Prologue

[December 1951]

It never usually snows in Texas but when it does, it’s really beautiful. On one of those snow days, I could watch the behaviors of my siblings reflected on how they stemmed from their true personalities. My twin brother, Nathan, just watched as John ran around the fields like a mindless doll, possibly after a terrible breakup with his girlfriend. Then Tyler had to walk over, break up the craziness that John was portraying while Christopher watched from the doorway, holding his little bear plush. The weather began to increase dramatically as more snow fell down faster than the eye can see. Tyler and John ran back inside along with Nathan. Peculiar thing for me was that the snow falling down amazed me.

I stayed in place for a while before watching as the snow fell onto the trees, the grass and the road. Before long, John then picked me up and ran back inside, carrying me back inside our home before placing me on the couch. In my mind, it seemed like a burden to be the only daughter in this family of boys. It wasn’t fair either as I was also the only girl. The family line within the house hold was as follows: Father, Michael, Tyler, John, Christopher, Nathan and me. Michael was out-of-state in California, working in Production Management while Tyler and John were preparing to choose their career paths ahead of time. Pretty soon, we’re gonna dwindle down out of our home before Father is left alone.

– –

Father was to return home late. It seemed like his job was going to take him a while again, possibly another traveling trip. Tyler, John and Christopher had already packed up to leave for the month, visiting Michael in California. So Nathan and I were left under the care of father’s favorite college professor: Dr. Randolph Drosselmeyer. We’ve heard a lot about Dr. Drosselmeyer from Father, how he was considered the best teacher he’s even gotten or even how this person could’ve gotten a Psychology Doctorate Degree along with killing some time to do an English Minor just to take some creative writing courses. I wasn’t that head over heels with Father’s bragging but whatever could work helped zone away from the blizzard that was outside.

With a small drive to Drosselmeyer’s estate, we got out of the car before Father walked over to ring the door bell. Opening the door as swift as lightning was whom we believed was Dr. Randolph Drosselmeyer. “Mark Silberhaus, what a surprise to see you!” he said happily.

“Nice to see you too, Dr. Drosselmeyer,” father replied with a smile.

“Please, Mark, call me Randolph.”

The two of them exchanged laughter while me and Nathan tilted our heads in confusion. Sooner or later, we were lead inside and into our rooms where we would supposedly stay the night. We watched from the window as Father said his goodbyes to Dr. Drosselmeyer before driving off. We wondered if Father would indeed be back soon or if it was going to be another long week without him. Nathan didn’t mind it as much, looking through the cabinets in our room to find toys and games we could play.

“Look at this, Nancy,” he spoke, taking out a small box. He opened it up to reveal some small toy soldiers. “Soldiers ready for the arm of battle!”

“Those look pretty!” I spoke with a smile on my face. We ran downstairs to go play with the toys we found in the room, trying to kill some boredom from not being able to go outside. We were careful enough not to disturb Dr. Drosselmeyer in his study. One wrong move and there was a possible scolding ahead for us. It was after a short while I noticed something on the very top of a shelf that stood next to the fireplace. It wasn’t that clear on what it was, so I hopped onto the couch, jumping to see what it was. By the looks of it, it seemed like a peculiar little man with a sword in his hand.

Since I was nothing more than a child of risk, I positioned myself to go for the wooden man before suddenly, I was taken a hold of. Dr. Drosselmeyer put me down on the couch before giving me a small stern look. I look away in embarrassment before he chuckled softly. “You must be looking at this handsome little fella,” he took the toy down from the shelf before continuing to speak, “got him during my journey around Europe.”

Nathan laughed, “It’s nothing more than a measly little nutcracker, Dr. Drosselmeyer.”

“Indeed, it’s nothing more than a toy… but it reminds me of someone I lost years ago.” he sighed, giving the nutcracker to me. I was really curious on what he was talking about; before my thoughts lingered more, he walked over to a picture frame on top of the fireplace before taking it and walking back to the couch.

The picture contained what appeared to be him but with someone with short black hair and the same hussar suit as the nutcracker. “My nephew…” he sighed.

“I didn’t know you had a nephew, Dr. Drosselmeyer,” I gasped.

“Neither did your father or your older brothers but… My nephew was considered to be the best of the best before his life was taken away.”

“Oh my…” I paused before giving Drosselmeyer a hug. Nathan did too. Just by his facial expression, he seemed to enjoy the small group hug. But just moments later, the phone rings. Drosselmeyer breaks the hug and walks over to the phone, picking it up. “Dr. Randolph Drosselmeyer, how may I be of service?” There was then an eerie silence that even frightened even me and Nathan. Drosselmeyer sighed before hanging up the phone and turning to us and saying, “It’s your father… he’s dead.”