Holiday hurricane

Chapter 1

Linda's car screeched out of her driveway. She was preparing to suffer another two days with her chaotic family. Every year, she left her house in Massachusetts, and traveled south to visit her parents. Having known her parents for all 23 years of her life, she was well accustomed to their habits. Just because she was aware of how eccentric her family was, doesn't mean that she was one of them or acted similarly. She was a quite, serious woman with her priorities straight and her life stretched out in front of her. The snow under her tires began to gradually disappear as the weather became warmer and her weekend's fate became closer.

Several hours in the car didn't bother Linda much but she soon found herself closer to the Serpon household. She could already smell her grandfather's cologne that smelled like feet and her aunt's jar of pickles that she couldn't bother to leave at home. As her small vehicle shakily proceeded up the dirt road, Linda quivered at the sight in front of her. It was an old wooden shack that could barely stand on its own surrounded by weeds and vines. Several cars were already parked in front of the wreck and all she could think was: they're here. The thought sent shivers down her spine. Linda parked her car and got out to be greeted by her shirtless uncle. He had a beer in his hand and his shoes in the other. "Good morning Uncle Mike, how do you do?" She asked, stretching out her hand to shake his. He laughed and slapped her hand away with his hand, spilling some of his drink on her arm in the process.

 "Lin, you can knock off all that crazy city talk. Ha! 'how do you do?' that's funny." he laughed, mocking her. Linda excused herself from her uncle and made her way into the house. Just as she closed the door behind her, an object flew past her head. It was followed by her nephews chasing after it. "Silly, childish games" she muttered as her sister, Kayla, approached her, yelling at her children to behave. " How's my little sister doing? I haven't seen you in a year!" Linda smiled and embraced Kayla in a hug. "I'm not used to people being this crazy. It's a lot different in Boston. It's very professional back there." Linda laughed. "Professional? Why do we have to be professional? We are FAMILY!" Kayla exclaimed. 

Kayla helped Linda bring in her bags and set up her loft. She would be sharing a room with her sister, mother, and aunt. Kayla explained to her that the two of them would be sharing a bed. Linda nodded and began unpacking.  She heard the floor creaking behind her and turned around to find her rosy-cheeked aunt gazing at her. "my, have you grown up darling! The city has changed you." Linda giggled at the country twang in her voice and offered to help her aunt unpack. "You can grab my pickle jar for me. I love pickles. I don't know what i would do if i had to go without them for 2 days." Her aunt, Jeanette, replied. 

After 3 long hours, Linda had finally greeted her grandparents and parents as well as reigniting her conversations with the others. They all sat down for dinner and began their lively conversations about the local news and what everyone has been doing this year. For the most part, Linda remained quiet. After all, she was a respectable woman with standards to uphold and could not waste her time on meaningless conversations. When the words spoken became dull and the excitement was gone from dinner, the family began to clean up. "Lin, honey, want to help me wash dishes?" Personally, Linda was disgusted by the dirty plates and would have preferred putting them in a dishwasher, but she helped anyways. Once all the household chores were finished and the children were in bed, the adults decided to sleep so they could wake up early on  Christmas. 

Linda crawled into bed and was soon drifting off to sleep. As reality began to blur, she felt the bed dip and her sister lay next to her. Kayla then put her arm over Linda and pulled her close, whispering,"Good night Linda."