Happy Birthday

I walked around the mall, squeezing through people trying my best to find my friends in this endless maze of people. The mall was extremely crowded; you could get claustrophobia just looking from above at the seam of people. It was harder to get through this maze than for Toronto’s Maple Leafs to win the Stanley cup. I tip-toed trying to look for my best friends bright pink hair but I didn’t even know if he wore a hat. We totally should’ve planned this better, but it wasn’t like we knew that the mall would be this crowed at twelve o’clock on a Wednesday. I spotted a pink head bobbing up and down between crowds of brunettes. Smiling, I started to walk towards that place but as soon as I wasn’t tip-toeing I lost him. Ugh, this was so frustrating! I scowled and decided to take my phone out and just plain call him.

Ring, ring, ring. “Hello?” his familiar voice shouted at my ear.

“Hey, where are you?” I asked with gritted teeth.

“You won’t believe this; I just walked by this crowd of very cute and funny brownies! They were staring at me, and whispering. I think pink is going to stay,” he laughed. At least now I knew that it was him. “I like this attention.”

“Yesh, you now, you always say that. You are so gonna change the colour. Anyways you still haven’t answered my question. Where are you?”

“Oh, yeah sorry, I’m here at Indigo. It’s less crowded, hurry up. I’ve got something to show you!” Snapping my phone shut, I was squished as I tried to walk towards the big sign that said “Indigo”. By the time I entered, my hair was a mess and I was sweating. I found a pink head by the New Fiction table and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey. So where’s everyone else?” I spoke as he turned around with a lopsided grin on his face. The bright neon pink definitely made his mouth stand out more, especially since his teeth were so white. His bangs were long and cover half his eyes, but the pink also made his dark eyes pop out. His hair looked full of life, which was weird since he just about dyed his hair a different colour each week, and sometimes if he is granted lots of attention, he might not even change it until the next month.

“G Man called and said it was too crowded and he left. Winnie got sick from her brother and Danny can’t come since he has to help his mom with the shop. So for today it’s just me and you Harper,” he scratched his head and his smile grew.

“Okay then so what did you want to show me?” I asked as he started to walk up the spiral stairs, I followed him as he started to pull out books. I knew he wasn’t going to buy anything, or even read the summaries. That’s a weird thing about him; he always needs to have something on his hands.

“Oh yes, I do have something to show you,” his finger traveled along the spines of other books, as he found the book he was looking for, he took it out of the shelf. He turned showing me the cover of the book with a grin. There was a sleek silver car all alone on the road, above said: All You Need to Know about CARS.

What. The. Hell.

“This is what you wanted to show me?” I asked pathetically trying to raise one eyebrow.
“Nope, not at all,” he grinned, putting the book away. “This is just something related to what I really wanted to show you.”

“So what are you waiting for Phe, show me already!” I almost yelled. I was annoyed by the fact he didn’t really show me what he wanted to show me. But if that book was related to the thing he wanted to show me, did he want to show me some car? Unlikely, but hey, that’s the only clue I have.

“Ah, don’t be a party pooper Harper. Be patient, now come on. I’ve got some other things to show you before I show you the real deal,” he grabbed my hand and dragged me down the stairs and out the store and back into the maze.

I couldn’t see where we were going, all I saw was a blur of people’s heads and soon we were out of the mall. He continued to drag me to wherever. I didn’t really pay attention to anything until he stopped at the traffic light. I looked straight ahead, trying my best not to look at the bright white snow. I saw the Nissan car selling place. Are we going in there? I wondered. I saw the shiny car models gleaming through the large windows.

I looked up at Phoenix he had a slight smile on his lips. He continued to hold my hand, I was about to pull my hand away when the walking sign signaled we could go. We got to the other side and he continued to go straight forward. We entered the Nissan store. So he’s showing me a car. Okay, that was a surprise. He came up to the secretary, smiled and asked her for some guy named Mister Lee.

A guy wearing a white dress shirt, black slacks and a red tie came up to us. He shook Phoenix’s hand and told us to follow him. He looked pretty young for a cars salesman. He led us to a brand new polished red SUV.

“The two-thousand-eleven Murano, it has everything you asked for. Here are your keys, and thank you for buying a Nissan,” Mister Lee left and Phoenix got into the car. Nervously I opened the passenger side and entered. The seats were black leather and cool to the touch. I closed the door and watched at Phoenix buckled his seatbelt. I did the same and then just stared at him. He seriously bought a brand new car and decided that I would drive with him? Was this what he wanted to show me?

“So Dee,” he said my old nickname softly, “What do you think of my new ride? It’s nice eh? And it totally matches my hair,” he grinned and slid the car key in and reviving the car with a purr.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?”

