Golden Feather on a Christmas Night

By: Sukidayo for Void Delirium

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

)-(

It was that wonderful time of year again and here I was, working at Sugar-n-Sweets Bakery and Pastry Shoppe. I’ve been working here under Uncle Leo’s management for about five years now, and Uncle Leo and his son Jamie have grown to be my pseudo-family.

Yeah, I know. I’m one of those people who have crappy holidays because she doesn’t have a family. My mother died when I was very young and left me with my idiot father. He didn’t even live with us but he had to take care of me until I was eighteen since he was the only living member of my family left. So I stuck it out as I counted the days and the weeks down to my last year with him. On the day I turned eighteen I packed up and didn’t even look back when I walked out of the door.

Honestly, I didn’t want to look back. I couldn’t stand seeing him with some bimbo or other so I said good riddance and found my own apartment in the cheap section of Buffalo, New York. I’ve lived there since and made it on my own up to now. I don’t regret anything and I don’t regret severing my ties to that man. So I’m better off… in a bakery… with early morning hours and late night shifts and crappy people during the day.

Now that the day was over and done with and the weekend was here, I was left in the shop with Jamie doing clean up for the long weekend and holiday week since they’ll be away to family… leaving me here with enough money to make it for a week until they come back.

Jamie had put the radio on over the speakers a little louder than normal since it was only us. Star 102.5 was playing ‘round-the-clock Christmas songs and carols until the 26th. So we listened as we cleaned and pretty much stayed quiet. When the song Ding Dong! Merrily On High came on, I started humming to it. It was the version done by Celtic Woman and it was such a heavenly sound that I couldn’t help but sing out loud to the last stanza:

(1) “Pray ye dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers
May ye beautifully rime
Your eve time song, ye singers
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis.”

When I finished, I smiled and looked over at Jamie to see if he was done wiping the counter down. I got a look of utter shock instead and looked around me, wondering what it was he was shocked about.

“What?” I asked. “Is there something on my face?”

“Nothing but the mouth that made that heavenly angelic sound. Where the hell did you learn to sing like that? Are you going to an Arts college and not tell us you were?”

It finally dawned on me that he was talking about my singing. “I’ve always been able to sing like this. My mother helped me when I was younger. I sang in the choir at school after she died and just kept singing when my ass of a father wasn’t around with Jane Doe number whatever.”

The memory of my mother put me in a rotten mood and I slammed the mop down on the floor. Jamie apparently got the idea and shut up as well about the whole subject. For about five minutes.

“There is a free concert at Delaware Park tonight at nine,” he said. “And you’re coming with me whether you like it or not. I mean, I’ve never seen you get out other than to go home and do whatever. You probably masturbate but-“

He was cut off by a dirty wet rag when he said that.

“Jamie, shut up. That was dirty, perverted, and wrong in so many ways and just plain uncalled for.” I continued washing the floor and finished in record time. If I knew that I worked faster when I’m angry or ticked off, I should think about that comment when I want to get something done.

I pulled the bucket and mop into the storage closet in the back of the bakery and cleaned up some more back there. Jamie came into the room, trying to be sneaky, and came up behind me.

“I can see your obnoxious green spiked hair from the back of my head,” I said blatantly. “You can’t scare me anymore.” His arms went around my shoulders and he pulled me into a brother-like hug. I put my arms over his.

“I’m sorry, sister dearest,” he said. “That was uncalled for. I knew better.”

“Yes, you do know better,” I reiterated. “And I accept your apology.” I slipped from his grip and finished off the last of the cleaning.

“Then will you come with me to the concert?” he asked in a pathetic baby voice. “Pwease sista? Really, please? I leave tomorrow morning with Uncle and it’ll be the last time I see you before the holidays are finished for good. Just spend this little time with me? I know the guys performing. They’re really talented and I think you might like them. It’s free of charge because they do it as a hobby.”

I turned my head and looked at him. He had that baby face on him and I just couldn’t say no to him. He was older than me by about six years but I was always the bigger sibling. I thought about it. The weather people said it was going to be nice without wind, so it shouldn’t be really cold. I doubt the group would be playing outside since there was a giant glass dome building that was newly built before fall. It housed tons of roses and plants with little lights and it was a nice place for a concert.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go. But we can’t make it unless we finish cleaning this place!”

The brightest smile ever graced his face and he instantly got back to work. I did my remaining chores in the place and locked up while he went to get his Kia Sportage. I got into the passenger side seat and we were off down the street before I was even belted in.

We stopped at Tim Hortons for a quick snack and some large coffees and hit the highway towards Delaware Park. When we got there, we had a little trouble trying to find a parking space. There were a lot of cars around and I thought that we just chose a day when it was busy. But when we finally parked and got to the dome, most of the people inside were there for the free concert!

“How popular are these guys?” I asked as Jamie pulled me through the crowd like a little happy boy. He was trying to get as close to the stage as possible.

“Not so much,” he said in return. “They’ve been out for about a month now. They’re still in circulation. They all have wealthy families so this is free until they get a talent agent.”

We made it to the front and center of a fairly large stage. There were four microphones set up in the center of the stage with some seats for a small orchestra to place with music stands set up. Pots of gold foiled poinsettias lined the edge of the stage over to the stairs on both sides. Just in the back two corners were two large pine trees to the top of the dome and covered with white lights and gold and silver bows, ornaments and little pears. It was odd… but beautiful all the same.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost time for the concert to start. When I looked up, the musicians were seating themselves and tuning their instruments at the guidance of the conductor. The people got quiet as the lights dulled and the only actual illumination came from the white lights strung into the branches of all the trees. I looked at my watch and we still had a minute left. Jamie saw me and leaned over.

“They have a knack at starting right on the dot,” he said. “It’s amazing how they do it.”

He was right. Exactly at nine, the most heavenly male voice gently flew into the area and surrounded me in a sea of perfected tenor notes.

(2) “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
Come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.”

I looked up and the most beautiful of creatures walked onto the stage that I could do nothing but stare at him. He was a vision of perfection, literally! His skin was creamy white and not sickly looking, but glowing in the lights of the trees. He had golden blonde hair down to his shoulders, but he had it tied back into a short pony tail, a few strands of his bangs falling into his face. He wore nothing special, jeans and a white dress shirt with a pair of converse All Stars, but it didn’t do anything to destroy his hunk of a body.

