Happy Birthday

"Happy Birthday, dear Zane, happy birthday to you!" 

Inside a simple house, a child blew out the candles on a cake amidst the cheers of his parents, letting out an innocent laugh. He had black hair, blue eyes, and was missing a front tooth.

"My boy is 6 years old!" A handsome man picked up the child warmly. "What did you wish for, Zane?"

"Secwet!" Zane squealed as his father began to tickle him. 

The two played for a bit more before sparkles appeared in the air, capturing the child's attention. Zane gasped in delight as he watched tiny white horses gallop on the sparkles, encircling his head.

"Aww!" Zane reached out to touch a horse with his little hand, only for it to disappear.

"He really loves that spell." The father looked at his beautiful wife standing at the side, her fingers glowing white.

"And I try to add more horses every day." 

She smiled at her husband and son before canceling the rest of her spell and joining them, tightly embracing them. She chuckled as the little Zane complained about being squeezed.

"I love you two very much." She kissed Zane on the forehead, making him calm down.

"We love you too, don't we Zane?" The father looked down at his son, who vigorously nodded in agreement. 

"We lub mommy!" 

They all laughed before turning silent, just enjoying the warmth of family.

******

12 years later.

'Zane, we love you very much…' 

Inside a small, dilapidated house that was falling apart, a boy sat on a bed. He stared at a puddle on the ground as droplets of water fell into it from a hole in the roof, making it ripple every few seconds.

'Zane, no matter what happens, your father and I love you…'

Zane watched his reflection in the puddle. He had grown into an average-looking young man, with his black hair and deep blue eyes. He was quite dirty, with rags being the only clothes covering his body.

"Happy birthday to me…" 

He spoke aloud, no one around him to reply. Zane picked up a rusty nail on the floor before turning to the wall, crudely carving the number 18 in it. He let out a breath before he tossed the nail aside and stood up.

Carefully swinging the door open so as to not break the hinges, Zane left his house to be met with a muddy road. The Capital stopped taking care of the outskirts near his family's house ever since the incident.

He walked up the muddy road until he began to near the well-paved roads of the actual inside of The Capital. He scraped the mud off his boots as he braced himself for what was to come.

"Darkness!"

"Why do they still let him in the city?"

"Sweetie, don't go near that man, stay close to me…"

"They should have hanged you along with your parents."

Zane ignored all the insults and whispers from the citizens as he walked through the city. For the past 12 years, he had been treated that way. It was hard at first, but he was used to it by now. But being used to it doesn't make it better.

'I hope you all die painfully.' Zane cursed them in his mind.

He reached a bakery, taking a seat against the wall near the door, waiting for someone to exit so he could beg for food. Otherwise it would be scavenging in the trash.

"Please…" He begged from a woman that exited the shop, but she walked past him without any response. 

Zane missed his old life everyday. The times when he still had his parents, the times when they were still a happy family.

The times when his parents weren't yet executed for being Dark Mages.

It was a vague memory for Zane. Days after his 6th birthday, the royal guard knocked on the door of his house.

"Edward and Patricia Syne, by order of the royal family, you are to be placed under arrest and tried for the crimes of practicing Dark Magic!" He remembered the captain say.

He remembered his father's struggles, his mother's screams as they were taken away, leaving a confused Zane all alone in the house. He must have stayed there for nearly a week, all alone and hungry, before he ventured out to find his parents.

That was when he saw it. In the street, a massive crowd swarmed around a wooden platform, upon which a man and woman stood, ropes around their necks. Little Zane wandered closer to the crowd until he was recognized.

He remembered the crowd parting when they saw him, the sorrow in his parents' eyes as they saw him there. The whispers of fear from the people around him.

"For the crimes of practicing the forbidden dark magic!" The executioner in his black garb spoke on stage as he read from a sheet of paper.

"Zane! Please don't look!" His parents began to cry. 

"The pair of Dark Mages, Edward and Patricia Syne…" 

"Zane, we love you very much…" His father said.

"Zane, no matter what happens, your father and I love you!" His mother screamed.

"...Are sentenced to death!"

The executioner pulled the lever, and the trapdoors beneath the feet of Zane's parents opened. They fell through the holes, and the crowd cheered at the sound of cracking.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Little Zane whispered. He saw that his parents were asleep because of the rope.

Little Zane wasn't able to close his eyes before his parents died.

Back in the present, Zane shivered. The memories of his parents being hanged always haunted him. 

"Bread… Please…" 

A group of youths exited the bakery, noticing the begging Zane. Upon noticing him, the leader of the youths grinned. 

"Oh, of course!" 

He pulled a loaf of bread from the paper bag before tossing it out onto the wet road, getting it dirty and soggy. Zane just looked at it.

"Well? Quickly now, what if someone steps on it?" 

Before Zane could approach the bread, the youth stomped on it, twisting his shoe into it. They all roared with laughter as Zane approached the ruined loaf, beginning to eat it.

"Yeah, eat it all up."

The youth stepped on Zane's head, forcing him to look at the ground as he ate the bread. The youth tore off some pieces off a new loaf before tossing it in front of Zane as well.

"Here's some for your parents, too. Now what do you say?"

Zane pushed down the rage bubbling inside of him and continued to eat, moving on to the scattered pieces.

"I said, what do you say?!" 

The youth pushed Zane's head into the ground, which hurt quite a bit.

"T-Thank you…" 

The youth snorted before pushing Zane aside with his foot, returning to his friends and laughing as they all walked away.

Finishing the road bread, Zane stood up and spat on the ground, wiping his mouth.

"Fuck you." 

Zane hated this kingdom. He hated the people in it. They killed his parents, and every day he is treated worse than dirt.

In a bad mood, Zane decided to return home, knowing that if he stayed he would only have to face similar treatment.