Birthday Blackout Novels & Stories

It hit the wall with a hollow crack and slid to the floor, screen shattered, useless. My breath came fast and shallow. I was invisible to them now. And if they thought I was done… they were going to learn just how dangerous being forgotten made me. Renee The first thing I saw that morning was the headline. ALPHA BRIGHTCLAW & LORD BLACKFANG THROW RIVER CRUISE BIRTHDAY BASH. The photos were… something else. I didn't even know it was Dominick's birthday. It wasn't exactly public knowledge, though. Everyone knew he was the Alpha.

His eyes darted toward me in panic. Alisa, however, scoffed and typed again. [What are you so scared of? Your wife’s blind. What’s she gonna see?] His breath hitched. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled to keep calm. Then, like a man who’d just given up, he let out a deep sigh. “Babe, can you hand me the box of cigarettes on the nightstand?” That cigarette box he mentioned was clearly labeled: Durex Ultra-Thin—Bare Feel.

shove towards the door. “You both go on, have fun, make the best of this night off.” I added a wink at the last part, making Walter cough awkwardly, and Carla seemed to turn a light shade of pink. But that didn't stop her from saying, "Stephanie!" I just laughed softly, and after a few more moments of Carla and Walter acting like two kids caught sharing a peck, they decided to take my advice, and headed out. A smile etched itself on my lips as I watched them go. I hoped they ended up together soon. The beeping of my phone, however, pulled me out of my thoughts. Pulling it out of my pocket, a grin made its way to my face as I saw who it was from, but it was quick to fade when I read the

Without looking at any of them, I turned and walked out of the kitchen. In the living room, Elias' relatives were still chatting loudly. The television blared a New Year's Eve countdown special. I moved through the crowd, returned to our bedroom, and closed the door, shutting out everything beyond it. I pulled out the donor consent form I'd already signed from the nightstand drawer. I stared at my name on the page, then picked up the scissors from the desk and cut it into pieces. Then I took out my phone. First, I messaged the wedding planner. "Hi, I need to cancel the wedding scheduled for next month. Please cancel the venue and all vendors. Keep the deposit."

The Don whose initial T sits on the authorization page in the same violet ink as the payroll sheets, dated the fifteenth of March, two years ago, the day before my brother was shot in a Palermo alley by a capo who took his orders from inside our own walls. I unclasp the watch. I lay it on the grave marker, the gold face turned up toward the sky that is just beginning to bruise into dusk. My hand is steady. I have been waiting two years for this moment, and now that it is here I find that the waiting was worse than the doing.

It's Grandpa's birthday banquet, and yet my fiancee is working late again, missing her one chance to meet the family. My brother and his wife, still bitter about me taking the project from them, don't waste the opening. "What good is all his money when his fiancee can't even show up on a day this important? She clearly doesn't take him seriously." "That's why Archer's the smart one. He landed himself Claire Donovan, of all people. Even her throwaway gifts start at seven figures." I'm about to fire back when the familiar name stops me cold. My eyes lock onto the bracelet of dark wooden beads the butler carries in. It's identical to the one my fiancee just spent a fortune on a few days ago.

"When he was being rushed in and wheeled into surgery, I remember that he kept repeating something under his breath. "Something like… his birthday wish finally came true, or something along those lines. That might be what he cares about most deep down. If you want to try waking him up, you could start from there." Mom kept turning the doctor's words over in her mind. She murmured to herself, "A birthday wish? That's right… Zero has never once celebrated his birthday. He must really want that. But what was his birthday wish?" I wanted to tell her that my birthday wish was to die. All she needed to do was stop the treatment, and my wish would finally come true. Unfortunately, Mom couldn't hear

Black streamers hung on the walls. A massive three-tiered cake sat in the center of the coffee table. Black and gold. Elegant and beautiful. And stretched across the room above everything was a huge banner. Bold letters impossible to miss. "HAPPY THIRTY-TWO YEARS BIRTHDAY HUBBY" Grayson just stood there. He could not move. Or process what he was seeing. He had completely forgotten it was November 23rd. His birthday. With everything happening, the date had been the absolute last thing on his mind.

"Frankie, go home. Even if Evie never existed, we still wouldn't have worked. All these years, the only person you've ever loved is yourself. You enjoyed my devotion and the help I gave you. "Even now, you're only standing here because I left you, and you're not used to my sudden absence. It's not that hard to admit you never loved me that much." With every sentence I spoke, Frankie's expression grew darker. Finally, his hand went limp. The balloons he was holding floated up into the sky, drawing gasps from the crowd. I pointed at the balloons that were drifting away. My name was printed on each one of them. "See? Just like those balloons, once you let go, you can never get them back."

A boy in my sister Lily Bennett's class slaps her. Dad is furious. He storms straight to the school and demands that the teachers explain how they could have let something like that happen. Mom completely forgets about maintaining appearances. She floods the parent group chat with angry messages, refusing to let the matter go. My brother, Evan Bennett, is even worse. That evening, he shows up outside the school with seven or eight of his friends and corners the boy responsible. By the time Evan comes home, he says the kid has been "taught a lesson". But Lily isn't grateful. Instead, she pouts. "You guys made such a huge deal out of it that everyone at school is making fun of me now. No