It's November 1, which means it's Clairevember (formerly Clairember), whoooooo!
In case you don't know what Clairevember is, it's a month-long challenge in which participants use daily prompts to create Claire Redfield art, stories, cosplays, etc. each day during the month of November. Think Inktober but Claire-based.
If you'd like to participate, this year's list of prompts is listed below this first ficlet. Enjoy and happy Clairevember! -Akumu
CLAIREVEMBER 2023
Day 1 - brother
Chris flipped the lid, snapped the flint wheel. A tiny flame, bright as a drop of molten gold, erupted from the cam. Pursing his lips, he held the lighter under the cigarette which he had clenched between his teeth, and puffed until the tip smoldered.
"You're smoking."
Chris started. Claire stood beside him, fists on her hips, and gazing up at him with one eyebrow cocked.
He exhaled a gust of smoke into the tree branches above. "So? I'm eighteen now. I can do what I want."
"You smoked before today. I saw you that time Mom made you take me to Todd Jennings's birthday party. You and his big sister Sam snuck out behind the toolshed and you gave her a cigarette and then you lit both yours."
He pocketed the lighter in his new, Air Force-issued bomber jacket. "You're really nosy, you know that?"
"So what are you gonna give me?"
"Huh?"
"What are you gonna give me so I don't tell Mom and Dad?"
"I'm not gonna give you anything."
"Then I'll tell them. I'll call them at the supermarket and tell them." Claire ran halfway across the yard and then looked back at him.
He let loose another train of smoke.
She walked back and leaned against the tree. "You're no fun."
"Sorry to disappoint you, baby sister."
"So when d'ya start?"
"When did I start what?"
"Smoking."
"First time was the time you saw me with Sam."
"Liar. I found some cigarettes and that gold lighter in your Playstation months and months and months before Todd's party. I didn't tell anyone so you'd owe me later. So now you owe me double."
Chris stood over her. "I don't 'owe you' anything. I'm an adult now. I'm graduating in two days, and on Wednesday I leave for bootcamp. 'Owing people' for dumb stuff like knowing they smoke is for kids. Like you."
She stared back at him. "Brothers and sisters never stop owing each other."
"Oh for fuck's sake –"
"I'll tell Mom and Dad you said the F word too."
Chris sighed. "Alright. What do you want?"
"I wanna smoke too."
"No."
"What? Why not?"
"You're only 12."
"So? You started smoking when you were 13. I read it in your diary, along with how you and Sam Jennings used to do it in the back of her car."
"Hey, you keep out of my personal things!"
"Gimme a smoke and I will."
"More like you'll use it to try and bribe me like you're doing now."
"Aw, come on. Just one puff?" She grabbed at the cigarette, her ponytail shaking like a pom pom.
He moved the cigarette out of her reach. "No."
"Please?"
She tried again for it, but he held her back.
"I said no, and that's final."
She pouted. "You're so mean."
"If I were mean, I would have pummeled you for spying on me and going through my things and reading my diary. But I have yet to pummel you. What d'ya wanna smoke for anyway? All it's good for is wasting your money and turning your lungs black."
"All candy's good for is rotting your teeth and making you fat, but we still eat it. Remember when we used to go trick-or-treating together? Trade what we got and still shared anyway?"
"So?"
"So, we used to do a lot of stuff together. Then the older we got, the less we did. And now you're 18, and you're going away next week. Maybe forever."
"I'll be back as soon as I get some time off."
"Stop treating me like some dumb kid, Chris. You're going into the Air Force during a war. You really might not come back."
As she said this, her blue eyes glistened with tears.
Chris nodded. "I know. But that doesn't mean you should take up my dirty habits. Tell you what."
He stamped out his ashy stub and toed some dirt over it. Then he snapped the flint wheel, reigniting the lighter, and showed it to Claire. As she gazed at the flame, he snapped the lighter shut.
He held it out. "You take it. Keep it safe for me until I get back."
She cupped her hands. He set it down as gently as he would a kitten. It glinted under the sun, bright and shiny as a bar of gold.
Flipping the top, Claire tried again and again to strike the flint. She sucked at her reddened thumb.
"I can't do it," she said.
