The Bright Colours of Misery [COMPLETED]

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚈 𝚂𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽 -Christmas spirit-

Heidi and Alexander glanced at each other in confusion, until Helga spoke again.

"We're going to make some dinner ,as much of it as we can."

Heidi shook her head. "Oh no Helga-"
"It's the least I can do, I won't let you go hungry for christmas."

The girl was going to pretest again, but Helga hushed her before she could even utter a single word.

"We'll make a soup and cook that fish I got this morning, I thought it might be a bit too big for the four of us anyway."

Alexander pulled a few vegetables out of the cupboards and gave Heidi the job of peeling a few potatoes. Heidi nodded, trying not to show that her lip was trembling, and her eyes were watering. She would never be able to thank these people enough.

***

"It's absolutely boiling, Heidi, be careful!" Helga warned, but Heidi quickly turned around to show her she was wearing gloves. Helga exhaled deeply, her hand over her chest.

"All right." She said softly. "That's clever of you."
Heidi could only nod. "Anyway, do we have everything?" Hegla asked, looking at the three children waiting impatiently to surprise the stressed family next door.

"Yeah." They all answered in unison. Johann carried the newly baked cinnamon buns, Alexander had the fish and Heidi carried the still boiling hot soup. Helga smiled at them fondly. "Right, then let's go!"

She pushed the door open, letting a freezing close breeze travel through the room. Suddenly, as Johann was about to close the door behind them, fritz walked out of the living room, the bags under his eyes more visible than ever, a blanket wrapped around him.
"What's going on?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. His son figured he'd just woken up from a long nap. Johann looked over at his mother.

"We're celebrating over at Trudy's! Get some proper clothes on, Liebe!" She called from outside. The older man slowly nodded, and went upstairs with heavy steps, probably to change out of his pyjamas. In this house, Helga was the one to listen to.

Heidi was first to arrive at her house, and she impatiently tapped her foot on the concrete waiting for the other's. She saw Frieda through the window, and Frieda noticed Heidi outside, her eyebrows angled in confusion rather fast.

What are you holding? She mouthed, and Heidi only smirked. She couldn't answer that.
It's a surprise she mouthed back. Finally Alexander and Helga arrived, Frieda left her spot close to the window, disappearing from Heidi's view.

"Walk in before Frieda invites you! Come on!" She urged, and Helga quickly pushed past her, and knocked on the door after noticing it was locked.

Almost immediately, Frieda opened it.

"Frohe Weihnachten, Helga.'' She said, looking frantically between the three people in front of her. What on earth were they doing? Since when had Heidi even left the house?

"Frohe Weihnachten, Frieda." She smiled. "May we come in?"

The girl nodded, and opened the door wider, so they would all fit through the doorway.

"What's going on?" Frieda managed to quickly whisper to her sister as she shut the door.

"Nothing." Heidi said with a perfectly thought out smile as she stumbled into the kitchen, slamming the big metal pot with soup on the table. Thankfully Alexander had managed to slip a slightly damp cloth right under it before it hit the wooden table. It left no permanent marks on the furniture thanks to him. Frieda stepped into the kitchen carefully, the floorboard creaking under her heavy calculated steps. The lovely smell of both the soup and the cinnamon rolls failed to go unnoticed and after a good minute of silence, Frieda ran to hug Helga. Hegla chuckled brightly and embraced her.