The Last Christmas

It was right after a massive snowstorm, the lonely buildings and blistered roads were smothered by snow white crystals. There were no skyscrapers in sight, which was never a wonder, as it was the city of greed’s abandoned outskirts. The handful of people who worked there were those that chose not to beg for empty cash on the cold, frozen streets. Why did they call it a “street” when a single vehicle was not to be seen? Nobody knew, maybe the people of the city had a little too much fortune to spend?

She was not the only one sitting by the frosty sidewalk; there were at least ten other people begging on the same deserted street, hoping for a mere penny that would allow them to buy what? Absolutely nothing, as the nearest bakery or food store was located deep within the city, and they cost at least a mountain of trivial pennies, or maybe two mountains. But unlike her peers, which were mostly in their mid-fifties or sixties, she was barely five. She didn’t wear the “luxurious” sweaters and jackets that the others wore, but instead she had an excuse of a torn black cloth draped over her heavily stitched short-sleeved shirt. It wouldn’t be a weird sight if she shivered, but she didn’t. Her cold receptors were functioning perfectly; but she just didn’t sense the wrath of the freezing atmosphere, whereas her peers were all shivering so hard that one may actually feel the earth moving. Her long blonde hair was allowed to waterfall down her forehead to shield her from the deleterious white bullets flying directly onto her heavily scarred, but still recognizable face. She was dirtied and blemished, but her heart was not and never will be.

Beside her was a body, a corpse in fact, a decomposing one, one that emits such a pungent smell that it actually chased away the flies. It was the former shell of her beloved mother, who succumbed to an extremely contagious fatal disease. Even though the treatment was dead cheap, they couldn’t seek medical help, as they were the slaves of cheap meaningless cash; slaves of the rich and slaves of the noblemen. They could do nothing, not even selling off their “home”, as it was a frivolous wooden shelter, crafted by the vehement hands of her diligent father, and was worth barely two pennies.

Where was her father at that time of distress? Oh well, he went far, far away to seek medical help, claiming to know a doctor “of the highest sagacity”, one who would work for free; but it was fourteen days since he took off, and there were no signs of him, not even a letter. However, his only daughter hadn’t lose her miniscule amount of hope yet; she still believed that one day, her father would be back, healthily and gleefully, along with the best physician in the world. But it was too late.

It was a very dark night; darker than all nights; darker than darkness itself. She was looking after her infected mother in their shelter, when the people who didn’t bother to donate or sponsor the stupidly cheap treatment became devils. They took initiative and turned the pitiful family’s shelter into a blazing sun that scintillated the night. The two managed to escape the scorching heat, but everything else didn’t. They lost all of their hard-earned food supply, their protection against the deadly frost, and everything else; nothing could be salvaged. Well, maybe two small pieces of charcoal, but nothing else.

They ended up being stranded in the middle of the most penniless street, living a life worse than poverty.

She scouted the area for a piece of broken cardboard, which didn’t take too long to find, as the area was infested with garbage. She intended to write out a message, as she couldn’t actually speak. Her child’s mind caused her to attempt using the soft, fluffy snow to trace out the words, but it failed without doubt, as the white pillows would fall off when the board was held vertically. Her heart was crying frozen tears, as she wanted to give up; she needed someone to guide her.

She stared at her mother, and it was a doleful sight. She tried to shake her in hoping that she would wake up, but she couldn’t, as her soul was already in heaven. Sadly, the really innocent young girl hadn’t grasped the definition of “death” yet; she casually assumed that her mother was in a very, very deep sleep. She clearly saw crimson red blood flowing out of her mother’s completely withered mouth, but how would a juvenile girl know about the true meaning of the “red, slimy water thingy”? She sincerely thought that her mother has left some “red ink” for her to write, thus she dipped her extremely malnourished finger into the red pool, and wrote a very short sentence on the sorrowful rectangular cardboard.

“Daddy, where are you?”

Minutes flew by, and it soon became hours, but very few people passed by. Even so, all of them apparently ignored, or simply didn’t want to even glance at her mother’s corpse. It was etched onto the people’s minds that those with the sickness are merely “fools that only bring harm”, and thus, the death of the infected was actually a very positive matter that was worth celebrating. There was a bastard with a mind of a tyrant whom appeared in the most obnoxious fashion, as he kicked the poor girl’s face, slamming her onto the brick wall behind her. She felt an undeniably agonizing pain, but she couldn’t scream. The bastard walked off without looking back, but the girl was so used to it that she merely crawled back to her mother’s side and sat down, holding her hands.

