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“Wake up!” Philip exclaimed, jumping onto his sister’s bed. Angie just groaned, pulling the covers over her head. She had never been a morning person. Usually, her brother let her sleep, but this time he was insistent.
“Angie!” He pulled at the blanket, but Angie’s grip was solid. “It’s your birthday!”
Angie shot up, knocking Philip off the bed. She looked around with wide eyes, excitement coloring her face.
“My birthday?” she squealed.
“Yeah,” Philip confirmed, apparently unharmed from the tumble. “You’re turning six. Did you really forget?”
Angie didn’t even hear him.
“Papa will be home!” Angie’s voice was filled with delight. Every birthday, their father made a point of coming home to celebrate. Once he had even cancelled a mandatory meeting in order to make it to Philip’s big day.
“Yup!” Philip agreed. “So you better get ready.”
Angie didn’t waste another second. She jumped out of bed and slammed her door open. The hallway was empty, but she’d soon change that.
“Birthday!” she screamed, pounding on her brother Alexander Jr, or Andy’s bedroom door. As soon as he opened up, rubbing his bleary eyes, Angie was off again. This time she headed to her parent’s bedroom. Her incessant screaming caused her baby brother James to wake up, wailing at the top of his lungs. Angie paid no mind to this, instead confusedly staring at her parent’s empty bed. Where were they?
“Angie, please don’t yell,” Eliza, her mother, softly admonished. Angie spun around. Her mother had come in behind her, and was now rocking a whining James.
“Mama! Birthday!” Angie reminded, tugging at her mother’s dress. Eliza smiled kindly down at her only little girl.
“I know, Angie. Let’s get you ready.”
In ten minutes, Angie was already bolting down the stairs, all dolled up in her special princess dress. Her brothers were also ready, waiting in the living room. Andy scoffed quietly when he saw Angie, as he was in the stage of hating princesses, and Philip elbowed him. They glared at each other.
The kitchen had a happy birthday banner hung on the ceiling and three gifts on the table. One, a birthday card, was undoubtedly from Andy, as he was incredibly indecisive while choosing gifts and always settled on a card. The next, wrapping all crinkled and messy, was from Philip, as he couldn’t wrap presents properly yet. The final one, small, neat and peppered with sprinkles, was from her parents, though that really meant her mother. Their father was always too preoccupied to choose one himself.
“Where’s papa?” Angie asked suddenly. Philip’s lips dropped a fraction of an inch. For anyone else the frown would have been imperceptible, but not Angie.
“Is he not coming?” Angie felt her eyes pool with tears. Philip was quick to correct his mistake.
“No! He’ll be here at noon!”
Angie’s smile was replaced. Though it wasn’t as perfect as her father being right here, she knew he had important stuff to do. Their mother said as much.
“Okay!”
The doorbell rang, and all three of them rushed to get it. Angie got there first. She threw open the door to reveal John, Hercules, and Lafayette; their three uncles.
“Uncle John!” Angie squealed, jumping into John’s arms and nearly knocking him over.
“Whoa, Angie!” John laughed, ruffling Angie’s intricate hairdo. By far, John was her favorite uncle. The fact was only furthered as John spun her around, setting her down lightly on the ground.
“Come on, don’t I get a hug too?” Hercules grumbled teasingly. Angie obliged, squeezing the giant as tightly as she could. Finally, Lafayette, who had went in to drop off all their presents, extended a hand to her.
“May I have this dance, princesse?” he purred.
Angie giggled, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her to the kitchen. Though they had a strict policy of no present opening till the end, Hercules’ cake was opened straight away. He always baked cake for birthdays.
“I believe that my gift will be an accessory to your beauty, princesse.”
Lafayette had opened his gift already, presenting Angie with a tiara. Angie gasped. This was a real, true, princess tiara. She eagerly reached for it, but Lafayette pulled it out of her reach.
“Allow me.”
Angie let him place the crown upon her head, transforming her into a true princess. Lafayette already had a mirror handy, allowing Angie to admire her new appearance.
“Now, Lafayette, let’s not open anymore presents,” Eliza scolded, carrying James down the stairs. Lafayette seemed only a tad guilty.
“It added to her theme, non?”
They were interrupted by a high pitched voice.
“Angie!”
Angie raced back to the doorway to see Theo, her best friend. Equally enthusiastic, they hugged.
“I thought you weren’t coming!” Angie exclaimed. This day couldn’t get any better. Now only if her dad showed up.
“I convinced my dad,” Theo replied, gesturing up to Aaron, who was shifting uncomfortably.
“Hi Theo!” Andy exclaimed.
“Hello.”
