The toilet seat is down and the wash-cabinet closed. The bath has some residual pools of water sitting in it. You notice a small spider web in the corner of the ceiling.\n\n[[Move back to the Foyer|Foyer]]
The large, low bed is empty and the ceiling stretches out above you, orbs of glass hanging from various places. Your dad's computer is powered down.\n\nYou can see his various projects scattered across the desk, lego figures and floorplans. You really do admire his creative drive.\n\n----\n\n[[Enter parents' bathroom|ParentsBathroom]]\nor\n[[Move back to the hallway|Hallway]]
Home is where the heart is, or so they say.\n\n[[Go home|Wake]]...
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Waking from a lengthy, deep sleep; a @@color:#666666;dim light@@ filters through your still-closed eyelids.\n\nThe warmth of your @@color:#6699CC;soft blue duvet@@ lying haphazardly over you is comforting: warding off the chill of the room.\n\nYour bare left foot has slipped out during the night, hanging over the edge of the bed. You lazily draw it back under the covers and it immediately begins to @@color:#CC9966;thaw@@.\n\nToday seems important but you aren't entirely sure why...\n\n----\n\n[[Take a moment to wake up|Awake]]...\nor\n[[Attempt to recall your dream|Dream]]...
The hallway is warmer but dark, you guess no-one else has ventured out of bed yet.\n\nYou find the light switch and flick it, the doors lining the long corridor are all closed. There is something unsettling about the distinct quiet in the air.\n\nA few paintings and framed vinyl hang grid-like on the walls, the @@color:#CCCC99;off-cream@@ carpet feels good under your toes.\n\nYou think you hear something in the living room but it might be your imagination...\n\n----\n\nEnter...\n[[...your brother's room|JamesRoom]]...\n[[...your parents' room|ParentsRoom]]...\n[[...the guest bedroom|GuestRoom]]...\n[[...the study|Study]]...\nor\n[[Move to the foyer|Foyer]]...\nor \n[[Re-enter your room|YourRoom]]
\n"Hip, hip. HOORAY!"\n"Hip, hip. HOORAY!"\n"Knock-a-peep, HOORAY!"\n\nYou can feel a classic conical birthday hat perched atop your head and you are surrounded by friend and family alike. \n\nPeople you know, people you lost contact with, people who have passed on: Mum, Vo-vo and Da-da, Cyprian. Allaway, Blair, Daniel. They are all looking at you with smiles on their face as the lights go down. \n\nYour dad appears - hat atop head - carrying the biggest chocolate cake you have ever seen, covered in candles; flickering and swaying as they move. He lays it down in front of you and everyone looks on in anticipation...\n\n[[Blow out the candles|Candles]]\n\n
Opening your eyelids the white plaster ceiling fills your vision.\n\nTurning your head you see a slit of light beneath the closed blinds. Your posters line the opposite wall and the metallic sheen of your closed laptop beckons you to power it up.\n\nAt the opposite side of the room lies a tall IKEA bookshelf lined with dusty novels and the occasional family board game.\n\nIt has been a while since you were forced to tidy the various surfaces around the room and things have began to gather on the thinly carpeted floor.\n\nYou get out of bed and flick the light switch next to the door, shielding your eyes as the room is @@color:#FFFFCC;lit up@@...\n\n----\n\n[[Admire your array of posters|Posters]]...\nor\n[[Succumb to your laptop's allure|Laptop]]...\nor\n[[Open the door and exit your bedroom|Hallway]]...
The grim, @@color:#663333;bloodied fur@@ depicting the Stark House emblem covers an old mural on what used to be your brother's door: back from his pre-pubescent obsession with flame ridden merchandise.\n\nYou see a few promotional video game posters, all featuring a mandatory gun or explosion. Surprisingly the Grand Theft Auto V poster is the only to defy these 'Murrican marketing tactics.\n\nYou also see the Gorillaz and Messi, you can't help but take a moment to admire their effortless cool.\n\n[[Open the door and exit your bedroom|Hallway]]...
