The table was set, the cake was centered, and a happy little birthday boy eagerly waited just outside the pyramid for all the kids he’d invited to arrive. 

At first, he hugged his knees as he sat beside the entrance, but after about half an hour, Puphead began to grow bored. He grabbed a large, colorful piece of chalk, and began to doodle. He’d seen lots of shows and talkies where the characters celebrate a birthday, so he was pretty excited to have all the friends he met over the year to come over and play. The wooden child drew a large cake with a single lit candle, surrounded by all his friends. Next to that, he drew a table of presents, and himself standing next to it. Puphead didn’t really care about getting the gifts themselves, his dad could give him anything he ever really wanted, but Puphead loved the idea of someone getting something just for him. 

Two hours later, the child starts drawing confetti around his picture, having nothing else better to draw. He wished he could have written ‘Happy birthday’ on the top, but he didn’t know how to write yet...or spell...or read...

Puphead checked the time when he heard Wally chime out in the center of the park, and frowned. Where was everybody? The party was supposed to start forever ago. Puphead figured that something else just came up, and everybody was running late. Auntie Bonnie was always busy, and something almost always popped up with her, and Since the Carnival was still running today, Beppi was no-doubt entertaining some disappointed guests who couldn’t ride something. That was understandable...but where was Grim? Even if he had to take care of some rowdy guest, surely he would have been here by now, right? Not to mention Wally. He was here, so where was he and Junior? 

Puphead continued to keep drawing until he ran out of chalk to draw with, and scraped his wooden finger on the pavement. The child flinched back at the jarring sensation, looking down at his apparently finished picture. Everything he’d hoped for...everything he’d anticipated for nearly nine months now...

The boy noticed something wet drop onto his drawing, splatting inside his shadow. Then another right next to it. Then a third in the same spot. That’s what really made Puphead realize he was crying. He silently sniffled as he wiped his tears onto his arm. 

Suddenly, Puphead heard cheering. He perked up right away. Had someone finally come to his birthday party?! Puphead turned the corner of the pyramid to face the balloon tree, and saw...

Cuphead and Mugman...walking away from him. Walking away from the party...Meanwhile, everyone was cheering for them.  “Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-hooray! It’s the heroes of Inkwell!” Everyone cried. The tears came back to Puphead’s eyes. Nobody was coming to his birthday party. He wasn’t sure why he thought anyone would now that he thought about it...

Puphead turned back to his drawing on the pavement, tears falling onto the head of his shadow. The fluids trickled down to form a frowning face on the casted darkness on the ground, and the shadow against the pyramid reached out and put a comforting hand on the puppet’s shoulder. At least he wasn’t completely alone...