Chapter Seven

Eighteen Candles

The leaves on the trees were dying, the air had become cooler and the winds, stronger. Autumn was definitely under way. It was Sunday May 2nd, 8:46 am and Savannah Brown was officially an eighteen-year-old.

She had been lying awake in bed feeling too old yet too young at the same time, reminiscing on her final days as a minor.

"Happy birthday Savannah so tan-a!" exclaimed Ben as he jumped onto Savannah and shook her maniacally,

"thanks Benj, but you can't just add 'a' onto every word to make it sound like my name," laughed Savannah as she wrapped her arms around her little brother,

"Sure I can-a, Savannah," he retorted, "come downstairs for your birthday breakfast, I'm starving" he complained as he pulled her out of bed.

Savannah washed her face and made her way down stairs, she was greeted by her mother, father and Ben, all beaming at her, standing above the dining table embedded with a plethora of delicious food.

"Happy birthday babygirl!" smiled Savannah's father as he kissed her on the forehead and pulled her in for a bone-cracking hug. He placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders and searched her face with his hazel eyes, Savannah was afraid he was going to cry.

Savannah had never seen either of her parents cry and she was thankful for it, she would avoid anything that made her uncomfortable, a crying parent being one.

"Where has the time gone?" he spoke softly, gazing wide-eyed at Savannah, "My princess is finally a queen," he laughed. Savannah was surprised yet appreciative of her father's affection, she understood that becoming an 'adult' was a big moment for him too.

"Happy birthday darling," said Savannah's mother as she kissed her on both cheeks.

"Can we do all this after we eat?!" complained Ben.

After a delightful meal, Anthony, Savannah's father pulled beautifully wrapped gifts from underneath the table,

"This is from me," he said, handing Savannah a gift in a large gift bag.

It was a pot plant.

"Ash tree, I know how much you love the one in the backyard," he spoke.

It was true, Savannah always found comfort in sitting around the ash tree in her backyard, she felt a connection to it that she felt nobody could understand, not even herself.

Savannah was grinning like an idiot, it was so beautiful, it was a gift that she never knew she wanted until she received it.

"Thanks so much dad!" beamed Savannah,

"I told you she'd love it," teased her father as her mother rolled her eyes.

"I know how much you enjoy reading Savannah, Mrs Bernard told me you were asking around for the 'Sisters of Sardeson' series" she said, sounding more and more excited every word she spoke,

"So I bought you the entire series!" she said beaming, "all six books!"

Savannah's heart filled with joy, the 'Sisters of Sardeson' was her favourite book series.

She wasn't always able to borrow some of them at the library, they always seemed to be checked out and the ones that she could borrow were always in crappy conditions.

"Mum! This must've cost you so much! I mean... thank you, so much." Breathed Savannah appreciatively as her mother grinned at her.

Ben cleared his throat and stood up,

"To celebrate your birthday sissy, I wrote you a rap... well it's more spoken word poetry but rap sounds so much cooler," he guffawed as the others smiled along,

"Savannah, Savannah

My pretty brown banana,

You're soft and sweet,

From fuzzy hair to feet

oh my Savannah

as gentle as a panda

whose heart is as big as the state of Montana"

Ben laughed awkwardly and ruffled his spiral curls looking somewhat embarrassed which pulled Savannah's heart strings. He sat back down and gave Savannah a punch on the shoulder.

"Ow?!" exclaimed Savannah,

"that feels so much better, there's balance in the world now," breathed Ben, together they all laughed at Ben's silliness. Savannah appreciated this moment with her family, goodness knows how many more family meals will be like this.

The only person missing was Mike, who Savannah guessed, couldn't be bothered to wake up this early. She hadn't spoken to or even seen Mike since the incident that happened over two weeks ago.

Savannah spent the day researching ways to look after a baby ash tree and admiring the the smell and look of the brand new books she received to add to her collection.

