It was around 1 in the morning of Christmas day when I decided to log out of my social media accounts, but I had a real bad problem. I lay awake, unable to sleep because of my burning desire to use the restroom. We had four bathrooms in a house that sleeps five, including me. The nearest one was in my eldest brothers room, who would most probably be crashed out on his desk after his "hard core studying" (which usually entails him getting distracted and ending up playing COD). Since I know he'd make a huge fuss, that option is out. The next bathroom was down the hall next to my little sisters room, who -if I woke up- would be bawling her eyes out and be in a huge fit for the next couple of hours. This would lead to the whole house waking up and being mad at me. I made two swishes with my finger in the air to make an "x." That plan was also out. I rolled my eyes and sighed. The next bathroom was in my parents room and that's just a no-no. I'd like to not be grounded for once in my life time. That leaves the one downstairs. I winced at the thought of the pipes creaking as I would flush the toilet and disturb the silence of the sleeping house. Every other option seemed to also lead to me getting in trouble for waking up my family, but this option seemed less indirect. YES! It was better than laying awake till the crack of dawn when my little sister's heavy footed steps and her excited screams would wake the rest of us up. Okay, I can do this! All I have to do is slowly, tiptoe passed my brothers room to the end of the hall where the marble stairs were. My parents and sisters room was in the opposite direction, so I wouldn't have to worry about getting past them. Then I can rush down the stairs with my awesome ninja skills and finally use the bathroom! It was a mediocre plan, and it would have to work.
The sound of the floor boards creaking every step I took made me bite my lower lip and every time it did that, I created a deeper indent into my lower lip, which allowed me to taste the metallicness of my blood. Every step was like I was stepping on the tips of needles, and I hopped to a new spot so that my feet wouldn't make such a loud noise. It felt like I had aged a 100 years, till I finally reached the top of my stair case. As I scanned the lower level of my house I could see the bottom half of the store bought, reusable Christmas tree in the corner of my living room. I looked over to the side a bit and noticed a shadow. It was still and near the tree, but it seemed to be looking at the chimney that was next to the tree. I squinted my eyes and mouthed to myself "what the heck." Did someone get into my house? Was it a robber? A murderer? SANTA? No, I must be overreacting. My urge to pee had disappeared at my new found fear. The shadow moved to turn around and I instinctively turned on the lights to the stairs. I was ready to shout out "robber" when I saw the darkness from the figure vanish as the light fought the dark from it. It was my little sister, wide eyed and grinning. I cursed under my breath and turned off the light again. Hopefully the lights going on didn't wake anyone else up.
I should've expected my little sister would've been still awake. Even when my mother told her those terrifying stories of little children who didn't go to sleep the night before Christmas and had been eaten by Santa's elves, she still had been too excited to even sleep.
THUMP!
I sucked in my breath at the noise, which came from the roof, and had startled me. I could hear my little sister let out an awed whisper "Santa." I knew Santa wasn't real, but she doesn't. Another loud thump came from where the entrance of the chimney was. I looked up, half expecting to be able to see through to the roof, but was met with a dark, shadowed ceiling. Bang. My eyes darted to the chimney and I knew that whatever was on the roof had made its way down into the chimney. I didn't dare let out a noise or risk my breathing stir the rigid quietness of the house. However, I knew I couldn't just stand there. My sister was still a couple of feet away from the fire place and I knew she was too excited to remotely consider that the noise wasn't Santa. Another, close, thump made me snap out of my thoughts. I started moving partially down the first step when the noises of someone falling down the chimney and a loud "poof" of what must be soot made me halt. My eyes floated towards where my sister was standing, but in her place was a thick layer of black shadows which blanketed the whole living room. It obscured my view of my sisters outlined body in the dark. My eyes went wide and I took the stairs twice at a time to finally reach the bottom where I was met with even more darkness. I couldn't see anything in front of me as the cloud-like shadows floated around. The only way I could continue walking was if I stretched out both my arms in front of me. I frantically moved my arms as I entered the cloudy abyss.
"Angelica" I whispered.
"MALIA!"
A loud whisper rang through the room and I jumped back a step at it's sudden loudness. It was Angelica. It was her voice, but I couldn't tell if she was crying out in fright or out of happiness. I tinge of joy was followed when she whispered the last two letters of my name. As silence returned, I continued to blindly guide myself through the darkness. I took one more step in what I thought was the direction to the fireplace, when my hand grazed over skin. Cool, skin that sent tingling ripples through my body and left goosebumps on my arms. I placed my palm against it and only when I did that, could I feel a cold breath making its way down my spine.
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