“By sweet-heart have a good Birth-day!” My mother said to me as I exited out of her car and onto school premises. “Thanks mommy.” I said right before I closed the door on her.
I walked into my school and it was flooded with people getting to their classes, but I knew today would be different. I was my 8th birth-day! I was practically an adult! On this very special day I would be treated like a Princess, no homework, and lots of presents from my friends!

“Thank you,” I said cheerfully to the first one of my friends that had given me a present. I opened the wrapped box and inside was a teddy bear with a little bow wrapped around his neck. He looked so regal, and handsome. I loved him! I squealed and hugged the bear tightly around his neck, dropping the box in the process. “I shall name him Mr. Teddy!”
The rest of the day was filled with hugs, “Happy Birth-days” and of coarse PRESENTS! (Although I would have to say that Mr. Teddy was the best one I’d gotten all day. He was just so god dang fluffy!)
The only down part about today was that I had to ride the stinky old bus home! Oh, well… every year my parents would plan a surprise party for me and all my friends, Grandparents and a bunch of older people that I didn’t know, would be their to give me presents and these weird paper things, that had a person on it with a large number, usually saying 50 or 100. I think my mother called them savings bonds? Well anyway, every year they’d say they couldn’t make it and had some “special plans” going on, on my birth-day. Then they would tell me to ride the bus home, get myself a snack and do my homework. They’d say they would be out a long time, so they would trust me to look after myself. Phht! Like I actually believed that! OK, I might not be the smartest girl on the planet, but I know a thing or two. Like, A. you can not leave a child under the age of 12 by themselves, B. “special plans” is code word for my Birth-day arrangements and C. what is more important then their only child’s’ Birth-day!?

I put on my big girl pants and managed to survive on the torturer ride and quickly get off the bus without a mark on me. They personally dropped every kid off by their house, so they wouldn’t have to walk far.
I walked to my back door and unlocked it.
Everything was still inside the house and all was quiet, a little to quiet. I quickly flipped the switch and put on the best surprised look I could manage. Sadly nobody was there. My fake surprised look, transformed into disappointment. I went to the living room, flipped on the switch and put on another shock look, still nobody was their.
I went down the hall, to my bedroom, and flipped on the switch, still nobody was there. Where in the world are they?

I sat down at my dining room table and waited for them for hours.
The home phone blasted me out of my trance. I quickly ran over to it hoping it was mother and father. “Hello, Mommy, Daddy?” I asked through the phone. But instead of hearing my mother’s soft, cherry voice or my father’s manly, protectiveness, I instead heard an old lady’s frail tone. “Hello, is this Mira Blancher?” That was my name so I replied back with a simple yes. “I am sorry to inform you this…but your parents died in a car accident thirty minutes ago.”
My whole world froze over, it felt like my shoulder now had 40 more pounds put on them, I felt so week and numb. I dropped the phone to the ground and slowly and emotionlessly walked over to my fridge. I opened it and got out a cake, I knew to be mine. I got out eight candles and lit them on fire. I turned off all the lights and sang slowly and grimly to the very old song of the birth of days. “Happy Birth Day to me… Happy Birth day to… me… happy Birth-Day to me-ee… Happy Birth-day… To… me…” A silent tear trickled down my face; I blew out the candles, leaving my world consumed in darkness.