Child at Heart (RotG Fanfic) Chp. 2

Until Next Time

"…And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One! The End."

Everyone in the room applauded after Grandpa Thomas finished his story, "A Christmas Carol". Grandpa Thomas sat on his rocking chair by the fireplace while the children sat together on the floor in front of him and the parents and other older relatives either stood or sat on a chair. This was one of the family's Christmas traditions which were first proposed by Grandpa Thomas himself. Last year, he told the story of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and the year before that was "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "The Little Match Girl".

Caroline claimed in her mind that the story was now one of her many favorite tales and so did some of the other children. Some of the grown-ups have already heard of the story but they didn't mind hearing it all again. It took an hour and a half for the story to end, maybe even longer if they bothered to turn away from the story and look at the clock. Right then, the coo-coo clock's bird popped out of its house and coo-cooed nine coo-coos.

"Alright, everyone! It's time for bed!"

The children were already in their pajamas when the story-telling began. Now it was finally time for bed. The children slept near the fireplace on their pillows and blankets while the grown-ups slept in the spare rooms of the house but that was a little after ten o'clock since they want to explore the winter scenery themselves. As for Grandpa Thomas, he just climbs upstairs to his bedroom going straight to sleep.

To Caroline, the room's atmosphere was very pleasant and homely during Christmas. A wreath was hung above the fireplace while Christmas stockings and pine garland hung on the upper frame. The Christmas tree was adorned with festive lights, red tinsel garland, colorful Christmas tree baubles, ribbons, candy cane and a star at the very pinnacle. There weren't any gifts under tree yet but it will of course once everyone wakes up. There were also a plate of gingerbread cookies and a glass of milk on an end table near the fireplace.

Ten o'clock, the children were fast asleep. It was also time for the grown-ups to return with presents for the whole family. The lights of the Christmas tree were the only thing that illuminated the room. The presents were set quietly under the tree but it was rather difficult since eight children were sleeping on the floor. But they were able to do the said task as sneakily as Santa does. Or, so they thought.

Midnight, everyone in the house was asleep. Peaceful, silent night…until a familiar sound of sleigh bells echoed in the sky. There appeared infamous silhouette of Santa Claus and a bag full of gifts in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

In every household, Santa slid down the chimney without the effort of what other people speculated it would take considering how portly Kriss Kringle is. But children never doubted what Santa could do, for every Christmas tree had been seen with piles of presents set underneath every morning.

In Grandpa Thomas' home, Santa Claus carried a lot of gifts on the way down inside. It annoys him though when he finds another pile of gifts was set before he came. He rolls his eyes at how doubtful grown-ups were of him. Nevertheless, he placed the presents where they belong and stuffed candy in the kids' stockings on the fireplace, but one had a piece coal in it. Still, that certain child had a gift too anyways. Santa then continued his job after eating the plate of cookies prepared especially for him.


The next morning

The faint noise of ripping paper was heard as Caroline fluttered her eyes open. It was Matt who was eagerly tearing the gift wrap of his Christmas present. The other kids started to yawn and rise from their sleep. Soon, they all remembered that it was finally Christmas Day!

"Christmas!" they all shouted, startling Matt.

"Oi, you--"

Matt didn't get to say the rest of what he wanted to say. Everyone stampeded towards the pile of presents under the tree, ignoring Matt completely. Things like "Where's mine?", "Which one's mine?", "Here it is!" and "Yay!" were excitedly spoken throughout every household. Christmas day started out wonderfully like every other one before.

Caroline sought out eighteen gifts from the pile, collecting them all into a stack before unwrapping. The other kids found two or three gifts, some are found after recurrently discovering Caroline's name above their own present. Caroline didn't want them to get jealous of her, even if the stockings had an equal amount of candy. Though this year, Matt didn't expect to receive what he got in his.

"Coal!" Matt shouted angrily as he threw it on the ground. "This isn't fair!"

"Looks like you weren't exactly in Santa's nice list this year." A cousin remarked.

"Hey! I've been really nice! Right, sis?"

"Well…"

Matt pouted while everyone else laughed at his pettiness. "It's not funny!" Matt yelled exasperatedly.

Everyone then returned to unwrapping or playing with their presents. Caroline would've took the longest to unwrap all of hers before she interacted with them but her parents told her to unwrap them once they got home since it will be difficult to pack them all. So Caroline decided to unwrap a couple of small presents instead.

The first one she unwrapped was a cute teddy bear that spoke "I love you" when you squeeze its belly. The bear was from one of her Aunts. Caroline giggled when she hugged it. The next present was a snow globe. The present didn't have a name of the giver. The tag merely said "Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday! To: Caroline". Caroline stared in wonder at the miniaturized scene within the globe.

It was her own house surrounded by white particles that represented snow.

What Caroline wanted more than anything was a snow day at her own home. This certainly surprised her. She was sure it was Santa who gave her this present since she never told anyone about what she wanted that year. It was a secret that only Santa knew. Caroline eagerly shook the globe, watching the snow gently fall down around her house. It certainly was what she wanted.

"Mattie! Mattie! Look!" Caroline called as she ran to his side.

"What?" Caroline showed the snow globe to Matt. "Woah! Is that our house?"

Caroline nodded readily. "Yeah! Can you believe it?"

"Not really…" Matt replied, still in the state of wonderment.

