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The Present

By Dee 

Christmas is a wonderful time of year walking along the store fronts lingering at the bakery shop with the fresh smell of goodies. Watching people go in and out of shops, with arm loads of packages. Hearing a bell ring at in front of a toy shop is reminding us, that there are others that need help.

 As you drive home you stop at a park where the kids are going as fast as they can down the hill on their sleds. There are no barriers between kids, no black, white, red, or yellow they just want to have fun. A little girl falls down and a woman picks her up and brushes the snow off and then gives her a hug.

Then Rose wakes up and realized it was a dream, remembers this last summer her husband and three kids, 2 girls and 1 boy won’t be sharing Christmas together anymore. Coming down out of the canyon her husband lost control of the car and went over the side. All Rose has now are pictures of times past that they shared together.

Rose goes out to get her mail the wind is bitterly cold and it looks like snow will soon come. As she gets to her front door a neighbor waves to her and says Marry Christmas. She waves back but says nothing. Looking at the mail that came that day reminds her of her lost family once again. She looks up into the mirror of the bathroom and sees a tear running down her cheek.

Why am I doing this still, it’s been 5 months and I need to get on with my life she says to herself. But a small voice says to her, “Mommy I love you”.

Her heart is aching and she can here herself saying I love you to. Then the tears start to flow and the tissue box is empty, so she uses the paper on the roll to dry her eyes.

Just then the phone rings and the man on the phone say’s “I am trying to raise money for those children that won’t have a Christmas”. Rose cuts him off by hanging up the phone.

As she goes to the bedroom and lies down on the bed to cry her eyes out like she has done so many in the last 5 months. She is saying to herself I’m not strong, I can’t take it anymore I don’t want to live. Again she hears another voice say “watch what I can do mommy”.

By the December 23^rd Rose is loosing her will to live and is trying to think of the best way to end the pain and suffering. But nighttime has come and she takes a pill to help her sleep.

In the morning she goes to the drugstore to pick up her medicine for depression and for sleeping. As she drives home she sees some girls in front of a store selling cookies. Again she hears a voice that says “Mmmmmm mommy they taste so good can I have another one”.

At home she says to her self NO! NO MORE! And then she sees the medicine that she just bought and says that’s how I will do it. When I go to bed tonight I will take all my meds and never wake up.

That night was the 24^th of December the worse night of the year to her remembering how the kids would try and sneak in to the living room to see what Santa had brought. Her eyes are red and her mind is filled with the missing images of Christmas in her home. She sits down to watch some TV but is started feeling sleepy so she lay down on the couch and closed her eyes.

The headline in the morning announces, “ANOTHER TRAGATY HAS HIT A HOME IN LESS THAN 6 MONTHS”.

Rose could hear something then she heard it again but she had a hard time understanding what it was she heard. It came again but this time she heard mommy?

Rose opened her eyes and there in front of her was a little girl and beside her was another little girl with a little boy beside her. And standing behind them was a man holding out his hand. As she touches it, all of her thoughts comes to her. It’s her family she hugs them and kisses them. And starts to cry and says, how can this be. It’s another dream you are not real I have to wake up.

Her one little girl says, no mommy it’s not a dream we are here with you.

Headlines on the local news, “ANOTHER TRAGATY HAS HIT A HOME IN LESS THAN 6 MONTHS”. A local woman dies in her sleep it seems that she had a faulty water heater and the pilot light went out but the gas didn’t stop.

Rose looked at her husband and said you mean I didn’t take all those pills like I was planning?

Her husband said no I was watching over you this whole time and it hurt me so to see you in such pain. I went to plead to help you and was told that I didn’t need to you where coming tonight to be with us forever.

Just then she heard singing it was the most beautiful song she had ever heard. And then there was a bright light, brighter than any she had ever seen before.