Aubrie had reached her sweet sixteenth. Bittersweet sixteen. Sixteenth birthdays were a sad affair in the Sanders family.

She was sitting before her small cake with its sixteen candles, her friends and family all around, party poppers launching confetti into the air and her smile didn’t even reach her eyes. This was her last birthday with her family. Next time would be in the city of Orthank. Once she graduated middle school, she’d have to move to the city, just like her older siblings, Al and Fay, had.

It seemed unfair to have to leave, but what other choice did the Sanders have? Sixteen was the youngest a person could start working and their family desperately needed the money. It had always been like this – as soon as the Sanders children were old enough, they had to leave home and become financially independent. Generations upon generations had lived this way.

She looked at her parents and could see the sadness in their eyes. They hated that they had to send their children away, that they had failed to provide their children with chances they’d never had either. The Sanders parents had hoped to break the trend, to be the first ones to provide their children with a brighter future. But fortune had not been on their side and too much bad luck drained the family coffers until there was barely anything left.

She would have to later remind her parents that leaving home was an honour, even if a sad one. Aubrie knew that Al’s independence had allowed his younger siblings the occasional something new instead of always something borrowed or handed down. Then Fay left and their family situation had improved further, with her sending home significantly more money than Al. Now that Aubrie was leaving, things would be better still. Maybe, if they worked hard enough, one of their younger siblings would get that chance none of the eldest three had gotten.

She let out a small sigh, closed her eyes and blew out the candles, bathing the world in black.

— 📀 —

Aubrie stared out the window, watching the world pass her by. It was a cloudy, rainless day, drenching the world in tired, grey light. Befitting her mood, even if unfitting for July.

She was on her way to Orthank. In one hand was a letter from Fay. Her older sister had rented a small one-bedroom apartment for her and Al had found her a job at a nearby café. Fay had told Aubrie that she was – of course – free to change her job or move to a different apartment once the contract expired, but Aubrie was just grateful for her siblings’ help. She would not have known where to start if they had not helped her.

She knew from Al’s first letters to the family that he’d had the hardest time adjusting to Orthank, having been completely alone in a foreign city and having little knowledge of the adult working world. She was glad both Fay and Al were sparing her that experience.

In her other hand, she held the key to her new apartment. There was a little beaded keyring attached to it, a fox, her favourite animal. She knew Al had made it for her. He’d always been a crafter, even if his day job required no creativity from him whatsoever. The touch of family on the keys reassured and calmed her, like she wasn’t diving into a complete unknown, going to a place where no one so much as knew her name.

Her patched rucksack sat in the free seat next to her. It was filled with essentials and any non-essentials she could take with her, a photo album, a soft toy she’d had since she was little, a few books… Not a lot. Just precious things she did not want to leave at her parents’ home. The few luxuries she could spare for herself.

The sun would not set for a while, but she was beginning to feel tired enough to sleep. She put the key and letter in the rucksack, then rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. She didn’t need to worry about missing her stop; it was an overnight train, and the end destination was Orthank. She would arrive there in the morning. She relaxed her body, and gradually, to the rhythm of the rails, she fell asleep.

— 📀 —

The first month in Orthank flew by. Due to the size of the city, she had not seen much of her siblings, as they unfortunately did not live nearby. They both lived in the poorer parts of the city, and were reluctant to move to better accommodations, since that would mean being unable to send as much money home at the end of the month. However, they still wanted their newly independent little sister to live in a safer environment, so they had got her an apartment in a better part of town.

Aubrie had not been impressed with their decision, having preferred to live close by or even with one of them, but decided to trust her siblings’ wisdom over her desire to be near family. And it was just for a year. After that, maybe then she’d move into one of their small, cramped apartments. Or convince them to move in with her.

After her first weekend in Orthank, she had started working as a barista at the Paracosmic Café. Unlike Al and Fay, she had a job that actually suited her interests and talents. She enjoyed cooking and baking, and while preparing foods and beverages was different in a work environment, it was still enjoyable to her.

It was now the beginning of August, and her siblings were coming over to celebrate her successful start in Orthank. It was just the three of them. She had yet to make any friends, having been too busy adjusting to city life. The next nearest thing she had to a friend was her boss, and perhaps the customers she served. Which really stretched the definition of friendship.

She didn’t mind the lack of friends though. Her flat was already going to be cramped with just the three of them. Anyone else would be too much. So, it was good she hadn’t made friends yet, the optimistic part of her told her.

She fussily arranged flowers while she waited for her siblings to turn up. They weren’t real flowers, but rather weeds from the nearby park: dandelions, daisies, bindweed, buttercups… “Proper” flowers were too expensive, so this was the best she could do to decorate her apartment in anticipation of receiving guests as precious to her as her siblings.

She heard knocking at the door and ran over like an excited puppy. Throwing the door open, her beaming face was met with the big smiles of Al and Fay. She’d just noticed the bottle of wine in Fay’s hands, when Al pulled her into a hug. For a moment, she just let herself enjoy the familial warmth.

“How’ve you been?” he asked, breaking the hug sooner than Aubrie would have liked (she hadn’t been hugged since she had last seen them).

“Ms Silvey says I’m easily worth ten employees,” Aubrie happily claimed.

“Did that compliment come with a pay rise?” Al asked. Aubrie gave a sheepish smile and that was answer enough. Before he got a chance to so much as click his tongue in disapproval, Fay shoved him out of the way.

