Being Shot

P h o t o #38 - The First Snowfall

P h o t o #38 - The First Snowfall

~Emma's POV~

I tossed, and then I turned. My hair splayed out on one of my many pillows I had grabbed from my bed when I had distributed them before we all finally decided to call it a night. This dark blue one particularly had a grey cat with button-like eyes hand sawn on by my grandmother awhile back as a present. It was my favorite pillow.

I squinted at the ceiling as my unfocused eyes tried counting how many little ruts ours had. One of Kayla's louder snores rang out as I got to twenty eight, making me flinch a bit.

Ever so carefully turning on my side, I peaked down off of the couch I lay on at the light carpeted floor that was now covered in sleeping boys. I remembered what my grandmother told and shook my head.

'Well, they insisted...' I had convinced myself as I thought of the lecture I'd be receiving in the morning by a very drowsy old woman.

It only took me another second more before I realized that my glasses-less eyes were staring straight into Elliot Beau's sleeping face as he lay on his back perfectly still facing upwards.

Whipping my head back to its place on the pillow, my heart jumped in my chest.

'That...surprised me!' I thought as I tried to calm myself down, 'He wasn't that close to me before...I would've never pinned him as a restless sleeper.'

I reached for my glasses that rested on the side table, plopping them on my face and blinked a few times, ready to get another look at the scene in front of me.

My eyes almost bulged out of my skull. 'I guess they're all pretty restless sleepers.' I thought in disbelief as I saw the wimpy barricade I had made with leftover blankets and pillows that everyone promptly had a good laugh at between the two couches Kayla and I slept on and the other side of the living room the boys insisted on sleeping on completely annihilated from them all tossing and turning in their sleeping bags. Even Kayla was sprawled out on her back on the couch to my right, all four limbs in different directions.

I grinned, 'I wonder how well they'd take it if I took a picture of them and tweaked it for a funny Christmas card.' I thought cheekily, obviously silently joking with myself. There was no way I could do something like that to them, even if as a harmless joke.

Finally sitting up again, I crossed my legs as I raked my fingers through my hair, flabbergasted by how many tangles they hit. Giving up only a few moments later, I gathered up all of my ebony locks and twisted them into a messy bun high on top of my head using the ponytail I always kept on my wrist. I shrugged off the slight frustration that always came with dealing with my unruly waves.

Straightening the sweatshirt I had thrown on before hopping into my couch-bed, I carefully made sure to tip-toe past the five sleeping beauties and into the kitchen to see if I could fix my sleepless self.

Going straight to the cupboard and pulling out a bag of marshmallows and Swissmiss hot chocolate mix, I began making my usual simple concoction that always rang it's delicious head whenever I found myself having a hard time getting some shut eye. There was something about the combination of sweetness and warmth that always got me sleeping like a baby.

Pulling out my favorite mug - a larger one with little cutesy light blue cat heads I had painted on the simple dark blue glass a year back with my grandmother - I poured the powder in and mixed it with the recommended amount of milk. After a thorough stirring I popped it in the microwave for two minutes.

Tip-toeing back to the kitchen's entrance, I peaked out into the living room to make sure everyone was still in their comatose states. I breathed a sigh of relief once I realized the microwaves small noises hadn't rid them of their slumber.