This Broken City Sky
Spirits
“Merry Christmas, mother fuckers!” Kat exclaimed as she walked into room 415, toting with her a pitcher of a curious looking liquid. She had put on a black, tight fitting mini skirt, a pair of black suede heels, a thin white shirt and her leather jacket. Just for an added touch, she wore a cop’s hat she found in a room and put on a bit of makeup for the occasion. As she walked further into the room, curious chatter broke out. “Here’s my little gift to everyone,” she said as she placed the pitcher down on a table and put two rows of four paper cups out. Carefully, she filled the cups and began to pass them out.
“What’s in these?” Johnny asked, sniffing the snowy looking liquid tentatively. Kat merely gave him a smirk as she handed Frank his drink.
“Christmas spirits,” she said slyly, causing a few laughs to travel through the room. Gerard wrinkled his nose and placed the cup to the side, which Kat merely rolled his eyes. “You might want to just take small sips of it, for now, Johnny.” He looked up at her apprehensively, not quite sure of the situation. Once she had finished passing out the drinks, she sat down on the bed beside Johnny, grinning widely as everyone took sips of the drink.
“God damn! This is strong shit, Kat,” Ray exclaimed, sputtering a bit on how potent the drink was. She merely giggled to herself, wearing a mischievous grin as she sipped her own drink. Johnny took a small sip of the drink and smacked his lips together at the odd feeling of numbness that spread through his mouth the moment the beverage hit his tongue.
“Feel free to drink as much of it as you’d like,” she said softly. Lily, who was sitting beside Dylan on the same bed as Johnny and Kat, took a sip of the drink and nearly gagged a bit at the pungent taste of alcohol. She had managed to find a nice grey sweater that she wore over a sparkly gunmetal grey top. She also wore a pair of nice blue jeans and ballet flats.
“No, I think one would probably do me in,” she commented softly, Dylan shooting her a slight smirk.
“Unlike my cousin, I could probably handle a few of these,” the tall brunette commented before taking a sip of the drink as if to prove her point. She wore a loose, flowing tunic dress and black studded oxfords. She found a stick of red lipstick and a red bracelet to add a splash of festive color to her outfit.
“That’s exactly what we all need, for everyone just to get fucking drunk,” Gerard said in a low voice from his spot in a chair. Kat merely looked over at him as all eyes went to him.
“No one’s pouring the shit down your throat,” she said in a remarkably calm voice compared to the glare she wore. “If everyone else wants to have a little drink, fucking let them.” Gerard set his glare on her and scoffed loudly.
“You’re going to get fucking trashed and go off somewhere and I’m going to be stuck carrying you back to the room…like always,” he grumbled, raising a brow to the woman. Kat merely sat there with an emotionless look on her face. Had it been any other day than Christmas, she probably would have tackled him to the ground and began to punch his face in. She glanced over at Johnny, who was giving her a hard stare, before looking back to Gerard.
“If my drinking is such a fucking burden to you,” she hissed, her blue eyes burning holes into his, “It should comfort you that I’m just having this one drink…asshole.” The room fell silent as they stared at each other. Nervous glances were sent around the room, wondering if weeks upon weeks of their bickering was going to surmount to anything tonight.
“Alright! We’re going to open presents now so everyone pick out their presents from around the tree,” Ray called quickly, breaking Gerard and Kat’s stare along with the tension that had risen in the room and calling their attention to the nicely decorated Christmas tree. One by one the eight refugees would go over to the Christmas tree and pick out the gifts that had their names on them. A couple of the gifts had been placed in decorative bags that they had managed from the gift shop and a few others had been wrapped with old, yellowing newspaper, anything to bring a bit of Christmas to them. Anything to keep their minds off of their dire situation for the evening. The Secret Santa gifts didn’t have the names of whoever was giving the present, so the air of mystery would remain until the gift was opened and identities were revealed.
