He woke up. Darkness covered him like a blanket. Struggling to get up, the rope bound him back. It seemed he was strapped to a chair, cold and hard against his spine. His eyes wandered, looking around the room. Nothing about this was right.

     To his left, he spotted something strange hanging from the ceiling. The slight breeze in the room made it swing. Left to right. Right to left. A figure stood right by it, carrying a metal bat. All it did was stare at the swinging object, looking as if it hypnotized by it's metronome-like movement, waiting for the perfect time to take his swing.

     He couldn't bare this picture so he looked to his right. With what he saw, he wished he hadn't looked at all. Something lie atop a wooden table. A knife suddenly plunged into it, a man on the other side, gripping the handle. Behind the man was a selection of different knives, each with it's own unique blade and handle. He watched in horror, as the man slid the knife down whatever was on the table.

     Suddenly, there was a flicker of light, revealing a mob of people standing in front of him. Staring at him, as if he were something completely new. Eventually, one of them stepped forward, holding something that was lit on fire. With the flame extended, they moved closer, and closer, and closer, until the blaze was centimeters away from his chin. Sweat poured down his forehead like a stream.

     He didn't know what happened first. The lights blasted on, filling his eyes with a sudden bright light. Everyone screamed and laughed, shouting three words that were very familiar to him.

     "Happy birthday Paul!"

     Confused, Paul looked around a second time. The fire in front of him wasn't going to burn him, it was a candle to a cake. To his left, there wasn't a psychopath standing with a bat ready to beat something down, it was a piñata about to swung at, releasing boatloads of candy at any given moment. To his right, no one was being cut while strapped down to a table, it was his uncle, about to cut a pie of Paul's favorite flavor.

     Around him were familiar faces, his siblings, his mother and father, cousins and close friends. Everyone was hysterical about the terrified expression that plastered across his face. Relief flew through his body as if it were a broken damn that had once held half the earths water. He laughed, he was happy. He was mad at the same time, but he loved everyone all the more for pulling this well-crafted birthday prank on him, and he will cherish and remember this memory for years to come.