Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Best Christmas Ever!

Terry never could understand why Alex hated Christmas so much. Every year, as Christmas approached, Terry would get more and more excited about the upcoming Holiday. Unlike many, Terry grew more excited with each passing year.

But Alex...every year as Christmas approached she would grow louder in her groans and protestations. To listen to her you would think that Christmas was on par with having a root canal, an appendectomy, or flossing your teeth with barbed wire.

Not that Terry had any experience with barbed wire flossing.

This year Terry was more excited than he'd ever been. This was the Christmas. It was his year; he knew it deep down in his soul. He was up before dawn Christmas morning, looking out the window at the dusting of fresh fallen snow illuminated by reflected light from the full moon. The air was chill, and the sky was clear. It was a beautiful morning.

The children woke not long after, and were racing about the house in anticipation, trying to read the gift tags on each present and guess what was inside. Oh, the delight, the thrill of expectation and anticipation! Oh, the joy of realized delights as wrapping paper was torn from packages and strewn across the floor. Oh, the laughter and giggles as each toy was tried out in turn, as each kind of candy was tasted, melting on the tongue and thrilling the taste buds!

Terry watched with delight of his own - every giggle, every laugh, every savoured candy was like a burst of energy flooding his soul to the point of overwhelming him with ecstasy.

It was truly his Christmas, and it was the best Christmas ever - no matter what Alex said.

The next morning when Terry awoke, the house was silent and empty. There was a layer of dust covering everything. Terry sneezed. There was a Christmas tree in the corner of the room, but its branches were brown, the ornaments broken, and the lights were not lit. Terry sneezed again, then plugged in the chain of lights on the tree. Nothing happened.

He tripped over something lying on the floor. He looked down. It was the train set the children had played with all afternoon yesterday. But now he saw that the track was broken, pieces were missing and the train had lost a wheel. Perplexed, Terry picked up the little train engine stared at it.

"Hello, Terry," a sad voice said. Terry looked up. It was Alex.

"Alex," he said, "am I glad to see you! What is going on here?"

She smiled, but it was not a happy smile. "Haven't you figured it out yet? You're not the Ghost of Christmas Present any more."

She held out a fork and a brown lump of something on a plate. "Have a slice of moldy fruitcake?" she asked.

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