*ON MY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY*

"Happy birthday, Aysel!" Celeste brought me a cupcake with a candle on it, her face stretched wide from smiling. It was early, barely five, so my mind wasn't the sharpest.

"Thank you." I kissed her cheek after blowing out the candle.

"Did you make a wish?" She asked, her eyes wide in my dark room.

"I did," I lied through my teeth. I hadn't. All the wishes I'd made in the past ten years were unnecessary. I never got anything from wishing so I stopped wishing.

"Great. I knew you'd be in the kitchen soon before heading off to school. I wanted to make sure you...