As he moved across the stage, he had his eyes closed. When he opened them, I was immediately drowned into a sea of crystalline blue that made my emerald green shy back in shame. I almost turned my head away, feeling so unfit to look at him. But I stared on as the song continued and three more men joined him and continued the song as a quartet:

“Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Adeste fidelis
Laeti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte regem angelorum
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus Dominum

Adeste fidelis
Laeti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte regem angelorum
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus Dominum.”

I was so into the sounds of their voices and how they harmonized to sound like one, but still be able to hear each individually, that I didn’t even realize the song had ended until the crown whooped and cheered at them. Jamie was jumping up and down and waving at one of the guys, who waved back. I took a look at him and then at Jamie.

“Is that David?” I asked. Jamie smiled and nodded his head which looked like it was going to pop off any minute.

“Isn’t my beau gorgeous?”

“Yeah,” I said looking at David again. “He is.”

Yeah, Jamie was a homosexual. Not many people know about him but me, his uncle and a few other family members. He never practiced it physically though, so he was a good Christian boy. He went to mass, he held hands with some, but always denied them what they wanted. He’s been talking about David for almost three months, which is the longest for Jamie. David had to be the keeper of Jamie’s heart for them to be together this long. And I never saw Jamie happier.

David was like me almost. Green eyes, red hair. But I think he was the real deal Irish-blood man. I’m Italian and I color my hair red. I’m a natural brunette. But David was a stocky fellow, not much taller than Jamie. He looked good in his torn jeans and baggy shirt with the faded ‘Merry Christmas’ on it. His hair was short and his face gentle. I liked him.

The other two were nice eye candies as well. The one on the far right was Asian and very thin. Couldn’t be over twenty in age and was so thin he looked sickly. But the beam in his face was so healthy I didn’t know what to think. He also wore jeans and a tee. And the last guy had light brown hair in a spiky cut with silver tipped spikes for the holidays. He had brown eyes and a medium build and strong arms under a tight black shirt and black jeans.

But the Blondie Adonis had my eyes back on him as soon as I took a gander at the rest of his posse. I just couldn’t believe someone like him existed. It wasn’t naturally possible… not at all! I was going crazy.

As they started another song, I turned to Jamie and took his shirt in my hands.

“Who is the blonde?” I asked, not caring about keeping my crush a secret from him. “You know them. Who is the freaking blonde?!” The ass laughed at me.

“You can meet them later,” he said. “David and I are going out after the concert. They’re good friends of mine, so they’ll take good care of you when Davie and me go bye bye.”

I gaped at him as he took my hands off his shirt and continued with the cheering. I don’t know how long I was in that frozen position, but I was screaming inside. How could he do this to me?? I have a weakness for hotness… and leaving me with three – actually, two; Blondie Adonis doesn’t count because he’s inhumanly hot – hot guys to be with his own?

I was so going to kill him… if I could get my act together and move my damn body.

)-(

“No, no, no, NO!” Jamie was literally dragging me towards the back of the stage where the guys were hanging out. When Jamie went to find them, I went to hide and collect my bearings. But Jamie is a damned blood hound. He found me in record time and was unrelenting in his mission to leave me with them.

“Honey, come on,” he said. “You know as well as I that you want to be in the same room with them!” I got away from him and attempted to attach myself to a nearby tree. “Bianca Elisabetta Chereso – you know damn well that I’ll freaking carry you into that room.”

“NO!” I said again. Jamie was true to his word though. He had just started to move towards me when a heavenly male voice broke through the attack.

“Now what is goin’ on here?” Jamie and I turned our attention to the lead singer of the group… my Adonis crush was standing at the head of the pack, still wearing the clothes they had on for the concert. I felt my eyes bulge and my mouth drop open. Jamie, on the other hand, squealed like a little girl and hopped up and down then the designated David walked forward and hugged him warmly.

“You made it!” David said. “I’m so happy you could!”

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” Jamie said. “You guys sing so heavenly, it’s hard to think about missing it.”

While they chit-chatted and seemed to not notice me, I made my attempt to escape the clutches of my crazed half brother, co-worker. I was almost in the clear so I could make a run for it, but the ever-creepy Jamie grabbed my arm and pulled me over to his side. Somewhere in that action I screamed and I knew the guys thought I was weird. So I hid behind Jamie.

“And this is my co-worker, Billy,” he said. He reached his hand behind his back and poked me in my side. It caused me to jump out from behind him with a tiny squeak. “And she seems to be a bit scared of you guys.”

“I am not scared of them!” I said to him with a slap in the arm.

“Awesome!” he said, taking me and pushing me forward slightly. “Then who would like to look after her?”

I knew I made a strange face since three of the four guys laughed at it. “Jamie! You ass!”

“I’ll take her.”

There was silence in my world when I heard Adonis speak those words. There was a chill in my body that warmed me, strange to say, and I couldn’t help but shiver. Everything went slow and the first thing in my mind was why was this guy affecting me so much?

I was never one to hold a relationship with a guy. Mostly because I was never putting signals out that I wanted to try it. I’ve gone through my entire life without a man and I faired very well on my own. Then again, that was mostly due to my idiot father who’d be so drunk whenever I brought a guy home he’d scared them away and later they dumped me for yesterday’s trend for the newer one; the easy bimbo.

There wasn’t much to do after that so I basically shut myself to the world of men and only saw them as chemistry partners and fellow drama participants. After a while, I just stopped caring.

But that wasn’t the case now. No way. This was a different situation and I was slowly going to hell over it because I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I was good at taking control most of the time. But that was the Bakery… this is a guy! I don’t think having the ability to control a Bakery would help me much in this situation.

“You will?” Jamie’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and I re-focused on what was happening. “Thank you! C’mon Davie! I leave tomorrow! You said you’d show me how to have fun in the snow!”

They left and the remaining three looked at each other and then at me briefly before the other two said their goodbyes to Adonis. Before I knew it, the other people were gone from the large glass room, leaving me with him and the trees. I looked around to make sure we were actually alone before I started to panic.

“So… Billy. I like that name, though it’s a little masculine. I’m Kris Warner.” He held out his hand to me and I stared at it before I got the message that he was introducing himself.

DAMN IT TO HELL!

I reached out slowly and took his hand. It was warm and really soft. He didn’t squeeze my hand or anything but just held it in a gentle hand-holding non-shake-like hand shake. Am I making any sense? Because if I’m not, too bad. That’s how it was right then.

