The day kicked off smoothly; it was Friday, which placed the full moon the next week. These were the two days Zera anticipated. Zion’s birthday, because she wanted to celebrate with her son and family on such a special day. Zion’s school competition, and the full moon, because that would be when Lionel’s unmarking would take place. When Ivan told her the date many weeks ago, she didn’t know it would come this quickly. Ivan did everything, including calculations and proofing. The good thing was that the days she had looked forward to were already here.
She had told Diya about the talk she had with Aaron about getting her a job days ago at his company. Diya told her she shouldn’t have bothered Aaron, but how could she not? She was her best friend, and after everything they had been through together, she knew that Diya’s troubles were her troubles as well. If she could help lessen the pain, she would. Diya thanked her and told her she would speak to Greg and hear what he had to say. Yesterday, she reported to her that Greg had consented, and she submitted her credentials. She got a reply that she would go in for an interview the coming week, which was a few days away. Diya was grateful and happy, and she promised her she would not exploit this or make her regret it. She knew her friend well enough to know there would be no regret.
Just like every year, Aaron prompted to celebrate Zion’s birthday outside the Pack estate. The reason being that both humans and werewolves would come to celebrate, and hence, he didn’t want any intrusion.
Zera agrees with him and is grateful that he thought that far ahead of what they needed, even though she kept forgetting. They moved to the penthouse in the city centre to celebrate, about fifteen minutes’ drive from Hart’s company. They used the same venue for Zion’s last two birthdays. He was excited about celebrating there, and that was all that mattered.
They expected not less than two dozen guests to arrive, and Zera, Lionel, and Diya made preparations along with the planners. This would be Zion’s first birthday in three years, which Sesi would miss. Damor missed last year’s celebration because of his commitments in Ireland. They had hoped this year he would make up for it, but he called, tendering his apologies because he would not make it. He thought he would clear out in time, but it turns out he wouldn’t. As for Sesi’s absence, Zera didn’t look forward to her return; her place was with Manon, and she told Aaron she would have to miss out. Zion wanted to see her, but someday he would understand why that wouldn’t work.
The arrangement was completed a little after 6 p. m., and instead of returning home to the estate to change, Zera got ready at the penthouse. She had made plans ahead and picked out her outfit for tonight even before going to work. After work closed, she came down here to see the preparation through, and she knew she would not go home after that. Diya and Ivan returned home to get ready, and the planners all took their leave, but she stayed back.
She called Aaron and told him, and he told her he’d get Zion ready and over soon. The party would start at five, and that meant she had one hour to get ready. She showered and changed into the silver sweetheart dress. She wore the diamond pendant necklace Aaron got for her to celebrate their first anniversary together. All these she came over with to save her the stress of returning home to prepare.
She made her hair into a neat bun, with only a curl of it out at the side of her face. She stood before the dressing mirror, admiring herself, and she loved every bit of what she saw. Aaron would too.
She used little makeup, as her go-to words of encouragement were ‘less is more’.
She heard a knock on the door, and she glanced at her wristwatch. It was 4:41 p. m., and she immediately knew it was Aaron at the door. She came downstairs and opened the door, but found no one there; instead, a gust of wind blew over her face. She shut the door, confused as to why there was no one at the door, when she clearly heard a knock. It made no sense, but she didn’t dwell on it. She returned upstairs to her room, but through the mirror, she saw a figure in black standing beside the window. It almost looked invincible but for the mirror there.
Her heart skipped immediately at the sight, but she calmed herself and silenced her fear.
“What are you doing?” She demanded, but it didn’t turn to her. “I asked you a question!” She said it this time louder, and his head swirled, and he faced her. He didn’t speak, but his eyes flared purple. She gasped, not wanting to look afraid but failing at it.
The doorbell went off, and she jumped on her stand and blinked. As her eyes fluttered open, she saw no one there.
She didn’t move from her stand, watching to see if the figure she saw would return, but the doorbell went off again, and she knew she had to leave.
She came to the door, opened it, and found Aaron at the door, holding Zion in his hands.
“Mommy!” Zion called out with a cheerful look on his face.
“You look like you’re seeing a ghost,” Aaron said, pecked her lips, and stepped into the penthouse.
“You two look great. Happy birthday, Zion,” she said after recollecting herself.
He had on his red shirt and blue trousers. Aaron must have given him a new haircut in her absence because his hair had a fade on each side that matched Aaron’s. Aaron had white long sleeves and blue suit trousers on; it felt almost as if he didn’t change out of his work clothes, but he did.
“Well, thank you; I put a lot of effort into making us look this great,” he told her with a cocky smile at the corner of his lips. “We are the first here, right?”
“Yeah, you are; the time was set to five, remember?”
He set down Zion, and the little boy ran off, and though she wanted to keep him with them, she let him go.
“What’s wrong?”
“Are ghosts real?”
He shrugged and said, “It depends on who you ask.”
“Well, I am asking you. You said I looked like I saw one, so are they real?”
His eyes squinted, but he answered, “No, they are not, but if you think they are, you may have a genuine reason.” He paused for a while before asking, “Do you?”
She shook her head and said, “I don’t.”
She didn’t believe in ghosts, and if she didn’t see what she saw earlier, she wouldn’t either.
He stepped towards her and pulled her closer to himself. “Sometimes our minds play tricks on us and make us believe what we are seeing are things, but as far as supernatural beings are concerned, ghosts aren’t real. There have been no records of them since the beginning of time.”
She sighed. Perhaps he was right; perhaps she was imagining things. She thought she was already past that, and the hallucinations were over. She was wrong.