“Make a wish and blow out the candles,” they said.

He closed his eyes, thinking long and hard about his wish. He put his lips together and exhaled.

The wish came true. But the candles didn’t go out. They burned and burned and burned.

They found him sitting there among the charred remains of the Chuck E. Cheese. Hair gone, skin blackened and flaking away, revealing new pale, nearly-translucent skin beneath.

No one knew how he could have survived. No one understood why he was smiling.

But he knew. It had been the best birthday ever.