Calcifer sat up and let out a sigh. His feet hit the floor of his bedroom quietly, leaving his wife Mizzy fast asleep. Today was his least favourite day of the year, a day on which a years worth of avoidance and procrastination fell atop him like a burning building. He walked across to the calendar, hoping against hope that he had calculated wrong. But of course, he hadn't. Today was his birthday. 

Within a few moments, Calcifer was dressed and had put on his coat. He had moved with such stealth around the family estate that not even his faithful companion Mittens had woken, something that deserved applause. But the moment he opened the door applause was far from his mind. Rain battered down onto the grounds in a way that left him certain that he and the Town of Blackthorn were bonded emotionally. He lifted his hood and walked out of the door. 

The grounds were of epic proportions. At some times it felt like the Temp'elar Estate was the focal point of the whole world, and today for Calcifer it was. His destination in sight he found his steps slower, more laboured until finally he reached it. The Garden of Remembrance. And here among the graves, tombs and memorials of family members, he knelt in the damp grass. Before the grave of his twin sister Alana. 

"You would have loved this today. The more miserable the weather the happier you were" he whispered, holding back the tears. "Not that you would have come out anyway. You and Dad spent half your lives in that bloody asylum. Working away, researching. That place killed you and now Mizzy seems to have taken over right were you left off". He shuddered at the thought but then smiled. "I remember when we were the kids in this family. You me and Luna, though back then Luna was too timid to be away from Dad for more than a few minutes. You would hardly recognise her now!"

He turned looking back to the estate itself. "You would hardly recognise the family either... New faces. It's grown so much, but..." he paused chocking back and failing, tears that fell from his face. "...but it's still not the same without..."

He paused his jaw dropping. In the distance, though it couldn't be, he swore she was there. The image of his beloved twin Alana running towards him in the mist of the rain! He rubbed his tear filled eyes the salt stinging them. He blinked hard and finally the figure came into view. Not his sister, but his daughter, Charity. 

Had it been anybody else he would have felt an understandable wave of disappointment, but such feeling was impossible at the sight of his little girl. Her accelerated ageing due to a temporal paradox had sped her to her late teens after only a year, both mentally and Physically. And yet he knew she would never have seen him on this day. 

"Dad! What you doing out here in the rain?" She bounced over hugging him, a little tighter than normal as if she could sense something. "It's your birthday, you should..."

She paused, looking down to the grave and swallowed hard. She knew her father had had a twin, just as she had. They had both lost their siblings also, only Charities sister Absinthe, had been sent into the future where she would live a long life under the care of her Grandfather. 

"It's her birthday too sweetie" Cal said in a quiet and slightly croaky voice. "I never have a birthday without remembering her, remembering what I lost that day in the asylum". He let out a controlled sigh and turned to her. Again, he could have sworn he saw his sister, but not in some distant hallucination caused by water in his eyes. This time he saw her in his daughters eyes. In her smile. And as she leant in resting her head on his chest, he felt her in his daughters embrace. 

They held for a moment and finally the rain stopped, the sun a rare thing in Blackthorn Town, cracking through the clouds. Charity stepped back looking up "seems the rain is letting up dad".

Calcifer smiled a genuine smile, something he never did on this day. "Your right sweetie. Looks like their may be some sun in the sky after all".

The two held hands and began to walk back to the estate when charity ran back and hugged the gravestone "happy birthday auntie Alana! Love you!"

Cal felt a weight lift from him. As his daughter ran back "tell me all about her dad! I won't to know what she was like".

"A lot like you. Beautiful, fiery and no sense of danger!" The two laughed and walked back towards the estate. With Alana's memory alive in their hearts.

The End.

Written by Calcifer, with permission of the writer behind charity. In memory of Alana Temp'elar.