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𝐶𝒉𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝒉𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑟. – 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉.

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Click! Click! Click!

She watched the light around her shut door slowly dim, as the footsteps went past her door and down the corridor.

It was a routine she wasn’t quite used to.

After all, it was only her second month at the orphanage.

Adelle waited a few moments before gently rolling out of the bunk that she shared with another girl. Slowly she made her way to her box, reaching down to the very bottom and pulling out a small wooden box.

Casting one more look behind her and making sure she made no noise, she quickly slipped out of the bedroom, into the corridor and down the stairs.

The room was cold and quiet, but most importantly, it was empty.

She sat on the warm rug near the fireplace, gently setting the box in front of her and opening it. Carefully, she pulled out the small box that was inside.

The box was painted a glossy white colour with gold embellishments on each of its corners and a matching ratchet lever attached to its side.

Carefully, she turned the lever causing the box to slowly open, revealing a snow globe within as a gentle melody proceeded from it.

Around the snow globe, twelve golden angels held hands and danced as they faced a small cottage on the other side of the glass. A small family of three, a man, a woman and a little girl, sat at a table inside the warmly lit cottage as it gently snowed outside it. They could only be seen from the little windows as the globe and the angels spun around and around within the box.

Adelle swallowed a sob that tried to escape.
Christmas was in two hours, and it was her first one without her family.

She set the music box on the floor, watching it play as she lay on the floor beside it.

Surprisingly, it was the only thing that was left after the accident. Maybe because it was strapped to the backseat of the car with her, unlike her parents that were completely crushed by the hijacked train.

Adele envied the little girl inside the snow globe, who had everything she wanted now.

Her eyes shifted to the angels that surrounded the globe.
“I don’t suppose you can bring them back.”

She laughed dryly as a tear fell from her eyes and onto the rug. “Could you at least take me to them?” she begged. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Please…”

****

Her eyes gently fluttered open as something cold touched her nose.

It was a snowflake.

Something warm gently rested on her shoulders. She looked to discover a green shawl had been thrown over her.

“Don’t catch a cold now, love,” someone said beside her.

Her eyes widened.

That voice.

She turned to face the person beside her. A lump formed in her throat as she realized who it was.

“Hm? What’s the matter? Why are you crying?” her mother asked in a rush, squatting down to wipe the tears from Adelle’s face. “Are you hurt?”

Adelle shook her head to answer the question, stretching out her hands. Her mother’s embrace was warm as it received her, and she smelled like vanilla, as she usually did.

It felt too real.

“Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know, dear. Maybe she’s tired,” Adelle’s mother replied to the person behind her.

Adelle turned around to meet her father’s welcoming smile as he held a cup of hot chocolate to her.

“Are you tired already? We can head back,” he said.

Head back? Adelle quickly shook her head, afraid of the thought of going back.
Going back where? She wondered.

She took a sip out of her cup. The warm sweet liquid was like heaven on the cold winter night.

“Great! Because the fireworks don’t start till another hour,” he laughed, “What do you want to do until then?”

Looking around, Adelle suddenly realized where they were.

It was the Christmas Carnival they had been planning to attend since the beginning of the year.

It was beautiful, with a variety of rides for every turn, Christmas lights and decorations on every corner and a large Christmas tree at the center of it all.

Did God really answer her prayer? Did she really go back in time? Or move to another reality?

“Oh no, there she goes crying again?” she heard her mother mutter. “Are you sure you’re fine, love?”

“Yes,” Adelle answered, wiping her eyes, “I’m just very happy.”

“Aww,” her parents chuckled.

“Okay,” her dad announced. “There’s this ride I can’t wait for you to try.”

“Oh no,” her mom laughed as they followed her dad in a certain direction.

There began a memorable Christmas Eve, as Adelle and her parents tried at least half every ride and food, with a little scolding from her mother about not having too much sugar.

And when the fireworks began, signalling the start of Christmas day, Adelle was almost too tired to appreciate the colours and shapes as the lights painted the night sky.

“We should head home now,” she heard her mother tell her father as he lifted Adelle into his arms and they walked back to the car, the last place she had seen them before the accident. Her father placed her to lie down in the backseat of the car before he and her mother got into the front seats.

She drifted in and out of sleep as a familiar song played on the car radio. Her hand rubbed against the polished wood of the box on her thigh.
When did she get a box?

“Adelle,” she heard her father call out to her. “Did you have fun?”

She only hummed in response, too tired to speak.

“Good.” he smiled gently at her through the rearview mirror. The car slowly came to a stop.

Both her parents got down and got into the back seat, sitting on each of the seats beside her.

They both embraced her. Adelle struggled to remain conscious as a warm feeling enveloped her.

“You know we love you, Adelle,” her mother said softly. “Your dad and I.”

“And we know we raised you strong,” her father added.

“And even when it doesn’t seem like it, we’re always with you.”

Adelle had a strange feeling in her chest.

“We know we left too suddenly, and this doesn’t quite make up for it,” her mother said as she placed a kiss on Adelle’s forehead.

“But it might remind you that you aren’t alone,” her father said.

She knew where this was going.

“Please don’t leave me again.” Tears began to gather in Adelle’s eyes. “Please take me with you.”

“We would have wanted to,” her dad laughed, “But it would be all too selfish to cut your life so short.”

Slowly, Adelle began to drift into a slumber she couldn’t fight.

“We love you,” she heard her mother say.

“And there is so much love still waiting out there for you,” her father added.

Then everything went black.

She woke to the gentle melody that played from the music box.
She was back on the rug at the fireplace.

Gently, she shut the box, silencing it. The overwhelming feeling of loneliness was too powerful to ignore as she got up causing the blanket to roll off her shoulder to her waist.

Her head snapped to the blanket.

It wasn’t a blanket but a green shawl. The same one from her dream.

A warm smile made its way to her face as the feeling of loneliness lifted.

Remembering her parents’ words, she finally understood a bit.

She thanked God for allowing her to see them one more time and headed upstairs with the shawl and music box.

She still had a few hours before the sisters began the day again.

It was a routine she was beginning to get used to.

© Ugomsinachi Agu.