Here I am, home alone, sitting before my birthday cake. Dad is working, and so is Dami, his girlfriend; Mum is working too, and her new husband is driving his truck I don't know where. There are eighteen candles planted in the chocolate cake I'm supposed to taste right now; I lit them all with a match, and now, they're burning for nothing. There's nobody to sing Happy Birthday to me, there's nobody to photograph me while I'm blowing out those goddamn candles, there's nobody to remind me to make a wish... There's nobody I can celebrate it with.

I'm eighteen and all alone.

I take the cake and carefully carry it to the table that faces one of the windows. It's not exactly sunny outside, but at least the rain's away. I sit down behind the cake and let the sun shyly shine upon my face. I'm staring at the candle that I know won't be blown out – at least not now. I sigh and rest my chin in the palm of my hand.

Suddenly, I feel a presence behind me, and somebody is kissing my hair. I stiffen: nobody's supposed to be home, and I share my life with nobody. The voice of a man sounds behind me. “Happy birthday, dear. You won't celebrate it alone, will ya?” I slowly spin round just to see a smiling George Harrison. His dark brown hair is falling on his forehead, and they're messy, as usual; he's wearing a lovely grey turtleneck with dark jeans.

“George?” I whisper. “I thought you were... gone!”

“Yeah, but I couldn't miss yer birthday! I called a few other friends if you don't mind! We can have a good laugh all together!”

“What other friends?”

The door behind me opens, and a tall man with long brown hair, wearing a black t-shirt under a dark blue blazer appears, walking up to George and me. It doesn't take much time for me to recognise him. As he is wearing sunglasses inside, he removes them and smiles a goofy smile.

“Hey John!” George says. “It's nice that you came! I was telling her that we couldn't miss her birthday.”

“Of course not!” John goddamn Lennon replies in a high-pitched voice. He takes my hand and kisses it lightly, before crossing his eyes and pushing his bottom lip with his tongue. I laugh quietly, not believing what is happening. John Lennon and George Harrison are there, for my eighteenth birthday. I can't believe it!

“So, princess” John begins, “did you invite some other friends to come and celebrate with us all?”

“Well, actually, no. Most of them couldn't come, so I simply cancelled.”

“Aw, bad idea.”

A loud, unexpected knock on the door makes us jump; I turn my head, only to see Brian Jones, standing at the door frame, his golden bowl cut framing his face so well; he's wearing his black turtleneck with his red jeans and his Chelsea boots. Nice, I always loved this outfit!

“Am I late?” Brian panted lightly. “I hope I didn't miss anything!”

“Nah, don't worry!” George reassures him with a smile. “We've only arrived!”

“Nice, then.” Brian walks in and with the brightest smile I've ever seen, he runs up to me and holds me tightly in his arms. A flowery scent of violets and daisies tickles my nostrils, as I snuggle against him and rest my nose on his collar bone. Just like I always expected it, he wasn't much taller than me. Only four centimeters or so. He pulls away lightly and stares into my eye; with his fingertips, he brushes my hair out of my face, wedging a lock behind my ear. “Happy birthday, love! You've been waiting for this moment for so long, I guess!”

“What moment?”

“Turning eighteen.”

“Oh, perhaps. I don't know. I'm scared.”

“You shouldn't. It'll be great, I promise” he whispers as he gives my hair a very sweet kiss. I shiver lightly at his touch; never have I imagined that I would have such adorable guests for my birthday. What a nice surprise. Somebody coughs behind us, and at first, I think it's George, but not at all. I turn round and catch a glimpse of a dark-haired man, with a wild mane, dark eyes with makeup on, a light pink long-sleeved shirt, and a silk scarf tied around his neck.

“S... Syd?” I whisper, impressed by his sudden arrival. He smiles and nods, and I leave Brian's arms to find myself in Syd's. John and George are standing near the table, smiling from ear to ear, watching me being more and more surprised by the guests coming.

Syd Barrett. Syd Barrett is here too.

“You didn't expect to see me there, huh?” Syd smiles. “I brought Rick with me, but he's in the corridor, playing with your cat.”

“Oh, if Freddie comes, he'll be obsessed with it!” George sighs. Then, the door opens and Rick comes in, a bright grin on his face. “Your cat is so cute!” he says. “Happy birthday, honey! I hope you don't mind if I'm here.”

“Quite the reverse!” I reply. “Who else is coming?”

“All the ones you didn't forget!” Brian answers. “Oh, look who's here! My homonym! Hey! Davy!”

A short brown-haired guy appears, with my cat in his arms: Davy Jones from the Monkees. Wow. He looks at me and smiles immediately, pointing at the cat. “It's very cute! What's his name?”

