Potato Cake by Lesley Whyte

Kayleigh paused and took a deep, steadying breath before she pushed open the door. She needed a second to prepare herself for the surprise birthday party on the other side of it. She knew what it would be like, pretty much the same as it had been fourteen months ago. Yes, fourteen months ago. 

She pushed open the door and everyone yelled and burst out at her. Kayleigh fixed a bright smile on her face and pretended to be surprised. She went around the room, saying hello to the few family members who had arrived, her father's 'friends' and the women who worked at the centre. She noticed her father was scrurrying around, adjusting bunting and rearranging badly-wrapped presents on the table. She avoided him, and the food.

"Kayleigh, sweetheart," Karen said, wrapping an arm around her. "You're such a good sport about all this stuff, it's wonderful. It means so much to him."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Is there any food?"

"Well, that depends on what you mean by food."

Kayleigh nodded. This was standard. She headed over to the food table anyway, since her stomach was rumbling loud enough to hear over the awful early-90s music. She looked at the chocolate digestives sandwiched between slices of bread and smothered in mustard. She looked at the crisps floating in what appeared to be Coca-Cola. She looked at the cheese-and-blue-tack-squares-on-sticks. Kayleigh sighed, then slid a cube of cheese off and popped it in her mouth.

At that point, her father appeared at her side and snatched the remaining blue cube from her.

"Hey, Dad. How are you feeling today?"

"You can't eat that yet! Kayleigh will be here soon!"

"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't realise. How are you doing today?"

"Everything's gone wrong," he said, his face red and sweaty. "I need to make sure everything's right for when Kayleigh gets here. It's her birthday, you know?"

"I know, Dad."

"Don't eat anything else," he said, and scuttled away again.

Kayleigh wiped at her eyes, hating herself for thinking this time might be different. Karen, her father's nurse, came over and hugged her gently again. "At least the cake looks edible," Kayleigh said, not wanting anyone to see her cry. She picked up a knife and cut herself a slice. As she lifted it onto a paper plate, she sighed. Mashed potato. He'd piled a bunch of mash on a plate and then covered it in blue icing.

"Kayleigh..."

"Well, at least it's not my birthday," she said quietly.