“Let’s take turns,” Lily said cheerfully as she took another sip of the pungent drink in her hand, “Johnny, since you’re the youngest, you go first.” Johnny looked up and placed his cup aside, it was nearly full since he hadn’t taken another sip of it since he first drank it. He picked up a neatly wrapped, newspaper parcel that he knew had come from Kat per the neat handwriting on the front. He lifted it and shook it a bit and something moved within the box. Kat smirked and watched him with anticipation.
“I put everything in a shoe box so you wouldn’t be able to figure out what it was,” she said softly, laughing lightly at the perturbed look her brother was sending her. He finally ripped open the paper to find that the box should have contained a size 8 ½ women’s stilettos. He raised a brow as quiet laughter filled the room before he pulled open the lid of the box. Kat had given him a pair of grey Converse she had managed to find in one of the rooms. They were a little beat up, but would be better than his worn-out red Converse. He lifted the shoes from the box and found a hardback book down at the bottom.
“Oh, c’mon Kat,” he groaned as he read over the golden font on the front, “you can’t possibly be trying to get me to read more. And especially not Pride and Prejudice, it’s just not going to happen.” Kat rolled her eyes and let out a laugh and shrugged a bit.
“It was worth a try,” she murmured, the smile never leaving her lips.
“Well, thanks…for the shoes anyways,” he said, leaning over and wrapping his arms around her, hugging her warmly. She returned the hug and the siblings soon broke apart. He then picked up the nameless bag in front of him and picked out the bit of tissue paper that was obscuring his view of the gift. He picked out the thin black sweater and grinned widely. “Dude, this is awesome,” he said excitedly, immediately putting it on. It fit him loosely, like it was made for someone a couple times his size, but it looked good on him just the same. “Who gave this to me?” He asked.
“I did,” Lily said with a small smile. Johnny looked over at her with a slightly surprised expression.
“I don’t know who told you, but I really dig old man sweaters. Thanks,” he said with a smile as he got up, passing by Kat and Dylan to hug her.
“No problem,” she replied as she hugged him back, sending a small grin to Mikey over his shoulder since he had helped her pick out the sweater. “Now, you get to pick the next person to go,” she said once he pulled away and sat back down on the bed. Johnny glanced around the room and expectant faces of the adults that surrounded him.
“Well…Mikey, you go since you’re a younger sibling like me.” Mikey gave the boy a grin and picked up the present that Gerard had managed to find him. It was hastily placed in a bag, without wrapping paper, so Mikey had a clear shot of the present when he looked in the bag.
“Whoa! Dude! No way,” he exclaimed as he lifted an edition of the Watchmen out of the bag. “What the hell, Gerard? How’d you find this?” He asked him, quickly hugging his brother, who hugged him back.
“It was in one of the rooms I had checked in. I thought you’d appreciate it,” he said, grinning widely at his younger brother as he flipped through the pages.
“Thanks, Gerard,” he said as he finally looked up from the brightly colored pages of the comic book. Gerard just shrugged a bit before Mikey placed the booklet aside and grabbed the other bag he had.
“Shit, Gerard, way to make my gift look like a pile of dung,” Johnny said, playfully glaring over at him as Mikey pulled out a loose grey beanie from the bag, after removing the layer of tissue paper he had wrapped around it. Gerard merely smirked at Johnny before noticing the look that Kat was shooting him before looking away and taking a sip of her drink.
“So I suppose this is from you, Johnny?” Mikey asked as he put the beanie on immediately. Johnny merely nodded sheepishly from his place beside Kat. “Well, thanks ‘brah’. my ears and noggin will be safe from those gnarly snow drifts now, brah” Mikey said with a smirk, remembering the day that he and Johnny had spent the day speaking in “surfer dude” language to test the patience of the others. Johnny gave him a wide grin and chuckled to himself.
Mikey glanced around the room but his eyes continued to return to Gerard, who looked at bit sour. He let out a heavy sigh; it would be all-too obvious that he’d pick his brother, but he was being quite the scrooge. So, he thought maybe if he got to open presents, he’d cheer up a bit.
“Gerard, you next,” Mikey said softly, giving his older brother a smile that he barely returned. He let out a sigh and leaned over, grabbing a crudely wrapped, cylinder-shaped present. He looked at it hesitantly then glanced over the Mikey who merely gave him a childish, shit-eating grin.
