Member-only story
Regrets, Loss, and Redemption
Christmas Eve: the night she was called home
Shivering on the frosty bench, she pulled her thin coat tighter against the icy wind, her bare hands red and raw. As the snow swirled around her, she couldn’t stop her mind from drifting back in time. It’s not like she didn’t have plenty of time to think about the past, as she had nowhere to go. Nowhere special to be. There was no one to care for her on this lonely Christmas Eve.
She could hear carolers in the distance. They were singing her favorite Christmas carol. Her cracked, chapped lips sang along to the music, the words barely audible to even her own ears. Christmas used to be so special. Oh, she remembered the sights and sounds of Christmas Eve so well.
It seemed like only yesterday that she and her little sister would snuggle together in front of the fire, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney. Of course, she knew there was no such thing as Santa, though her parents had kept the magic alive for her for many years.
She was determined to keep that magic alive for her 5-year-old sibling for as long as possible.
A sudden violent gust of wind pulled Melody back from the past, then instantly thrust her into the night that everything changed in her young world. She fought the memory, as she had for so many…
