This is My December

The whole world seemed like it was in a perfect state of tranquility for not a single sound ruined this peaceful, snow landscape. The only thing that could have disrupted such quiet perfection was the low crunch of someone’s footsteps.

God, this winter is really cold… Lydia wrapped her scarf tightly around her face, gripping it with her fingerless gloves as she continued to walk through the icy path.

She certainly had a strong distaste for the winter season. She had a greater predilection for the warm, spring months. She loved to watch as the tiny green buds bloomed in the verdant pastures. Plus, she could easily travel in that sort of weather.

Lydia was always moving. She never stayed in one place for very long. This was more due to a burning desire to discover one’s place in society than an honest love for a grand foray around the country.

The onslaught of the howling winds pounded on her frozen body. Through the veil of golden auburn locks, she watched as a large covey of little songbirds huddled together for precious warmth. She turned her head away from the flock. For as long as she remembered, Lydia had survived this crazy world all by herself. She needed absolutely no one. She could take care of herself.

“Ahchoo!” Well… she would be able to if she did not suffer from such a terrible ailment. Her throat stung as she breathed in the frigid air, and her nose oozed unsightly liquids. Adding to this situation was the fact she was low on supplies. The dwindling provisions were mainly due to Lydia’s imprudent actions, thinking she would have enough to make it to her next destination on time. She may have to stay the night in the nearest inn, but there seemed to be none in sight.

What am I going to do? She wondered grimly to herself.

Then just as despair began brewing in the depths of her mind, a window caught Lydia’s eye. Inside the clear glass lay a roaring fire, lighting the room with its warm glow. Lydia felt completely enchanted by the sight. Her feet unconsciously ambled towards the warmth, trudging through the deep snow. Even though Lydia’s whole body felt numb and her legs were two big blocks of ice, she felt she needed to continue walking.

Once she arrived near the window, she watched as the flames crackled by a large pine tree, fully decorated with many spherical ornaments. Lydia quickly remembered that this time of year was Christmas, the very holiday she hated the most. Facing the stampede of shoppers as they fought each other viciously for the perfect gift was one vexation she did not wish to experience. Life was hard enough as it is.

Her lips curved to a frown, longing to feel the warm flames radiate over her freezing flesh. Then her fatigue suddenly caught up to her. Her eyes grew heavier and heavier. Lydia needed a rest. After everything she had been through, dying seemed completely easy. Even though this was definitely not her ideal way to go, this sort of death certainly was more peaceful. With that thought in mind, Lydia allowed her eyes to close as everything around her fell into an icy blur.

~* * *~

Elliot rushed towards his winter home. His sister had lent it to him since she was going over the warm tropical islands for the holidays. He was ready to refuse her offer, but his sister, Louisa, had a fractious personality. She would be easily offended by so much as a delay in someone’s response. Louisa would automatically take that as a no and argue with the person relentlessly until they become so fed up that they accept.

Since Elliot was in no spirits to combat such verbal assault, he reluctantly accepted such a task. He released a tired sigh, recalling all the trouble he had gotten himself into what seemed to be weeks before. His sister thought all he needed was a vacation to lift his ‘sulky mood’ as she so affectionately called it. Elliot thought all he really needed was a miracle.

Just when he was in the front steps of his winter home, something caught his eye. He paused for a moment, doubting he was seeing things correctly. Then there it was. A person had collapsed right in front of the house, covered in a meager layer of white dust.

“Oh god!” He quickly rushed towards this mysterious figure’s side, wiping off the snowy sediments from the person’s body. Panic began to rise.

“Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead!” he chanted, slowly checking the mysterious girl’s breathing. To his relief, she was still alive. Thank god. What a gift that would have been… a dead body! Thanks, Louisa...

He looked down at the mysterious girl once again, a little unsure what he should do next. He surmised in his mind, I guess I should really get this girl out of the snow. If she lies there any longer, she might actually die from hypothermia…

Elliot lifted the weary body into his arm. Surprisingly this person was diminutive in stature; much shorter than he was that was for certain. She even felt light in his arms. “Well I guess that’s good for me!” He quickly rushed inside her sister’s winter lodgings, allowing the warmth from her fireplace to thaw his frozen features. He lifted his hat from his dark locks and quickly placed the girl on the closest couch by the fireplace.

He wrapped her tiny frame in a warm, thick blanket before he made sure she was fully well. Her hands were frozen solid, but with a bit of thawing near the fire, she would not need to worry about anything like frostbite. Then Elliot felt her forehead.

“Whoa, she’s burning up!” he exclaimed. He rushed inside the kitchen cabinets until he discovered some proper medicine. “Phew… at least that crazy sister of mine is smart enough to carry this stuff.” He placed it on the counter and grabbed a towel. Running it under some cold water, Elliot slowly ambled towards her and placed it on her forehead.

Through all the years he had attended medical school, he diagnosed that she must have a fever - extremely high one, in fact. He rubbed his fingers through his hair. Here I thought I was just supposed to take a vacation from this sort of thing… he sighed.

Catching his eyes was the colorful pine tree, bedecked with an assortment of ornaments of all shapes and sizes. He chuckled softly to himself. He recalled Louisa telling him that he needed to get in the Christmas spirit. It would surely heal him of the sort of stump he stuck himself into.

