SO COLD (18+) currently editing

Chapter 12

CHARACTER VIEWS DO NOT REPRESENT MY OWN. Please be civil in the comment section.

On Christmas Eve, I received a text message from Ruby asking if she and Wilson could come over for Christmas in the morning to exchanged presents. At first, I was rather indignant, ready to text back that it's wonderful she's recovered from her amnesia and finally remembered me. But after pulling off the mask of pettiness, I relented and wrote them an invitation. My moment of kindness left me with a dilemma, however, as I had not brought Wilson or Ruby or Imogen a present. I paced the shop floor, a stack of notes amounting to a mere £70 in my hand as I tried thinking of what I could possibly buy them. Majority, if not all, shops were closed due to the holidays. I sighed ruefully, grabbing my jacket and leaving the shop. Maybe I'd find some stand open or ...something.

Parking in the shopping centre carpark, I was relatively surprised to see there were a handful of shoppers milling about, bags of shopping in their hands as they trudged through the snow. I headed out into the building, immediately noticing all of the shops I normally go to were closed, and the ones that were open smelt weird or had tacky items displayed in the windows.

Passing by, I saw the perfect present – for Irvin. I went into the shop, and walked out with the inflatable life-size 'Imaginary Girlfriend' which –and I quote– satisfies any boy's needs! She had a creepy, unnerving face, bulbous lips, and a massive air-inflated rack and I could only hope that she'd mirror the packaging picture when Irvin blew her up. I brought a tray of doughnuts from a food store for him, also and then went about to look for presents for my two friends. I didn't realise how expensive buying can get when you only had a couple of notes. Clothes, make-up sets, even guitar picks became thousands of pounds in front of my eyes and I became more agitated as I crawled past the same shops again and again.

I brought two boxes of chocolates, two bouquets of purple flowers, and then a cute top for Imogen. I knew the presents would suck and could already imagine the phoney smile they'd give me, and mock thank yous' but it was nearing six and frankly, I didn't have the energy to give a damn no more.

Heading back to the shop, I felt the tension digging deep into my back muscles and pain danced like fire up my spine and neck. I was so absorbed in thinking about visiting a massage parlour I almost didn't see the kid running straight across the road. He had appeared out of nowhere, my eyes flew wide, and my heart slammed against my ribcage as I smashed my foot against the brake pedal. "What the hell!" I screamed, my hands tightly wrapped around the steering wheel in utter horror.

He had paused in the middle of the road, his little face twisted into hatred, and then much to my shock; he stuck up his middle finger at me. "Watch where you're going, blind bitch!"

I watched him go racing off with a look of sheer astonishment and disbelief. "Where the hell are his parents?"

"Get back here, mother-fucker! I'm going to KO your Mum, bitch!" a much smaller child, no older than eight, was running barefoot, a thick stick raised above his head, cursing in a high voice and chasing the first delightful child.

I leaned over the steering wheel, watching him dash for the other boy, who had hurtled down a street and couldn't believe what I had just saw. It was so surreal, something out of a humour movie with an underbelly of horror. I was alarmed, if that was Seth I would be panicked and alarmed that some kid was trying to knock him unconscious. The only other person who witnessed what I had looked uninterested, chugging on his cigarette and walking.

More awake than ever, I was careful of any murderous kids and slowly drove back to Jade's Ink. Walking into the shop, I heard music and went upstairs. Jade was dancing to Shakira's Hips Don't Lie, her hips swaying side to side, a wine glass in her hand, red wine sloshing to the music in the glass. Seth was laughing, trying to mimic her with a red skirt pulled over his jeans. It was such a beautiful sight, I felt joy build up inside of me and I laughed.