All I Want For Christmas Is You

The next morning I woke up. I rubbed my eyes and slapped the surface of the alarm clock next to my bed. I glanced over to it and noticed it was five o’clock. Too early.
I forced myself to roll off of my bed and get dressed. I chose a lazy school sweatshirt, and some ragged jeans. I threw my hair in a medium ponytail with a grey ribbon tied around it. I then glanced at the clock again when I finished getting ready. It was only 6:20. It normally took me longer to get ready, but I felt like being lazy today.
I threw myself onto my bed again, and listened to the silence in the house. Both my mom and my sister were not awake yet. My mom usually woke Val up around seven, so I had a while to sit by myself.
I skipped over to my backpack and pulled out my laptop. I jumped back onto my bed, almost falling off, and set my laptop down and curled up in a ball to read the screen.
I scrolled through my news feed on Facebook and Twitter and got bored, so I started thinking about what I could do. I then remembered the One Direction project narrative thing Karla thought of. So I decided to look them up. You can never have too much background information.
I logged onto Google and typed “One Direction” in the search bar on Google Images. I looked at their pictures, and I smiled to myself at them. They were pretty cute, even though they were probably like 15. I clicked the tab reading, “Web” and saw the first results were YouTube videos. I scrolled down further and saw a general info site so I clicked it. It had all of the boys’ names, ages (they were actually all like 20 years old… I was wrong) with their pictures and their birthdays and everything. I read every single thing there, and I learned a lot. I would have never thought they were put together on the XFactor. I also listened to a song or two from them. The music was a lot more upbeat than the indie stuff I always listen to.
“Harry, Liam, Louis, Niall, and um… Zen?” I said to myself giggling at the fact I couldn’t even pronounce all their names correctly.
I looked back at the images and looked at their faces. They were all perfectly made, like from an angel or something. I rolled my eyes at myself for being such a girl. But when I looked back at the screen, one of the boys caught my eye more than the others. He had fluffy curly brown hair and his smile, made me smile, even though I was just glancing at a picture. He had big green eyes that reminded me of my little sister, and I stared at it for a minute, expecting him to speak to me.
Suddenly I heard a bang on my door and I slammed my laptop screen shut, startled. “CAT!” I heard a voice yell from the other side of the door. It was Valerie.
I jumped up and opened my locked door for her. She jumped in my room and hugged me. “Cat, mommy left and I don’t know what to do! Where is she?” Val was crying. “What?!” I asked in shock. What does she mean, mom left?
“What do you mean mom left?” I asked Val, trying to calm her down. Val couldn’t talk because of her constant sniffles. “Val!” I said, trying to get her attention. “I don’t know! She left! She’s not in her room anymore and she woke me up and said go to Cat to help you get ready I have to go. And she sounded sad and she left something and –“ “VAL! Calm down everything is going to be okay darling,” “No its not no its not!” she kept chanting, burying her face in my stomach. “Hold on babe,” I said, grasping her back and pulling her off of me. I scurried downstairs and slid into the dark kitchen to find a crumpled up note on the counter.
“MOM!” I yelled, hoping for an answer. There wasn’t a peep. I uncrumpled the paper with worry planted on my face. And I felt my arms shiver as I read her written words. It read.

Dear Catherine,

I wont be gone long. I got a call from Aunt Mae this morning and she said that Uncle Tyler and their daughter Katie have been in an accident and are both in the hospital. I had to drive to Sacramento for the week. Make sure you get Val home safely each day along with yourself. I love you and tell Valerie I’m sorry for scaring her. I knew that you girls couldn’t miss school. Also, pray for your cousin. She is in critical condition apparently.

Love,
Mom

Of course… a car accident…. During Christmas season. That’s normal. Sigh.

Notes