C’mon girl, get it together. It’s a guy. No big deal – you’ve worked with many guys before in your life. He’s just another one.

I took another look at him and leave it to me too actually fall to my knees after looking into his eyes of deep, crystalline blue. He leaped forward and caught me… and I swear I was falling apart in his arms. God, help me because my situation was not improving at all.

“Whoa there,” he said. “Easy. I know I make girls swoon, but I’ve never killed one with my looks before. Don’t be the first, please.”

He was talking about himself. He was saying that I was reacting to his looks. I was not. Well… I was… but I wasn’t going to admit it to him… or myself… am I making any sense? Tough. Well… whatever. I mean… GAH!

I got my bearings quicker than lightning and stood up, slapping his hands away from me.

“You wish you could kis-ill with your looks!” Dear Zeus… what the hell is happening to me?

He put his hands up in surrender and took a step away from me for room. I was able to breathe a little better when he did so, so I welcomed (and hated) it. I looked at him again. While he was still… NYAA... he seemed more human. I calmed down more and worked on getting my social veneer on. I wasn’t going to be putty anymore.

“You want to get some coffee?”

Say no, thank you. “Sure.” He nodded and gestured for me to walk towards the side door towards a close parking lot. I followed him out into the chill and towards it up to a deep red Toyota Corolla and opened the passenger side door for me. I gulped and tried to reason with the muscles that were moving my legs without my consent.

Damn it, muscles, I yelled. I don’t know this guy… he could be a secret rapist, axe murderer…

He closed the door once I was in and buckled. I cursed heavily under my breath as he went to his side and got into the driver’s seat. He buckled and started the ignition. Before I knew it, we were on the road back towards downtown Buffalo and I was praying to every god and goddess I knew to keep me safe; all of them except Adonis.

)-(

Kris parked his car about three blocks from the Tim Hortons on Pearl Street and we walked the rest of the way to the Key Center where the little coffee place was located. Getting there, we both ordered large Hot Chocolates and sipped it as we walked up and down West Chippewa street. There were late night drivers and some clubs open with their lights flashing through the windows onto the sidewalk. A few smokers here and there outside of the doors chatted about football and other sports.

Kris and I were mostly silent. More and more I felt like a child and a dog combined. I was a pet following its master obediently and a child because he offered to ‘baby sit’ me for Jamie’s lazy ass.

“Jamie said you lived close to here. I thought I’d park away so I could walk you to your place and get to know you a little better.”

I looked at the ground as I walked and considered my next reply. “Why would you want to get to know me?” It was perfect. I had just the right pitch in my voice to sound playful and interested, like I wanted to know him too. I looked out of the side of my eyes and saw him shrug a little. It was fluent motion and it almost didn’t seem like he moved at all.

“You’re cute,” he said plainly. “And I like cute. You’re fussy when you’re ticked and you like hitting people sometimes. I like that in a girl. Means she’s a no-bullshit kind of person and I like that. They don’t have to lean on anyone all the time so that means they have a level of personal strength but they’re not afraid to admit their faults. I admire that in women.”

Oh. That really wasn’t what I was expecting him to say. And he’s flirting with me. I can hear it in his little soft voice as well as see it in the tiny grin he had.

“Well, yeah. I do live over here. It's about three blocks down Franklin Street and two blocks towards Delaware.”

“Then we’ll go all the way down to Delaware and up three blocks.”

“But that’s the long way,” I said.

“I know. That’s why we’re going that way.” I had to smile when he said it like that. He just sounded so cute and childish and that just made me feel comfortable around him. And so the long way we went.

“I know your name really can’t be Billy,” he said, taking a sip from his hot chocolate cup. “What’s your real name and how did you get ‘Billy’ as a nickname?”

I took my own sip and smiled. “My real name is Bianca. The first week working with Jamie at the bakery with his uncle is when I got the name. Uncle Leo couldn’t say my name easily so Jamie started calling me Billy for his uncle. Then he started calling me Billy and then all of the regulars started calling me Billy. It’s been that way since.”

“Were you born here in Buffalo?”

I shook my head. “I was actually born in Sardinia, Italy while my parents were there on business for about a year. My mother was the Italian that lived there and my father was full blooded and moved there to work. Then he had to come back to the States. They all moved back and I was raised here.”

“Ah, I see. Since your mother and father were both Italian, do you speak that language fluently?”

“Perché pensereste quello?” I looked at him and he had the funniest look on his face. I knew he didn’t know what I had asked him. I was about to tell him that I asked ‘What makes you think that?’ when he opened his own mouth and said:

“La vostra madre lo ha parlato poiché ha vissuto là. Così ho presupposto che era così.”

I knew my mouth dropped open again. There was no possible way that he could have known fluent Italian… but then again, he did sing in Latin and Italian came from it. Unless he actually studied it, I don’t know if he would have known.

“You shouldn’t presuppose anything,” I said. “It’ll make an ass out of yourself is you’re not careful. But I guess I did lay to you the fact that my mother had to be fluent in it since she lived there and my father had to since he worked there for the better part of a year and a half.” I took a sip from my now turning chocolate milk. “What I want to know is how do you know it?”

“Studied it in college for a year. Languages stick to me, so I’m bilingual.”

Oh. Right, that would make sense. I told you he had to have learned it.

We turned right when we got to Virginia Street and walked a little more slowly. My apartment was closer to Delaware than I wanted because I wanted to keep talking. When I stopped, I was at the steps to the building and I vocally groaned my displeasure. Kris laughed and took my cup and drank from it. My eyes almost popped out of my head. He then took a pen from his coat pocket and wrote a number on it before giving me back the empty cup.

“Call me tomorrow at about eleven,” he said with a smile. “Casual. I’m taking you on an all day date and you’re going to come because I like you.”

I gaped at the empty inside of the cup and didn’t even take a gander at the number. I looked at him – well, more like glared at him – and blinked once.

“You ass,” I said. “I was still drinking that.” He smirked at me.

“No you weren’t,” he said. “Otherwise, you would have finished it quickly.”

“How do you know?” I argued. “I could have been working on it slowly.”

“No way. I asked you what you wanted and before I got the question asked you all but screamed ‘hot chocolate’. It’s not your favorite, so why bother?” He smiled again and pointed at the cup. “Call me tomorrow.” He turned around and was gone. Just like that. How the hell does he move so fast?

