Chapter Text
On her ninth birthday, Emma was debating over what to wish for.
She sat in front of the birthday cake for ten whole minutes just thinking to herself.
“What kind of wish do you want to make, Emma?” Asked Conny.
Emma made a thoughtful pose with her fist under her chin. “I don’t have any idea,” she said, looking at the little girl with golden pigtails.
“You know birthday wishes are just superstition, right?” Ray asked impatiently.
“My wish came true last year,” Emma said, “I wished that the birthday cake would taste good and the cake tasted amazing.”
“Who exactly do you think will hear your wishes and answer them?” He asked again, mildly annoyed.
“Magic birthday fairy?”
Ray resisted the urge to smack the birthday girl with his book. Emma, noticing his intent, leaned forward on her chair to avoid being hit. As she was leaning, however, she accidentally lost balance and buried her face right into the birthday cake.
She regained her balance, looking confused with icing all over her face.
“Emma, you look adorable,” said Norman, chuckling softly.
“Hey, it’s not funny,” Emma cried, grabbing a corner of the cake and threw it at Norman’s face. Norman, whether it was to make Emma feel better or actually didn’t see the cake coming, failed to dodge the cake toss. He ended up with a piece of cake stuck on her forehead.
Soon, everyone joined the food fight. Mama stood smilingly on the side with no intention of intervening.
The cake war eventually became a birthday tradition at Grace Field. Everyone seemed to enjoy it more than actually consuming the cake.
Just when everyone became exhausted over wasting food, Emma felt a tiny tug on her sleeve. She looked down and saw Conny holding onto her.
“Did you wish for anything?” She asked timidly.
Emma stared at Conny’s face for a while, as if deep in her thought. Eventually, she smiled brightly at Conny and said, “I wished for us to all stay together like this, forever.”
Ray sighed. “There’s this saying that if you say a wish out loud, it wouldn’t come true.”
“Who cares about some stupid saying?” Emma shrugged. “I know my wish is going to come true because I have faith it will.”
“I don’t think that’s how faith or wishes work,” he mumbled but was sure that Emma didn’t hear it.
Norman sat down next to him. They exchanged glances.
“She can’t always be this innocent.”
“I like her this way.”
“I know, but what if something happens that forces her to grow up?”
“What’s going to happen, Ray?”
Ray looked away from Norman’s glaze. “I don’t know,” he said eventually.
Three.
On his tenth birthday, Norman had a fever.
Mama told all the other kids that it was forbidden to visit him since they could easily catch his sickness. As for his birthday party, it was to be postponed until he got better.
Norman didn’t think he would care for this kind of thing. Parties were, down to their core, displays of joy and affection. He already received enough love from his friends every day, so a party really wouldn’t be so much different.
But, it was a little lonely to not have anyone at your side on your birthday.
As he stared melancholily out of the window, he heard a little rumble on the floor.
“Surprise!” Emma shouted as she jumped into his view. He felt like his already sickly body couldn’t handle this kind of shock.
“Emma! Mom warned you to leave me alone several times already!”
“Yeah, but it’s your birthday,” Emma said, “Aren’t you lonely?”
Normally, he would’ve denied it. But he simply couldn’t resist his desire to have Emma by his side for company.
“It’s too bad we can’t have a cake fight here,” he said weakly.
“Oh, of course we can,” Emma said, bringing a plate of apple pie into his view. Norman knew that she probably smuggled the pie from her lunch.
She smudged the corner of the pie onto his chin.
“Happy birthday, Norman.”
A ray of sunlight shined on her face, illuminating her chubby cheeks and her ginger hair. The corners of her mouth curved upwards, and her green eyes sparkled in the sunshine. She smiled the innocent smile of an angel.
That was when he decided to protect this precious smile forever.
“What’s your wish?” She asked eagerly.
He smiled. “If I say it, it wouldn’t come true.”
Ray listened outside as the two joyously ate the remainder of the pie. His gaze focused on his book, but his heart was clearly somewhere else.
Two.
On his eleventh birthday, Ray didn’t want to make a wish.
“Come on, it’s just a wish,” Emma urged.
He wasn’t convinced. “Why would I do something that’s entirely useless?”
He looked at the creamy vanilla cake that was going to be ruined as soon as he finished making his wish. Emma seemed desperate to dig her hands in it.
Norman just sat next to him with the same-old gentle smile on his face.
Ray suddenly felt a rush of emotions in his chest. It wasn’t the anger, the sorrow, or the despair that he had felt throughout the years. It was something more, something warmer, and yet more desperate and vulnerable.
He took a look at the cake one last time and declared, “You guys can play with it now.”
Emma seemed disappointed. “You’re really not going to make a wish?”
He said grimly, “You think I’m that desperate?”
Alright, he told himself. If anyone is listening, whether it’s a magic birthday fairy or some kind of higher being, I have one wish, and one wish only to make.
Please, please grant me the power to bring those two out of this hellhole.
He saw Mama standing in the corner of the room, her loving smile resembling more of a smirk in his eyes.
Who was he kidding? He wasn’t Emma. He couldn’t rely on faith alone to do his work.
While Emma and the kids were throwing cake at one another, he quietly walked away from them.
Naturally, Norman noticed his early departure.
“Where are you going? Aren’t you going to stay longer at your own birthday party?” He asked, a bit concerned.
“No,” Ray replied casually, “I have some work to do.”
“Can’t you do it after the party?”
He turned his head and smiled. “Time is quite tight for me.”
He only had one year left.