“Move over, Al,” Fay demanded, shoving their brother further into the apartment. “My little Bumblebee, I’ve missed you so much!” she dramatically exclaimed, pulling Aubrie into a tighter embrace than Al’s. Aubrie couldn’t help but laugh. Her older sister was still an overdramatic troublemaker. “Open it already,” Fay ordered Al, handing him the bottle from over Aubrie’s shoulders.

“What, do I look like your bellhop?” Al muttered irritably, as he went off to find a bottle opener in the kitchen area. Fay ignored him, letting out a satisfied sigh as she continued to tightly hug Aubrie.

“Ok Fay, I’m not Melody, so lemme go.” When Fay didn’t, Aubrie demanded, “Lemme go!”, patting her sister’s shoulders hard enough that it bordered on hits.

“You sure you don’t need more hug time?” Fay asked, nuzzling down harder.

“Fay!”

“Boo,” Fay whined, reluctantly letting her little sister go. Aubrie readjusted her clothes.

“I should go serve you guys drinks,” Aubrie muttered, as she let Fay in and closed the door.

“Let Al do it, you already spend all day serving,” Fay fussed, a hand on Aubrie’s shoulder stopping her from walking over to Al. Aubrie decided not to point out that Al, and technically Fay, did such as well.

Fay looked at the living room area and let out an impressed whistle. Aubrie had done her best to dress it up for the party. Since her modest flat was furnished for just one person and was pretty small too, Aubrie had shoved her armchair against the wall and laid out a second-hand picknick blanket on the floor, one she had bought for this specific occasion. On top of the blanket were three cushions meant to function as seats and her small coffee table, on which the flowers sat in their ordinary glass, along with some lit, vanilla-scented tealight candles.

 “You made this all fancy for us?” Fay asked, looking touched.

“Mhm.” Aubrie couldn’t help but be proud. Fay walked further into the living area, inspecting the flowers.

“Sweet, bindweed. You even got my favourite flower.”

“I thought it was morning glory?”

“Yeah, but no flower is prettier than free,” Fay replied. “So it’s bindweed now.” Aubrie just rolled her eyes.

Al joined them in the living area, the open bottle in one hand, three stacked glasses in the other. Aubrie wasn’t much of a drinker, so she had not bothered with wineglasses.

“C’mon girls, let’s sit.”

“You don’t get to call us girls,” Fay rebuked him, crossing her arms. “Only Mum and Dad can call us that.”

“This again?” Al drily asked but relented anyway. (One of these days he’d get away with calling them girls.) “Sisters, let’s sit, so I can pour the drinks. Unless you want to remain parched forever, dearest sister Fay?”

“That’s more like it,” Fay replied, with a teasing smile and the three settled down.

They spent the first hour catching up, Al mentioning how he might be promoted to porter at the hotel, Fay mentioning how Margaret was once again on sick leave, so she was covering for the woman again. Most of the conversation involving work was still alien to Aubrie, but she smiled and nodded along anyway, pretending she understood any of their talk.

“Do you like the Paracosmic?” Fay asked.

“I do. Ms Silvey says if I develop any new drinks that become popular, I’ll get a tenth of every drink sold.”

“That’s generous, but also a pretty big if,” Al muttered. He offered her an encouraging smile. “I’m sure you can do it; you’ve always been creative.”

“We have that in common,” she agreed with him, and didn’t that just make him light up?

“So. Here’s something I’ve been wondering,” Fay interrupted, feeling left out. She leaned onto the coffee table. “How tired are you after work?”

“Um… I’m not?” Aubrie asked. “The café is only open during the daytime, so…”

Fay grinned, almost triumphantly. She fished a pamphlet out of her handbag and slammed it down on the coffee table.

“I’ve recently heard about a pilot project, run by Suton University,” she explained. “Night classes. With the goal of giving working adolescents a chance at a high school certificate.”

Al frowned, leaning closer to Fay.

“Why is this the first I’m hearing of it?” he demanded. Fay got huffy.

“Nelly only just told me about it this morning! You realize I had to travel to Suton from work, just to get this pamphlet, right? For some reason, they think interested parties will just wander into the university campus… Honestly, they should be handing these out at the station, those idiots…” Fay muttered irritably.

Aubrie frowned. The pamphlet itself looked… terribly expensive.

“Can… Can I afford this?” she asked.

“Sure! Since it’s an experiment, it’s free for all participants!” Fay answered.

Al picked up the pamphlet, leafing through it. Aubrie looked over his shoulder. The project was going to be run at Nocoeur High.

“Um… forgive a stupid question, but why should I do this?” Aubrie asked.

“You have to ask?” Fay replied, frowning.

“Yeah?”

“Aubrie, with this program, you could get a high school certificate,” Al explained. “You’ll get more opportunities, you could even be sponsored to go to university or take part in training…!”

“I get that, but… what about you two?” Aubrie couldn’t help but ask. Her two older siblings shot each other saddened looks.

“Bumblebee, look, they want people your age. Me and Al are both way too old for the program. So there’s no what about you two here,” Fay reassured her.

Aubrie gently took the pamphlet out of Al’s hands and looked it over once more.

She could be the first Sanders to have more than a middle school certificate. And sponsorship, that was only offered to people who’d been to high school.

She smiled at her siblings.

“Thank you Fay. And Al, I…” She choked on her words and rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t think…” She thought she was going to be a barista for the rest of her life. Tears fell from her eyes and her siblings were patting her on the back and rubbing her shoulders.

“Happy belated birthday,” Fay said.

Aubrie just laughed, unable to believe her luck.