Joy To the....Ah, F**k It

Jessie's story.

Joy To the….Ah, F**k It

I was not a Christmas hater.

 I was a parent hater.

And a rule hater.

Especially when those rules specify that I must be at home on Christmas morning, and not living the aftereffects of Matt’s influence on me in someone -anyone- else’s house.

We all sat circling a cheap plastic Christmas tree, around which Andrew and my mother were attempting to string popcorn. I sat on the wiry old couch in front of the TV in the same room, and ate away at their futile future attempts at decorations.

“Jessie, stop eating that!” The bowl was snatched from my hands, and I scowled at her. At least if I had to be here, she could have let me eat my stale snack in peace. I shoved my headphones into my ears and lay down, placing my feet across where Andrew was about to sit.

“Jessie!” He whined, stamping his too-small feet, “lemme sit there!” At my mom’s harsh glare, I retracted my feet and folded my legs against my body. 

Two years and I was out of here. Two years.

After stringing the remaining popcorn (and that wasn’t very much) it was decided that present opening could initiate. I reached out to the one nearest myself that had my name on a cheap little tag, and shredded of the paper without show.

A new set of headphones lay in a plastic container. I wasn’t about to admit I had really needed those, but I gave a brief ‘thank you’ nod. The mother figure gave a sniff at my disinterest, and flicked a piece of her long chestnut hair over her shoulder.

The only reason I knew it was chestnut was that I had to pick up the bottles of hair dye for her when she was too lazy to drive a mile to the store herself.

“Guess it’s your turn, Dewy.” My dad picked up a package off of the floor, and leaned over to me, whispering as he handed Andrew a bright blue store-wrapped package, “Don’t know why we need to take turns.” I smiled, and chuckled. Sometimes it was great that dad tended to take my side on, well, everything.

He unwrapped the paper to reveal a set of Hot-Wheels toy cars.

“This is so cool!” The scream pierced through my ears. Children in china were probably looking up now and wondering where that loud noise came from.

“Anyone got duct tape?” I asked myself. Both adults looked up, but neither responded to my rhetorical question.

Andrew held out the cars, “These are mine, Jessie. You can’t take them.”

I snorted, and rolled my eyes, “Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it.” My eyes watched as his shaking hands struggled to rip open the plastic. A better person than me would have offered to help open the package.

Everyone in the room simply stared at him.

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

Sad, someone should have helped him open the plastic..eh.