“You wrapped this?” He asked, raising a brow. Mikey nodded wordlessly, laughter filling the room once more. Gerard tore into the newspaper and it took him a while to finally to get to the actually present, since there was a couple of layers of newspaper and tape to get through. Finally, a small, black figurine emerged from the layers. He turned over the superhero in his hands, looking over it slowly. It was something that reminded him of his childhood; of running around the house with sheets and stomping around, pretending to slay the bad guys and ending up getting yelled at by his mom for getting too rowdy with Mikey or being too loud.
“I figured you like a nice little Batman figure to carry around,” Mikey said softly as Gerard looked over to him with a slight smile.
“It’s great,” he said as he leaned over and hugged his brother warmly, letting him know he appreciated the gift. “Thanks, Mikey.” Mikey just grinned to him as Gerard put the Batman figurine to the side and leaned down to pick up the thin rectangular gift nicely wrapped with another much smaller rectangle taped to the top of it. The gift had weight to it and he was a bit curious as to what it was or who gave it to him. He grabbed the smaller rectangle from the top and unwrapped it quickly, feeling a bit unnerved to have everyone watching him. Once he cleared the newspaper away, he saw that he had been given a small packet of unsharpened white pencils with the hotel’s name on the side. He placed them aside and unwrapped the larger rectangle and clutched the leather bound book in his fingertips. He turned it over as saw that it was devoid of a title or any writing. Gerard flipped it open and saw that the pages were completely blank. Someone who knew him must have given him this.
“So…who gave this to me?” He asked quietly, glancing around the room. For a few moments the room was completely silent and still, spare the movement of eyes. Everyone was glancing to each other, spare Dylan and Kat who were staring at the ground. Kat finally looked up and caught Gerard’s eye, slowly raising the hand that wasn’t holding her cup and wearing an expression void of emotion. “You did?” He asked, not even trying to hide the surprise in his tone. A ghost of a smirk flitted across Kat’s features as she nodded again.
“You really didn’t…have to,” Gerard said softly, turning the sketchbook over in his hands again, “this is really nice.” He brought his eyes back up to Kat, who was still staring at him.
“No…I didn’t have to,” she said simply as she shook her head before a small, rarely seen smile curled the corners of her lips, “but even a scrooge like you deserves a Christmas present.”
“What’s in these?” Johnny asked, sniffing the snowy looking liquid tentatively. Kat merely gave him a smirk as she handed Frank his drink.
“Christmas spirits,” she said slyly, causing a few laughs to travel through the room. Gerard wrinkled his nose and placed the cup to the side, which Kat merely rolled his eyes. “You might want to just take small sips of it, for now, Johnny.” He looked up at her apprehensively, not quite sure of the situation. Once she had finished passing out the drinks, she sat down on the bed beside Johnny, grinning widely as everyone took sips of the drink.
“God damn! This is strong shit, Kat,” Ray exclaimed, sputtering a bit on how potent the drink was. She merely giggled to herself, wearing a mischievous grin as she sipped her own drink. Johnny took a small sip of the drink and smacked his lips together at the odd feeling of numbness that spread through his mouth the moment the beverage hit his tongue.
“Feel free to drink as much of it as you’d like,” she said softly. Lily, who was sitting beside Dylan on the same bed as Johnny and Kat, took a sip of the drink and nearly gagged a bit at the pungent taste of alcohol. She had managed to find a nice grey sweater that she wore over a sparkly gunmetal grey top. She also wore a pair of nice blue jeans and ballet flats.
“No, I think one would probably do me in,” she commented softly, Dylan shooting her a slight smirk.
“Unlike my cousin, I could probably handle a few of these,” the tall brunette commented before taking a sip of the drink as if to prove her point. She wore a loose, flowing tunic dress and black studded oxfords. She found a stick of red lipstick and a red bracelet to add a splash of festive color to her outfit.
“That’s exactly what we all need, for everyone just to get fucking drunk,” Gerard said in a low voice from his spot in a chair. Kat merely looked over at him as all eyes went to him.