“Vader.”

“Jaws was never my scene and I don't like Star Wars!” a singing voice sounds in a corner. I crane my neck, and Freddie is there. He stretches out his arms, and I jump into them. With a chuckle, he makes me spin around him and finally makes me touch the ground again. He kisses me on the forehead and tousles my hair. “Hello hello, darling! Happy birthday! I'm glad that I could come to celebrate it with you!”

At this moment, I just feel like crying. Not because I'm sad that only those that are supposed to be gone are there, no. Because they came when I needed company. I always have them by my side when I listen to their music, I visit them when I go to the record store, but this time, it's them who came to me. They knew I was alone.

The door unexpectedly gets kicked. Another short man with messy chocolate hair appears at the door, with a foolish grin that I could recognise within millions. “DIDN'T YOU WAIT FOR MOONIE?!”

John laughs, and George waves at him. I turn to them both with widened eyes. “You made them all come for me?”

“Of course” George replies, while Freddie wraps an arm around my shoulders “as I told ya, we couldn't miss it!”

“It's so... incredible.” Syd and Brian smile and nod at each other. They walk up to me, and Freddie lets go of my shoulders. Then, the two others hug me at the same time, kissing my cheeks. I laugh, and the other join us. I feel comfortable, wrapped up in all those arms that I obviously thought I would never touch. They make my skin warm, and my heart too. If only Chloe could come.

All of a sudden, I feel a hairy thing tickling my nose. I frown and open my eyes, just to see a black, hairy and very small spider. I shout, and the others jump. Rick and Davy step back in fear, and the others follow them; everybody, except Keith, who's bursting out laughing. “Well played, Enty, well played!”

I hear a laughter and I look up. There's John Entwistle, holding a transparent string, to which is tied the fake spider. I sigh in relief and wrap my arms around the bass player, who I consider to be the best in the world, with John Paul Jones and John Deacon. Too bad they can't come either.

Enty pats my head and kisses my nose. I laugh, as I notice he's wearing his skeleton suit. He looks down and chuckles, before removing it. Right under it, he's wearing his Union Jack jacket; I have always wanted to get one.

George looks up and counts the guests who arrived. “Is everybody here already?”

“No” Keith answers, “there's my fellow good drummer too!”

“Who?”

The roaring sound of an engine resonates in the corridor, and I shout in surprise, snuggling against Enty, who's the closest to me. I hear the sound of a motorbike, and I wonder how it got here. I know my father's learning how to drive motorbikes: has he purchased one? Anyway, he would not ride it inside the house!

A tremendous black and silver motorbike appears in the room, and a very impressive man is riding it. He has a black helmet over his head, a leather jacket, a black t-shirt saying 'If you're not into oral sex, keep your mouth shut'. Lovely. The closer he gets, the better I can distinguish the Union Jack on his machine. He stops it and I hear him cough: he removes his helmet and puts it aside, running a hand through his dark hair. He has a dark moustache matching it.

“BONZO?!” I shout. He looks up and has a lopsided smile. He gets off of his motorbike and comes to me to give me a bear hug. Meanwhile, Keith, Syd, Brian and Davy are admiring the incredible engine Bonzo came with. I pat the drummer's back and look at him in the eyes. “You came here to blow everybody's mind again, heh?”

“Of course, otherwise why would I be there?” he laughs. “Happy birthday, mate.”

“Thank you. Thank you all.”

“You'll thank us later” Rick smiles “everybody's not here yet!”

I shrug and shake my head. Bonzo suddenly picks me up and sits me on his bike. I feel tiny on it, and I have to bend in two to reach the large hand clutches. Man, I'm sure I look ridiculous. Syd and Davy whistle at me, and Brian stares at me almost lovingly. George and John are smiling, but they're also asking Bonzo some questions about how it basically works. Then, I feel something warm against my back. I turn my head and see Freddie sat behind me, reaching the clutches as well. “I'm taking you on a long ride!” he laughs.

Enty starts clapping his hands, and everybody follows him: I laugh, and I hear Freddie singing behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“I gotta be cool, relax, get hip, get on my tracks, take a back seat, hitchhike, take a long ride on my motorbike, until I'm ready!”

“READY, FREDDIE!” they all reply in unison.

“Crazy little thing called love!”

I burst out laughing and Bonzo helps me to land on earth again. I peck him on the cheek and friendly take Freddie's hand. George sits on a chair, and smiles at us all. “I'm happy you all came, we couldn't allow her to be alone on her eighteenth birthday! Anyway, who's missing?”

“Top-hat head” Keith chuckles.

“Who's top-hat head?” Davy frowns. “Never heard of 'im!”

