The Past is Only the Future with the Lights On

A bright light suddenly shone through my closed eyelids, my blankets being pulled from my body seconds later in one quick, swift movement.

"Come on, Kelly!" my grandma's familiar voice met my ears. "It's Christmas!"

I groaned an rolled onto my side, pulling my now chilly legs up to my body from lack of blankets.

I knew what day it was. I was just too comfortable to get out of bad. I remember being a little girl, I'd be up and out of bed by five in the morning, jumping on my parents' bed to wake the up so I could go open presents.

That probably wouldn't be such a smart thing to do now with my grandma. . .

"I guess you don't want your presents then," my grandma teased in a purposely louder voice. A laugh came from her pale lips as she watched me immediately sit up in bed.

Presents could wake me up.

"I see you're willing to get out of bed now," grandma smiled, receiving a vigorous nod from me as I hopped off my bed and followed her downstairs.

She took a seat in her floral arm chair, reaching forward to grab the steaming coffee cup from the coffee table in front of her.

"Now be honest with me and let me know if there's something you don't like. I haven't bought so many gifts for just one person since I can remember," she told me, sipping at her coffee.

"I'm sure I'll love whatever you got me," I said, grabbing one of the wrapped presents from the Christmas tree, labeled to me.

And that was true. She did seem to know my taste pretty. After all, she had recommended the coffee shop that I'd met Frank at, who I only later found out was also my gorgeous, loving neighbor.

"And I got you a few things as well, so I expect you to be brutally honest with me, too, okay?" I asked, pointing an accusing finger at her.

She raised her free hand and drew an 'X' over her heart. "Promise," she confirmed with a nod and a warm smile. I handed her her first gift before proceeding to tear the paper of the gift in my hands.

"Thanks again, grandma," I smiled gratefully, giving her a hug.

"And thank you, love," she said, kissing my cheek.

"I'm gonna bring all of this upstairs and get ready, is that cool?" I asked, grabbing all of my presents in my arms and turning back to her.

"Absolutely, I'll be doing the same," she nodded her head.

I shot her one more smile before walking off with my things towards my room.

Once there, I set all of my stuff down in the middle of my bed, smiling as I looked over everything once more; a black scarf with a faded skull and lightning bolt, a couple CD's I had been meaning to buy, a large case full of bright ass colors of different types of make-up, some crazy socks, a black beanie with the Misfits logo on it, a bright green studded belt and a couple other small things.

I was sure she had gotten help from Frank for her shopping, not that I didn't think she actually knew what I liked or anything, but it was because Frank was the only one I mentioned to that I wanted to go out and buy AFI's Very Proud of Ya, the only CD I didn't have by them.

Pulling the plastic off of my other CD, MSI's You'll Rebel to Anything, I placed the disc in my CD player and pressed player, keeping the volume fairly low as to not interfere with the health of my grandmother's heart.

Rummaging through the messy, unorganized dresser drawers, I pulled out a pair of tight black Dickies and a black shirt with bright blue stars in different sizes in various places of the shirt. I pulled my new belt through the loops of my pants before turning on my straightner. I ran a brush through the knots in my hair as I waited for it to heat up.

After about ten minutes, I was content with my straight blonde and red hair, my bangs falling messily over my right eye.

Applying some thick black eyeliner to my eyes, I then proceeded to apply some of my new turquoise eye shadow to my eye lids, tapping my foot along with the catchy beats pouring from my speakers.

Feeling somewhat satisfied with my appearance, I wrapped my new scarf loosely around my neck twice and slid my feet into my green Chuck's.

As I mounted the bottom step of the staircase, I did a heel click for some unknown reason - probably because of what today was - and walked into the kitchen, where I found my grandma, dressed in tan pants and a red Christmas sweater, sitting at the dining table.

"Merry Christmas," I told her, even though I already had earlier this morning, and she'd also told me a couple times.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," she smiled cheerfully as she flipped through yesterday's newspaper.

"So what are the plans for today?" I asked, taking a seat across from her and picking up the 'funnies' section of the paper.

"Well, your father should be arriving around four or so, and it's only 11:30 now," she said, glancing at the stove clock. "Had you made plans to meet your friends or anything to say Merry Christmas?"

Why hadn't we done that? Mentally kicking myself for not planning a get together with my friends on Christmas, I shook my head. "No, but if I called now, I'm sure we could all meet up or something for a few hours. Is that okay?"

"Sounds good. I called Linda not too long ago, and she said it was only going to be her and Frankie tonight, so I invited them to join us. . .I hope you don't mind," she bit her lip nervously, as though I might be offended that she had invited my best friendand secret infatuation and his mother to come over for dinner without first asking my permission.

"Of course I don't mind. I told you, Frank and I made up yesterday." And confessed our friendly love to each other. I smiled at the fond memory.

She nodded and went back to reading the paper as I stood up to call my friends, just as my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and checked the ID; Dahlia.

"Merry Christmas, my friend," I said, smiling huge, as I placed the phone to my ear.