Black Birthday

[fire111127]

Black Birthday By: Jeff Daniel

Birthdays are one of the best times of the year for everyone. They are the moments that we can feel growth in ourselves, that encourage our mind to open to the fact that we are getting older, wiser, and more mature in our experiences. After birthday’s start to go by every year we feel like we have gained something in life one way or another. We have bonds of love and friendship that are never broke and we have many people around us as a guide or inspiration in life. Birthdays are a timeline of everything in our life and that makes use feel in power of our self and somewhat in control. We have our personality, dreams, and motivating drive. We can control these things and we move through life becoming proud people and very complacent of the other things in our happy lives.

November 27, 2018

Brian Brickles has just fallen upon his 17th birthday. This day is on his mind from the time he awoke this morning. He ran downstairs to his parents and discovered one of the greatest benefits of having a birthday, gifts. He opened the first one sluggishly which was from his grandma. He knew what it would be so right before he opened it a low sigh became voiced. His old grandma Brenda got him a hand knitted blue sweater. His grandma always gave homemade presents on holidays like last Christmas when he got the patched blanket and all the other cloth apparel his stereo-typical grandmother has gave him. He also was shocked when under the sweater he seen 40 dollars from his grandma this year amazingly. She had a wreck a while back.

Someone hit her little car from behind and caused a lot of damage. The girl who hit her was very young and broke out in a sob because of her age and frangibility. Her dad got there before the police even got called because everyone was pretty shock up and the first person the girl thought about calling was her dad. The girl’s dad just paid Brenda off and now she has money which she feels good about now giving to her loved ones. Brian however is not at all that way which goes to the next gift that made Brian have a smile from ear to ear, 300 dollars. It was from “The Banker” as referred to his uncle Tim in his family. He is most likely the richest man in there family chain and no one really knows him except as that rich guy. Brian said thank you with a set stare on the money. His little girl cousins Lana, Britney, and Jessica ran over to him and gave him a card with there names and happy birthday signed in it with 10 one dollar bills that were coated with chocolate and gummy bear remains on them.
“Brian we want you to have this, happy birthday” the girls said shyly.
“I will tell you what,” Brian said.
“Yes, yes,” the girls responded vibrantly.
“How about later I will see if Banker wants to rent some movies to watch tonight.”
“Yea that sounds real good Brian,” The girls screamed kid like.

All the money was good in Brian’s mind but among that was also the greed to spend it. His dad told him earlier that they were going out to a restaurant later for his birthday so that means he can go out and spend the money until then. He thought until his brain hurt and he became in some respect instantly mad over what to spend his money on. The mall seemed to appear mostly in his mind so no wonder he finally decided to go to the mall about 30 minutes away in a town called Burly.

He told his parents and the swept out into his sleek black firebird. He opened the door, jumped in, and started to drive off. The money had an enormous effect on Brian because all the money that he makes or gets usually goes to his car for monthly payment or insurance. He has been working basically his whole teen life. Now he works at a grocery store as a stocker. Even though he didn’t have very many friends with a nice car like that it was worth every bit of it.

The sun beat down through his windshield as he went to the mall and he became aggravated by the turning road. The road is not really a challenge for most vehicles but his firebird isn’t really made for the uphill. His car still makes it with hilly regimes though. All around him the woods stood like military troops in rows. He came to a giant hill with a steep drop at the bottom of the hill. It must have been his deep thought that distracted him from seeing the danger ahead at the bottom of the turn.

There in the middle of the road were the other things we should worry about in life, a brown deer in between him and his path. He swung to the other side of the road but lost control around the turn and hit over the guard rail. He flew over the side of the drop and progressed straight driving for a while. Brian shifted the firebird to the left and then right carrying by trees that scrapped along his car tearing at the paint. Then a rock went under his front wheel tire and his heart sank for a brief moment, the game ended. The front right wheel jumped up and the car flipped the rest of the way down the hill to the bottom of the ditch.

Smoke fled the upside down car and then it let up after a couple of minutes. Slowly he crept threw his right passenger window that was shattered into a thousand little pieces of broken glass. He got out and sat in agony on the barren ground and then started to crawl up the hill to the road. It was the worst torturous pain any human should have to bear. His bones were broke in several places and he could scarcely impel his body upward on the hill.

He started to think no one would find him and he would die right there in the very spot he traversed. He made it up to the road and slowly moved down to his house. He stared up at the heavens as he slowly crept down the long lonely road. He was just a sprinkle on the county side and he assumed that if he did not stay wake and keep moving he would die and he was most likely right because nobody around his town went out on Tuesdays because they all got off work and stayed in with the warmth of their families. He kept praying the whole time a car would just appear but from his place to his house there were no homes and he knew he must go on. In that hour pebbles and dirt embedded deep in his skin and left a trail of blood and pain behind him.

He reached his fence and proceeded through the gate then slowly went forward on the white sidewalk to his front door. He noticed his home was dark and fear began to strike his beating heart faster. His concern of no one being home made him feel his life dwindling after his long journey. Inch by inch as he went toward the door his distress became stronger that they were all away somewhere. He came forth to the front door. He struggled to clasp the handle as he looked behind him to see the blood trailed on the white sidewalk pavement. Tears screamed down from his eyes as he reached to knock on the door but only could scratch due to his broken arms, shoulder and other bones. Then he raised his arm forward putting his forearm on the knob and leaned in pushing the door open leaving his bloody hand print sliding on the door. The lights were still dark and he tried to keep his focus through scrabbled noises of his pain as he carried forward, then lights came on and shouts filled the room for joy, “Happy Birthday Brian”.

The room full of his little cousins and relatives disregarded the cheers into a chorus of simultaneous screams as they had looked over a large bloody lump on the floor. They ran to Brian with a strong worded, “Are you okay, are you okay” saying it over and over apparently blinded to the blunt misery he was in. His family frantically rushed him to the emergency room trying to find out what happened along the way.

Brian could not speak a word as the doctors rushed him into the brick building and into the emergency room. They operated on him and had wrapped his body in a wrap to avoid infection. It all seemed fast and the night was full of fear and tears. He was there for a little over three hours and then finally allowed to fall asleep.

November 28, 2018 Day after his birthday

Brian’s dad John is going into town on the day after Brian’s horrifying rise upon adulthood. He arrives to a building and the sky starts to lay a soft mist in the air. He lingers over by the back where a gray stone stows in front of him that says, “We will remember him forever and always keep this black birthday never forgotten”. Under the words are bold letters, “Here lays Brian James Brickles 2001-2018 Born November 27 Died November 27.