Happy Birthday?

A cheerful chirrup, almost like a birthday song, fell upon his ears, a glimmer of golden rays narrowly escaping the barrier created by a sheet of heavy navy lacy curtains lit the room with shimmer. He squinted his eyes, and greeted the 1st day of 10th year of his existence with a smile as warm as an April afternoon. He had been looking forward to turning 10 for as long as he had been 9. 

I do not remember the time I turned 10. But it must have been a happy day, a tinier version of me feeling ready to take on all the responsibilities and pondering upon maturity that must be expected from me. 

As you grow older for the first two decades of your life, you think about things you need to leave behind, to be of your age, the toys that you will have to forget, to set upon the righteous path. And, then comes a time when you've been far from home for too long, farther from yourself. You stand at the crossroads.  

When I stood there, finding wisdom to choose the right way, I turned...

Well, for now, the boy is only turning 10. He wondered what the other 10 year olds did on their birthday. He was, as one would expect, excited. He wondered what his family must be planning for him, reminiscing about the last year's biggest birthday party they had surprised him with. 

In his chequered pyjamas and with tousled hair, he stepped. 

There sat a gorgeously piped black forest cake,  that filled the kitchen with it's sweet, deep aroma. He has had the same cake for all the birthdays he could remember and he wouldn't have it another way. It was enough to break his lips into a smile and his heart lit with a warm glow. 

What was different? Besides his family not being at home, probably  planning for the this big day. He thought he'd ponder over that while taking a nice bath with big blue bubbles that he saved only for the happier days, which was followed by gazing garden, which seemed to be fuller- with a lot more birds and butterflies and the flowers too, had blossomed, and a little sun basking. 

After an incalculable amount of time, the sun had now set, to shine brighter at another place, and a chilly wind stroked his face, much harsher than the morning wake up call. He darted into the house feeling awful for having slept through the day. 

The cake was there, so were mommy and daddy and his little sister, undisturbed. Their faces were hollow and were painted with grief. 

The little boy wondered why, why such a beautiful day would make his family so sad.

He wondered more.

As he stood there, at the exact moment before he was about to break the silence, and he met his mother's eyes, he hardly felt her gaze. The gaze that pierced right through him into emptiness. 

The fragile bubbles, dreams and hopes, lost in blues. 

In hollow existence- mourning, morning, day and night. 

Deeper cries of shallow tears, aching eyes and heart alike.

The lingering warmth from his last touch, they could never let go.

A blow, of an awakening, long pending. He had walked the dark forest long ago.