Shared Spaces. phan

6.

"When are you guys leaving?" I attempted to start a conversation.

Garrett was the one that responded, though still avoiding eye contact. "I think at twelve, you?"

I panicked for a second. "Uhm, at two." Garrett's gaze was focused on the movie so luckily he didn't notice my nose twitching. It was always a sign of me lying.

The truth was that I was spending Christmas on my own, as my family had decided to go on a trip to India and forgotten to tell me. At first I was fairly disappointed with my parents. I was their child, not some distant family member. We only saw each other a few times a year, they could really have remembered that one time to spend some time with me. But the reality was that my parents - especially my father - were both snobby assholes and a luxury hotel in Asia was more important than their eldest son. Now that I had come to terms with it I didn't mind so much anymore.

I decided to keep it to myself though, as I didn't want to bother my flatmates with my problems. Especially during Christmas. For all I knew, they'd try to take me with them and I would have to endure awkward conversations at the dinner table about why my parents were so stuck up.

Flo and Garrett did in fact leave at twelve. They went to Essex in Garrett's car, as coincidentally, it was where they'd both grown up. They had even attended the same uni for their first year, but only met after they moved here.

Phil arrived thirty minutes earlier than predicted by Garrett. He seemed to be in a rush, power walking from one end of the apartment to another. Even when he was deeply focused his typical grin didn't leave his face. That man loved Christmas, he fully adored it. I could only imagine how happy he must be to have a normal family to spend that time with. A normal father who'd make silly jokes at the table instead of bragging about his company. A mother who baked actual cookies instead of buying them and a brother who could pull a Christmas cracker with you instead of sitting on his phone 90 percent of the time.

The sound of wheels rolling on the wooden floor came to halt. I looked behind me to see Phil standing at the door with a suitcase covered in various stickers and a red scarf that didn't match him at all wrapped tightly around his neck. He jumped a little when we made eye contact, probably only noticing me right now.

"Oh, you're still here?" He turned and walked over to me. I was sitting on the couch with a fuzzy blanket wrapped around my body and a laptop in my lap.

"Yeah, I'm leaving in a few hours though." I lied again. When his eyes wouldn't leave my face I looked up, trying to figure out what he wanted.

"Merry Christmas." I mumbled out, before turning back to my laptop.

"Merry Christmas Daniel." He responded cheerfully before walking away.

Only after the front door closed I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, I had the whole apartment to myself. Which meant I could play video games butt naked and no one would judge me for it. It was not what I wanted to do at all, but the idea that I could was just enough to satisfy me.

I ignored the little bit of sorrow and turned on some music to get me in a better mood. Of course, I made sure to avoid any Christmas songs, the house decorations made me think of the cursed holiday enough. For a moment I felt like Kevin in Home Alone. Hopefully, and most likely, there wouldn't be any burglars stalking me to get into the house though.

Or so I thought. Two hours into my alone time I heard some noises outside the front door. It sounded like something scratching at the lock of the door, like someone was trying to get in. I quickly ran into the kitchen and grabbed the first heavy thing I could find, which ended up being a metal pan Garrett left on the stove from this morning. I still didn't know what I was doing, sneaking in with my back pressed against the wall towards the entrance. The scratching sound became more and more aggressive and then the doorknob twitched. I squeezed my eyes shut and with all my strength I swung the pan at the potential invader.