Philip, flushing, nodded an greeting to Theo, who smiled in return. Lafayette noted this exchange with evil glee.
Eliza rounded the corner.
“Welcome Aaron,” she greeted formally. “Forgive my rudeness, but I thought you refused the invitation.”
“Theodosia insisted,” Aaron replied shortly. Eliza wondered how his daughter changed his mind.
“Well, then come in!”
“No, I-”
“I insist.”
Much to Aaron’s dismay, he found himself dragged into a princess party. He regretted giving in to his daughter’s pleading, but he knew it was inevitable. Theodosia was too much like her mother for him to refuse. So while Aaron suffered inside, trying to keep up small talk with Eliza, the children played outside with the Uncle trio.
Finally, everyone filed in to the kitchen. Angie happily unwrapped the presents. She read out Andy’s heartwarming card and then moved on to the goodies.
First, John’s present. Instead of wrapping it, John had buried it in a bag with confetti, which Angie quickly threw out. John had gotten Angie a jumping rope. Eliza looked slightly worried.
“Won’t she hurt someone with that?”
“No, of course not,” John assured. As if to contradict him, Angie started whirling the rope over her head, forcing Hercules to duck down. Aaron didn’t move fast enough, and so received a blow to the head.
“Oh, Aaron!” Eliza gasped. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Aaron grimaced. He hated Hamilton parties. Eliza skillfully removed the weapon from Angie’s hands. When the birthday girl began to whine, Eliza pointed out her other presents. Thankfully, Theo intervened.
“Angie! Open my present next!”
To be honest, there wasn’t much to open. Aaron had been in a rush, and had just slapped a bow on a old princess wand he had found in the attic. He was extremely lucky the party had been princess themed, so it seemed as if he had planned it.
“Thank you so much!” Angie smiled, waving it around like a mace. Afraid of further injury, Eliza snatched it right out of her hands.
“How will you open your other presents with just one hand?” she reasoned.
Angie moved on to Philip’s present. Her older brother practically jumped as she unwrapped it. Eliza didn’t even know what it was. Philip had insisted on raising money and buying it on his own. He did ran errands around town for a couple coins. It seemed he had inherited his stubbornness from his father.
Surprisingly, it was a book of piano pieces. Eliza eyed her excited son. The book was pretty thick. Exactly how much had he spent?
Angie leapt at him, laughing and crying at the same time. They landed and cuddled on the couch for a couple minutes, Angie thanking him profusely and Philip glowing with pride. He knew he had outdone everyone at the party. Finally Eliza managed to coax her away from her favourite brother. Angie opened the final box. A simple red ribbon sat there.
“Since your hair bands always break,” Eliza explained.
“Thank you mama!” Angie let her mother do up her hair in a ponytail, much like the one her father always wore, except it had a bow.
They sat at the table and sang the birthday song. Angie didn’t seem to notice the absence of her father until it was time to blow out the candles.
“Is papa here yet?”
Glances were exchanged around the table. Angie felt a cold stone of dread fill her stomach.
“Well, Angie, your father…he…” Eliza trailed off, unsure of how to express it in a way that didn’t cause a breakdown.
“He isn’t coming,” Hercules said bluntly. That, unfortunately, was the wrong thing to say. Angie jumped out of her seat and ran out the backdoor into the forest at the back of their house. None of the preoccupied adults even attempted to stop her.
“What?” John yelled, slamming his fist onto the table.
“There’s no way he won’t be here! He would’ve told us! He promised Angie! He promised me!”
“Oui, oui,” Lafayette agreed indignantly. “He wouldn’t miss Angie’s party.”
“He said he’d been roped into an important meeting he couldn’t get out of,” Eliza sighed.
Aaron sipped his tea awkwardly as they argued. He knew he shouldn’t have come. The Hamilton family was always riddled with drama.
“What are y’all doing?” Philip snapped, standing on his chair. Surprisingly, he managed to silence the entire room. Aaron wondered why he had a southern accent. “We have to find Angie!”
The children choroused in agreement. The adults glanced at the backdoor, realizing the truth of the statement. They split into pairs, a fuming John with an anxious Philip, a restless Theo with a reluctant Aaron, a concerned Lafayette with a confused Andy, and Hercules with Eliza at home. Someone needed to look after James. The groups headed in different directions, all with the intent of finding Angie.
Angie wandered the forest, sniffling. Why was it so unfair? Their father had never missed a single one of Philip’s birthdays. He had even been early to James’ latest birthday. Was it because she was a girl? She shook her head. It was bad to be jealous of her brothers.