“He's Ringo's friend” John coughs, playing with his sunglasses. “He almost looks like Syd, he's funny!”

“Nobody looks like me, I'm unique” Syd smiles.

“He's a mix between you and Brian!” Freddie laughs. “He's got your face and hair colour, but the hairstyle is Brian's!”

“What?”

I frown, trying to understand who they're talking about. I hear the door squeak on my right, and I'm immediately speechless. Wearing a multicoloured striped silk shirt, a black top hat with a pink flower pinned to it, I immediately recognise the one and only Marc Bolan. He scans the room with his grey eyes and grins. “I hope I'm not too late! I got lost on my way.”

“It's okay” I reply, hypnotised. Rick and Freddie nudge me, but I don't react. Keith shakes a hand before my eyes, but I don't react either. Marc smiles at me and shyly clears his throat, as if he's afraid of making too much noise. “Happy birthday” he whispers. “I feel happy to meet you at last!”

“It's... marvellous!”

“She's in love, now” John says, making everybody chuckle. Syd gets closer to Marc, with half-closed eyes. Marc raises an eyebrow, not knowing what Syd what looking at. “He doesn't look like me!” the former member of Pink Floyd protested.

“That was a joke” Enty says.

Marc shakes his head and his lips stretch into a wide grin. “By the way, I allowed myself to bring somebody else, I hope you won't mind.” He stepped aside, and I saw one of my favourite drummers of all time. There already were Bonzo and Keith, and the others were still alive. But this one, this one, she was my female crush.

“Sandy West!” I exclaimed. “I'm meeting Sandy West!”

“You're forgetting the whole group, love!” Davy laughs. “You meet us too! Anyway, where's Linda?”

“Linda?” I repeat.

“Yeah” Sandy starts, “she's adjusting her camera.”

My eyes widen. Linda McCartney. One of the women I've always wished to meet. How awesome! I hear footsteps in the corridor and Linda joins us all, with the loveliest grin on her face. “Hi!” she says. “Happy birthday, sweetie, I hope you're having a good time!”

“I-I am!” I answer, quite overwhelmed by how my lonely birthday turned out to be. Linda laughs and tells us to gather around the birthday cake. Unfortunately, all the flames disappeared. Bonzo rummages through his pocket and takes out a lighter, and lets the new flame burn on each candle. Before I sit on the chair to face it, I hug each one of them.

I thank George's sweetness; I laugh at John's faces; I fall in love with Brian's scent; I'm hypnotised by Syd's eyes; I pinch Rick's cheeks with a chuckle he shares with me; I tenderly kiss Davy's nose; I hug Freddie tightly; I dance in a silly way with Keith; I flatten Enty's Union Jack jacket with a smile; I'm given a bear hug by Bonzo, and a pat on the shoulder; I run a delicate hand through Marc's hair, as his eyes are planted into mine; I'm given a peck on the lips by Sandy; I'm having my hair braided by a smiling Linda.

Then, the lovely photographer gently pushes me on the chair, and I sit. Never have I imagined having such a good time. They all gather around me, and Brian wraps his arms around my neck, kissing my hair repeatedly. Linda faces me with her camera, and adjusts it for a last time. I stare at my cake and get myself ready to blow out the candles.

“Make a wish!” Rick whispers.

I close my eyes and loudly wish in my head for this moment to be endless. Then, I take a deep breath and push the air out of my lungs to blow out the candles, while the others are singing Happy Birthday. At the same time, Linda presses the button, and a flash blinds me.

-----------------------------------

I blink a few times and take a deep breath, yawning and stretching my back. I look all around me, hoping to see all my friends, but they were all gone. It's only when I notice in what position I was before that I understand what happened: I fell asleep next to my cake. The wax of the candles melted halfway, but I know that I still can light them up. I stretch out my arm and grab the matchbox, taking out a match, and giving the candles another life.

I shake the burning match, staring at the eighteen candles that shine before me. I put the dead match aside, and I notice something on my shoulders. I frown: I wasn't wearing anything aside from my t-shirt. What is it, and how did it get here? I turn my head and recognise Enty's Union Jack jacket. I also notice that my hair is braided. I smile widely, and as I get ready to blow out the candles, something stops me.

“Make a wish!” Rick's voice whispers inside my head.

Yes, Rick. I'm making one.

I take a deep breath and smile from ear to ear, staring at the sky outside. I know that somewhere up there, they're all gathered, waiting for me to blow out those goddamn candles. I laugh and blow them a kiss. I close my eyes and think.

I wish that they all rest in peace.

Then, I take another deep breath and blow out the eighteen candles.

I'm an adult now.