The bed is empty and made, the room is tidy to an extent. You vaguely remember when this room was occupied by your parents, before South Africa.\n\n[[Move back to the hallway|Hallway]]
The various surfaces of the kitchen are clean, a pile of post sits next to the hob. Your piano stands next to the dining table int he archway leading to the living room. Through the window into the back garden you can see the greenhouses are stil in disrepair.\n\n----\n\n[[Enter the living room|LivingRoom]]\nor\n[[Move back to the Foyer|Foyer]]
The sheets have been changed recently. The wicker chair sits surrounded by boxes of your brother's belongings.\n\n[[Move back to the hallway|Hallway]]
The room is silent as you blow out the candles, they flicker and extinguish one-by-one. You look up again and everyone cheers.\n\nYour mum, dad and I all hug you tightly. The moment seems to go on for a lifetime.\n\n----\n\nYou are home and another year older. \n\nHappy Birthday Tom.\n\nLove, \n\tJames
The strangely patterned sofa has some of your school work on it and the desk is crowded with your brother's various devices. \n\nThe library of books lines the walls, you see a few that could be interesting. The blinds are closed. \n\n[[Move back into the hallway|Hallway]]
Your posters line the wall and the metallic sheen of your closed laptop beckons you to power it up.\n\nAt the opposite side of the room lies a tall IKEA bookshelf lined with dusty novels and the occasional family board game.\n\nIt has been a while since you were forced to tidy the various surfaces around the room and things have began to gather on the thinly carpeted floor.\n\n----\n\n[[Admire your array of posters|Posters]]...\nor\n[[Succumb to your laptop's allure|Laptop]]...\nor\n[[Move back to the hallway|Hallway]]
<html>H⌂me.</html>
The light is off but the hallway light is enough to see clearly.\n\nYou really do think you hear something in the living room but it might be your imagination...\n\n----\n\nEnter\n[[...the bathroom|Bathroom]]...\n[[...the kitchen|Kitchen]]...\n[[...the living room|LivingRoom]]...\n[[...the front porch|FrontPorch]]...\nor\n[[Move back to the hallway|Hallway]]
As per usual nothing comes to mind, vague shapes flit around your mind but nothing solidifies... Maybe you should start keeping a journal like your brother.\n\n[[Take a moment to wake up|Awake]]...
A few large pot plants that probably need pruned and watered lie around the room alongside two large beige sofas. The distinctive white 'peanut' sits in the centre turning up the corner of the large rug that lies in front of the black stone fireplace.\n\nA stack of your dad's magazines - which you never see him reading - precariously balance in a stack next to the larger of the two sofas. The wooden blinds and heavy orange-red curtains are drawn.\n\nBehind you is the television, large and glossy, below it the various electronic systems used to consume daily entertainment. Beside these is your father's collection of vinyl and a record player. You see David Bowie's Space Oddity gathering dust on the turntable.\n\nOn the walls hang some paintings that you never really understood, various greeting cards sit on the mantel alongside the white and blue lamp... Birthday cards.\n\n[[Consider them for a moment|Lebron]]...\nor\n[[Move back into the foyer|Foyer]]...\nor \n[[Continue through into the kitchen|Kitchen]]...
Musty shoes fill the majority of the floor, those strange tin men playing their little instruments sit opposite the large mirror. Outside you can see the front garden, peaceful.\n\n[[Move back to the Foyer|Foyer]]
You lift the cold metallic lid and plunge your finger into the plished surface of the power button... nothing. \n\nYou check the back and notice the power cable has fallen behind the desk, battery must have died during the night. \n\nIf only it didn't use the power of @@color:#CC6633;three suns@@ to run smoothly. Still, better than any of your friend's rigs.\n\n[[Open the door and exit your bedroom|Hallway]]...
The exercise equipment fills the majority of the space, you consider lifting some weights but decide you don't want to get too muscular.\n\n[[Move back to the bedroom|ParentsRoom]]
<html><a href="http://jctwood.uk">James Wood</a></html>
You begin to hear a group of familiar voices singing in less than harmonised tones, you look over to the smaller sofa and see Lebron James. \n\n"Happy birthday to you,\nHappy birthday to you,\nHappy birthday dear Thomas,\nHappy birthday to you."\n\nAs he sings with his many voices the room starts to shift before you like a mirage, he starts to laugh, gently, as your vision becomes dark.\n\n----\n\n[[Go home|Birthday]]