Every now and again she wondered when Leon was going to show and what he had planned. Leon had always been over-generous when it came to gifts, last year he bought her designer sunglasses which, to no surprise, are the only pair show owns. But after much discussion Leon agreed to tone it down.

Over the past couple of days, he had been surprisingly discrete with what he was giving Savannah which was completely unlike him, whatever he had planned she hoped it wasn't a party of some sort, because knowing Leon it probably is. This frightened Savannah considering the last party she attended was he fourteenth.

"Dinner!" called Savannah's father, it seemed impossible that it was already dinner time.

As Savannah made her way to the dining room she walked past the living room to see Mike sitting silently with his eyes glued to his phone screen.

Savannah hoped with every bone in her body that he would wish her a happy birthday.

She soon shook the thought off as she reminded herself that he didn't know it was her birthday, nor did he care.

She tried not to let the animosity between her and her brother that was eating her inside out, disturb the day that her mother, father and little brother worked so hard on making great.

Dinner was lively, yet missing something that Savannah couldn't quite put her finger on. Then it hit her, Ben hadn't brought his drumsticks to dinner, nor to breakfast.

This was the first time in close to 5 years that Ben hadn't brought his drumsticks to dinner, she couldn't figure out if he'd simply forgotten or that their parents asked him not to, just for today.

The sun was setting, after a week of dull grey skies, tonight was clear and cool. Taking advantage of the the beautiful sunset, Savannah went out and read her new book underneath the ash tree, savouring the moment as the gentle autumn breeze brushed against her skin.

She was barely a chapter in when her mother called her to get inside as the sky grew darker and the air become still. Savannah got up and made her way inside, as the fallen, dead leaves of the ash tree crunched beneath her feet.

She walked into her room and looked out the window and saw Mike's car reverse from the driveway.

She was certain that she wouldn't see him again for the rest of this day, which upset her even though she didn't understand why. She guessed that she would rather have her brother around on her birthday than have him absent, even though there's friction between them

'Where is Leon?' Savannah thought, it was unlike him to go a day without contact with Savannah especially on a day as special as this.

Savannah was starting to feel anxious, Leon had never missed her birthday since her sixth, apart from her fourteenth. She tried to shake of feelings that he'd forgotten, or that he'd ditched her, or worst of all, that something had happened to him. Before she knew it it was 9:15pm and there was a knock on her room door.

It was Ben, "Hey, I think you may've forgotten something in the backyard," he said in an expression that Savannah found hard to read. There was nothing Savannah could think of that she may have left outside while reading, but then again, Savannah was never great at remembering things.

Without a word or a second thought, Savannah bolted down the stairs, past the living room and into the kitchen to open the door to the backyard. She pulled away the curtains and open the slide door when she was greeted with the most beautiful scene she could've ever witnessed, including that evening's sunset.

The almost leafless branches of the ash tree were intertwined with fairy lights that was breathtaking and quite magical to look at, there was a stereo playing gentle music that always made Savannah feel at ease.

There was a picnic blanket laying on the grass covered with squashy mismatch cushions and above, beaming at Savannah as he held out a bouquet of daisies stood Leon.

Savannah approached Leon, she was at a loss for words as her eyes searched the breathtakingly beautiful scene as Leon's smile grew wider and wider.

"Didn't think I'd forget did you?" he said with a smirk, as he handed her the bouquet, Savannah looked at him accusatorily as he swung his slender arm around Savannah's neck.

"Happy birthday Sav!" he grinned,

"this year, I tried to do something that's more... 'you.' Simple, y'know? laid back and calm," he said proudly as he and Savannah twirled arm in arm, "but uniquely beautiful at the same time," he sighed looking down at Savannah with sheer content.

"Lee, this is so incredible," Savannah laughed, still in disbelief, she felt like she was in a trance, she never knew how much she needed this until now.

They made themselves comfortable on the picnic blanket as they gazed at the night sky and spent well-needed time with each other, reminiscing, catching up, and talking complete nonsense while eating snacks that Mrs Brockman will strongly disapprove of.

