“What do you think? A good birthday surprise, huh?”
Felix sighed. “I’m a working musician, not a rock star.”
“Can you not be a working musician closer to home?”
Felix closed his eyes. “Flora, I don’t want to fight on your birthday-”
“Then maybe you should have come home more often! When am I supposed to fight with you, if not on my birthday?”
“We still talk on the phone-”
“It’s not the same, and you know it.”
“Look, I invited you on this trip to ask if you wanted to come and live with me now that you’re older. If you do that, you’ll see me all the time.”
Flora snorted. “Why would I do that, Dad? You’ve admitted it yourself, you’re not in the most stable position right now. Still, you’re asking me to leave the only family I’ve known for years to go live in your shoddy sublet in the bad part of Del Sol Valley.”
“I know I haven’t been the best dad-”
“You’ve barely been a dad at all! Sometimes it feels like I don’t even have parents, with the amount of actual parenting you and Mom have done.”
“Don’t compare me to your mother.”
“Why shouldn’t I? You both walked out on me.”
“Flora-”
Flora shook her head. “Not now, okay? I need some space.” With that, Flora walked away.
-------
The problem with wandering off in an unfamiliar place was that after a while, Flora had no idea where she was.
She regretted walking away. It wasn’t like her, but she’d been so angry at the nonchalance of a father she hadn’t seen in years.
The surroundings were beautiful. If she hadn’t been lost, they would have been relaxing. As it was, it was terrifying how similar everything looked. If she knew more about plants, maybe she would be able to tell the difference between all of these trees, but she didn’t. Note to self: learn more about plants.
So, when Flora saw a silhouette through the trees, she wasn’t sure whether to be terrified or relieved.
As it came closer, she saw that the silhouette was a boy about her own age, one she vaguely recognized from school.
He smiled at her. “What are you doing here? Are you lost?”
She smiled back cautiously. “Maybe a little bit… Do you know how to get back to the campsite?”
“Sure, just follow me.”
He turned to go, but Flora couldn’t seem to move. She didn’t know what she was feeling, but there were just so many feelings that her nervous system couldn’t handle it. She was standing still, shaking, on the verge of tears.
The boy turned back and immediately looked concerned. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
He walked over, stopping about an arm’s length away from her. “Take a deep breath. In one-two-three, out one-two-three. That’s it. You’re doing great. Focus on my voice, I’ll keep talking to you. You’re gonna be okay, you’ll get back to the camp, everything’s going to be fine.”
He kept talking for a while until Flora stopped crying.
“It’s okay. Do you still want me to lead you back to the camp?”
She nodded. “Yeah… Sorry, I don’t remember your name.”
“I’m Wren Grove.”
“Flora Doe. Nice to meet you. Sorry about the circumstances.”
He laughed. “You don’t need to apologize! People get lost out here all the time. I love the woods, though. There’s something so peaceful about being out in the middle of nature.”
Flora gave him a wobbly smile. “Yeah, it’s a nice place. I was thinking, earlier, that I should learn more about trees, so I could maybe navigate better.” She appreciated that he wasn’t talking about her panic attack.
“You want to know more about trees? I was obsessed with plant identification when I was a kid. This one’s an oak, see?”
Wren rambled on about the trees around them and how to tell them apart, while Flora listened, fascinated. It was a good conversation on the way back to the campsite.
“This is where I leave you. I have to go find my parents - I’ve been gone a while, and I don’t want them to worry.”
Flora nodded. “Thanks again for everything.”
He grinned. “No problem. I’ll see you, maybe?”
“Maybe.”
-------
When Flora found her way back to their campsite, Felix was sitting there, looking concerned.
“Flora! Where did you go?”
Flora, much calmer now, smiled at him. “Just for a little walk. I needed to cool down. Sorry about running off.”
“It’s fine as long as you’re feeling better! Do you feel like talking now?”
He gave a sad smile and pulled out a letter. “The other reason I wanted to go on this trip with you was to give you this. I wrote it when your mom was pregnant with you, for my future baby. I wasn’t much older than you are now, and I was terrified.”
He gave her a sharp look. “On that note, you should know better than to get up to any funny business in high school. You’ve turned out amazing, so you should know better than anyone why it’s not a good idea.”
Flora nodded obediently, and Felix continued.
“Things haven’t turned out the way I thought they would when I wrote that letter, but I wrote it for you, and I think you deserve to have it.”
He smiled. “And despite all my mistakes, you’ve become a wonderful person. Happy birthday, Flora.”
Author's Note: Teen Flora is a perfectionist who loves the outdoors. The letter referred to in this chapter is, in fact, Felix's letter from the epistolary specials at the end of last generation! If you haven't read it, it's here: Felix - A Letter to the Future. I love a good callback. Skye will be a child next chapter. I feel kind of bad because Skye will only be a child in about three chapters, while Flora got to be a child for a full eight chapters plus this entire birthday special chapter... I will rethink having large age gaps between legacy children in the future. If anyone has any thoughts on this chapter, or any others, feel free to leave a comment! It sometimes feels like I'm just blogging into the void (which, to be clear, I will continue doing no matter what), so if anyone wants to reassure me someone is reading this, you are very appreciated (lurkers are also appreciated, of course). Next time: Skye is a child and we're back to Moonwood Mill.
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