Ha! He never liked Christmas. It was a silly holiday that people took advantage of for their own personal gain. He sighed and slowly walked out of the room. I guess I should just unpack my things…

~* * *~

Lydia felt like she had died and gone to heaven. Her pale body no longer felt numb from the vicious cold weather. It now felt warm as if the burning sun was thawing her skin. She felt like she was resting on a comfortable cloud, allowing her sore limbs to receive the rest they so truly desired.

Wow! If I knew heaven was this good, I would have committed suicide a LONG time ago!

Her eyelids slowly opened, wishing to feast her eyes on the wondrous paradise looks like.

Turns out, her ‘wondrous paradise’ was nothing more than a simple living room with a simple couch that sat closely to the fireplace, along with a blanket that was wrapped tightly around her frame.

There goes my pretty little fantasy…. What luck… Lydia grimaced. Soon she finally reached her senses. Okay now this is weird. What am I doing in another person’s house on someone else’s couch?

Soon she found her answer. Walking through a hallway right behind her was a man with deep dark locks and striking emerald green eyes.

“Oh, hey! You’re awake!” his thin lips twisted into a light smile. Lydia just did not have the strength to say or do anything. All she could possibly do was gawk quite stupidly at this mysterious man. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. I thought you really were a goner a few more moments before.” No response. “Uh, hey, are you alright? Still with me?”

Lydia could not help but scream. “AHHH! STRANGER DANGER! PERVERT! PERVERT!!”

The guy jumped back, shocked by her outburst. “What are you talking about? Stanger danger? Pervert?! What are you? Five or something?”

Lydia quickly composed herself, glaring contemptuously at the man that stood before her. “I am happy to tell you that I am nineteen.”

After a few moments, the dark haired man began chuckling violently to himself. “WOW! Nineteen, huh? Who can believe that you’re three years younger than me? I would have guessed you were ten by your size. Jeez, for a little girl, you sure can yell.”

Lydia’s anger soon heated to a boil. “I am sorry if you suddenly gone deaf from the so-called ‘child’, but it was mainly due to a certain someone popping out of nowhere, scaring the hell out of me!”

The man retorted, “Me?! Let me tell you, you little ingrate, that I had just saved your life! If it wasn’t for me, you would have died!” Soon, there was silence once more. The tension grew thick as Lydia and the mysterious man heatedly glared at each other. Soon Lydia broke the glaring contest as she coldly asked, “So may I please ask what my “savior’s” name is?”

“My name is Elliot. Yours?” He replied brusquely.

“Lydia. Nice to meet you, Elli.”

“Wish I could say the same. May I please let you know that my name is Elliot?”

“Oh, I know. Why? Do you want me to call you idiot instead?” she asked in a sarcastic, sweet voice.

He narrowed his piercing green eyes into two even slits. “Whatever you say, Dee Dee.” She offered her own irritated sneer.

“Okay, I had enough of you and your “wonderful” hospitality. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Everything. Really… sort of.” She said as she violently struggled to fight her way out of her cocoon. “Now I will be leaving and be going on my merry way! See you!” She continued, wrestling to discover her grand escape. Elliot chuckled in response to her feeble efforts.

“Now please, enlighten me how you plan on leaving here if you can’t even get out of a simple sheet of wool?” he challenged her, his eyes shining a condescending gleam.

“Can’t you tell I’m trying to figure that out? Now, hush!” she continued thrashing her limbs, trying to extricate herself out of her constraints. Elliot rolled his eyes and pricked her on the forehead, forcing her to stop. “OW!”

“Well since you are so kind as to give me your full attention, I am sorry to tell you, but I can’t let you go, squirt.” He said in a calm, even voice.

Disbelief flashed in her eyes as she queried, “WHY NOT?!” Before answering the red haired female, Elliot took his sweet time seating himself in a chair right across from her. As the suspense continued to build up, Lydia could not help, but feel impatient. “Well are you planning on giving me a reason why or do you plan on sitting there like a bum?”

Elliot simply smiled a sadist’s smile as he told the young girl, “Well if you truly want to know, I’ll tell you. The reasons why you collapsed in the first place were due to the facts that you were overexerting yourself in such cold weather conditions and from your sickness, which, at first, was the common cold and later escalated into a high fever. Plus there are other issues like malnourishment, but I will not bore you with the details. I would firmly suggest a few days of rest until you have fully recovered.”

Lydia’s mouth fell wide open.

“And you’re lucky that your limbs did not suffer from frostbite or else we may have to cut it right off. Now do you understand that, Dee Dee?” She nodded her head slowly. “Good. Now stay here like a good little girl and get some shuteye. I will wake you up once the food is ready. Got that?”

She forced her mouth to close as she gave a curt nod. “I understand, Elli.”

Elliot nodded in response and walked out of the room, allowing her a few moments to fully meditate on her predicament. She released a loud groan. Oh god, what did I do to deserve such punishment as this?

In Lydia’s eyes, this was the complete opposite to helpful. She could not believe she was stuck with someone as cruel as him. She had a somewhere she planned to go, and she surely was not planning on some nut job stopping her… but in her condition, what more could she do?

Then after brooding over her terrible circumstances, an idea popped into her head.

Maybe I could stay here for a little while…

That Elliot guy held important provisions she desperately needed – food and medicine. If she continued walking through the cold as she was at that moment, her death was certain.

So why not kick it back for a little bit and take a little break there? Then, once she was fully healed, she would hightail it out of there before he could kick her out himself. Why would he want someone like her there with him anyway? It was not as if she wanted to stay herself.

She certainly did want to escape from the grasps of the malevolent angel of death as fast as she can. So she allowed herself to curl up in a tight ball and dream.