"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The chorus of voices brought a huge smile to her face as she looked around the table, Mae and Caleb sat directly across from her with smiles on their faces that matched her own, her dad sat at the head of the table with a lighter in hand having just finished lighting the wicks of the seven candles adorning the chocolate frosted cake Mae had baked for her special day "Go ahead sweetheart, blow out the candles!" She stood up and leaned over, drawing in a lungful of air as she got ready to blow, the flames flickered and most went out as she let it all back out aiming for the small wax sticks before her.
Two stubborn ones stayed lit but only for a second as she took another gulp of air and quickly released it, Caleb chuckled at this and once they were out reached over to pluck them from the chocolate and in doing so his arm crossed through a beam of sunlight that streamed in through The living room windows, to his and everyone else's shock a series of blisters instantly formed along the entire length of his forearm accompanied by whisps of smoldering smoke as it heralded the fire that erupted along the exposed skin.
"GGGRGH..AAAAHHHHH" the scream of agony filled the room and was soon joined by Mae's as her own arm followed suit when she reached for his to pull it from the intense August sunlight.
"NO,NO,NO,NO!" Sarah shook her head back and forth as she refused to acknowledge the horror that befell her brother and his girlfriend, "it wasn't possible!" she thought, Daddy had told her they had been cured of the virus that had infected them, she had watched them running, walking and playing around in direct contact with the sun many times on the farm in the year that followed the horrible weeks that Caleb had disappeared.
She looked up from the roasting limbs before her and into the eyes of her older brother, the loving face she was used to seeing had now changed into that of a monster, large sharp and pointed teeth glistened with saliva as he snarled at her like a rabid animal, and that very same limb she'd been staring at now reached out to grab her, "CALEB NO!" Looking over to his right Mae took his lead succeeding in getting a hold of her shirt collar and began to drag her towards her, destroying the cake as she did so "NO! DADDY PLEASE HELP ME!" To her bewilderment the sweet loving features of her father now wore the same snarling, hungry mask of terror that the others had " AAAAAAAIIIEEEEEEE!" The wail emptied her lungs and try as she might she couldn't inhale more air as she'd done just minutes ago, the blackness of unconsciousness rapidly crept in on her from the edges of her world, until it took over completely, but before succumbing, she could of sworn she'd felt the prick of sharp teeth along the skin of her neck.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Sarah bolted into a sitting position, drops of sweat running down her temples, even though a chill spread throughout her body and made her tremble, the nightmare slowly disintegrated until only a foggy remembrance remained, "where the hell did that come from?" She asked herself as she got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, it had been thirty plus years since Caleb's little older she got, the more resentment she'd felt towards her older brother for allowing his sexual urges to put them all in danger, but eventually she'd forgiven him and even accepted Mae into the family as her dad had.
"Shit! Why the fucking nightmares then?" She thought as she took the coffee mug from the instacup coffee maker, it was preprogrammed to start brewing at five every morning, and even on a Saturday she woke up early. She carefully sipped the hot liquid, relishing the rich dark roast taste as it slid along her taste buds and down her throat, as she enjoyed the morning brew her eyes wondered to the magnetic calendar attached to her fridge door "Hoooooly shiiit!" She yelled spitting some of the coffee out and onto the granite countertop of her kitchen island as she realized the date, August 24th Caleb's birthday.
Sarah made herself some breakfast before changing into some sweatpants, matching hoodie, ankle socks and her running shoes, she needed to clear her head and get the jumbled mess of her thoughts into place, and a good run always helped do just that. An hour later she was on her way back and still had no idea why the nightmares had begun, but the fact that it coincided with her brother's birthday made her come to the inevitable conclusion that she'd be making a road trip in the very near future, she just hoped that after the last visit her brother still welcomed her.