I wake up to a quiet day with my alarm ringing. The hour hand is pointing to seven, while the minute hand is moving rapidly towards six. I straighten myself up in bed and look around my room. The cream walls, which are dominated by blue and purple tones, of the room are empty. My eye goes to the photo frame next to the clock, which is the only decoration in the room. In the photo taken in a park, there are three girls who are almost the same age, looking like they are having a celebration judging by the big smiles on their faces, the gifts in their hands and the cake on the table in the back. I take the frame and pull the picture out of it. It looks like an old photo. The edges are frayed and the colors are starting to fade. I turn the back of the picture and I see a date: 04/17/2018
Mom and Dad’s voices come from the hallway. They enter my room singing the birthday song. My mother has a cookie with a small candle on it, and my father has sparklers. I got up and give them a long, tight hug and thank warmly. They say goodbye after saying that Bengi is waiting in the hall and that they have surprise for me in the evening, so I have to come home early. I put my cookie on my table and go to the living room. As I step into the living room, Bengi jumps in front of me behind the wall with a gift in her hand, screaming “Happy Birthday!”. Shortly before she breaks my bones, I thrash out of her and end the hug. Then she pushed me into my room and said, “Get ready quickly, Buse is waiting for us at the amusement park.” After getting ready quickly, we start to make our way to the amusement park.
After traveling every inch and playing every game in the amusement park all day long, they told me to close my eyes and started to take me somewhere. I opened my eyes when Bengi said ”Here we are.” In front of me, a arbour appeared, decorated with lights all over, with the inscription happy birthday on the top, and a lot of balloons attached to it. On the table, there was a big cake and a small gift package with the words “more memories” on it. I felt tears building up in my eyes. Behind me, Buse said, “Should we immortalize this moment before all of our eyes turn red and puffy?”. After laughing, we took a polaroid photo. Then they lit the candles on the cake and told me to make a wish. I wished it would last forever. That it never ends. Before I could blow the candles, the wind took the candles’ fire. Büşra said “It’s okay, let’s burn it again.” and lit the candles again with the lighter. Buse, who now has the photo, showed us excitedly and said, “Look, our photo is ready.” “Come on, open your present then,” added Büşra, and they handed me the package. When I opened the small package, there was a picture frame inside. We wrote the date on the back of the photo and placed it inside. At that moment my phone started to ring. It was my mother’s number calling.
But when I answered the phone excitedly, it wasn’t my mother who answered me. He was a doctor. After the doctor on the phone introduced himself, he began to explain what had happened in a calm and cold-blooded manner as possible. “Your family was in a car accident.” said the doctor. I started to feel dizzy and unable to feel my body. I could hear the fussy voices of Buse and Büşra from behind, but it was as if they were shouting at me from miles away. My phone slipped down my hands. Büşra quickly grabbed the phone and started talking to the doctor. Buse started to look for a taxi. I, on the other hand, slumped on the floor with my wish hanging in the air, my candles still burning hopelessly, my cake that we hadn’t had time to cut, and gift wrapping scattered on the floor. The wind took my wish far, far away. The candles of my cake, which I hadn’t blown yet, died.
It was like my brain was playing a game with me. What followed was blurry. Our rush to the hospital, my life being turned upside down, my eyes so tired that cannot produce tears anymore, those who came to take me to the orphanage, the fact that Buse forced me to keep the photo that she took with her when we left the arbour, farewell to my cookie and cake that I have never had the chance to taste, goodbye to my friends, to my family to my home, to our dreams, goodbye to my life…