The Birthday Wish

The story idea that ruined my birthday

Mom dimmed the lights before following Dad into the kitchen. Not that it made much difference; even the sun couldn’t brighten the dull, depressing dining room.

A few sad, half-deflated balloons were taped on either side of the “Happy Birthday” banner, which hung limply on the wall. Then there were the walls themselves — lifeless, stripped of wallpaper, and still undecorated. The job had been started over a year ago. They’d promised Alice it’d be done for her birthday. Last year’s birthday, that was.

At least there were presents — a mountain of them. She got everything she wanted, except for one thing. The only thing that could make her happy again.

“Are you ready, sweetheart?” Mom called from the kitchen.

Alice closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was it — her chance to make everything right again, to make up for the year of hell they’d faced because of her. “Yes,” she said. I’m ready.

Mom shuffled in, holding a birthday cake with two number-shaped candles: a one and a zero. “Happy birthday to you, happy birth—sing, John—day to you. Happy birth…”

Dad muttered along to the rest of the song. “…day dear Alice. Happy birthday to you.”

Mom wiped a tear from her eye as she approached the table, forcing a weak, shaky smile. Dad didn’t even bother pretending. Both of them looked worn out; the bags under their eyes were permanent, as were the pink rings around their eyelids. The smell of liqueur, masked with perfume and aftershave, lingered around them.

Mom placed the cake in front of her. “Go on, make a wish, honey.”

Alice stared hard at the flickering candles, her eyes wide. A shiver ran down her spine as a cold chill curled around her neck. No one else ever noticed how drafty this room was.

Mom frowned. “Is something wrong, sweetie?”

“No!” snapped Alice, scowling. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just… thinking.”

But she wasn’t thinking — she was focusing. Last year, when she made her wish, she hadn’t really meant it. She’d been angry, consumed by the kind of petty, childish rage that burns too hot and too fast. She had been hateful. But this year? This year, her feelings were different. Loving. Regretful. She clenched her fists, her knuckles going white. Please. Please bring him back.

Her hands trembled as she clasped them tight. Please, bring him back. She focused harder, praying for this wish to make things right, to undo the last one. Please.

She opened her eyes and blew out the candles.

A thin trail of smoke rose from the wax, the sharp smell filling the room. But apart from that — nothing. Just silence. Her heart sank.

Mom patted her gently on the back. “Don’t tell anyone your wish, sweetie,” she said in a cracked voice. “Otherwise it won’t come true.”

Dad cleared his throat, his eyes blank as they rested on the cake. “Happy birthday, darling.”

Alice’s chest felt heavy, like something was pressing down on her, squeezing the air out. She could barely breathe. No, she thought, her hands still clenched so tight that her nails dug into her palms. It has to have worked. It has to.

A knock at the front door startled all three of them.

Alice froze, holding her breath as Mom went to answer the door.

The door creaked open. Then Mom screamed.

Alice’s heart pounded, her mind racing. Could it really be him?

“John!” Mom cried, her voice breaking. “John, come quickly!”

Dad stumbled out of his chair, nearly tripping on his way to the door. Then his voice cracked with disbelief. “My boy! My boy is home!”

Alice didn’t even remember moving, but suddenly she was there, standing in the doorway, staring at a sight she had longed for every night of the past year.

Mom and Dad were on their knees, wrapping Jack in the tightest of embraces, clinging to him like they might lose him again.

They finally looked up and saw her. “He’s home, Alice,” Mom said, her face a flood of relief and joy. “Your brother is home!”

Jack had grown so much in the past year — he was nearly as tall as Dad now. He wore the same clothes from the day he disappeared, but they hung awkwardly on his larger frame—his jeans rode up above his ankles, and his shirt, dirty and stretched, barely fit.

But his face… that was the biggest difference. He looked older, his boyish softness gone, his cheeks gaunt and pale. His once rosy complexion had withered away. His hair, wild and unkempt, was nothing like the neat cuts he used to prefer.

And his eyes… they weren’t his. The joy, the playfulness, the light — they had all disappeared.

But none of that mattered. He was home. That was all Alice cared about. Her chest tightened as tears welled in her eyes, and she ran to him, arms open for a hug.

He didn’t hug her back.

Instead, he leaned in close and whispered, “I know about your wish.”

*****

Jack’s side of the bedroom had been untouched for a year. His cuddly toys had sat neatly on a crisp quilt. Now there was a large shape under the quilt. It was her brother, but not as she remembered him.

Mom and Dad kissed them goodnight, and the lights in their bedroom went off. Alice was shaking; she didn’t want to be left alone with him.

The room was dark, but she could make out his features. His dark eyes were staring right through her, like he wanted to kill her. His trembling lip, a snarl, but so very close to a sob. His chest rising and falling quickly, breathing in and out through his nose.

She tried to speak to him, but what was she supposed to say, other than the obvious?

She said it anyway, though she knew it would never be enough. “Jack… I’m so, so sor—”

He sat up. “Don’t say it.”

“No, I really—I really mean—”

“Stop it! You don’t know where I’ve been — where you sent me.”

Alice swallowed, unsure she wanted to know more. “You told Mom and Dad you couldn’t remember.”

Jack shook his head, lowering his gaze. “It was dark… and there were…” He looked up at her, his voice dropping to a petrified whisper. “Demons.”

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Alice could see her frosty breath in front of her. “Demons?”

Jack nodded. “And endless darkness. I’d still hear there shouts, even if I couldn’t see them. Sometimes, I’d think I’d lost them, but actually they were just watching me and laughing. The things they did to me…” his voice broke off, his head in his hands.

Alice started to cry, the guilt eating her alive once more. Then she noticed the poster above Jack’s bed, the one of his favorite cartoon: Cosmic Teen Heroes. The leader of the group, Jupiter, stood front and center, hands on his hips, grinning in into the distance with the rest of the crew around him. But his face was starting to… melt.

“Alice,” Jack said, gasping with fear. “They’re here right now.”

She froze in terror as Jupiter stared down at her. His square jaw began to stretch into a pointed chin, revealing a black hole of a mouth. His eyes darkened to a sinister void.

“They won’t leave me alone, unless…” Tears filled Jack’s eyes. “I let them take you.”

Alice gasped and fell to the floor, sobbing at her big brother’s feet. “Please, Jack. Please, don’t let them. I’m sorry. I love you.”

“I love you too, sis. But I can never forgive you.” Then he turned his head away.

A loud, tortured moan filled the room… and a hand covered Alice’s mouth.

She let out a muffled scream as another two hands wrapped around her ankles. They dragged her towards the door as she kicked and sobbed, her fingernails breaking as she dug them into the wooden floor.

He’s not going to stop them. Her heart sank with the realization. He’s going to let them take me.

Then Jack stood up. “Stop!”

Alice stopped moving, but the shadowy hands still gripped her tight.

“I don’t want to put Mom and Dad through what you put them through when you sent me away,” Jack said. “And I don’t wanna live with the guilt you must have felt either.”

Alice let out a sigh, the demon’s hand still covering her mouth. He’s my big brother. He’d never let anyone hurt me.

Then Jack spoke again. “Can you make it so that no one remembers her?”

Alice screamed again. But this time, no sound left her mouth.

Then a guttural voice spoke behind her. “Everyone will forget her… except you.”

The hands tightened their grip and pulled again.

Before the bedroom door slammed shut, the last thing she saw was her brother desperately reaching for her.