Under Her Cursed Scythe

"Happy 519th-" the man who looked like in his mid-twenties was about to make jolly of the birthday girl but he immediately ceased when he saw the girl pulling a long face at him and her colour of her pupils seemed to have shifted from light brown to greenish blue. "Alright, alright. I will stop making fun of you...for one day." he said with a smile flickering on his face. "Happy 16th birthday, Venus!"

"Happy birthday…" other echoed.

"Now make a wish before you blow out those candles." a girl sitting opposite to her reminded.

The birthday girl gave a moment of thought and said while clasping her hands together, "I wish I can-"

"Huh, huh," the little boy sitting on her lap broke in as he pulled the girl's long chestnut hair.

"What's the matter, Chun Chun?" the birthday girl tilted her head in question.

"M-mummy...she...s-ay...d-don't...s-say... o-out...l-loud-y-your wi...ish n-no t-true." the little boy stuttered.

"What is your son saying, Kit?" the birthday girl asked the man.

"Oh he meant not to say your wish out loud. Otherwise, it will not come true. Am I right, son?" The man casted a gander at the little boy.

In response, the boy bobbed his head up and down vigorously.

"Oh really!? I don't know you humans have rules for making wishes too! " the birthday girl's eyes alight in amazement. "Well, thanks for reminding me, Chun Chun." She placed a kiss upon the little boy's forehead.

*****************

Alivia watched the group of jolly and lively people with admiration in her eyes. 'I wonder what it feels like to have someone who remembers your birthdays and celebrates with you…'

She ceased her stream of thoughts and whirled away from the group.

"Here's your blueberry cheesecake and a candle on top! " the waitress finally came back with Alivia's order and before she left the table, she kindly lit the candle up with her lighter, "Enjoy your cake!"

"Thank you…" Alivia responded wistfully and after the waitress was out of sight, she said to herself in a dull tone, "Happy 13th birthday, Alivia Hestia..."

She stared at the forlorn candle in vain as it flickered before her eyes. For a second, she thought, 'maybe I should make a birthday wish too.' But then she changed her mind. 'No, no, no, no, no...only fools will believe that their birthday wishes will actually come true.'

She stuffed and stuffed pieces of the cake into her mouth without actually knowing what it tasted like and before she finished the last bit of it, her hand halted, trembled and a drop of liquid landed on the table.

Before that sentimental moment arrived, she really believed that she had already vent most of her troubles and anguish through strenuous exercise and could easily pent up the rest like always. However, no matter how hard she had tried, how vigorously she had slid her badly-trimmed fingernails across one of her arms, how much effort she had given to hold on to her "anchor", she could no longer conquer her grief as well as her fury with just physical affliction. The reality of her pathetic life just came back to haunt her over and over again, slowly dragging her back into the abyss of despair. And once she loosened her grip on the "anchor", tears descended quickly and uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes like two parallel waterfalls.