A Little Girl's Broken Tales

6**

I went to bed again and slept the entire night through. When I woke up the next morning, things felt a little awkward and unusual. Catherine was nowhere to be seen and the mansion was relatively quiet. It would have scared me had I not been living with a houseful of vampires. As I walked into the kitchen, all the household staff walked out and yelled, “Happy Birthday Livvy!”

I blushed and took a step back. Rosie walked forward and passed me present after present. I stood there dumbfounded and let it all pile up until Catherine helped me to put it down in a safe corner of the kitchen. “Thank you so much for all the presents,” I said surprised that someone cared.

They all hugged me while Rosie directed to the kitchen table where a large pink fairy cake sat in the dead center.

“Well?” Marie said waiting with bated breath for a reaction. “What do you think of the cake?”

I looked again and studied it. It was beautiful. The cake was rectangular shaped, with a plastic doll popping out of the center. On her back were plastic wings that glittered gold and silver. Tears fell from my face and Catherine hurriedly wiped it away. “Oh, sweety, it is your special day! You shouldn’t be crying!” she said and bent down to hug me.

I smiled at her concern, but the truth was that I was crying because I was alone. I had reached my double digit year and this was year that everyone made promises. My parents promised that we would go on a tour and the Luigi promised to teach me to fight a vampire. And now, look, I was alone. Neither of them was here to fulfill their promises to me. I was better off alone. That way I didn’t have to rely on anyone but myself. But, what would these amazing people think? They went through so much of effort just for me and I was crying. I straightened myself and lightly tapped Catherine’s arm to let her know I was okay. She released me and smiled down at me. “You’ll be fine sweet Livvy.”

“Thank you Catherine,” I said politely and then turned to everyone else. “And thank each and every one of you for all your effort today. I don’t know how you knew, but I am grateful you all tried to make it special.”

They smiled and each said something, but it was drowned out by Rosie’s loud voice. “Let her eat!”

Suddenly there was a pathway and I could walk to the table and sit and just enjoy the feast that was laid out especially for me. About halfway through, a sleepy Alexander rolled in. everyone stopped in their tracks and hastily moved out of their way for him. Many of them gave quick greetings before they disappeared.  He took the seat next to me and pulled the plate of pancakes in front of him. He took the knife and fork I didn’t use and began cutting his stack of pancakes. I stared at him bewildered, but then just before he looked at me, I averted my gaze. “Happy birthday Liv,” he said huskily and then continued with his breakfast.

I took a few minutes to process what he just said. “Thanks,” I stammered out when I realized just how rude it would be if I didn’t thank him. He nodded and then stuffed a big piece of the five layered pancake in his mouth.

After breakfast, Catherine took me around the gardens. “This is the Dead Rose Bushes,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Catherine, why are you whispering?” I asked, whispering myself.

“Call me Cathy, this Catherine business is making me sound old,” she pulled a face and laughed. “Okay, but to answer your question. Rumors are that the lady that took care of this bush died. She was the Lady of The Mansion, and these rosebushes were her favorite. It was said that anyone who tried to tend to it again, killed the rosebushes. Now all we have is this dead corpse of roses. They have been this way since The Lady died. And that was over a hundred years ago,” she finished in a menacing voice.