I needed a shower. I really needed a shower. A really, REALLY hot shower. I trudged up the steps to my apartment and unlocked my door and went in. The mail from that morning was still unopened on my door side table. I grabbed the small stack and went through it. Only one envelope was a notice for the rent to be paid and all the rest were catalogs for Christmas shopping. Since I had no one to shop for I tossed them in the waste basket and made my way to the bathroom and ignored the holiday-less apartment. I didn’t bother to decorate. No one came over to enjoy it

I turned the water on full blast and stood under it for about half an hour. I tried thinking about happy things but none came to me. I thought briefly about my mother and how we decorated the Christmas tree together with white lights, gold and silver ornaments and red bows. It was always so beautiful and then we’d take our holiday photo in front of it. But that happy memory always turned sour in my head to when she died and left me with my father. He was never the same after he lost her. But I always tried to stay the way she wanted me. She wanted me to sing, and sing I did:

(3)“Stille Nacht, Heil’ge Nacht

Alles schläft; einsam wacht

Nard as traute hoch heilige Paar

Holder knab’im lockigten Haar

Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh

Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh

Stille Nacht, Heil’ge Nacht

Hirten erst Kundgemacht

Durch der Engel Alleluja

Tönt es laut bei Ferne und Nah

Jesus der Retter ist da

Jesus der Retter ist da

Stille Nacht, Heil’ge Nacht

Gottes Sonh, o wie lacht

Lieb’aus deinem göttlichen Mund

Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund

Jesus in deiner Geburt

Jesus in deiner Geburt.”

It was done in German, Silent Night. She taught me the words and I remembered them. She taught me in English and in Italian. It was the only song that remembered her actual person and her spirit and made me happy. But it was also a sad lullaby to me and made me cry because she wasn’t here. And cry I did. I slipped to my knees in the shower and wept to her memory. If she wasn’t cremated, I’d go to her grave and sing it for her, the way she always asked me to.

But I didn’t have that option.

)-(

I don’t ever remembering why I turned on my alarm clock. It went off and I mercilessly slammed my hand down on it hard enough for me to hurt. If I wasn’t awake when I did it, I was awake now. I sat up on my knees since I was on my stomach at the time. I shook my hand and held it close to me, fighting back tears because it really hurt.

“Damn you, mechanical object,” I said to the clock. “Look what you made me do. My hand is throbbing… my head is throbbing, and you woke me up at flipping five in the morning and I don’t even have to work today. I. Hate. You.”

I turned off the alarm since I only hit the snooze and looked down at myself. Leave it to me to just fall on my bed still soaking wet and naked after my shower. Damn it. I had to go back into the bathroom and take another shower and pull out the L’Oréal Kids Tangle Tamer spray. I took the shower but kept my hair dry and got out. I let my hair down from the clips I used and winced when I saw myself in the mirror.

“Billy,” I said to myself. “Looks like you went to hell and back. Was it warmer there?” I sighed and took the spray and all but dumped it on my head. I took my comb and combed it out so it was flat against my shoulders and back. I took my blow dryer and my cylinder brush and dried it. The smell of sweet pears from the spray wafted to my nose and relaxed me a little as my hair started to curl up. After it was done, I looked at myself again and smiled. I looked more presentable now, but I could see my dark brown hair growing out again from my roots. I’d have to go back to Supercuts for a glazing session and get it fixed.

And that’s exactly what I did. I don’t know how I did it or even if I paid attention to it, but I somehow managed to get myself over to Harlem Road near a Tops supermarket to Supercuts. I got my hair done so it was nice and bright red again and not a hint of brown. I paid, did some grocery shopping and got back to my place by 11:30am.

As I got out of the stairwell at my floor and made it to my door I stopped dead in my tracks and dropped my bags. Good thing I didn’t need to buy eggs.

“I told you I was taking you on an all day date. But… you never called. I had to see if you were still alive or not.”

“Kris! What the hell? How did you find my apartment?” I scrambled to grab the run-away oranges and apples as he stood there and chuckled. I got them back into the bags and he came over to pick them up for me before I got my keys out and tried to unlock my door with the bakery key. I banged my head on the door and used the correct key and opened the door. Kris slipped inside and went towards the counter and the kitchen since it was open and it didn’t take much to find it. He put the bags on the counter and turned around to look at my back and I hastily looked outside up and down the hall before closing the door.

“So… you have something against Christmas?” I turned and looked at him quizzically. He gestured around my bland apartment. “No decorations?” I leaned against the door and looked down.

“No point.” I shrugged and moved over to his side and started to put things away. He stayed where he was and watched me. I ignored it.

“Why not?”

“No one to decorate for,” I answered, closing the fridge door and tossing the few plastic bags into a larger one in the kitchen closet for later use.

“Why not just for yourself?” he asked. “I mean, at least a three foot pre-lit tree in the window wouldn’t be too much for you or your apartment.”

“Can you just drop it?” I closed the door harder than I meant in my frustration and sighed, shaking my head. “Look, I appreciate the advice for a little Christmas Spirit, but I really don’t have any use for it.”

There was an uneasy silence in my kitchen as I could feel his gaze drop to the floor. I leaned my head on the cold wood of the door before forcing myself to turn around. I went right against the door in haste when I saw he was only inches from my front and looking down on me. I was tall for my heritage but he was taller. Maybe six feet, give or take an inch or two. But he towered over me. I got a little nervous and I looked away from his intense eyes and looked at his forearm instead. I was trapped on all sides. He was in front, the closet door behind me, the fridge to one side and a dead end wall on the other. Shit.

“K-Kris…? C-could you move… p-please?” He ignored me and pulled my face up with his finger under my chin so we looked at each other. He leaned down and I remember him smelling like an air freshener. God help me, but I swear he smelled like pine needles and fresh air. His eyes burned fire into me that warmed me from head to toe.

“You say you’re Italian,” he said in a sultry voice. “But both your parents had brown eyes and brown hair from the picture beside the front door. Your hair is colored, I know that, but your eyes aren’t Italian.”

I opened my lips slightly to let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding when his hand moved to my cheek and his thumb brushed my lips. Why was I acting like this? Why did he affect me so? I hated not being in control of myself… especially with him. He just knew too much about me. He probably got his info from Jamie, but I knew Jamie wouldn’t tell him personal information like what he was implying right now. Thinking about it, I couldn’t help shed a few tears and slip down to the floor and hug my knees.

“You’re adopted.”

