Secret Santa

Doll

Michael laughed like a madman.

Normally, Ava would patiently wait for him to finish, for her dad had told her to be respectful towards others. Today, any respect for Michael was leaving her a bit by bit. She went around the table and took him from the front of his sweater and shook him hard with all her strength.

"Talk." She said, looking straight in to his eyes.

Michael narrowed his eyes and stopped laughing. "Why would I talk when you ask me to?" He asked. "You are nothing but a lowly wench with a lot of money. I had to get rid of your stupid mother, that wench who could get anything she wanted. And that father of yours, a good for nothing who was going to drink all the fortune he had. I did you good by getting rid of them."

I stared blankly at him. So, not only her mother, but her father was a victim too? This was a too much of a shock for her. She felt her grip loosening as the ground swayed underneath her. Michael pushed her backwards, away from him, making me lose balance even more.

I hit the floor, head first. At the same time, I received a kick in my stomach, from Michael. I doubled over in pain. The last thing I saw before plunging into darkness was Michael, going away from me, calling me an ungrateful wench.

***

"Sev!" Kathy came to us, running. "Tomorrow is Christmas! Come to our house! Ava is also coming!"

"Nope, I have to stay home and unwrap all the presents under the Christmas tree from Santa!" Sev Seth, who was sitting beside me, said joyously. I felt a pang in my chest. They had mothers. Mine was gone. Dad would gift me something, and Secret Santa would also bring me any request I had, but none of those gifts was my mom.

"I know that Santa is not real." Katy pouted, sitting beside us. "Paulo told me. It's just our parents wrapping some gifts for us and placing it under the Christmas tree as the night falls."

I disagreed with her. "Nope. Santa is real. All you have to do is write what you want in your journal and Santa would give it to you without a doubt."

Kathy laughed at me. "If you are not sure, just stay awake and wait tonight. You'd see your dad sneaking in presents."

Sev Seth, who was pouting when he learned that Santa was not real, brightened again. "I'm going to wait! I'm sure I'll see Santa, stupid Kathy. When I see him, I'll ask him not to give you anything because you are a liar."

"I'm also going to wait." Ava said. "I'll tell you what happened when I come to your party, Kathy."

***

Ava waited for a long time that night, not daring to go to sleep.

She had written on the journal for a singing doll. It was only something that existed in fairy tales her mother used to say to her before going to bed.

At one point, she had fallen asleep on the bottom stair on the staircase. It was almost morning when she heard a sound and was jolted awake.

She showed herself to a corner and watched the room with wide eyes. Her father came out of his room carrying some boxes wrapped in colorful paper and placed them under the Christmas tree before going back to his room.

Kathy was right. Ava sighed in dissapointment for not being able to see Santa, but his father bringing her presents was somehow so much better than having a third person bringing them. After all the sounds stopped and the house felt silent again, Ava went upstairs to her room as quietly as she could.

She lied on the bed, eyes drooping from staying awake. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she felt the dipping of the mattress as a foreign weight pressed on to it.

"Dad?" She sleepily called out. Since there was no response, she turned and sat on the bed in the dark. A chill ran through her spine. She felt that someone was watching her, hidden in the dark.

Frightened to the core, she tried to scream, but no sound came. Shivering from the cold and fear, she got down and lit up some candles, wanting to go downstairs but too afraid to do that in the dark.

The room was lit up, but there was no one except her inside the room. The only difference was that there was a present on her bed.

Heart pounding from fear and a little excitement at the fact that Santa may be real, she went downstairs to check on her dad. Maybe it was another present from him.

When she went to his room and peeked in, he was soundly asleep. She quietly closed the door and went upstairs, wanting to see the real present from Santa.

As soon as she opened it, a note fell out. She took it and read it, heart pounding. "Keep me a secret."

Inside the box was a singing doll. She did not know which one she supposed to keep a secret, Santa or the doll. She decided to keep them both a secret.

***

Ava opened her eyes, only to discover that she was still lying on the floor.

Her head and stomach hurt badly. After quiet some struggle, she managed to get up, slowly and unsteadily.

There was blood on the floor. She touched her head to find that it was bleeding. Michael was nowhere to be seen. Probably passed out on the bed, she thought.

Her plan to know the truth about her mother from him had failed. There was no guarantee that he would be drunk after today at all. Ava thought for a while, sitting on the floor and pressing a hand to her wound.

She would go to meet Rhea. And she would find out about the truth.