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It was fine. Skeppy would be home soon anyways. Then it wouldn't matter, because they could celebrate together.
Bad ignored the empty chair next to him.
They would laugh when Skeppy told a funny joke. They would smile when Bad blew out the candles on the cake. They would hug when presents were exchanged, like Bad hadn't peeked when Skeppy had wrapped it.
Bad ignored the present wrapped in black paper, the most extravagant of bows on the top in the corner of the closet when he went to borrow one of Skeppy's hoodies.
Bad walked out to the pens, full of different kinds of animals.
One egg. This was the spot Skeppy had made that one particular joke that made Bad fall over with laughter.
Two sugar. Skeppy had found his dog just off this river. Bad still fed it regularly, when Skeppy wasn't there to.
Three milk. Bad and Skeppy had talked about it before. Skeppy deemed milking cows "awkward", and "weird". He wasn't entirely wrong.
Three wheat. The most painful spot for Bad. The farm. This farm, Skeppy had placed a rose bush, and a tree near the center. Bad missed Skeppy so much he hadn't the heart to remove them. The tree had grown long ago, stretching into the sky, as if- no. Skeppy was coming home. Bad knew that.
Bad ignored the laughter in the back of his mind. "Do you like it?" Bad had frowned, and Skeppy wasn't taking it for an answer. "You don't?!" He had begun to wail, forcing Bad to apologise profusely. Bad shook his head. He had a cake to make.
Bad stared at the candles in the cake. Skeppy wasn't next to him. No one was. No chanting, no singing, nothing. Raw, undefeated silence. It had been like that for a while.
Bad ignored the cold that seeped into his skin.
"I wish for Skeppy." Bad murmured, blowing out the candles.
"I wish Skeppy were here. Isn't that funny? Almost mocking, even? The one thing I want, I need, I can't have? Isn't it funny that it's my fault ?" Bad took a heavy breath. Here he was, such a sorry sight, eating cake alone. On his birthday. Does it get much sadder?
"I'm sorry, Geppy. I'm so sorry."