“O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!”
Running a hand through Orion’s deep brown locks, Astra softly sang from her perch outside her parents hospital room. They got the call that morning that their parents were in an accident. They hit a patch of black ice on the highway, throwing them into incoming traffic. The semi could not stop in time, and their parents ancient VW Bug was all but squashed. Somehow, Lorna and Kartal Tunder still lived, for how long, the doctors could not say. “Stubborn as mules, those two.” Dr. Louise told her, a sad smile on his face. “They’ll live just to prove everyone wrong.” Astra had to agree with him. Glancing over at the room door, then back down at her little brothers head, she sighed before picking his head off of her lap and gently setting on the couch. Standing up, she made her way into the room and walked to her mothers side of the bed. She had somehow been able to convince the hospital to push their bed together, saying that that is what they would want. Reaching forward, I pushed a lock of Moms greying black hair out of her face, eyes running over the numerous cuts and scrapes on her aging face. In Astras’ eyes, Lorna looked much too old for her age. Something she blamed on her four brothers. Out of the eight people who lived in the Tunder household, six of them were male and constantly in some sort of trouble. Be it her brothers wrestling and coming in with something bruised or broken, her father trying to fix the roof and falling off, or her uncle shooting himself in the foot while hunting. Did not help that Astra often came home covered in dirt and scrapped up as well. “Please, don’t die, Mom.” She whimpered, wrapping her arms around her waist and burying her face in her Moms shoulder. “Please. We need you. You and Dad cannot leave us. Please…” A strong arm wrapped around her waist and she was pulled into an equally strong chest. Recognizing the embrace, Astra turned and sobbed into Orions chest, body shaking with her sobs. “What are we going to do, Orion?”
Squeezing his sister tightly, the 22 year old looked down at his parent, holding back sobs of his own. What were they going to do indeed. It did not matter that his siblings and himself were adults, all in their 20’s, they still needed their parents with them. “I don’t know, Star, but we will make it through. I promise.” He only hoped he could keep it. Leading Astra to one of the chairs next to their moms side of he bed, he sat her down and kissed her on the forehead before moving to look down at their father, finding it hard to believe that this was the same man who put him in a head lock just last week. Not a small man by any means, being well over 6 ft tall and very fit from hours in the family’s pumpkin patches and peach groves, his once tan skin was now pale and sickly, a bandage over his right eyes from flying scraps of metal. While he knew it was not the semi drivers fault, Orion could help but hate him. His parents were here because of him.
“Stop it, Rion.” Astra whispered, holding onto their mothers hand. “There was nothing he could have done. Even if the road was not icy, there was no way he could have hit his breaks in time.” Seeing the surprised look he was sending her, she gave him a watery grin. “I know you and can read you pretty well. I can do it with everyone. How else do you think I keep out of trouble with the ‘rents and Uncle Gavin?”
“I thought it was because you were so cute?”
“Partly.”
The two sat in a relatively comfortable silence, each watching as their parents chest rose and fell with each breath they took. Outside the window, snow continued to fall, turning the hospital gardens into a winter paradise. The lights on the trees shined through the pure whiteness of the snow, making the entire tree light up. One of them had flashing blue lights on it, creating a disco ball like effect. Gazing down at the beauty, Astra couldn’t help but think of how her mother would have loved to see it. Pulling out her cell phone, she took a couple picks to show her later. ~If there is a later..~ Sighing, she looked back over at Orion and bit back another sob. He looked so lost, staring down at their father. She wanted to comfort him, but knew that he did not want to be touched at the moment. Glancing back over at her mom, she gave a small smile and opened her mouth.