I put my arms over my head and sobbed a few times. He knelt down in front of me and tried to hug me, but I pushed him away.

“Get out,” I said while keeping him at arm’s length. “Just. Get. Out.”

“Bianca, I’m-“

“Out.”

He looked at me for a few seconds and I snapped my head towards him. “OUT.”

And he just got up and left.

)-(

(4)Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe

Just believe.

I had to close my window by the time this song ended. Just by singing that song, the carolers outside on the street made me go more into the sour mood now ever since Kris left my apartment before telling me that he figured out I was adopted by my Italian parents just my looking at a fucking picture. I hated him so much now I don’t think I could look at him or think about him without planning his murder.

Who the hell was he to do that? He didn’t know me; I didn’t know him. And I blame all of this on Jamie for making me come to the concert with him.

I looked at the calendar and frowned at the jolly Saint Nick painting on the top fold. There were only two days before the 25th and I really didn’t give a shit anymore. That being said, I ripped the calendar off the wall and tossed it into the trash can before pulling the blinds on the window and turning off every light in my apartment. I went into the living room and plopped down on my couch with a fleece blanket and laid there in the darkness and just fumed about how pissed off I was. I don’t think I’ll be able to face Jamie at the bakery in a few weeks without thinking about earlier and not strangle him with plastic wrap or a ribbon. Hell, I might just toss him in the oven and leave him there.

Now I was just over reacting and wrong targeting Jamie for something that was totally my fault. I agreed to go with him to the concert so he wasn’t at fault at all. Who was at fault was Kris because he was the one who opened his damn mouth before getting to know me better. If he did, he would have found out how tender the subject of my adoption and family was to me.

I have been alone for Christmas and New Years for five years and here he is trying to push his way into my life when he’s not wanted. Adonis my ass; he’s a Trojan Horse.

I fell asleep soon after I hit the couch. My head was so tired and I felt so fatigued that I was out like a light. Nothing could have waked me up.

I slept the whole night away and all of the morning of the 23rd. I woke up around noon to a ratta-tat-tat on my front door. It continued and wouldn’t go away so I had to get up and trudge my body to my door. I unlocked it and opened it.

Bad idea.

“Damn it… go away.” I went to close the door but Kris stuck his foot between it and to door jam and forced himself into the small area. I glared at him. “I am not afraid of going to jail.”

“I don’t care if you knock all my teeth out of my mouth,” he said. “Just let me apologize.”

“Fine,” I said. “Go on.” He looked down at the door and his position.

“May I come in?” I thought about it and shrugged. I opened the door all the way, but instead of letting him in I pushed him into the hall and closed the door behind me. I leaned against it and crossed my arms.

“I’m sorry for what happened yesterday,” he said. “It was… extremely ignorant of me to go on and throw private information at you the way I did. I’m very observant, but that didn’t give me any right to say what I did. Forgive me?”

The way he said it was so sincere that I had to look up at him. He had on a black shirt with baggy black jeans with converse sneakers and a leather jacket. His hair was still tied back and his eyes were full of apology. They were also lacking sleep. I was guessing he’d been up all night. I felt bad for him for not letting him apologize yesterday but then I didn’t feel bad at all because he deserved it after treating me the way he did. But he had suffered enough, so I was going to be nice.

“Apology accepted,” I said gently. “Just don’t do it again until you know me, okay?” He shook his head and smiled. He looked like a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders and his entire demeanor just brightened up completely. He didn’t look so tired, but he was hungry.

The cutest child look flashed into his eyes and I just started laughing so hard that I fell to the floor. He put his hands over his stomach and the hint of a blush painted his cheeks.

“Hardy har,” he said. “I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.”

I got up and wiped the tears from my eyes and opened my door and went inside. I gestured for him to come in as well and he did. I was still wiping my eyes of the tears as he took off his shoes and placed them on the mat next to my winter boots and followed me into the kitchen.

“I’ll make you something,” I said, getting my voice back but still doing little spurts of laughter here and there. I felt a lot better too. “What do you want?”

“You.”

Say what now? I stopped my searching in the fridge at what I thought I heard. I looked at him but hid my surprised look. “What did you say again?”

“I said whatever you feel like,” he answered. “I’ll eat anything when I’m this hungry.”

“Oh, okay.”

DAMN IT BILLY! Stop with the imagination thing. I got out eggs and some fresh fruit. While I boiled them in a pot of water, I washed and cut the fruit and put them into small breakfast bowls for the two of us and sprinkled some sugar over it. I put a spoon in each and set them on the table for us as I went to the stove and turned it off. I ran cold water in the pot to stop the cooking process and peeled the four eggs and sliced them in quarters with salt and pepper into two more bowls.

Kris was already done with his fruit and started on the eggs. I ate at my own pace and tried to think about what we could talk about.

“I’m adopted too,” he said. “So I can sort of relate to you in some small way. My parents died in a car crash. Their friends adopted me as their own. They were old, so they didn’t live very much longer and I was alone again at seventeen. That was nine years ago. So I got a job singing and made money. I came here to the US to continue studying music on a scholarship. Met Jamie three months ago when David brought him to one of our earlier concerts.”

“Cool,” I said. “How long have you and the others been a group?”

“Three years.”

I took a double check. Jamie lied to me.

“Jamie said you guys were only around for a month.”

“Ah. You didn’t get all of it. We’ve been out for a month here in Buffalo. We’ve been a quartet for three years running from our last year at college. It started in Germany when we all went there for vacation after graduation and started singing there. We stayed for three years and came back here. We’ve been singing in New York City for about six months until about late September and came here at the beginning of October.”

Wow. They knew what they were doing. Three years singing experience did them well for their voices.

“What do you call yourselves?”

“We don’t have a name. But we were throwing Angelicus around a little.” I nodded. It was a good name. Worked well for them because they sing like angels.

I got up and cleaned the table. His stomach was not making any noises anymore so I figured the eggs and fruit did the trick for him. I finished off the few dishes and wiped my hands on a dish towel.

“You still have to come with me on the date,” he said. “And I’m not going to take no for an answer.”

Say no and send him on his way. You want to go back to sleep. You ant to read and do nothing else with him for the day. You hardly know him.

“What should I wear?” Damn.

)-(

We went to dinner and then to see a movie. It was horrible. Dinner was Mighty Taco and the movie was Beowulf. I hated both, but he made it fun for me. The movie was another thing. We sat in the very back corner and made jokes about it. It was horrible on my terms, but the other people there seemed to enjoy it.

