Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Lea smiled as she tied a ribbon around the final Christmas-gift-candy-cane. It was homemade, being the traditional red and white with a single, thin blue line striping its way down. The blue ribbon that was tied onto it made her blush, for she was the only one who knew the significance of it.

The Christmas gift was for a friend of hers that made her heart skip. He was the only person that could actually make her blush, and she’d giggle like some silly high school girl - which, in actuality, she was, but that was beside the point. She didn’t have money, but she’d never cared before, because she knew that she could win his heart with simplicity.

Her short chestnut hair was tied sloppily in a bun before she hastily ripped the ribbon out, allowing the locks to fall lightly upon her shoulders, laying atop her head in a bed-head manner. Her cheeks were permanently stained pink it seemed as she thought of him, of what his reaction would be. She was almost positive that it would be a good one; for she saw looks he gave her and noticed hidden meanings behind his words when they talked in solitude.

She was to drop the small gift off tonight. It was Christmas Eve after all; who said she couldn’t play Santa? “Mom, I’m going out for a bit!” she called up the stairs, slipping on her coat, hat, gloves, and scarf. She also grabbed a messenger bag sitting by the door, which held the other candy canes for her other friends inside. His was the first and foremost in her mind though. Her green eyes flew from the Christmas tree to her little brother sleeping by it and added “David’s asleep!” before she ran out the door, the candy cane and note tucked in her hands and the messenger bag hanging on her shoulder, her scarf dancing around her neck as she opened the door and a gust of cold wind hit her face.

The girl walked in the sprinkling snow, her hands wrapped tightly around the gift. She’d walk up to his house, lay the note and candy cane on his doorstep, ring the bell, and run off. She was too embarrassed to see his reaction - good or bad. She recited the note in her head idly as she trekked through the night; the snow and stars seeming to coexist in the simplicity of appearance, though unbeknownst to some that the opposing stars were far from the soft flakes that fell to the ground.

‘Mark,

Merry Christmas! Sorry I couldn’t get you anything, but you know how life can be sometimes - poor. The candy cane was home made. It has a blue stripe and ribbon because of your eyes - it’s stupid, but I love them.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you something, because you really matter to me. You’re one of my best friends... and more. I guess I love you... I don’t know. But yeah... I’m pretty sure I do.

-Love(?) Lea’

She smiled and stopped in the snow, inhaling the scent happily. It would be a wonderful Christmas. Seeing his house come into view, she began walking again with a quicker pace, ignoring all around her except for the mediocre gift in hand. And as she neared closer to his house, she stopped, and froze still more when she still heard crunching of the snow behind her.

A gunshot rang through the neighborhood, followed by an almost cushioned plump to the ground, and footsteps running from the scene of the crime. Her messenger bag laid lonely in the snow as flakes began covering it, the soft footsteps of the stranger already gone. Her blood stained the snow and spread with no hesitation, the evil of the stranger’s actions mixing with the purity of the holidays; poisoning all that someone would consider hope and joy. A single small trail of blood made its way from the puddle, engraving itself lightly into a footprint left behind from the stranger.

People slowly peeked through windows, none daring to venture out into the winter’s night with gunshots being heard. Only one door opened, and the boy behind the door shouted the name of the girl lying dead in the snow, mere feet from his house.

He ran toward the girl, pulling her into his arms with no hesitation. He had on a mere pair of pants in the cold winter’s night, tears already beginning to form in his eyes at the thought of the death of a beloved. “Lea, Lea, say something!” he yelled, shaking her lightly as her warm blood spilled from the wound in her chest, meeting his hands and dripping more onto the purest of snow. “Say something, damn it!” She moaned at the shaking, and looked up with foggy eyes.

“M... Mark?” she asked, then smiled weakly. She held up the gift that was broken in two from impact with the ground. The girl looked down at it with glassy eyes, and offered it to him anyway. “Me... Merry Chri... smas....... Sorry.” The entirety of her body shivered as she held it before his face, and he reluctantly raised his hand and held her own, the broken present between the two. After a short five seconds, the hand fell limp, her head arched back, and her chest fell with a final breath.

“No...” he murmured, his face contorted in rage and despair. His hand tightened around hers before completely letting go, allowing the candy cane to drop into her puddle of blood before he pulled her tightly into his arms, one hand stroking her back while the other pulled her head into his chest.

He cried into her hair as the opened note floated lightly in the blood, being stained slowly.

His sobs intensified as the ambulance sirens sounded, coming with no help.

The candy cane laid simply next to the note, broken in two.

The note in the blood was no longer legible.



Let us all remember that Christmas isn’t always a time of joy. Let us all remember that some don’t find happiness even on such a wondrous occasion.