Shadowed Desires

Chapter One

Christmas Eve. Our first Christmas Eve someplace that wasn't Florida. I'd love to say the stockings were hung by the chimney with care . . . but I was too frozen to appreciate all the holiday decorations. Instead, we were all gathered around the fireplace in multiple layers of fabric; drinking hot tea. I was miserable and found myself relating more to Scrooge instead of Santa Claus, as holiday music played lowly in the background. Bah humbug indeed!

I'd seen what Christmas Eve in non-tropical places looked like on TV; hell, I've heard about it from other kids at school. To experience it now; that was an entirely different story. It wasn't just me who wore a sweater over a sweater. The whole family dressed like we were living in Alaska. Not Shadow Wood, Pennsylvania.

Here, we had four seasons. Though in all honesty it felt like one. Just cold. All. The. Time.

We'd already experienced a late Summer, which was cooler then we were used to; but we handled it. We somehow managed to handle the Fall; but here we were, experiencing our first Winter outside of Florida. To say we weren't handling the cold was an understatement. My mom greeted me in the morning wearing what looked like the blanket that generally covered her bed. She was holding the edges over her shoulders, carrying a steaming mug of coffee.

Brandon wore a black hoodie over two t-shirts. My other siblings were more or less dressed the same, bundled in multiple layers of clothing. The heat was on full blast; but none of us could find a way to stay warm. Right now, we were huddled in the living room near the fireplace, soaking up as much heat as the burning embers could provide.

"Thank Buddha we own a fireplace." Ah yes, my mother, ever the optimist.

She was sitting on the couch with my two youngest siblings, Mikey and Sarah. Sarah's unruly curly black hair was hidden under a beanie that looked suspiciously like it belonged to my other brother, Brandon. Speaking of Brandon, he was currently sitting next to our father. With dad being a private pilot, we looked forward to spending time with him on weekends, since he is usually away during the week. My father could have worked today, earning double his usual commission to fly some CEO to the Bahamas; instead, he decided to send the Holiday with us . . . in this damned frozen tundra. Say what you will about him being gone so much; I have the best dad who loves his family very much.

"You'll get used to it." My dad, the voice of pragmatism.

He wasn't like most other dads who read the paper and wore spectacles. My dad read books and has perfect 20/20 vision. I'd seen him read just about anything he could get his hands on; usually from newsstands at the various airports he'd fly. Lately his tastes ran towards John Grisham, but I did see him reading a few Dan Brown novels last week.

My father is Colombian, and my mother Taiwanese. If you looked close enough, you could see my mother's features in all of us. Her features stood out the most in Brandon. The rest of us looked more like our father. Me, not so much anymore. Since we moved from "The Sunshine State, " I realized I was starting to turn albino. Well not really, but my usual golden tan had lost its warmth, but I still had that olive complexion my siblings and I all shared.

Don't get me wrong, the seasons were nice, just not this one. Winter was already going strong since late November. And the weather had only gotten worse since. I had to sleep with three blankets. Even then, that didn't always feel like enough. Some nights, the lump under those blankets still shivered. I even had to get one of those ceramic heaters for next to my bed. I would have gotten an electric blanket, but mom was worried I'd die in my sleep from an unsuspecting electrical problem. Apparently electric blankets are the silent serial killers of the winter; lulling you into a false sense of blissful warmth and sleep – just waiting to strike.