To Live Again

Chapter Two: Happy Birthday...Again

Daniella dressed herself quickly and flew down the stairs from her room in the loft.  Her older sister Bev was puttering around the kitchen with a bad case of bed-head, and  her brother in-law was sitting on a stool with a cup of insanely strong coffee.  “Hey birthday girl!” Bev gave her a sleepy smile.

“Hey,” Daniella scooted by her sister and reached for a mug before pouring herself a cup from David’s pot.

Bev frowned at her, “Since when do you drink coffee?”

“Oh since –” Daniella bit down on her tongue.  She couldn’t tell her sister that she’d started drinking coffee in college, because she hadn’t BEEN to college yet.  “I just thought, ya know, I’m 18...” She cleared her throat awkwardly, and reached for the creamer.  Bev shrugged and threw some waffles in the toaster.

“So do you have any big plans for your birthday?”

Daniella rubbed at her head.  Had she made plans?  What had she done on her 18th birthday?  She’d gone to school as usual.  She’d bought her first scratch ticket, just because she was finally old enough to do so.  She remembered, she had won $10.  Then she and her best friend Patti had bought pints of ice-cream and kicked back to watch a movie.  Daniella frowned down into her coffee.  Did she have to follow the same script?  “I’m not sure yet,” she answered honestly.  “If you had the chance to go back and re-live your 18th birthday, what would you do?”

Bev looked startled.  “On my 18th birthday I was planning a wedding,” she said, looking across the counter at David.  “And David took me out dancing at the Ritz.”  She smiled nostalgically.  “I don’t think I’d do anything to change it.”

“Awww,” Daniella said, “You guys are so sweet.”

David, who was anything but sweet first thing in the morning, especially before he had finished his first coffee of the day, grumbled something into his coffee. 

“What was that?” Daniella asked innocently.

“Get out of here, you are going to be late to school.”

Daniella laughed happily and tossed back the last dregs of coffee in her cup.  She grabbed Bev and gave her a big hug.  “Have a great day, Bevy.”

Bev looked surprised, but she hugged her back.  “Are you sure you’re okay… you seem really… different?”

“I’m great!” she looked around in confusion.  “Where’d I leave my keys?”

David snorted.  “Same place you always leave them.” He gestured with his coffee cup to the set of keys with the glittery green frog keychain that were hanging up by the fridge. 

Right.  That’s where she hung them.  And she always left her backpack on the drier.  She grabbed her keys and grabbed her backpack.  She had to shrug into her heavy winter jacket, because it was February.  February six years ago.  She’d been admitted to the hospital in June.  She shook her head, as the conflicting memories assaulted her and made her feel crazy.  Her old blue impala was parked out in the driveway, and she had to take a moment to scrape away the ice and snow from the windshield and windows while the car idled and warmed up.

She slid behind the wheel and turned on the radio.  It was preset to her favorite station, and familiar music played through the speakers.  How weird to think that she had already heard music that hadn’t even been made yet.  She was like an honest-to-god time traveler, with knowledge of things that no one else knew yet.  Its too bad she never paid attention to things like the stock market or winning lottery numbers, she could have made a fortune.

She shook her head as she took the curving road down the mountain toward the community high school.  No, this second chance wasn’t for making money.  It was for righting all the wrongs, doing things better, and doing things right.  She had the one thing that every dying person wished for.  She was getting a do-over.  A second chance.  It was a miracle, and she wasn’t going to waste it.  She pulled into the student parking lot, thankful that she still remembered her assigned parking spot, even after all these years.  She got out and looked around, and laughed a little bit to herself.  Who would have thought that she’d be going back to high-school.  If her real 18 year old self had only known…

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday dear Danni… Happy Birthday to youuuu.”  Her best friend Patti came waltzing up to her.   Patty had wide pretty eyes in a round face, with a squarish nose, and narrow shoulders that tended to hunch.  Her hair had always been thin and stringy, so she’d simply shaved it off.  Now it was about an inch long, and dyed electric blue.  “I got you a present.” She pushed a sloppily wrapped package into Daniella’s hands.

