Happy Birthday

The welcoming scent brings Pete back into his comfortable reality. He can't help but to stretch passively as he melts in his cozy bed. His nose almost tingles with pleasure as the aroma of bacon fills his nostrils. Pete rubs his eyes to wake himself up and he flies out of bed, because today Pete is 40.

With a vibrant smile he walks down the never ending spiral stairs of the castle like house, tracking the scent like a hound. His face lights up at the sight of his beautiful kids and stunning wife cooking up breakfast. Pete's heart warms as they hug him and deliver birthday wishes. Pete kisses the angel like lips of his indescribably beautiful wife of 20 years and thanks the iconic beauty for she is Pete's everything. After the families immense meal, the kids and Pete enjoy a few movies and play some catch, followed by a very leisurely day in spite of the party to come.


Guests arrive to their palace of a home greeting with mostly nice presents and foolish jokes targeting the age of the blessed 40 year old. The night is filled with jazz surfacing the setting of the movie-like celebration. Champagne, wine and spirits are sipped on and shared throughout the night. Pete mysteriously disappears with his friends as food is gracefully enjoyed and the kids continuously run around with friends. Pete's wife finds him thirty minutes later puffing a celebratory cigar with his buddy. Pete looks very unusually joyful and worry free, but his wife thinks nothing of it. She stays by his side the rest of the night, playfully teasing and kissing him gently as they enjoy the time of their lives.

Guests begin to disperse and head home slowly as the magical affair comes to an end. Pete puts his kids to bed and softly kisses their foreheads as he gives thanks for everything. Pete's wife waits by the bedside as he walks into the elegant bedroom. She appears as a goddess sitting there and waiting for him. Her dark blossoming hair runs gorgeously down the front-side of her shoulders and back. Her lustfully delicate lips and dark pure eyes give a calming reassurance of her magnificent natural beauty. Pete kisses her sensually as he gently brushes her hair away and slowly caresses the outside of her soft face . Pete later lies in bed exhausted from the incredible night. Completely worry free his eyes shut and Pete falls into a deep and relaxing sleep.


Pete's eyes open as a wretched scent forces Pete into a shivering daily truth, now 10 years later. He lies aching in his cold hard nest of a bed. A fowl odor corrodes itself in Pete's nostrils of mold and waste. He struggles to get out of bed with no motivation and lost hope. Pete shoots a glance outside to see the broken down waste filled streets. Today a pain tears inside deeper than before as today Pete is 50.

A brittle expressionless mouth promptly swallows down pill after pill. For a moment a thought grazes his mind of people he once called family. He painfully remembers slipping away mysteriously on his birthday years ago, the night Pete's life was taken from right under him. Memories of a needle prickling his skin routinely for months after scorch his heart. The well deserved years Pete spent forced to suffer in a cold dark lifeless cage continuously torment him. Pete's children despise him, wishing to never see the face of their washed up dad. His ex-wife who now is happily married to a successful British lawyer thinks absolutely nothing of Pete.

Pete's life has become an everyday grind working never-ending shifts for a non-background checking car lot. He makes minimum wage doing what he can to buy food and pay for his almost uninhabitable apartment. A crammed, trash filled and deserted looking space with one surprisingly neat, almost untouched clean room. A room left for years now in spite of the now lost hope of one of his kids maybe returning to visit the man they once called their father.

The unbearable lingering pain strengthens as thoughts of his past birthdays graze his mind. Pete swallows more and more white circular pills, looking to seize his hurt and forget about his objective less life.

Hours pass by and the pills have no effect. Pete's mind continues to fry with sadness and regret. The thought of his kids giggling and the gentle touch of his luscious ex-wife holding on to another man lingers painfully in his head. Pete is torn apart sitting at work with no success and no sales all day. He has been the lots worst salesman the past two months.

Today the non-stop bitching and harassing of his overweight, mercenary like boss sets Pete over the edge. He snaps, Pete solemnly walks toward the man and violently blasts the man's face with a head butt. Blood bursts instantly from the shattered skull fragments of what was once a part of the filthy mans nose. Pete runs into his car, swallowing the last of his hopes. The first liquor store in sight, he aggressively enters and picks out the darkest bottle of bourbon. As he enters his barely working car, Pete immediately starts downing the resin colored liquor. Pete has taken every pill and is halfway finished with the bottle upon arrival to the s***-hole of a place he calls home. The unwelcoming agony rotting Pete's brain only continues to get worse and he begins to sob dramatically. Pete foolishly starts praying to a god he's never believed in for this horror to stop. Instantly Pete bitterly chuckles at his own stupidity. Now he hurries in search of the rugged rope put in his closet only months ago. Pete snatches the noose and hastily raps it tight on a sturdy pipe of the only pleasantly clean rooms ceiling. Pete recklessly stumbles up on a rusty metal chair and swings the rope around his neck without hesitation. The noose strangling the man's already tortured brain repetitively tightens with each breath. As the chair crashes swiftly on the tile floor, the noose has finally loosened.