We left the Market Arcade Theater through the back where the subway train tracks were near Theater Station on Main Street before the movie even ended. It had just started to snow again and the flakes were huge and drifted down gently to the ground. We sat on a concrete flower bed and watched the trains roll past. It was just after six in the evening and the sun had long since set here on the east coast. We had coffee this time from the theater snack bar instead of hot chocolate and this time I was the one who finished his cup.

“Now we’re even,” I said. He let out a gentle laugh and I smiled, laughing with him. What I didn’t expect was him leaning over and kissing me quickly on the lips. I stopped and looked at him, my eyes to his, and just looked at him. He moved closer to me so our hips touched each other and I had to lean my head back to see him. He leaned down and touched his lips to mine again without any force. I also noticed that he gave me space so if I wanted to back out I could.

That was the last thing on my mind. I was the one who leaned further into the kiss. He broke it slowly and pulled away from me. The kiss was so good that my eyes were still closed and I was still in the position. I heard him chuckle and felt his chilled hand upon my cheek to bring me out of it. I opened my eyes and was met again by the crystalline orbs of his eyes and my breath caught.

There was a tree above us with white lights shining. There was branch just above his head with a small circle of lights on it. It illuminated him, casting his face in slight shadows and glowed like a halo on an Angel. I’ve never seen such a sight and I suddenly felt so calm, so at peace. He was beautiful.

“I don’t want to be alone for Christmas,” I said in a whisper. “Stay with me?”

He put his arm around me and pulled me close. A blanket of warmth covered me and I relaxed so much in his grasp that I swear I could fall asleep in his arms. I let out a comfortable sigh and placed my head on his shoulder and I felt him kiss my head. Instead of answering me, he began to sing:

(5)“Said the night wind to the little lamb,
"Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite."

I’ve heard this song so many times in my life, but I’ve never heard sung so seductively. It made a sigh escape my lips and my body shiver nicely. I wanted to sing with him. And sing with him I did:

“Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
"Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea,
With a voice as big as the sea."

He came in and harmonized with my voice. I couldn’t hear myself, and then I could. Somehow our voices matched together as one but they still had that distinctness about them.

“Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
"Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold--
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold.”

“Said the king to the people everywhere,
"Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light."

“Our voices are one,” he said to me. “I can’t leave you alone for Christmas. My wings would get stripped.”

I laughed. “What wings?”

“Nah… it was a joke.” He stood up and pulled me to my feet so quickly that I flew forward into his front. He wrapped his arms around me and I looked up at him. He smiled down at me and kissed me again before he took my hand and we started walking down the street to Chippewa Street back towards my house. I made sure we walked slowly because I didn’t want this night to end.

“Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve,” I said as the steps to the building I lived in could be seen. “I suppose you’ll be spending time with your friends?”

“We’ll be rehearsing back at the Rose Garden in Delaware Park again for our Christmas night concert. I’ll be gone most of the day, but if you like, I can come around nine?”

“Sounds good,” I said. I smiled at him and started for the door but I stopped when he took my hand and moved up to me. I was on the second step of the stairs so I was actually taller then him, but not by much. He reached his hand up and touched my cheek gently, smiling at me.

“Could it be possible to fall in love in a day?” I looked at him as he searched my eyes for some kind of answer.

“I guess,” I said. “It depends on the person, depends what kind of love. I think that deep down I didn’t want to be alone for Christmas again this year. Even though I believe in many gods, I know one of them answered me.”

His eyes brightened in the darkness and shadows and I somehow knew he liked my answer. His kissed me again before finally separating us and walking down the sidewalk. He turned back and waved and I nodded before going inside where it was warm… though I was now cold.

)-(

The 24th was finally here. The morning wasn’t so bad for me, though. I made a nice dozen sugar cookies for me and Kris when he came later tonight to pass the day. I got a call from Jamie from Europe and he rambled on and on about his crazy family. When he asked me how I was and if I was being a good little Scrooge, I just laughed.

“Bah humbug!” I said. “Just kidding. Seems that your beau’s buddy Kris likes me. He’s hardly let me alone since you introduced us.”

“Please tell you’re not still a virgin.” Silence. “Hun, you need to get him in bed.”

More silence. “Ya know Jamie… I’m just visualizing another wet, dirty rag hitting you in the face.”

Suddenly there was a loud clamor on the other end of the phone and then some really fast Italian curses from Jamie’s mouth and little children laughing in the background. I did my damnedest not to laugh because I just knew his cousins heard me and did it for me.

So there was a little more talk and some more cursing and then finally he had to get off. They weren’t really made of money. Bullshit. His family was rich. So we said our goodbyes and I just made it to save the cookies from being burnt to a crisp. I pulled them out and cooled them, frosted and decorated them and placed them on a tray onto the counter for later that night.

There really wasn’t much more to do except eat Ramen and watch Christmas specials on TV until later that night. It was about seven when my tummy rumbled and I was making my way to the fridge for dinner when that familiar ratta-tat-tat was heard from my door. I promptly took a U-turn in my kitchen to the front door and opened it. To my surprise Kris wasn’t the one at the door, but a large thing of filled plastic bags from K-Mart and Hong Kong Kitchen that was trying to impersonate him.

“Merry Christmas,” the impersonator said. “I come bearing joy and cheer and tons of yummy Chinese.”

“Can I see some ID?”

“Damn it, I left it in my sleigh. Will you just let me in woman?”

I looked into the blue eyes and up and down his body. I pursed my lips and shook my head. “No way bud. You could be anybody. I need valid proof that you’re the Kris Warner I met two days ago who drank my hot chocolate when I wasn’t done.”

He swept forward and caught my lips in a not-so-innocent kiss with a lot of heat. When he broke away I opened the door and ushered him inside.

“Nowhere close,” I said unsatisfied. “But I guess you’ll have to do.”

“Hardy har.” He walked in and I laughed closing the door. He put the K-Mart bags on the floor and the Chinese on the kitchen table. I walked up to the food and opened the bags, instantly starting on some chicken lo mien with a pair of chopsticks. I gestured them to the bags on the floor.

“What did you do?”

He bent down (and was facing the wrong way, damn it) and pulled out a box from one of the bags. It was a string of white icicle lights. He put them on the table and pulled out a large box with a pre-lit three foot Christmas tree. He held it up like a trophy and wiggled his eyebrows. I laughed.

