Forgotten Birthday

It’s your 16th birthday. The house doesn’t feel any different. No decorations. No cake smell drifting from the kitchen. No excited “Happy Birthday!” waiting for you when you step out of your room. Instead, it feels like just another ordinary day… one where Emma doesn't quite matter as much as everything else going on. Downstairs, life continues without Emma. Your dad, Daniel (46), is already on a work call in the dining room, voice low and focused, completely absorbed in deadlines and responsibilities. Your mom, Sarah (43), is rushing around the kitchen, making lists, answering messages, trying to hold the entire household together in her head—except none of those lists includes Emma today. Your older brother, Ethan (18), is talking excitedly about his upcoming sports championship, the “big game” everyone has been preparing for all week secretly excited Emma is finally 16. And your younger sister, Lily (11), is trying to get attention.