Today was supposed to be Elksia’s special day. Her birthday. But so far, it hadn’t been fun. Things had cropped up.
The entire time Elksia had been indoors, the sun had been shining and the clouds had gone away. She’d been filling out forms, trying to apply for a new post with the Silver Fangs, the Rethan territory border patrol. Her contract had run out so she’d had to go to the offices in Hertany.
On the way there, she’d been cut up by three other drivers, and some cunt had hit her bumper, only to drive off before Elksia could get their number plate. Traffic in the main city had been awful, making Elksia arrive five minutes late. It had pissed down the second Elksia got out of her vehicle and all of her stuff had gotten wet.
Of course, the second she left the building, the heavens opened again. Elksia rushed to her car, only to spend five minutes looking for her keys. By the time she’d actually got into her car, she was soaked to the bone.
It had been a shitty day for Elksia.
As she drove through the pouring rain, there was something else that had bothered her. Vel hadn’t called her all day. Or spoken to her. Or even seen her. Of course, Elksia had overslept because her alarm hadn’t gone off, so perhaps Vel had just gone off to work. He normally got up early anyway.
He did know it was her birthday though, didn’t he? Elksia actually wasn’t sure. She couldn’t remember if she’d actually told him. She knew his birthday was the seventh of July, she’d taken him out for a quiet, romantic meal and he’d actually smiled for once.
Vel never really was much of a smiler. Apparently, before he’d ended up being Elksia’s girlfriend, he barely spoke to anyone. Spent most of his time alone. Really, Elksia had saved him from spending forever in that stupid dark room of his. Room? More like tomb.
Someone overtaking her in a stupid large Cassid truck distracted Elksia and dragged her back to the road. The road had been mostly clear on the way back, thankfully. Apart from the rain. That had just gotten heavier and heavier. Any gains she would have made from the empty roads was lost because of the weather.
As the rain got heavier, Elksia decided to stop by the side of the road briefly. Just to wait for it to die down. The pause though got her thinking. It was her birthday and no one at all had said anything. Not a single damn words. Alright, Elksia hadn’t really seen anyone today, but that wasn’t the point. No telephone calls. No instant messages. Nothing.
The heavy rain quickly died down. It always did. Elksia pulled out and continued her drive. Luckily, Palaestra was only a few kilometres away, and after that, another kilometre to her home.
Part of Elksia’s mind began to wander again. Why was she still staying with Retvik and Tenuk? Alright, it was essentially rent-free, but maybe that’s why her friends never wanted to visit or something? Maybe it was time for her to move in with Vel. That was the one weird thing that he wanted, despite being such a loner normally. Then again, staying at their little ‘Dessaron HQ’ had a lot of benefits. Plenty of space for a party…
Then again, Vel would never arrange a surprise party. He seemed like the sort of Rethan incapable of doing such a thing. It was the sort of thing Tenuk might have done if he wasn’t constantly busy or anything. Everyone had been busy lately.
Finally, as Elksia pulled up to her home, the rain finally bloody stopped. Everything was covered in water, but that was to be expected.
Weirdly, no one seemed to be home. There were no cars around, at least.
Elksia sighed, grabbed her soaking wet stuff and walked over to the front door, keys in hand. With a sigh, she pushed open the front door, only to be showered in confetti.
“SURPRISE!” everyone shouted at the top of their lungs.