Happy Birthday: Part III

The content in this Chronicle and on this website is intended for adults, 18 years and older.

Happy Birthday

Part III

An R.L. Mathewson

“Maybe we should sleep in the truck?” Mikey suggested, which Trevor really didn’t appreciate, not after everything he went through to make this happen.

“Tent’s almost up,” he told her, even as he was forced to squint his eyes as he tried to make out which part of the tent that he was holding in his hands.

“Maybe we should go back to that store that we saw and buy batteries,” Sebastian asked with a frown, as he gently slapped the dying flashlight against his hand in attempt to squeeze a little more juice out of the batteries only to groan seconds later when the weak light finally went out.

Shit!

“I believe I saw a lovely hotel on the way here,” Mikey said, somewhere to his right, but since he couldn’t tell exactly where he settled for glaring in her general direction.

“A hotel does sound lovely,” his smart ass son said, sounding amused as Trevor continued kneeling on the rocky ground, wrestling with the tent that he’d borrowed from Uncle Jared in the pitch black, hungry, tired, and more than ready to call it a fucking night.

But, he refused to give up.

It was his son’s birthday tomorrow and he was damn well going to give him the birthday that he deserved even if it-

Snap!

“What was that?” Mikey whispered somewhat frantically right around the time that Trevor decided that a hotel stay did in fact sound lovely.

“Nothing,” he said, even as he abandoned the tent, reached out blindly until he had both kids by the arms and was dragging them in the general direction of the camping site’s parking lot, really hoping that whatever had made that sound wasn’t following them.

Snap!

“Do you think it’s a bear?” Mikey whispered, sounding intrigued as he paused so that he could throw them both over his shoulders.

With a pained grunt, Sebastian said, “It sounds hungry.”

“It really does,” Mikey added, making him grind his jaw and shaking his head with a sigh at the reminder that the two of them together were worse than Sebastian with his twin brother Jonathan, which was really saying a lot since the twins lived to torment everyone.

Snap!

“Who do you think he’ll eat first?” Sebastian asked conversationally, as though he wasn’t currently hanging over his shoulder, getting jostled somewhat violently with every move.

“Probably Uncle Trevor,” Mikey said after a thoughtful pause, making him wonder why he liked the little girl so much.

“He has been letting himself go,” Sebastian said with a pitying sigh.

“That’s what I was thinking, but I didn’t want to say anything,” the little smart ass said, making his lips twitch even as he adjusted his hold on the kids and earned matching grunts.

“You’re both mean,” he pointed out, even as he wondered if they were going in the right direction.

Snap!

But, he was more than happy to keep going in this direction and see where it took them, he decided.

“It’s eager for its midnight snack,” his son pointed out.

“It really does,” Mikey said with another grunt, as Trevor stumbled out the woods and-

“Thank god,” he mumbled when he spotted his truck in the poorly lit parking area near the bathrooms and headed straight for it.

When he was only a few feet away from his truck, he dropped both kids on the ground, reached into his front pocket, grabbed the keys, opened the door, and proceeded to throw each child in front seat before jumping in after them, closing the door, starting the truck, and threw it in drive.

“But, what of our lovely camping trip?” his son asked, chuckling as he buckled in.

“We never speak of it again,” he bit out, glaring straight ahead.

“We’ll cherish the memories forever,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly and making his lips twitch.

“They’ll get us through the tough times,” Sebastian added.

“They really will.”

“You’re both evil,” he informed them, chuckling even as he shook his head and headed towards that hotel, hoping to salvage the rest of their trip.

© Rerum Industries, Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved.