5-11-2004
~Carmilla's P.O.V.~
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Sherman barreled into the room, a cake in his hands.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LAURA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" He practically yelled, making Laura's eyes snap open as well but she just smiled wide. There was 11 multi colored candles on the pink colored cake. She sat up on her bed, kicking her legs excitedly. Her hair tousled, the sunlight shining through her hair, making it look almost like a lion mane. I stretched belly up on my spot on the yellow pillow on Laura's bed, giving a soft mewl as Lara automatically ran her hand on my tummy. Her smile was huge as Sherman sat on the bed, still holding the cake, making us on the other end, bounce slightly.
"Make a wish." Sherman held out the cake, carefully setting it in front of Laura on her lap. Her hand stilled on my stomach as she closed her eyes, staying quiet, and surprisingly still, for about a minute before those honey orbs opened wide, her tiny lungs blowing out a large breath, blowing out the candles on the cake. The lettering read, 'Happy Birthday Ladybug'. Sherman lifted the cake off his daughter's lap. The minute it was off her lap and safely sitting on her bedside table, she immediately launched herself into her father's arms. The soft purr in my chest began as I watched the scene before me.
Laura had her arms tightly around Sherman's neck, giving a squeeze. Sherman let out a breath as she did but did nothing to stop the squeeze as he wrapped her arms even tighter around the girl. His face held joy, but there was also a tone of sadness. Sadness that I knew after all these years that stemmed from the fact that Laura's mother was nowhere to be seen or even heard about, even at the fact that its her daughter's birthday. He shook that look away quickly though as he felt Laura shift in his arms. He looked at her like if she was his whole world, and for that second I looked at them like they were mine.
My father was like this with me as well. To the point that my mother was jealous and ended up murdering him. I felt some tears sting in my eyes, zoning out, the scene in front of me becoming nothing but a blur. It wasn't until I felt a soft pair of hands pluck me up from the pillow that my attention snapped back to the present. Before I knew it, I was in a Hollis sandwich. The purring in my chest couldn't be stopped as the Hollis warmth surrounded me. Sherman patted Laura's back softly, pulling away from the hug to give us all space to breathe. We all fell apart from each other as Sherman gave one last squeeze around her shoulders. Laura gave a small glance at the picture on her table next to the cake.
I knew well it was a picture of her and her mother, Laura just a newborn in the picture. Sherman glanced down at his lap for the second that Laura looked over at it. The smile dropped from Laura's face momentarily, and it broke my heart. I didn't know what type of person you had to be to hurt a ray of sunshine, but I knew I didn't want to be that person. So I licked her hand, making her look at me, the smile blooming on her face, making me instantly proud of myself. Sherman looked at us when he saw Laura's head movement. He smiled again, getting off the bed and clapping his hands together, before picking up the cake.
"So who wants to go the the kitchen to get some cake?" Laura smiled and jumped up. Her toothy grin was wide, as she ran ahead of Sherman, her arms flailing up in the air. Sherman laughed as he walked after her, then looked back at me. "C'mon Cupcake before she chokes on some of the food that I laid out." I jumped off the bed, threading between his legs carefully as he walked. He lifted the cake over his head and looked down at me, grinning before reaching the stairs.
I jumped down them, taking a few steps at a time, my body being much longer than when I was a kitten. I could hear the scraping of plates coming from the kitchen. When I walked in, Laura was standing by the counter, on her tiptoes. It had been a while since she needed the small ladder to be able to reach the counter, showing that she was growing as the time passed. Her hair was past her shoulders now, her flannel pajamas fit her just a little short on her ankles, her frame remaining small but only slightly taller. Her eyes had also gotten slightly wider as her face thinned out. The changes were small and subtle but whenever you woke up next to someone everyday, you noticed a few things changing. Just like how her scent had become less of an innocent garden rose and began smelling of the whole garden instead.
I shook my head slightly and saw her tower of pancakes on her plate. That habit hadn't changed apparently. Neither had the fact that she snuck a few more chocolate chips onto her plate and her dad looked the other way. Sherman set the cake in the middle of the dinning table, then moved back to the counter to get himself some of the pancakes he had made. But he made a quick pitstop to drop off my pancakes in my food bowl. I sat down, leaning forward to eat.
I watched them eat by my position by the refrigerator, swaying my tail. Laura would look over every once in a while to check on me before smiling and turning back, stuffing another piece of pancake down her throat that always seemed to big for her but she would somehow manage to push it down. Once she was done with the pancakes, she waited patiently, yet somehow impatiently at the same time, for Sherman to finish the few pancakes he had served himself along with the side of bacon.
