Chapter 1
Birthdays. The one day of the year
when every child feels as if they control the entire universe. They always turn
out to be perfect for that special birthday girl or boy. They even seem to go
down in history as the best day of the year for children. I never thought that
someday I would believe that my sixteenth birthday would go down as one of the
worst days of my entire life. Kids, and adults alike, are supposed to gain on
their birthdays. They gain presents, a new age, perhaps even weight on that
special day. Loss is not supposed to be involved with the birthday of a teen or
child. Why did loss have to have such an impact on my birthday? Why couldn’t I
have been able to get my driving permit like a regular sixteen year old? Or
maybe even a new car as so many teenagers seem to get every year. Why did I
have to lose someone so important to me? And finally, why? Why did it have to
send my life into a rollercoaster ride that I never would seem to get off of?
I never would find answers to my
questions.
It all started off as a regular
birthday. My sisters Charlie and Braelie woke me up as usual, laughing and
singing at the top of their lungs. It was hard to be grumpy when you had two
sisters jumping up and down on you just to celebrate your birth. My laughter
burst out all at one time, while I dragged them down on top of me.
“Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuu.”
They finished my song with a note that seemed to go on forever as we sat on my
bed.
“Happy birthday, Ever!” Braelie
smiled and shook my shoulders, “Now we are finally back to being twins.”
I rolled my eyes at my ‘older’
sister’s comment. We were both adopted, with her happening to be older than me
by four months. We almost looked like we could be biologically related, other
than her curls and my stick straight hair, which didn’t help that perception at
all.
“Oh, how I missed being your age,
Brae.” I laughed, covering my mouth to keep from spitting from my sudden bout
of laughter.
“Happy birthday.” Char said,
grabbing my hands with her still chubby, baby fingers.
I smiled at my small sister, and
kissed her on the top of her blond head, “Thank you, sweet Char. Now let’s go downstairs
and eat some of that cake that Mom promised us.”
Braelie nodded her head frantically
and grabbed me and Char’s hands, dragging us down our long flight of stairs
that led into our kitchen. My parents hugged me, wishing me happy birthday over
and over again. I cut into my cake, filled with fruits and frosting, smiling at
the smell of freshly baked cake that came over me. It was moments like these
that we would all remember as we grew up. I realized this more and more as I
became older.
“Give me a piece!” Char shouted,
pulling me out of my own thoughts as she jumped up and down on her seat. Mom
scolded her and warned her to be patient, asking her to take a seat at the
table.
“No, its fine Mom.” I laughed, “Maybe
I am taking a little too long hear. Isn’t that right Char?”
She nodded hungrily as I doled out
each of our cake slices. There was only one thing that I was missing at this
sweet family moment, “Ari should be here.” I murmured.
My Dad raised his fork to me, “And
that brings us to your grand gift of the day, my girl.”
I looked towards him searching his
eyes for some sort of explanation, “Dad? What do you mean?”
“Me and your mom have been in touch
with your brother, and we worked something out with him as of late. As your big
birthday gift, we loaned Ari some money to be able to take you to Boston to see
a show. We knew that you would want to see him, and what better way to let our
girl see a big show than with her favorite brother.”
My heart was smiling as I looked
towards each of my adopted family. Giving me time with my older biological
brother was the best gift that they could give me for my birthday. Ari was my
best friend, brother, and protector and he always had been. He was the one to
find me a good home when I was only five and him seventeen. He was the one that
stayed with horrible foster families, just so I could get the exactly right
one. I owed everything I had to Ari, and I would always repay that in all of
the love and support that I could give him.
I gave each of my parents the
biggest hug imaginable and set off to go get ready. Apparently, it wouldn’t just
be the show we were seeing, we were going shopping on the common and then out
to eat. I really couldn’t contain my excitement.
Braelie followed me up the stairs
all the while, quizzing me on different road signs. I was preparing to take my
permit test the following day, so she had been quizzing me endlessly as she had
taken it fourth months before. I was relieved to finally be at my room by the
time she had finished the first round of signs. I was way too tired to handle
another round.
“Enough signs, Brae. Help me pick
out something to wear.”
“Fine.” She huffed, while pulling
random things out of my closet at a rapid pace. I knew she had found the right
outfit when the sudden floods of clothing stopped being thrown at me.
“This is the one, Ever.” She nodded,
handing me a cream colored dress. I shook my head at her, “This is yours, Brae.
Find me something else.”
“Absolutely not. If it looks good on
me, then It looks good on you. We have the same coloring, Everlie, and we even
happen to be the same height. Wear the dress.”
I laughed at how that sounded. It
really was strange how similar we looked. She and I always laughed that maybe
we had the same father. After all, she was adopted at birth, and there was a
small possibility. Maybe our ‘dad’ just liked having more than one woman.
“Fine.” I grinned, “Thanks, Brae.”
She nodded at me in recognition and
then got to work on my long straight hair, putting it in a simple French braid.
After not that long, I was ready to go and standing on the front lawn waiting
for Ari to pick me up. Mom and Dad gave me hugs, as well as Braelie and Charlie.
At each car that drove by, my toes tingled in anticipation hoping that it would
be my older brother. He finally arrived, stepping out of his car and onto my
driveway.
Ari pulled down his sunglasses,
grinning wildly at me. I ran at him full speed, happy when he picked me up as
he hugged me close as he always had done.
“Happy Birthday, Ever-bear.” He
whispered into my ear, kissing me on the cheek quickly.
“I missed you, Ari, so
much.” I smiled as he set me down on the solid ground. It was strange looking
at him doing so well in life. I still remembered the seventeen year old that
had dropped me off at my house, struggling to pay for himself once he had
turned eighteen. And now he was twenty-eight and thriving. It made me smile to
know that I hadn’t ruined his whole life. Maybe just his childhood and teenage
life.
I wanted Everlie to seem kind of young for her age, to show how innocent she was in the beginning versus the end after her life is changed! 
Points: 825
Reviews: 453
Donate