Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

91. Eternally

The cacophony of noise could rival a battlefield, Lili thought, but unlike the painful sounds of war, this chorus was filled solely with mirth and warmth, love and light. It was the anti-exhaustion. It revitalized her.

Her house was filled to the brim with family and friends, all gathered to celebrate this day, September 17th, her sixteenth birthday. Their laughter reminded her of the balloons that would decorate her birthday parties when she was small; it was bright and colorful and she could float away on the sound of it.

With keen eyes, Lili took in the unburdened faces of those she loved the most, and it brought a grin to her own face. Grandpa Richard was gossiping with Abigail on the love seat, while Grandma Clare snacked on a handful of chips. The Savages, Jake and Beetles, were under surveillance by an ever-annoyed Gabriel, who had caught them attempting to sneak either cake or some sort of sweets from the kitchen, and had taken to scolding them like he would have done to Emma when she was younger (and, to be honest, still would do now). Lili's young cousins were all scattered about, with ten year old Wallace engrossed in a game of checkers between his mother and eight year old Hugo - or Hugh, as everyone tended to call him - while six year old Rob was playing with Emma's dogs, Coco and Mr. Smith. The youngest of Michael and Wilamena's boys, Tony, was only three, and was perched in his fathers arms, one of Michael's hands reassuringly stroking his buttery blonde curls as Michael and Emma engaged in one of their obviously pointless squabbles.

As for her own siblings, Abby was shamelessly eavesdropping on Abigail and Richard's conversation, a lazy grin on her face as she stretched her entire body across the couch. Jake, on the other hand, seemed to be pointedly ignoring his aunt and uncle and their argument, focusing his energy on completing the word search that had been in the day's newspaper. With all of them sprawled around the living room, it made for quite the chaotic sight, and Lili loved it. Yes, these people were all strange and sometimes troublesome (her eyes flicked to her aunt and uncle as the word flicked through her mind) but they were hers, and she was so glad that they were all here for her on her special day. 

"I've successfully badgered my very talented father-figure into getting his violin and playing for us," Eternity said, coming up behind Lili and resting her chin on the blonde's shoulder. "I still haven't been successful in getting him to learn Bohemian Rhapsody, though."

"Baby steps," Lili murmured, arching back into Eternity's embrace.

"I guess," Eternity replied. "Did your extended family give you decent shit or did they give you weird stuff?"

"You'd know if you'd have paid attention to me on my birthday, instead of reading that comic book," Lili said, turning around while still in Eternity's arms, so that they were face to face.

Eternity huffed. "It was the new Wolverine comic I just got last week. It was important."

"If you say so," Lili sing-songed. She paused for a moment, then tilted her head, a wry smile appearing on her face, "And everything was fine. No weird beauty products from Aunt Wil this year. Grandma and Grandpa got me a couple posters to put up in our room. Jake and Beetles brought candy, because their love language is sugar - and if you steal my Jolly Ranchers I will come after you, by the way. Abigail gave me these cool tarot card earrings. Aunt Wil and my cousins gifted me some nice new sweaters and pajamas, which is great. And I'm excited about the books Michael gave me. They seem very dark academia, psychologically fucked up, which is always fun."

"Nice. What books are these again?"

"The Secret History, Gone Girl, The Shining, and a copy of Carmilla. I read Carmilla in the library a while back and it's one of my favorites, because, well, lesbian vampires."

"Of course. And your chaos incarnate aunt? Has she provided you with instructions on how to make a Molotov cocktail?"

"That implies that Emma knows how to follow instructions," Lili quipped, "and that I don't already know from dad how to make a homemade bomb. No, she gave me a penknife - she says it's because it's clearly a writer's weapon, even though it's just a pocket knife with two blades and I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize that - and Gabriel gave me some new sheet music because he's sensible enough not to arm hormonal teenagers."