(c) Candles [G]

by **gloria-** Thu 25 Sep 2008, 7:33 am

Title: Candles
Author: meeee.
Rating: G.

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The birthday song ended, off-key and held a little bit too long. The cake was set down before a small girl, whose eyes were squeezed shut, fists clenched right up close to her body. Her slight frame shook violently with anticipation. One dark brown eye cracked open, and she squinted at the rectangular chocolate-frosted cake. There were seven candles, all burning bright. There was one in each corner, and three more arranged in a triangle around the center.

She panted, so excited that beads of sweat popped up across her forehead. “I wish...” she wheezed, “I wish...”

A hand fell upon her shoulder and her mother leaned down to her ear. “Sweetheart,” she whispered as the other adults – aunts, uncles, and the girl’s grandparents – continued to clap, awaiting the girl’s wish choice and the blow-out of the pinpricks of light in the dark room. “Sweetheart, keep your wish inside, or it won’t come true!”