“No one’s pouring the shit down your throat,” she said in a remarkably calm voice compared to the glare she wore. “If everyone else wants to have a little drink, fucking let them.” Gerard set his glare on her and scoffed loudly.
“You’re going to get fucking trashed and go off somewhere and I’m going to be stuck carrying you back to the room…like always,” he grumbled, raising a brow to the woman. Kat merely sat there with an emotionless look on her face. Had it been any other day than Christmas, she probably would have tackled him to the ground and began to punch his face in. She glanced over at Johnny, who was giving her a hard stare, before looking back to Gerard.
“If my drinking is such a fucking burden to you,” she hissed, her blue eyes burning holes into his, “It should comfort you that I’m just having this one drink…asshole.” The room fell silent as they stared at each other. Nervous glances were sent around the room, wondering if weeks upon weeks of their bickering was going to surmount to anything tonight.
“Alright! We’re going to open presents now so everyone pick out their presents from around the tree,” Ray called quickly, breaking Gerard and Kat’s stare along with the tension that had risen in the room and calling their attention to the nicely decorated Christmas tree. One by one the eight refugees would go over to the Christmas tree and pick out the gifts that had their names on them. A couple of the gifts had been placed in decorative bags that they had managed from the gift shop and a few others had been wrapped with old, yellowing newspaper, anything to bring a bit of Christmas to them. Anything to keep their minds off of their dire situation for the evening. The Secret Santa gifts didn’t have the names of whoever was giving the present, so the air of mystery would remain until the gift was opened and identities were revealed.
“Let’s take turns,” Lily said cheerfully as she took another sip of the pungent drink in her hand, “Johnny, since you’re the youngest, you go first.” Johnny looked up and placed his cup aside, it was nearly full since he hadn’t taken another sip of it since he first drank it. He picked up a neatly wrapped, newspaper parcel that he knew had come from Kat per the neat handwriting on the front. He lifted it and shook it a bit and something moved within the box. Kat smirked and watched him with anticipation.
“I put everything in a shoe box so you wouldn’t be able to figure out what it was,” she said softly, laughing lightly at the perturbed look her brother was sending her. He finally ripped open the paper to find that the box should have contained a size 8 ½ women’s stilettos. He raised a brow as quiet laughter filled the room before he pulled open the lid of the box. Kat had given him a pair of grey Converse she had managed to find in one of the rooms. They were a little beat up, but would be better than his worn-out red Converse. He lifted the shoes from the box and found a hardback book down at the bottom.
“Oh, c’mon Kat,” he groaned as he read over the golden font on the front, “you can’t possibly be trying to get me to read more. And especially not Pride and Prejudice, it’s just not going to happen.” Kat rolled her eyes and let out a laugh and shrugged a bit.
“It was worth a try,” she murmured, the smile never leaving her lips.
“Well, thanks…for the shoes anyways,” he said, leaning over and wrapping his arms around her, hugging her warmly. She returned the hug and the siblings soon broke apart. He then picked up the nameless bag in front of him and picked out the bit of tissue paper that was obscuring his view of the gift. He picked out the thin black sweater and grinned widely. “Dude, this is awesome,” he said excitedly, immediately putting it on. It fit him loosely, like it was made for someone a couple times his size, but it looked good on him just the same. “Who gave this to me?” He asked.
“I did,” Lily said with a small smile. Johnny looked over at her with a slightly surprised expression.
“I don’t know who told you, but I really dig old man sweaters. Thanks,” he said with a smile as he got up, passing by Kat and Dylan to hug her.
“No problem,” she replied as she hugged him back, sending a small grin to Mikey over his shoulder since he had helped her pick out the sweater. “Now, you get to pick the next person to go,” she said once he pulled away and sat back down on the bed. Johnny glanced around the room and expectant faces of the adults that surrounded him.
“Well…Mikey, you go since you’re a younger sibling like me.” Mikey gave the boy a grin and picked up the present that Gerard had managed to find him. It was hastily placed in a bag, without wrapping paper, so Mikey had a clear shot of the present when he looked in the bag.
