After months, the day finally arrived. The day she had been waiting for.

Ruby raced down the stairs, her tail wagging as she looked around her cheerful house. Balloons, wrapping paper, juice…and…Ruby sniffed the air to make sure her nose wasn’t fooling her. ..CAKE?! The small merle-colored poodle scrambled to the table where a beautiful frosted cake was sitting on the rosy pink table. Her tail wagged so fast she was sure it would fall right off. She couldn’t believe it, she hadn’t had cake since she was around three years old…before the reptilian infection started.

Ruby shook the memories from her mind and focused on what was infront of her. She reached forward to grab an already cut slice, when a slender yellow paw pulled it back. She looked up to see Jackson, her bubbly golden retriever friend, smiling at her while still holding her paw. She grinned at him and tackled him to the ground, making him laugh and wheeze.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!" she exclaimed, her words jumbling together. Jackson sat up and ruffled her fluffy gray and brown head, his golden ears twitching and his warm brown eyes sparkling, "You're welcome, Ruby!" But it wasn’t just me who set this up. Daisy helped too.” He smiles, gesturing towards Daisy, another one of Ruby’s dog friends, who was quietly standing by another table arranging flowers.

Daisy noticed Ruby staring at her and walked over to her, her tail wagging happily. “Happy Birthday, Ruby! I made you this!” Daisy barked, handing Ruby a beautiful ruby and diamond necklace with a golden string. Ruby hugged Daisy, “thank you so much!!” She exclaimed, slipping on the necklace.

“We invited a few friends.” Jackson said, opening the door. A cute Chinchilla, Henry, and a sweet Siamese, Erin, walked in, holding presents. Ruby couldn’t believe it, and ran to hug them both. She was barely containing her excitement, feeling so bubbly and warm inside as they all sat down to talk.

She couldn’t believe Henry was here, especially since half of his tail and paw had been mutated because of the infection. But at last, all of them were together. Laughing, talking, smiling like they used to. Before the infection, and before the darkness. No lizards seeking murder, and no bodies laying near there once beautiful flower field. Ruby soaked it all in, trying to memorize every feature of the moment. She was just so happy she couldn’t contain it. After all the hard work to find peace once again, everyone was together.

Jackson leaned over and grabbed her paw, squeezing it gently as his warm eyes glistened. She could tell they were feeling the same thing. For the first time in forever, it was joy. Pure, unconditional joy. Ruby would remember her fifteenth birthday forever. For the first time in about twelve years, she experienced peace and happiness on her birthday surrounded by her friends, and she wished to hold onto that feeling forever.

{I hope y’all enjoyed this! I sort of got bored so I just wrote this at like almost eleven o’clock at night where I am. It’s probably not great, but I enjoyed writing it! }