On the first day of Christmas, Zara Fischer's 'true love' gave to her... a breakup.
The day before seventeen-year-old Zara takes off for the Christmas holidays to the other side of the world--cold, dreary London--her boyfriend of two months dumps he...
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Thursday: December 30th, 2015
We had agreed to meet at 4pm on the 30th day of Christmas, right outside the hotel he had booked. In the end, Jas struggled to find rooms under £1000 for the night with a jacuzzi. When he told me he had been actively looking for that feature, I insisted he shouldn't worry about it because was likely to not use it anyway. I just wanted to be with him and for the place to be decent enough. In the end, he reserved us a room at The Four Seasons.
Standing out the front, shivering in the cold, I had known I was late when I arrived. Nonetheless, Jas wasn't there. But as the minutes ticked on, and suddenly half an hour had passed, I began to worry.
I began pulling my phone out every ten minutes in the first half hour. But then ten minutes turned to every five five. Then every two. And then it remained in my hand, screen unlocked, waiting for him.
I sent him a couple of texts asking where he was, but nothing.
Then I checked the tube lines. Some had delays, but none that he'd have to take to get here from his house.
At 5pm, an hour after we were supposed to meet, my phone started ringing.
"Where are you?" I asked, barely able to feel my toes at this point. The sky was a dark grey and the rain coming down in an icy drizzle.
"I'm so sorry, Zara," he croaked from the other end.
"Hey," I said more softly, "What's wrong?"
"I'm," he took a deep breath, "I'm at the hospital. Mum had to come in. I don't know when I can make it to you and—"
"Jas, Jas. Slow down. Firstly, don't worry about me right now. Worry about your mum."
"But tomorrow's your last day and we planned—"
"Hey, it's okay. Really." I began walking towards the tube, figuring there was no point waiting for him anymore. The movement helped marginally to warm my body up as well. "What happened?"
"She was really dizzy not long before I left then suddenly she collapsed," he said, voice still shaky.
"Shit. Do the doctors know anything yet?"
"No. They just took her off to run some tests. I couldn't go in with her, so I figured I should call you. You're not still waiting for me, are you?"
"I'm on my way home now."
"Zara... I'm sorry. You should have left when I didn't turn up—"
"Don't worry about me, Jas. Your mum is more important right now, okay?"
His line went quiet for a while, and I wondered if I had angered him or if he just didn't know what to say. But then when I heard a shuddery sob come from the other end, I realised he was trying to stifle his cries so that I wouldn't hear. "Do you want me to come to you?"