“You really didn’t have to,” I said.

“Nonsense. Can’t have Christmas without one of these.”

I put my food down and looked at the box without an expression. A smile grew as I looked up to him.

“You’re too good to be real,” I said. “Thank you.” He nodded at me and went into my living room and started to take the tree form the box. He set it on the coffee table and moved the table over to the window there. He plugged it in and the multicolored lights glowed in the semi-darkness of the room.

But it was bare. There was nothing on the tree except for the lights. So that’s when he rummaged through another bag and pulled out a small box of red and green silk ornaments in the shape of candy canes and holly leaves. He hooked them on the branches of the tree and stepped back. I had finished my lo mien and stood beside him.

“Looks good,” I said. He didn’t think so.

“Missing something…” he mused. “But what?” I saw the light bulb turn on in his head and he went to another bag and pulled out a medium sized red box and held it out to me. I took it from him and opened it. My eyes went wide as I pulled out a six-pointed three dimensional crystal star. Kris went behind me and walked me towards the tree and the two of us placed the crystal start on the top of it. I then leaned back into him, his arms around me, and we looked at it for a long time.

“Looks better,” I said.

“Looks beautiful… like you.”

We moved back into the kitchen and discarded the containers of Chinese food as we scarffed them down. We used a few dishes so I got up to wash them in the sink as Kris relaxed in his chair and digested. He belched loudly and I laughed to myself, shaking my head gently. I was about to dump a bowl of water down the drain when I unexpectedly sneezed and the water went onto my shirt rather then in the sink.

“Damn it!” I jumped away from the sink a little and held out my shirt from my body. I heard the chair Kris was sitting in move and he was soon by my side. “I’m okay, I just have to go and change.”

I turned and he just looked down at me, deliberately getting in my way and almost pinning me against the side of the sink and counter. I looked up into his eyes and stopped before I could say what I wanted. His face looked different to me; he wasn’t so cute, but hotter than hot. His eyes deepened to a dark cerulean with something mixed into the intensity.

He leaned down and touched his lips to mine gently but grew the kiss into something more passionate and then to something treading near dangerous waters. My eyes fluttered closed as I threw myself into the kiss with him. He stopped and looked at me.

“You don’t need to change.” He whispered it in my ear, causing shivers down my spine, and tugged on the hem of my shirt. He lifted it up and I gladly raised my arms so it could fly over my head and onto the floor of my kitchen before taking me into another hungry kiss.

From there, things became unmentionable. While I won’t give details, I’ll say that he knew just how to make me feel good. He was one of the prepared good boys too, so we did it several times in about three hours.

The last time we did it, I was held in his arms tightly. We were on our sides facing each other and my leg was draped over his waist. We were crammed into my single bed but neither of us cared. We held each other’s gazes and our hands were entwined.

“I’m coming to the concert tomorrow night,” I said. “I’ll take a bus out there so you don’t have to come get me.”

“No, don’t come.” I furrowed my brow at him.

“Why not?” I asked. “How come I can’t come and enjoy your Christmas concert?”

“It’s just that… well… it’s because… ya know, don’t worry about it.”

What the hell? He was trying to sidetrack something. “What? Tell me.”

He laughed a little and kissed me. “Don’t worry about it, Love.”

And I didn’t for the rest of the night.

)-(

The lazy side of myself was really beginning to come forth from the holiday break. I woke up around quarter to one in the afternoon feeling very lonely. Kris was gone but he left me a little present next to my bed. It was a little note saying he left for the last day of rehearsal and that he’d miss me. He signed his name at the bottom in a beautiful script with three loops in the name. In the center of each loop was a single Hershey Chocolate Kiss; one gold, one green and one red.

I smiled and didn’t hold back from eating the chocolates. I lay back against the bed again and stared at the ceiling. There really wasn’t much for me to do now until the Christmas concert. I considered going back to sleep, but that would only add to my laziness. So I got up, dressed in crappy clothes and cleaned my apartment from corner to corner. And it was filthy too.

I came back into the apartment after taking the trash out and did a sweep-over of my apartment. It looked and felt much better, and it also killed about four hours of my day which was worth it. It was now quarter to five and getting really dark outside and I still needed to take a shower and get dressed before I made the bus out to Delaware Park.

After the shower and getting dressed, I was sitting on the couch and pulling on my leather boots when I looked up to the tree. It was so beautiful… and there was something under it. I was serious; there was a small green wrapped box with a red ribbon around it underneath the little Christmas tree. After pulling on my boots, I got up and went to it, taking the box and sitting back down. There was a little label on it that said, “To Bianca from Kris.” It was done in his familiar script. Somehow I missed this thing while I was cleaning.

I pulled on the ribbon and undid it. It was one of those smooth and silky satin ones. I loved that kind so much that I tied the end of my French braid with it before continuing with the box. Ripping the paper off, I opened the top and found a dark blue velveteen box inside. I took that out and opened the top slowly.

My eyes brightened and my mouth dropped open as I pulled out a very thin, but very beautiful, simple silver chain. It was long enough for a necklace so I placed it around my neck, hooking it in the back. That’s all it was, and because it was so simple, I loved it all the more. Kris has done so much for me this day that this really wasn’t necessary. And I greatly loved it.

I unhooked the chain and clipped it behind my neck. I loved it so much that I just had to wear it to the concert. Whatever the reason he had for getting this for me, I wasn’t going to kick dirt into his face. With that in mind, I finished off with some makeup and left my apartment. By the time I get to Delaware Park, it’d be almost nine at night. I knew they had a knack for starting right on time, so everything was good. But I misjudged the timing and I ended up being an hour late. When I got inside, there was already a duet going on between Michael and another girl. I got up in front so he’d see me. He did and winked as I waved at him. The girl next to him caught it and sent me a death glare.

I left the area to go around back and find Kris and the others. I got to the tiny waiting room and saw David and John, but no Kris. David saw me and smiled, getting up and hugging me warmly.

“We thought you weren’t going to show!” he said. “I’m so happy you made it. Since Jamie isn’t here, we don’t really have anyone to come and cheer us on!”

“I’m glad you think I’m special,” I said while looking around. “Where’s Kris?”

David and John looked at me like they were puzzled. “Who?” asked David.

I looked at them the same way. “Kris. Where’s Kris?”

