they both were done, the man looked at his watch. It was only noon. They still needed to stay out for a whole hour.

"Would you like to go look at some shops? See if there's something you'd like?"

Caspar nodded slowly, not really caring too much.

And so, the pair left the ice cream parlour and went in search for something Casper would want.

...

Returning home, Casper didn't expect much. Maybe lunch made by his grandmother but not much more.

When he opened the front door, he smelled the sweet scent of his grandmother's cooking, just as expected.

"We're home!" The boy called out, waiting for an answer.

"In the living room! There's a package for you!" The voice of his grandmother yelled back.

Casper walked into the living room and sure enough, there was a box waiting for him on the floor.

He walked over to it and looked up at his grandmother in question but the lady just smiled and said, "open it. There's a note from your dad."

That got him interested.

The boy swiftly sat down onto the floor and picked up the note. It was written in his father's handwriting.

Dear Casper,

I'm sorry I couldn't make it home for your birthday. I hope this will be enough. I love you so much, buddy.

- dad <3

Tears brimmed Casper's eyes, had his dad really sent this to him? Didn't he know that nothing could ever be better than being able to see him again?

Despite the tears in the young boy's eyes, he tore open the wrapping paper and opened the box. Another box?

He opened the box only to find another in it. He repeated this,only finding more and more boxes inside the last one until he came to the last box.

He carefully opened the paper and found a small note.

Surprise, it read.

"Surprise? All these boxes for a tiny note? Why?" The boy was disappointed, why would his father do this?

Tears welled up in the child's eyes again as he thought of his father. He really did miss him. He missed him a lot.

"Surprise," Casper heard from behind him. This was a voice he could easily recognise.

The boy jumped up and spun around at the speed of light and there he was.

"Dad!" The boy cried out as he jumped into the arms of the man clad in camoflauge.

"I missed you, buddy." The man said, his voice choked up as he held back tears.

"I missed you too, dad. Thank you so much!" The child sobbed into his father's uniform.

"Happy birthday, Casper."

And it was. It was a happy birthday.

Casper's dad was home.

This was the best birthday ever.

End.

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Words: 1025

I've been watching too many videos of soldiers coming home and there's honestly too few of these kinds of stories on here so here you go, this was story #2, Home.

Thanks for reading!💕