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1 year ago : July 13th 2019

"I'M ELEVENNNNNNNNN!" Liam screams down the stairs in his astronaut pyjamas, informing everybody in the house that it's completely, 100% and most definitely his eleventh birthday.

At 5:15 am.

I can hear him stumble down the last few steps with an 'ouch' as I cover my head with a pillow to block out his excessive noise.

Last night, me and Ezra stayed over at the Hayes house to get prepared for Liam's birthday. After 4 hours of wrapping countless numbers of presents, we finish at 3 in the morning - that time isn't really that late but when you're woken up at the crack of dawn, it really isn't enjoyable.

"I GOT PRESENTS! WOOOOO!"

Oh my lord.

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After being dragged out of my bed, like everybody else, I eventually end up sitting on the couch with a steaming cup of coffee in my hands.

Yes, I drink hot coffee in summer. Shoot me for being tired.

And with the bonus the sound of Liam being forced to read each and every card is honestly mind numbing to my poor brain.

Blinking hard, i awaken myself from a little micro sleep, only to see Levi and Liam tugging between the big box in the centre. I raise an eyebrow at Levi, who eventually lets go of his younger brother's birthday presents with a strop.

Child.

Liam scurries to rip open the pastel yellow wrapping paper in excitement. The box underneath it is ginormous however doesn't seem to be that heavy, seen as its lifted with ease. When all the paper is finally gone, the packaging reveals a box labelled in bright red letters 'LEGO : hanging solar system mobile  - recommended for ages 10-14'.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH OH MY GOD YOU REMEMBEREDDDDDD!!!!!!!" Liam squeals like a 4 year old girl as he jumps into his mum's lap for a tight hug.

"Of course I remembered," Jennifer smiles adoringly at her son as she rocks him from side to side. Ed wraps an arm around his wife while Levi kisses his mum's forehead when he bends down to pass her her camomile and jasmine tea.

A picture perfect family.

Me and Ezra rush to get our presents for Liam from upstairs, leaving them to have a family moment. Rummaging through my bag, I search for his gift.

Aha!

The envelope feels crisp between my fingers as I clutch it in my hand at the bottom of my backpack.

Striding downstairs, I go to give Liam his gift, waiting in nervous excitement to see if he likes it.

Sneaking up behind him, as he slouches calmly on the armchair, I mimic to the others to stay quiet. Still oblivious, i lean over his shoulder silently so he doesn't notice me and go up close to his ear and scream piercingly high.

"AHHHHHHH WHAT THE HELLLLLL!" Liam wakes up from his zen daydream with a dramatic jump that lands him on the rug. Everybody in the room laughs at his expense, while he clutches onto his chest, heaving.

"Happy birthday twinkle-toes," I grin wide and hold out his card with a smug smile. He rolls his eyes and chuckles, taking the joke well. Extending my arm, I help him up clumsily but he soon stands tall, giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek - even though he still has to stand on his tiptoes slightly.

Gliding his finger under the seal of the envelope, he plucks out the handmade card and reads it with a laugh, showing everyone what it says - 'happy birthday loser, little disclosure there's no money inside because I'm broke.'

"Sweet as ever Alison," Levi mutters into my ear, brushing his lip softly against my earlobe.

His comment seemed innocent enough, but I still got shivers down my spine. Gulping, I turn to Liam who's now opening the card, with a look of pure shock on his face.

"no....NO. WAY. tell me you're not lying Allie, i beg you..."

Brushing my hair out my face, I say, "Told you I didn't put money in there."

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"THIS IS AMAZING!" Liam squeals as he runs around the kitchen in excitement. He's clutching the tickets to the NASA space agency, while zooming around the kitchen island. His reaction is worth the amount of trouble I went through to get those tickets.

Seeing as I'm only a teenager I could only spend so much, and even with the help of my parents, I could only manage to secure 3 tickets - presumably for me, Liam and Jennifer unless somebody drops out at the last minute.