However, in the midst of a horde of cruel monsters, there was an affable soul that stopped by after reading the handwritten message on the cardboard. He was a rather tall man, wearing a white robe and had brown slippers glued onto his soles. He stared at the girl, who was very injured, but she wasn’t even shedding a single diamond tear. She was different than most people, different than those who thought of suicide after his or her pet dog died. He knelt down and grabbed the girl’s flaccid arm, but he didn’t pull it with force. The girl seemingly comprehended his purpose, even though she really didn’t, and followed the mysterious man to a mysterious place.

It was a mysterious river.

Well, not actually that mysterious, but it certainly did sparked flames of curiosity inside the girl’s immature mind. How could a place contain so much water? Yes, it was in fact ice, but in the eyes of a lovely child, it was pure, drinkable water. It didn’t took more than five seconds before she spotted her formerly muscular father, then reduced to a mishmash of skin, meat and bones, “sleeping” beside the icy river. A smile was naturally carved onto her adorable face.

With help from the man who had a heart of gold, they lifted her father’s “sleeping” body back to the streets, where her mother was enjoying her longest sleep ever. She then placed her father’s body right beside that of her mother, and it was a very picturesque sight, albeit horrifying one, since they were both just empty shells. She knew that her job wasn’t done yet.

Somehow managing to understand her intention, the man casually smiled and brought her into the most soulless city in the world; a city where the people were born out of cash and will die buried in cash. In the middle of the broken city, there was a gigantesque structure, a Christmas tree in fact, that perforated the brilliant night sky. There was a man dressed as Santa Claus sitting in front of it, giving out presents to the myriad of hopeful children, lining up in what would be an endless queue. She has never seen such magnificent lightings before, not only those attached to the tree, but those that were flooding the city. Although yellow and orange were the dominant colours, hints of blue, red, green, white, purple were to be admired, giving birth to a city of iridescence.

At that very moment, all eyes were fixated at her, as if she were an alien from the planet Mars, or some unnamed dimension. One could easily figure out that the people were entirely disgusted by her mere presence, as their faces expressed dissatisfaction in the most conspicuous way. Many scowled at the sight of her, and some even unleashed a flurry of pejorative and extremely vulgar words at her. The girl, however, was oblivious about their feelings, and actually presumed that she was receiving a warm welcome by the gregarious people there.

The chubby man in red saw into her miserable spirit, and pointed at her, asking her to come forward and meet him, skipping the rest of the snake-like queue. Without hesitation, the crowd all booed, seemingly in sync; some even tried to stop her by grabbing hold of her arms or hair, but she was already sprinting to his direction, and halted right in front of him. “Santa Claus”, who was formerly a man of laughter, instead smiled as if he understood the girl.

“I don’t need to ask you whether or not you’ve been good throughout the year, because you are. Young lady, what do you want for Christmas?”

She didn’t actually listen to his words, since she was so distracted by his gorgeous crimson costume, and the marvellous decorations stapled throughout every corner and crevice of the city, and of course, the humongous Christmas tree. She looked at the bearded man directly into the eye with utmost confidence, as she calmly let out an alluring smile.

Santa turned around and reached for a moderately-sized present box, before offering it to the girl, simply stating that the box “is all that she needs”. It was a rather heavy striped box for someone of her size, but she managed to carry it, albeit consuming a little too much of her already poor stamina.

“Young lady, I wish you all the best. No need to thank me, this is the best that I can do.” He waved his right hand, before immediately retracting the same hand in order to rub his eye, as if he was trying to wipe away his tears.

It wasn’t long before she returned to the streets, and her parents’ were still the most professional sleepers to ever exist. The fetid fragrance of decomposition was too strong for the other beggars to handle, as they hastily left the area not long ago. She tranquilly opened the box’s lid, and hibernating inside the box was a thick wool dark brown blanket with some stripes of lighter brown.

She positioned herself in between her parents’ bodies, before allowing herself to lie down. She then covered their three bodies with the rather wide blanket, effectively repelling the dreadful cold that was haunting them all this while. She gazed onto the blinking stars, as their appealing shine was reflected onto her pupils. She gradually shut her eyelids, as a single drop of illuminating tear flowed down her face, turning into a droplet of luminous ice that shattered upon impact with the ground.

The man in white robe stood in front of her, with a very wide smile painted onto his chiselled face.

And she smiled for the final time, as her family has finally found peace. Her heart muttered one last sentence.

“Good night, daddy and mommy. I love you.”