The Birthday Wish

Noah had always hated his birthday.

Not because he disliked cake, presents, or parties.

He hated the empty chair.

Every year, his mother placed six chairs around the dining table. Five were occupied by family members.

The sixth belonged to his sister, Lily.

Lily had died when Noah was only four.

His mother never explained exactly what had happened that night. Whenever Noah asked, she would simply say:

“It was an accident. Some things are better left in the past.”

But Noah remembered Lily.

He remembered her yellow pajamas.

He remembered the way she used to hide under his bed and grab his ankles.

And most of all, he remembered her promise.

“I’ll always come when you call me.”

Years passed.

On Noah’s eighth birthday, his mother baked his favorite chocolate cake. Everyone sang, but Noah noticed something strange.

There was a small present sitting beside his plate.

It had no name on it.

Noah opened it.

Inside was an old silver music box.

His mother went completely pale when she saw it.

“Where did you get that?” she whispered.

Noah shook his head.

“It was already here.”

His mother immediately took the music box away.

“Don’t touch this again.”

That night, Noah couldn’t sleep.

At midnight, he heard something moving in the hallway.

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He opened his bedroom door.

The hallway was empty.

Then he heard a little girl’s voice.

“Noah?”

He froze.

It was Lily’s voice.

Exactly as he remembered it.

“Noah… you wished for me.”

He stepped into the hallway.

At the end of it stood a little girl wearing yellow pajamas.

Her face was hidden by her long hair.

Noah smiled.

“Lily?”

The girl slowly raised her head.

“I told you I’d come back.”

Noah ran toward her.

But before he could reach her, every light in the house went out.

His mother screamed from downstairs.

“Noah! DON’T TALK TO HER!”

The girl disappeared.

Noah found his mother standing in the kitchen, shaking.

“What is it?” he asked.

His mother looked at him with tears in her eyes.

“That wasn’t Lily.”

Noah didn’t understand.

His mother opened an old box and pulled out a photograph.

It showed Lily standing beside Noah when they were little.

But behind Lily was another child.

A pale little girl Noah had never seen before.

“Who is she?” Noah asked.

His mother whispered:

“I don’t know.”

Then the music box upstairs began playing by itself.

The melody was slow and broken.

His mother grabbed Noah’s hand.

“We have to leave.”

But before they reached the front door, they heard footsteps behind them.

Small footsteps.

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Noah turned around.

The little girl stood at the top of the stairs.

This time, he could see her face.

Her eyes were completely black.

She smiled at Noah.

“You called me.”

His mother pulled Noah outside and slammed the door.

They spent the night at a hotel.

The next morning, everything seemed normal.

Until Noah found something inside his birthday gift.

A small piece of paper.

Written in childish handwriting were the words:

“Your sister didn’t come back alone.”

Years later, Noah finally learned the truth.

Lily had never been alone in that house.

Before Lily died, she had been talking about another little girl she claimed lived inside the walls.

A girl only children could see.

A girl who appeared whenever someone made a wish.

And Lily’s final words before the accident had been:

“She wants my place.”

Noah never returned to that house.

But every year, on his birthday, he receives the same strange gift.

An old silver music box.

And every time he opens it, the same melody plays.

Then, just before midnight, he hears a little girl’s voice outside his bedroom.

“Noah…”

“You wished for me.”

And this year, for the first time, another voice whispered from behind her:

“But I’m the one who came for you.”