She shouldn’t have been surprised. Philip always had been his favorite. When they were younger, their father was around more. He doted on Philip, paying a bare minimum of attention to his younger siblings. She had just expected him to show on one of the most important days of her life. It was heartbreaking, but to be honest, he had done something similar before. He had missed James’ school play, citing his forgetfulness. Their parents had a huge fight because of it.
While she was stewing on the matter, Angie had a strange feeling someone was watching her. She looked around. No one, but her mother had taught her to trust her instincts.
“Hello?” Her voice wavered. A snap, then a crash. A boy fell out of a tree, landing hard on the forest floor.
“Are you alright?” she asked worriedly, inspecting him. He had a slightly chubby face and tousled, curly hair; like her brother’s but curlier. It gave Angie a odd desire to touch it.
“Fine,” the boy grumbled, sitting up. He looked to be around her age.
“Are you sure?” Angie asked uncertainty. The fall had seemed pretty bad.
“Why are you here? No one comes here,” the boy spat.
“That seems… kinda mean.”
The boy hesitated before relenting.
“Sorry, I guess.”
“It’s okay! My name is Angie! What’s yours?”
“...Timothy.”
“Nice to meet you Tim!”
“It's Timothy,” he repeated, louder.
“That's what I said! Tim!”
Tim glared at her.
“Why are you so happy?”
“What?” Angie asked, taken off guard.
“I mean, your eyes are puffy. You’ve been crying. So why are you happy?”
Angie considered this.
“I made a new friend!”
“I am not your friend.”
Angie’s face fell, and her eyes welled up with tears.
“Please don’t cry,” Tim groaned.
“But you don’t want to be my friend!” Angie cried.
“Fine, fine. We can be friends. Just stop.”
“And… and… papa didn’t come to my birthday!” Angie wailed. A fleeting expression of sympathy settled on Tim’s face.
“Hey, hey. It’s alright.”
Angie hugged him and sobbed into his shoulder. The boy stiffened, surprised, before giving in. Angie calmed down after a minute. Then Tim began to speak.
“My dad doesn’t love me either.”
“Papa loves me!” Angie sniffled.
“Then why didn’t he come to your birthday?”
“He has important work to do.”
“More important than your birthday?”
Angie paused, trying to think of a solid argument. Philip would know what to say. Tim took advantage of this hesitation.
“He would put his children in front of his work, if he loved them.”
“You’re wrong!” A sudden thought struck Angie. “Does your papa do that?”
Tim looked as if he had been physically punched.
“No! He… he…”
“Do you need a hug too?”
Not waiting for an answer, Angie pulled him into a hug, despite his protests. After a minute of struggling, he gave in again.
“Does your family teach you to do this?” Tim sighed.
“Yeah! Mama said that everyone needs a hug, even if you don’t know it.”
“That’s stupid.”
Angie simply squeezed him tighter. After a moment, Tim quietly admitted,
“It does feel nice.”
“See?” Angie exclaimed gleefully.
“Never mind.”
“Aww.”
Tim continued in a quieter voice.
“It was something that my mom would do.”
“Was?”
“My mom is gone,” Tim explained. Angie listened, not even daring to breathe. “She passed away a couple of months ago.”
All of a sudden, Angie felt terribly for Tim.
“I loved my mom so much,” Tim sniffled, trying not to cry. “I was so sad when she died. But my dad didn’t cry once. He was just the poker faced workaholic monster I knew all my life, just ignoring me. He was never there for me. He doesn’t love me.”
Angie could almost relate to his sorrow. Her father was never there either. If it were Angie, she would want someone to listen, but at the same time she wished he would finish so that she could breathe.
“Then he fell in love with another woman and married her within a couple of months. I feel like he’s just trying to replace my mom.”
Angie’s lungs were about to burst.
“But no one can, and when I argued with him, he said he was doing it for me. How is this for me?”
Her head swam.
“So I ran away. I want to see how long it’ll take him to find me.”
The last sentence was so quiet Angie could barely hear him.
“Or if he’ll even bother.”
Angie finally took a breath, panting hard. Holding your breath was difficult. Tim stared at her while she tried to regulate her breathing.
“What are you doing?”
“I… didn’t want… to interrupt you.”
Tim stared at her in a moment of disbelieving silence. Then he burst out laughing. He went on and on. Whenever it seemed he was about to stop, he took one look at the heaving Angie and started again. Ironically, he could barely breathe.
Angie took offense. If someone was laughing, and you didn’t say anything funny, they were usually laughing at you. She angrily stormed off, Tim too preoccupied with trying to breathe to stop her. After a bit of walking she ran into Andy and Laf, who hugged her and took her back to the house. Needless to say, she was scolded, but the argument later that night, one between their father and mother was a thousand times worse.