“Oh Patti, thank you!” Daniella grabbed her in a quick hug, and then tore open the package.  She already knew what was in the package.  She knew that Patti had saved all her money from her part time job to buy the two silver pendants that fit together into one heart.  Engraved across the pendants were the words “Danni and Patti, Friends forever.”  Patti was already wearing her half of the heart proudly around her neck.  “I love it so much.  Will you help me put it on?”  Patti beamed happily, and latched the delicate chain around Daniella’s neck.  When she was finished, Daniella grabbed her hands.  “No matter what happens in the future, I will always be here for you Patti.” She squeezed her hands.  “Always.”  If only she could tell Patti what she already knew… Patti had some hard times ahead of her, and the first time around, Daniella had NOT been there for her.  She had been so wrapped up in Duke Hartigan, and Duke had never liked Patti.

Daniella balled her hands into fists as they walked together into the school.  She had unknowingly been nothing more than a puppet, and Duke had been pulling her strings from the beginning.  But this time, she would be ready.  And leaving Patti alone was one of the “wrongs” she would be able to rectify.  Patti left her at the stairs and went upstairs for her TA, while Daniella wandered down the hall toward Mrs. Toppin’s room.  Her mind was spinning with deep thoughts and trivial concerns.  On the one hand she was wondering if it was morally acceptable to try and influence Patti’s decisions and change the trajectory of her friend's future, or if that was meddling too much in someone else’s fate.  But if she could do anything to make her friend suffer less, wasn’t it right to do so?  Could she somehow warn her?  On the other hand she was desperately trying to remember her locker number and combination.  She hoped she had all the books she needed in her backpack, because she honestly couldn’t remember such unimportant details.

She pushed open the door and habit and muscle memory seemed to take over where her brain had forgotten.  She slid into her usual seat behind Morgan.  Morgan was deaf, but she was able to read lips.  Daniella tapped her on the shoulder and greeted her, and then she took out her binder and tried to figure out her daily schedule and which assignments she had due.  Her head was starting to hurt, and she was feeling a little dizzy.  Who knew that jumping back in time would be so difficult.  Luckily she’d been a fairly well organized person, and her binder was in order… and when she saw the layout, she remembered where she was supposed to go. 

She grew teary as she made her way upstairs to her AP English class.  She already knew something that her teacher, Mr. H wouldn’t discover for weeks.  He had cancer, an advanced and aggressive leukemia.  By graduation he would be bald and frail, and a few weeks later he would be buried.  He was one of her favorite teachers.  It was so hard to sit down in his class, already knowing what the future held.  She put her books on the table in front of her and cradled her head in her hands.  When that dark figure in her room had sent her back, had he anticipated all these complications? 

Just as the bell rang, Jesse slid in next to her.  She offered him a weak smile.  “Hey Jesse.”

“Hey Danni.” He brushed his sandy hair back off his forehead.  “Happy Birthday.” He slid a chocolate bar across the table to her.

“Wow, Thanks!” She tucked it away into her back pack.

“So, yeah.  My brother Duke is coming home this weekend, and my dad is having a party.  Do you want to come?”

Daniella felt a cold shiver run down her spine.  She and Jesse had known each-other since kindergarten.  Jesse’s older half-brother Duke had grown up living with his mother out of state.  He only came around to spend holidays with his Dad and step-mother.  Daniella had had a secret crush on Duke for years, even though Duke had always treated her like a pesky kid-sister when he was around.

“Sure I’ll come.  What time?”  She asked a little stiffly.

“How about I pick you up?  Around three?”

“Yeah, Ok,” She managed to get in, before Mr. H stood up and started the class.  She had a hard time paying attention though.  She was alternately distracted by the fact that Mr. H would be gone within six months, and the knowledge that this party had been the start of everything.  It was the first domino in a complex cascade of decisions and actions that would eventually end with her dying in the ICU.