White Christmas

It was Christmas morning and Aya woke up to the distant sound of children screaming. It was her little sisters, arguing with each other. She sighed, and rolled over, her back to the door. Closing her eyes she drifted back to sleep.

About 30 seconds later the bedroom door swung open, hitting the wall behind it with a loud bang. “Get up.” It was her mother, looking tired as ever, holding a cup of coffee. She didn’t say anything else as she exited. “Yea Merry Christmas to you too!” Aya called, throwing her blanket off her. The house had a faint smell of pancakes, burnt pancakes to be specific. She stood up and headed to the kitchen. Her two sisters, Akane and Amari, who were twins, were standing over the kitchen table, each had a wooden spoon in their hands.

“No you’re doing it wrong!” Akane yelled, waving the spoon. “No!” Amari screamed, then pushed Akane, and grabbed a pancake mix box. “It said add THREE eggs and you added FOUR!”

“Both of you shut up!” Aya exclaimed. “You guys are always so loud, it’s Christmas, can’t you two get along for one day?” She sounded exasperated, like she was begging them.

“Fine.” Amari threw down the pancake mix box. “I’m gonna go look at our presents.” She stormed off loudly, mumbling to herself.

“She’s so annoying,” Akane muttered. “Just because she’s 2 minutes older she thinks she’s way better than me.”

“You’re both annoying.” Aya rolled her eyes, walking away. She was planning to go to the living room, but her feet had brought her to her mother’s room. A cold draft was coming from the room, and Aya saw her mother tying her hair up in front of the mirror. “Mom? Are you..going somewhere?” She leaned against the doorframe as she spoke softly, not trying to upset her mother.

“Work.” Her mother grabbed her purse and briskly walked past Aya. “Work?” Aya spun around. “But- but I thought you didn’t work today!”

“Yea well plans change.” Her answers were short and very tense. It seemed like she didn’t want to be talked to.

“Mom- but it’s Christmas. You love Christmas. Can’t you call off or something?”

“Aya for the last time, NO. I need to go to work, we need the money. I don’t know what to tell you. I need to go now. Quit bugging.” She left, slamming the door behind her.

Just like that, the mood changed. Aya stood there, wanting to cry. She tried to say something but her throat was dry. Usually her mother would celebrate Christmas every year, baking cookies, wrapping presents, laughing, smiling, but this past year had changed her. She was no longer the happy mother, the one who would sit on the balcony and wave at everyone who passed by, the one who came into your room to say goodnight. Instead she was cut and dry, she was either there or not at all. She didn’t laugh, never smiled, stopped joking around. It made the mood depressing and no matter how hard Aya tried to cheer her mother up, she was just pushed away.

“Where’s Mom?” Akane and Amari were standing behind her, they looked so vulnerable.

“Oh uh..she had to work.” Aya started tearing up. Once again her mother had left for work, leaving her and her sisters alone. “It’s fine though, we can have our own Christmas.” She forced a smile, and could feel the sadness in her turn to anger. She was no longer sad her mother left, instead she was angry, Time and time again this had happened, it was nothing new, she should be used to this already. “Mom left again, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up because of that. She’s the one who decided to miss out, she’s gonna be the one sad she couldn’t join us.” Aya grabbed her sister’s hands and dragged them to the hallway.

“Go put on something warm, we’re gonna go build snowmen.”

“Why?” Akane crossed her arms. “It’s like -100 degrees out there.” Amari nodded in agreement.

“Just go, it’ll be fun!” Aya ran to her room, and started looking for warm clothes. About 5 minutes later everyone had emerged from their rooms, all wearing puffy jackets and boots. One by one they all headed out the front door into the cold. The snow was fresh, making a crunch with every step, the air crisp, you could see your own breath. It was calm, and it looked like a winter wonderland, it was so pretty it was hard to believe it was real.

The twins shrieked, thrilled by the snow. “Aya come on!” Amari picked up some snow, messily made it into a ball and threw it at Akane, who yelled, and threw one back in response.

“Careful guys!” As Aya started making her own snowball, Amari threw herself at Aya, knocking her over. “A-amari! You scared me half to death!”

“Haha! The snow is like a pillow!” She jumped up, and ran. “Oh yea. Aya’s It!”

“What! Since when did we start this game! Not fair!” She struggled to get up, but when she did she chased her sisters around, laughing the whole time. She felt content, the most content in a while. Sure she was mad at her mother, and would rather lock herself up in her room and cry, but she realized she still had family she loved. No matter how much she hated her sisters, she still loved them to death. She was right though, even if her mother wasn’t here she’s the one missing out. Aya knew in her heart she was sad, she missed her own mother but she needed to focus on the now, not the past, because that’s the only way she could be happy.

Inspiration: There wasn’t inspiration much, but I wanted to write a story about someone who felt sad, but would realize they shouldn’t dwell on it too much, that there’s so much more to life, and yea, it is October, but Christmas in my opinion is one of the most heartfelt holidays, a holiday about family, so I thought it fit the theme.