Strained

Chapter Thirty-Three

I woke up the next morning to my mother shaking me awake. She was head to toe in red and green, her earrings were bells. I blinked, wondering who had possessed her with the Christmas Spirit. When she saw I was awake (begrudgingly) she stopped shaking the bed.

"Merry Christmas, Cornelia!" She exclaimed loudly. 

"What's going on?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

"It's Christmas! I made breakfast and there are presents to unwrap," I almost asked her why we were doing all of this so early, then I remembered it was because I had begged her to. Everyone wanted to train today, which wasn't ideal, but we needed the practice. We were only going to have once chance at breaking the Curse and everything needed to be perfect. We had six days before we tried to break the Curse. 

Less than a week. It felt like mere seconds. Just thinking about it made my skin itch. It took me weeks to get my mom to agree to have an early Christmas. After I was done here, I had to meet the others at Daniel's house. We were only halfway through running the various scenarios that Kate and Sage had come up with. There was a lot left we hadn't tried, but we all were growing tired and more anxious with each day that passed. Today was no different. 

"Oh, okay," I mumbled rolling to my side.

"I'm going to go wake up Dara," she stood up a smile on her face. "Drink your hot cocoa!" She pointed at a mug on my nightstand. It was still steaming. I stared at it. It was way too early for hot chocolate. I grabbed the mug and brought it to my lips, waiting for her to leave so I can set it back down. The thought of something that sugary this early made my stomach twist.

Instead, I went into my bathroom and turned on the water. It was going to be at least a half-hour before my mom was able to get Dara up. She slept like the dead, which meant I had plenty of time to take a shower. As I grabbed the shampoo I thought about what Addison was doing today. She was still filming her movie, which she had the lead role for. Everyone was talking about her -- everyone. 

I hadn't heard from her for a few days. She was really trying to keep in touch. Lately, we had all been so busy I almost forgot Addie was gone. I towel dried my hair and then changed back into my PJs. Before I went downstairs, I made sure to grab the hot cocoa. It would make my mom happy.

Downstairs, the Christmas tree was glowing brightly. Underneath, there were a dozen or so presents. Dara and I shared a look. Our mom had definitely gone overboard. She just wanted to make this year a good Christmas. This was our first Christmas with just the three of us. It meant a lot to her to be able to have a great Christmas. I think she felt inadequate and was trying to overcompensate for Gran and Dolls not being here.

Dara padded down the stairs behind me. We shared a look.

"I'm not ready for this," she blew out a sigh. Her hair was unbrushed and messy. 

"Me either, but it's important to Mom." It wasn't a secret that the past Holiday hadn't bee exactly good. Honestly, most of our memories of growing up weren't that good. None of that mattered anymore. We all were different. We all had changed so much this last year.

"I know, that's why I burnt my tongue on the hot chocolate," she remarked sarcastically. I chuckled as we stared at the over-done tree. It had lights, ornaments, pinecones, a star, and layers of tinsel. It looked like Christmas threw up on our house.

The two of us followed the smell of burning food to the kitchen where mom was. She was stressed, biting her bottom lip as she retrieved something from the oven. A puff of smoke filled the kitchen. I rushed to the back door and fanned the room. Hopefully, the smoke detector wouldn't go off. Dara ran to the window and opened it. My mom flipped the fan for the oven on. I'm not sure what she was trying to cook because it was burned beyond recognition.