John came up to me and touched my forehead before tapping me on my cheek. “You are cute.” Is this a joke? Michael and the girl who were singing the duet came back from the stage and they all went up to perform the next number. I looked at their backs as they started “Winter Wonderland”, and I was thinking that this girl was a replacement. They were joking, and I knew they had to be.

Then I looked out the window. There was that familiar head of golden blonde hair and the leather jacket I got used to seeing walking away from the dome towards the woods. Without thinking I rushed out the nearest exit and started following him away from the group of collected people. I followed him past a thin line of pine trees and stopped just after them to look at the sight before me.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Kris was standing on a tightly packed snow bank that held his weight and he was looking up towards the single twinkling star in the velvet dark sky. It was the brightest star I’ve ever seen, and I thought it had to be a planet at first. But it was a star, one that reminded me of the Star that led the Three Kings to Baby Jesu. Something made me move closer, my eyes heaven-ward and the soft song Kris began to sing flowed gently through my ears into my soul:

(6)“This night we pray

Our lives will show

This dream he had

Each child still knows.

“We are waiting,

We have not

Forgotten.

“On this night, this Merry Christmas Night.”

I stopped moving towards him when he stopped singing. We were closer to each other, maybe a few feet, but I felt cold without him singing. I forgot about everything; about how lonely I was, how warm I felt around him, the fact that they were playing a mean joke on me. Everything left me as he sang, but he had stopped.

“Why’d you stop?” I asked.

He moved closer to me and I had to look up to meet his eyes. “I need to go away.” My insides froze at the words ‘go away.’ I didn’t want him to ‘go away.’

“Why?” He smirked at me and reached up a hand to my cheek. I leaned my face into his hand and closed my eyes, relishing in the warmth of his skin.

“I think you know why,” he said. “You knew the day I made you cry. I had no way of knowing your secret. No way natural. You know very well why I have to go away.”

I wrapped my arms around him tightly. I was intent on keeping him here with me. “I don’t want to be alone! I don’t want to be alone!”

The wind began to pick up again around us and I could feel the stinging of the cold snow on my cheeks and bare hands. I didn’t care if I was burning, I didn’t want Kris to go and leave me alone, like everyone else has in my life. He slowly pulled me away and I started to outright cry, tears stinging my face along with the snow.

But there was something weird about the snow. Actually, it wasn’t snow at all. My tears stopped long enough to see hundreds of pure white feathers flutter around us. Before me was a sight I will hold dear to me forevermore; Kris was standing a few feet away with a large fourteen foot wing span of the brightest white wings I’ve ever seen. The pureness of his feathers made the untouched snow around us bow down into the grey area.

I couldn’t believe my sight. Everything was so surreal and strange, but beautiful all the same. He reached his hand out to me and I followed suit and reached out my own. I sort of expected him to take my hand, but all he did was look at me with his gorgeous cerulean eyes. The tips of his fingers began to glow golden and the small orb of light floated in the sea of flying feathers over to me. It circled around my body a few times before stopping in front of me again.

A feather that was flying near it was sucked up into its golden light. For a moment it glowed brighter than a million stars and went down to nothing. After a moment, I looked and I saw a shining golden feather pendant maybe about three quarters of an inch long was floating in the air. Kris came up to me and took the pendant and reached behind my neck. I felt him unclasp the chain and slip the feather onto it before re-clasping it and then fixing it so it sat perfectly between my collar bones. He then tilted my head up and kissed me.

“I love you Michele,” he said, pulling away. I noted the mistake he made with my name, but I was too sad to make a face.

“My name’s Bianca.”

He touched his lips to mine again. “Your real name is Michele. I was there the day you were born. Your real mother named you Michele after her favorite Archangel.” I sighed.

“What else is there for me to know?” I looked up at him. His face was calm and he didn’t let any ideas come through to me.

“You’ll find out more in time,” he said. “Just know I love you.” He kissed me again and pulled away. He stretched his wings and slowly he rose into the air. I held myself and watched him, not really feeling anything.

“I don’t want to be alone…”

“You won’t be alone,” he reassured me. “The necklace is my gift to you. It’s part of me. You’ll always have me there somewhere. If you look hard enough, you’ll see me. I’ll be back next Christmas.”

I looked up at him and took a step forward. He was already far away from my grasp, so I couldn’t reach out and grab him. But there was one more thing I needed to know.

“Are you a real Guardian Angel?”

His response set a small warmth through me: He gave me that familiar smirk of his and winked at me.

“Some things are better left unknown for a while.”

And then he was gone. Everything was quiet, and then my damned-to-hell alarm clock went off.

)-(

I woke with a start and thought nothing about my poor mechanical item as I smashed it without remorse. My head hurt like hell and my vision was all but completely blind. I sat up and hung my head, trying my best to get my bearings of the new day. I stretched and scratched my head.

“That had to be the most fucked up dream I’ve ever had,” I said to the air. “I don’t believe…”

I stopped suddenly as my hand traveled over my neck. Instead of it being bare like it usually was, I felt a warm metal necklace around it. I got up (almost falling on my face) and stumbled into my bathroom. I turned on the light and splashed water into my eyes to flush them out. I looked into the mirror and trained my eyes right on the golden feather around my neck.

The steam from the hot water wafted up and fogged the mirror as I continued to look at it. I reached up and wiped some of it away, only to be met with Kris’s face staring back at me. I blinked and my own reflection was there, but Kris was standing behind me. I looked at him through the mirror, not daring to blink or move my focus. I wanted to keep him there as long as I could to make myself believe that the dream wasn’t actually a dream.

“Said the King to the people everywhere,

Listen to what I say.”

“Pray for peace,” I said. “Don’t disappoint me next year.”

“I’ll be here. Look out for me. I’ll be looking out for you.”

I smiled and turned off the water. Without looking at the mirror, I left the bathroom and went on with my normal life. Even though no one was there for me, I wasn’t alone.

---

YAY! OMFG - It's a story from me... an actual installment of something written. Wow.

Well, Like was said, this is my Merry Christmas present to my good Buddy Void Delirium! (How did I do VD?) xD

Okie dokie: The numbers above are for a reason. It numbers the songs so when you get down here, you can check out my profile for a link to a YouTube Playlist I put together for the specific songs in the order I had them. I'm aware of the fact some people can't listent o them, so don't worry. They're there because they are. When I heard these singers in the vids, it was how I imagined my characters' voices.

Read and Review!