This isn’t like his 14th birthday.Where he had spent the day outside the house because he didn

This isn’t like his 14th birthday.Where he had spent the day outside the house because he didn’t want a repeat of the 13th. Waiting for friends who would never show up and a brother who had ignored him as well. It was the first year he had asked for a smaller cake himself and the second where he insisted he did not want a party. His parents were upset about it, but they understood why.His father had given him extra spending money that week and implied that he could buy more birthday snacks with that if he wanted to share with someone else. It was his way of saying that he wasn’t getting any less, even if his cake was smaller. It had given him the idea to share his birthday with someone who would have come if they could.It was a Sunday and the bakery had been closed, so he had to pick something prepackaged from the mart. He didn’t think about it needing to be cut in half until he was sitting at the grave. He figured Mari wouldn’t mind so he tried his best to bite halfway into the cupcake before putting it back into the container for her share.Mari didn’t have a place on the ofrenda at home, but he thought it would be nice to remember her sometimes, even if it makes him more than a little sad.Kel pulls out his cassette player that his parents had bought him the year before and pulls on his headphones.He had almost taped over this recording after he had run out of blank tapes. He would have other birthdays with everyone surely; and Mari would try and blow his candles out again just to rile him up.Basil had started taking pictures, so he didn’t. He was going to record Sunny playing on his new violin, but the picture had been enough to capture the moment. He could listen to Sunny play all the time after he received his present.He was grateful this wasn’t the tape Hero had snapped when he had walked across the room in a daze going to the bathroom.Each one had been an hour worth of memories that he had recorded. Of music practice or just fun. This one had been his 12th birthday. Set to record on the b side and placed on a shelf where no one could spill anything on it.“Happy birthday Kel!”It starts with Mari who had arrived in her pajamas for the sleepover.A laugh and then he made a noise because she squeezed him too hard.She sang him happy birthday with the others, like every other birthday except her own.Then she decided to be a little mischievous, because Sunny is not as easy to tease.“You better hurry up Kel and blow out your candles before I do!” She would never, but the threat is enough to rush him. Eager to protect his birthday magic.Happy to share cake with him even if he botched up cutting her piece.The rest of the tape is background noise before it cuts off.“You would have been there with me, I know it.” -- source link

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