Someone from the dining room entered the scene. It was Caroline's father. "Kids! Time for breakfast!"


A few hours later

Somewhere else, Jack Frost was hanging around the frozen lake. He circled, skated, created and grew impatient after every passing minute then he finally sat on a tree branch, bored. He had his back against the trunk and his legs hung down on each side of the branch. Jack just waited with an expressionless face. After a couple more hours passed by, he sighed.

'Where is she?' Jack thought. 'She must've got lost or something. Or…' he lowered his head. '…she forgot about me…' then shook his head. "I'll just go check on her" Jack said to himself.

Jack got off the branch and zoomed pass the trees and the buildings toward Grandpa Thomas' house. How did he know? He secretly followed Caroline and her brother to the house since he was curious about where Caroline and her family stayed for the holidays. When Jack got there, still flying above, his eyes squinted but then widened in shock at what he saw.

Caroline and her family were outside, packing a taxi's trunk with their belongings.

"Oh no…" Jack whispered. He flew towards Caroline, who was standing patiently with her snow globe in her hands. "Hey!"

"Oh! Hi Jack--"

"Shhh!" He hushed as he placed his finger against his lips, crouched down to Caroline's height and whispered "You're leaving already?"

"Uh-huh. I'm sorry, Jack" Caroline said sadly. Jack's face expressed a feeling of great loneliness, a feeling he wished would never return ever since Caroline saw him. "But I'll come back next year! I'll find you! And we'll play in the snow too!"

Jack gave Caroline a small smile before noticing a certain item in her possession.  "What have you got there?"

Caroline beamed at him. "It's a snow globe! Santa gave it to me!" she answered excitedly as she shoved it closer in Jack's view. "See! That's my house! It's snowing at my house!"

Jack chuckled. "You really want it to snow there, don't you?"

"It's what I always wanted!" Then, Caroline looked away and sighed. "But…"

"Caroline! We're leaving!" Mrs. Anderson called. Their belongings weren't gathered outside the taxi anymore. All they had to do before they leave was to bid their farewells.

Caroline looked over her shoulder, then she turned back to Jack. "Goodbye! I'll see you next year! I promise!" she exclaimed before running towards the taxi.

"Bye!" Jack called back as he watched Caroline take a final glance at him before entering the vehicle with her family.


Night time from Caroline's bedroom

Caroline had her shoulders folded on the windowsill, gazing at the night sky. But she didn't have a good reason to do such a thing. There were always a few stars that appeared in the sky plus the moon which was to her, the same size as a quarter. She knew because she used the quarter she found from under her pillow one night to block the moon from her view. The view wasn't as magnificent as the night sky she saw from Burgess which was full of clusters of stars that spread across the sky.

The truth is, Caroline missed Christmas. She missed Grandpa Thomas, she missed the rest of her family, she missed the winter weather, she missed waking up on Christmas morning with the other children and she especially missed her new friend whom she didn't get to know more than a day. This feeling made her feel like tearing up at the thought of it. A tear started to form.

"Caroline?" Mrs. Anderson stepped inside the room. Caroline quickly wiped her eyes. "Why aren't you in bed, sweetie? It's past your bedtime." Mrs. Anderson reminded as she placed her hand on her hips.

"Mommy…" Caroline said sullenly. "…I miss Christmas…"

"You what, my dear?" Mrs. Anderson sat lightly beside her daughter who was on her toy chest at the moment.

Caroline turned to face her. "I miss Christmas! I miss the snow! I miss Grandpa Thomas! I…" she looked down. "…I wish it never ended…"

"Oh Caroline…" Mrs. Anderson slowly pulled her daughter into her lap. "There is always next year! You'll get to celebrate again with your grandfather, cousins, aunts and uncles! It isn't like that was the last Christmas you'll be celebrating!"

"But mommy! I want Christmas to be just like yesterday!"

"And it will! Don't you think every Christmas we celebrated is special?"

"It is! But…I have a bad feeling…"

"Oh Caroline, you've always been like this ever since your first Christmas! It's alright, sweetheart. At least you get to celebrate it that way." Mrs. Anderson hugged her daughter.

On that moment when Caroline hugged her mother back, she saw something from the sky and gasped.
"Mommy!"

"What? What is it now?" Mrs. Anderson asked as she pulled away from their embrace.

"I just saw a star fall!" Caroline cried. "Does that mean--"

"Caroline! It wasn't a falling star! That was a shooting star!"

"Shooting star?"

"Yes! Does are special stars! When you see one, you have to make a wish because it will come true!"

"Oh! Okay! I'll wish for something!" Caroline thought for a moment before closing her eyes. "I wish that…"

"What did wish for?"

"I can't tell you mommy! Remember what you told me when I make I wish?"

"Oh yes, you can't tell anyone otherwise it won't come true." Mrs. Anderson looked at the clock. "Oh my goodness! It is really past your bedtime!"

"But mommy…"

Mrs. Anderson led her daughter to her bed "No buts, young lady! If you don't sleep, the bogeyman will get you!"

Caroline quickly hid under the covers. "The bo-bogeyma-man?"

"Yes! So you better go to sleep or else he'll get you!" she taunted teasingly although it frightened Caroline more than it would amuse her.

Mrs. Anderson switched off the lights and left the room, leaving a frightened little Caroline laying in her bed in the dark.