"This is a good look," complimented Leon as he put the last of twelve daisies in Savannah's thick, curly hair. She couldn't tell if he was being honest or sarcastic, she jokingly struck a pose as Leon roared with laughter.

"Savannah it's getting late," yawned Leon, "Here," he said handing Savannah a box wrapped in pale blue tissue paper with a beautiful star-shaped white bow.

"Leon, you really shouldn't have," said Savannah sincerely, she honestly thought that the late-night picnic was her gift from Leon.

"You wont be saying that once you open it... go ahead!" he said excitedly in a loud whisper.

Savannah carefully unwrapped the gift, taking her time to keep the tissue-paper wrapping and the star-shaped bow intact and in perfect condition. Leon smiled patiently as he watched Savannah.

It was a little brown book, with a hardcover yet very fragile binding, it looked like an aged diary of some sort. Savannah realising that Leon had cleverly wrapped it backwards turned the book to the front which read in glorious gold,

Daughter of the Sun

Poetry by Mailine Anoch

"No, way," Savannah whispered to herself in disbelief as her heart pumped out of her chest and her stomach did backflips.

Her emotions were getting the best of her, she was overjoyed, astonished, in disbelief and in utter amazement. She had been searching for other works of her favourite poet for over eight years, but could only discover three.

Now, here she sat, still as a statue, tears of joy welling her eyes as she stared down at what she never dared to dream about finding, an entire book of poems by the one and only Mailine Anoch.

"Say something," Leon whispered wearily,

Savannah, couldn't move or think let alone form words in her mind and make them come out of her mouth.

"Wha...." she breathed, it seemed to be all that she could manage to say,

"a collection of all of Mailine's poems... self-published... dad thinks it was sometime between her peak in the mid 1960's" chuckled Leon. "Yeah, given all you've told me about her since the forth grade, I have a hunch that it's probably the only one in the world."

This only made Savannah's brain fumble and her heart sink further into the pits of her stomach.

"How?" she asked teary-eyed and feeling like this was a dream she was about to wake up from. Leon cleared his throat and looked up at the twinkling lights on the ash tree above,

"having a lawyer for a father sucks most of the time," he said as a smile grew on his face, "but it does come with its advantages. Dad did a little digging around when he had a case last month against an art gallery for stolen artefacts. He came across this and we bought it so... it's all yours." He finished looking at Savannah and snickering at her baffled expression.

"This must of cost you a lot," said Savannah, finally coming to her senses,

"Not really... nobody really knew who she was apart from me, not even dad," he said proudly. Savannah looked down at her lap at the book, assured that it is actual and not a figment of her wild imagination.

"I don't mean in money Leon, I mean just in general... time and effort and... thank you so..." she couldn't finish her sentence.

She picked it up carefully and flicked through the pages, it had an earthy smell, like the atmosphere before it rains, she traced her fingers on the hand written and printed poems on the pages, each word feeling like a kiss from an angel on her fingertip. Overwhelmed, she continued flicking through the hundreds of pages, with each flick came whispers of the soul that this book belongs to, belonged to.

"I can never thank you enough Lee," she took a deep breath and locked eyes with him, her glassy brown eyes, with his warm chestnut eyes,

"I know I don't have many people... many friends that I... that know me and love me, for me... but I can't fathom how lucky I am that the only person I have turns out to be you," she said hugging the book to her chest.

"One Leon is all I need," she said as she kissed him on the temple and he blushed uncontrollably.

"Good, because I've kinda.... ah... got something to tell you," he said with a guilty expression that reminded her of the night he asked her to be his 'girlfriend.'

"Spit it out Lee, for all I care you can tell the whole world that I eat rats for living, I'd still be here," Leon looked nauseous, he took a deep breath and spoke incredibly fast.

"Okay, remember 8th grade, the thing with you, Natalie and your poem?" Savannah nodded wondering where he was possibly going with this.

"Turns out Sav, that Natalie never really took your poem, I did."