"Sure you can. See?" He took the lighter and snapped the flint. A flash of flame danced upon the cam. "It's all in the wrist."
He handed the lighter to Claire. She watched it a moment before snapping it shut and flipping it open again. She flicked her wrist as she snapped the wheel.
"I still can't do it," she said.
"Keep trying. You'll get it. Oh, and no smoking or I'll be the one tattling on you. Got it?"
She snapped the wheel again with no success. "'kay."
"I can't believe I gave you a present on my birthday…"
He glimpsed Mom's pink Cadillac braking in front of the house.
"Hey, Mom and Dad are back. You know what that means," he said to Claire.
She looked up from the lighter. "I do. But you don't."
He rolled his eyes as he led them to the driveway. "Whatever."
Both backseat doors exploded, and his old teammates Keith Metcalf, Russell Manning, and David Beechwood spilled into the driveway, hooting and hollering Chris's name and cheering him happy birthday. They were wearing their red and blue varsity jackets. Chris found himself wishing he were wearing his own, but when his bomber had come in, he'd relegated the varsity jacket to the display hook inside his closet.
The guys swarmed him with bearhugs and back pats until Mom said, "Boys! Boys! Make way!"
Keith, Russ, and Davey parted like the Red Sea. Mom and Dad stood by the Cadillac. They each held one end of a giant, heavily-candled chocolate cake dominated by a silver-iced Boeing F/A-18E. Above it, cursive skywriting made of fluffy, white icing read:
Happy Birthday, Chris!
Congratulations & Good Luck!
"You guys," Chris breathed.
"We tried to light it while these fellas kept you busy, but the matches we got aren't any good," said Dad.
"I got it!" Claire said.
Everyone turned. Claire was holding the gold lighter, a tiny flame swaying on the cam.
"The hell'd that come from?" said Dad.
"Lee," said Mom.
Dad sighed. "Where'd that come from?"
"Chris gave it to me to keep safe until he comes home."
"Oh? And where did Chris get it?" said Mom, cocking an eyebrow as she looked at him.
"And what's he been using it for?" Dad added.
"Samantha Jennings gave it to him a couple weeks ago to help her quit smoking," said Claire. "I know. I read his diary."
She smiled and winked at Chris.
Keith slung an arm around Chris's shoulders and noogied him hard. "Sam Jennings again, huh?"
"What can I say? Old habits die hard," he said, sneaking Claire a smile and wink back.
"Bet it'll die pretty hard in boot camp when you're running around with all those hot girl recruits," Davey said.
Russ snorted. "What you really want is one of the drill sergeants, the older chicks who're tough and like to get rough with all the prime meat coming in the gates."
"Not everyone's a sadomasochist like you, Russ," said Davey.
Dad said, "Guys, please."
"It's okay, Dad. I already know what a sadomasochist is," said Claire. "Trista Atherton at school told me."
Dad sighed again.
"This cake is getting heavy. One of you boys get the door for us, will you?" said Mom.
Russ held the front door as Mom and Dad hauled the cake inside. Claire followed, the gold lighter still lit, and then came Chris and the rest of the guys. Mom and Dad set the cake on the kitchen island. Climbing onto a stool, Claire lit the 18 candles that ringed the cake.
She snapped the lighter shut as Chris had shown her and pocketed it in her pink overalls. "Okay, now make a wish."
Chris stared at the 18 tiny flames, twinkling like stars in the dim kitchen. He glanced at the gently shadowed faces around him. When his eyes fell on Claire, she smiled as brightly as candlelight.
He closed his eyes.
Please let Claire be okay without me. Please let her be brave and strong like I know she is. For herself. For Mom and Dad. And for me.
Opening his eyes, he blew out the candles.
Clairevember 2023 prompts:
1. brother
2. racing
3. heavenly
4. lighter
5. island
6. bow
7. tea
8. Rodrigo
9. court
10. mother
11. key
12. fear
13. diary
14. twins
15. cops
16. Kendo
17. darkness
18. prison
19. glasses
20. G
21. herbs
22. rat
23. thanks
24. welcome
25. Elza
26. combat
27. knife
28. lockpick
29. knight
30. best friend