“Nope, not even close,” he took the wheel and drove away. He was on the highway before I knew it. I gripped onto the hand thingy above me with all my might. He laughed as he speed up faster, going over 100 km/h. I was scared, freaked actually. I closed my eyes and as soon as I felt him slow down I opened them. I found us going past a lake. Where in hells name were we?

“Wh-where the heck are we Phe?!” I stuttered. My fear of speeding was getting too me, even though he was slowing.

“Stop asking me. You already asked like, five hundred times. Just be patient Dee, We’re almost there.”

“What are you going to show me?” I asked softly, looking up at him. Why was he going through all this trouble to show me something? Seriously.

He slowed a bit, turned his head towards me and smiled and placed a finger on his lips. “See-ker-et.”

I didn’t ask any more questions. Phoenix is a guy who could keep secrets. He looks like the type who spreads secrets, but no. He’s not like that at all. He’s just a guy who likes attention. He gets attention whenever he does something to his looks, that it. He isn’t “popular” but everyone knows him. Even though that’s a good trait (the secret keeping that is) I really wished he would just tell me.

Sighing, I let go of the hand thing and closed my eyes as he sped up again. My heart was racing, please slow down, please. Why the heck did I let go? My breathing was ragged as I felt the car go faster. What if a police car is hiding behind the trees? What if we crashed into a deer? Holy shit, please just slow down!

My thoughts were focused only on the speed of the car. I absolutely hated this. Ugh… I never knew Phoenix was such a bad driver. I felt the car slow again causing my breathing to become regular and my heart to slow. We finally skidded to a stop; I opened my eyes to find a gate with intricate swirls between the bars. It was beautiful.

“Is thi—”I was shut up seeing him giving me the “be quiet” stare. I watched as he killed the engine and stepped out of the vehicle and onto the rocky ground. I followed with anxiety, where were we and why in hells name did he have to drive to friggin fast? I pulled at my hat and quickly followed him as he opened the gate and walked past.

I was right behind him as we continued to walk down the stony pathway. I glanced towards the trees on my right then to my left. I felt as if a ghost or perhaps ghosts were watching me. Nervous and a bit scared, I grabbed onto Phe’s shirt. I probably wouldn’t have done that if anyone else was with us. I felt like a stupid scaredy cat holding onto Phoenix’s jacket. I wanted so scold myself for being scared so easily.

We soon came up to a three story… maybe four story mansion. It looked Victorian yet modern at the same time. My eyes were wide with shock. A mansion?
“So do you like it?” Phoenix asked with a smirk on his lips. I was silent with shock still in my system.

“I’ll take that as a yes. This is part of what I wanted to show you. Come on inside,” he took out a huge key, it reminded me of that key in that game with Disney characters, Kingdom hearts. Anyways, Phe slipped the key into the lock turned it a complete circle and took the key out with a click the door opened. Phe grabbed my hand and brought me inside the dark place. The door slammed shut with a loud BANG and a second later all the light in the corridor we were in lit up. I was astounded.

“Where are we?” I managed to squeak out, I could hear my voice echo in the vast room. I pondered at why I bothered to ask, he probably would just say “secret.”

“My house,” I jerked a look at him. What the hell? He continued to drag me through the hall and into another room. “Wait, what do you mean your house? I thought you lived across from me!”

He held tightly on my hand and was silent as he dragged me up a curving stair case. I decided it’d just be best to keep quiet. He led me through different halls and finally into a huge ass bedroom with a balcony viewing a lake, or maybe the ocean. He finally let go of me, I rubbed my sore hand and sat on the fluffy white bed.

“I’m going to show you the real deal now,” Phe grinned and disappeared behind a set of double doors across from the bed. I wondered what it could possibly be, something to do with a car perhaps. Maybe something about this house?

I waited for what felt like hours before he came back out through the doors. He was holding something silver, about the size of a good sized novel. He came up and sat beside me. He was holding a book surprisingly.

“This is going to be a little bit surprising. I hope you like it. It’s your birthday gift.”
“Why couldn’t you have done this tomorrow?” I wondered.

“Because Gee, Winnie and Danny would have had to come with us, duh,” he poked me lightly at my shoulder and laughed.

“Oh, okay, right. So show me this surprising thing.”

He smiled, placed his thumb over the hardcover and opened. A blinding white light flashed, filling the whole room with its beautiful light. A second later the light disappeared and I could see everything now. My mouth was open in shock. He was right, this was surprising.

“Phe… it’s beautiful,” I whispered to him.

“I know,” he gives me a grin, and looks me in the eye and speaks softly, “Happy Birthday, Dee.”