"AND LOOK IT EVEN SAYS THERE'S A 100M BIG PLANETARIUM?!" he screams as he reads the information booklet. Yes okay, I spent way too much money on those tickets, but I never spend anything anyway so I thought, why not?

And the shining look on his face makes every penny worth it.

"WHEN DO WE GO?! WHEN DO WE GO, ALLIE?!" tugging on my hand, to get my attention, Liam pesters me with millions of questions, but i happily answer them to feed his excitement.

Answering all his questions, I told him all about how we were going around the end of September, how it'll take 2 hours and 36 minutes to get there and that the planetarium is over 60 feet tall and 100m wide.

Listening intensely, Liam clings onto my every word, absorbing all this information. Jennifer mentions that he'll have to get up super early so that me, her and Liam can have as long as possible at the planetarium.

Practically bursting with excitement, Liam spends the next few hours researching all about the space agency and the opportunities that we'll get to take part of when we go.

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It's almost 8 o'clock and people are starting to get hungry. My parents arrived around 11 and since then, the Hayes and my family have been having a relaxing day in the sunshine, playing waterfights, eating ice cream and laughing in joyous conversation.

But now we want food.

Unsurprisingly, Liam's choice of restaurant is Rocky's Diner, so we set off to get dinner from there like on every birthday of Liam's.

It's a rather quick trip, but traffic holds us up as per usual - apparently some farm idiot let a ton of chickens loose, which are now running up and down the motorways. But after the eventful drive, we managed to get there.

The sun is setting on the horizon, painting the sky a comforting salmon colour. A warm breeze wafts our direction, making my hair blow softly in the wind. My skin glows under the muted sunlight, golden like honey trickling down my complexion.

The lights on the diner sign flicker on as it starts to get darker, illuminating the tranquil skies with vivid colours.

"Come on Allie! I want to eat!"

Strolling into the diner, I take my usual place on our 'designated' table and flick through my menu. Levi sits beside me, whistling quietly under the busy sound of nearby customers. He grins when he sees me watching him out of the corner of my eye, so I look away quickly and focus all my attention on the birthday boy.

"So- uhm. Liam! What do you want to eat?!" I stammer as I see Levi tilt his head in amusement beside me. His usual icy blue eyes look balmy in the warm lighting, but the cheeky smile on his face is still the same.

"Egg and bacon burger with sweet potato fries and a vanilla malt milkshake!" he recites the only order he's ever gotten. He doesn't even need to look at the menu to decide.

What can I say? The boy knows what he likes and sticks to it?

At least he can choose what he wants - but when it comes to food I'm probably one of the least decisive people ever so I often get other people to choose for me.

And by other people I mean Levi.

"I would like an Oreo milkshake with a large fries and a cheeseburger....andddd the lady would like the same however with a Reese's peanut butter milkshake rather than an Oreo one." Levi winks at me as he orders our food after everyone, making sure to remember my peculiar dislike for Oreo milkshakes.

Dont judge me...i find it too sweet....

Soon our food has arrived and I shovel it down at an insane speed, leaving little room for conversation.

I've practically hoovered my burger down by the time people have taken their first bite. However after a series of casual conversations, fights over the last bit of ketchup in the bottle and more eating, we've finally finished with our bellies completely full.

I lowkey look 5 months pregnant right now...that is how bloated I am.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LIAMMMM! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU!"

The lights go out as the staff from the restaurant come one singing 'happy birthday' to Liam. It's pitch black apart from the low glow of the candles on top of his cake and the occasional passing car, so Liam is really the only person we can all see.

Once the cake is placed in front of Liam you can see his happy grin beaming under the yellow flickers of flames.

His parents' cameras flash as they take photos with their son.

Levi puts the tip of his finger in the creamy white icing, licking it clean after getting slapped lightly round the head by his mother, who is laughing at her idiot son.

Everything about this moment is perfect.

Liam looks up at me, grins, then gazes back down at his cake, with a huge smile stretching across his face.

And that's the last thing I see before Liam blows the candles out and it all goes dark.

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