“Whoa! Dude! No way,” he exclaimed as he lifted an edition of the Watchmen out of the bag. “What the hell, Gerard? How’d you find this?” He asked him, quickly hugging his brother, who hugged him back.
“It was in one of the rooms I had checked in. I thought you’d appreciate it,” he said, grinning widely at his younger brother as he flipped through the pages.
“Thanks, Gerard,” he said as he finally looked up from the brightly colored pages of the comic book. Gerard just shrugged a bit before Mikey placed the booklet aside and grabbed the other bag he had.
“Shit, Gerard, way to make my gift look like a pile of dung,” Johnny said, playfully glaring over at him as Mikey pulled out a loose grey beanie from the bag, after removing the layer of tissue paper he had wrapped around it. Gerard merely smirked at Johnny before noticing the look that Kat was shooting him before looking away and taking a sip of her drink.
“So I suppose this is from you, Johnny?” Mikey asked as he put the beanie on immediately. Johnny merely nodded sheepishly from his place beside Kat. “Well, thanks ‘brah’. my ears and noggin will be safe from those gnarly snow drifts now, brah” Mikey said with a smirk, remembering the day that he and Johnny had spent the day speaking in “surfer dude” language to test the patience of the others. Johnny gave him a wide grin and chuckled to himself.
Mikey glanced around the room but his eyes continued to return to Gerard, who looked at bit sour. He let out a heavy sigh; it would be all-too obvious that he’d pick his brother, but he was being quite the scrooge. So, he thought maybe if he got to open presents, he’d cheer up a bit.
“Gerard, you next,” Mikey said softly, giving his older brother a smile that he barely returned. He let out a sigh and leaned over, grabbing a crudely wrapped, cylinder-shaped present. He looked at it hesitantly then glanced over the Mikey who merely gave him a childish, shit-eating grin.
“You wrapped this?” He asked, raising a brow. Mikey nodded wordlessly, laughter filling the room once more. Gerard tore into the newspaper and it took him a while to finally to get to the actually present, since there was a couple of layers of newspaper and tape to get through. Finally, a small, black figurine emerged from the layers. He turned over the superhero in his hands, looking over it slowly. It was something that reminded him of his childhood; of running around the house with sheets and stomping around, pretending to slay the bad guys and ending up getting yelled at by his mom for getting too rowdy with Mikey or being too loud.
“I figured you like a nice little Batman figure to carry around,” Mikey said softly as Gerard looked over to him with a slight smile.
“It’s great,” he said as he leaned over and hugged his brother warmly, letting him know he appreciated the gift. “Thanks, Mikey.” Mikey just grinned to him as Gerard put the Batman figurine to the side and leaned down to pick up the thin rectangular gift nicely wrapped with another much smaller rectangle taped to the top of it. The gift had weight to it and he was a bit curious as to what it was or who gave it to him. He grabbed the smaller rectangle from the top and unwrapped it quickly, feeling a bit unnerved to have everyone watching him. Once he cleared the newspaper away, he saw that he had been given a small packet of unsharpened white pencils with the hotel’s name on the side. He placed them aside and unwrapped the larger rectangle and clutched the leather bound book in his fingertips. He turned it over as saw that it was devoid of a title or any writing. Gerard flipped it open and saw that the pages were completely blank. Someone who knew him must have given him this.
“So…who gave this to me?” He asked quietly, glancing around the room. For a few moments the room was completely silent and still, spare the movement of eyes. Everyone was glancing to each other, spare Dylan and Kat who were staring at the ground. Kat finally looked up and caught Gerard’s eye, slowly raising the hand that wasn’t holding her cup and wearing an expression void of emotion. “You did?” He asked, not even trying to hide the surprise in his tone. A ghost of a smirk flitted across Kat’s features as she nodded again.
“You really didn’t…have to,” Gerard said softly, turning the sketchbook over in his hands again, “this is really nice.” He brought his eyes back up to Kat, who was still staring at him.
“No…I didn’t have to,” she said simply as she shook her head before a small, rarely seen smile curled the corners of her lips, “but even a scrooge like you deserves a Christmas present.”