He would peek up every few seconds and slow down even more in his eating, clearly trying to annoy Laura but she was too busy eyeing the cake to notice that that was his plan by eating slow. After about 10 minutes of eating as slow as he could manage without going turtle speed, he swallowed the last bit of bacon he had been chewing for longer than necessary.
Laura may as well have been a rocket that was ready to take off. She was shaking in her seat, her hands clenched into small fists as she looked at the cake with eyes bigger than should've been possible. Her bed head hair kept quivering as her shaking intensified when Sherman reached over with the knife to cut the cake. He cut into it to reveal it was a strawberry flavored cake, Laura finally exploding as she bounced slightly in her seat at the sheer force she used to throw her arms up, her hands open.
Sherman chuckled and placed the slice in front of her, while she immediately dug in. He cut a slice for himself, placing it on his plate before putting some treats in my bowl as a consolation prize for not giving me cake. I took my time, chewing them slowly as I watched Laura. Sherman gave a throaty laugh.
"Remind me next year to not put 'Ladybug'. Next year I'm going to put 'Piggy." At that Laura's eyes snapped up at him, her cheeks puffed out from the cake she had shoved in, her cheeks and nose covered in frosting. The sudden motion making her throat make a noise that sounded suspiciously like an 'oink'. Sherman couldn't keep in the snort this time, causing me to laugh to myself. I drank some of my water before prancing over and jumping into Laura's lap. I closed my eyes as she continued to eat.
After Laura finally convinced Sherman to shove his food down, she looked at him expectantly as he made his way to the living room to retrieve the presents. Laura was by no means a material girl but she enjoyed having new things to play with. Besides it's not like Sherman minded much since Laura never really asked for anything. He held four boxes in his hands. Laura swung her legs, causing me to teeter slightly but I just curled closer to her abdomen. All four boxes were wrapped in the same silver wrapping paper, with checkered pink and yellow bows. Sherman handed a box over to Laura. It was quite large, but seemed light considering that Laura could lift it.
"You know my taste isn't the best but I still tried." She pulled out a purple shirt that had a cartoon skull on she pulled out a pair of black jeans and some dark purple slip on vans. She clutched it to her chest approvingly before setting it aside. She was handed her the next box carefully. "This next one is a lot more delicate honey. I noticed you liked taking pictures a lot, and it's not that I don't like you using my phone for that, besides, if you get good someday, I want it to be with equipment that's good." So that's where Laura's rambling came from. I turned my attention back to Laura, seeing her jaw had dropped open.
She pulled out a brand new camera, still in its packaging. Her hands shook nervously until she was able to put it on the table, with the help of Sherman that moved the box. She tore open the plastic wrap around the box itself then opened the box, pulling out a camera, holding it gingerly in her hands. The small black Sony camera, the part where the lens was was a nice silver color. She turned it on and it gave a small ding. She pointed the camera at her dad and clicked the picture, Sherman caught off guard, taking a sip of his coffee. He looked over and smiled, Laura snapping another while smiling and putting it down.
"This one is for all the pictures you're going to take with that camera." He handed her a squared, flat box. She opened it to reveal a black leather bound picture album with her initials stitched into the bottom right corner. She flipped through it, seeing all the empty spots for pictures and smiling happily. She set it next to the camera and grinned as she was handed the last box. When she opened it, she pulled out a variety of child friendly video games. Once she revealed all of them, she picked me up off her lap, carrying me with her as she went over to Sherman, giving him another long hug, giving me another taste of the Hollis sandwich in the process.
"Why don't we go to the backyard. You might find some bugs or something to take pictures of." Sherman suggested once they let go. When Laura agreed, he opened the sliding door, walking outside into the morning's sun. So began Laura's trek across the backyard, photographing anything she deemed worthy. I sat myself in a patch of sun that was just the perfect temperature and closed my eyes. It was moment's like these that I realized how much being a cat was just like being myself. Eating and sleeping all day everyday whenever I felt like it.
My ears twitched as the clicking of the camera was suddenly closer than expected. I opened my eyes lazily and saw that the camera was pointed in my direction. My ears twitched at every click of the camera but I just sat there, swaying my tail patiently for a few pictures before getting up and walking away, hiding under one of the outdoor sofas. Laura's attention shifted again as her dad was fixing some things around in a small shed I hadn't noticed was there before.
I looked over at the two just in time to see Sherman snatch the camera from Laura's hands, turning it in her direction as he started snapping pictures, Laura squealing as she tried to run away. I smiled to myself at the two dorks, wishing nothing but the best for the two when I inevitably had to leave the two. After all, this was only temporary.