The snow settled on the rooftops. In the distance a rather croaky choir finished their attempt at Silent Night. The night was indeed silent.
The clouds occasionally parted, revealing a stary sky that reflected in the window. On the other side of this frosty glass a teenage boy with dark hair had finally accepted that the snow was melting faster than it was falling and, in all likelihood, tomorrow his school would be open as normal.
Of course, tomorrow would not be a normal day. The last day before the Christmas break was always an exciting day and as much as Frankie enjoyed the idea of staying in bed and watching TV, in truth he really didn’t want to miss school.
A dim lamp lit up his small bedroom as he sat at his computer. Above him a pile of textbooks perched on the edge of a bookshelf, waiting for Frankie to be underneath, not paying attention, ready to fall onto him and get revenge for the abuse they received in his bag every day at school.
His bedsheets, covered with rockets and space stations were nearly ten years old but still looked like new. They were currently crumpled at the foot of the bed, exactly where he had left them this morning and his pillow was somewhere near the door, where he had thrown it at whoever tried to wake him.
Nobody said growing up was going to be easy and Frankie was quite prepared to sleep away the next few years and wake up when he turned eighteen.
The old Christmas movie he had been watching had finally finished and now the news glared out of the TV set that hung on the wall. A news reporter stood talking about an unusual amount of shooting stars in the sky, or flashing lights, or something. Frankie was not paying attention.
If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed that some of the stars outside were moving faster than normal. He would have also noticed that Dexter, the family dog, was spending a lot of time outside, in the snow, staring up into the night sky.
Frankie was too busy to notice any of this. The laptop was the thing that held his focus and in particular, the badly lit spaceship that he was currently walking his spaceman through.
“Over there in the shadows.” Chloe’s voice came through the speakers as Frankie turned and fired a laser beam into the dark corner on the control room. A console exploded and something small scuttled away into the darkness.
“Quickly, trap it.” Frankie ordered.
Another character, wearing an old-fashioned space suit aimed her gun at the little green monster, she fired but missed. The creature leapt towards Frankie. A little green head, with big black eyes and two antennas instead of ears jumped straight at him and he fell back in his chair.
A little smile crept across his face as he realised the game had actually scared him. He looked back, expecting to see his character being eaten by the alien, but instead the creature was held in mid-air, inches from his face, unable to move and glowing blue.
“Quickly, grab it’s weapon and we can get out of here” Chloe ordered as her character held the alien, floating in the middle of the room.
He tapped some buttons on the keyboard and his character, wearing a spacesuit inspired by Iron Man, walked up to the creature and retrieved the device in the alien’s hand.
“Nearly got it.” He said as he continued to tap repeatedly on his mouse button.
“I can’t hold it much longer.” Chloe moaned as the tapping of her keyboard could now be heard through the speakers too.
“Got it!” He said, as he turned around to watch the creature vanish into a cloud of green dust.
“Great! Now we can complete the quest.” Chloe confirmed as her spaceman, wearing the same spacesuit as the men who walked on the moon, made its way over to Frankie’s. “You up for another quest?”
“I would like too but I have to help Marko with his lines one more time.” Frankie insisted as he looked up at the clock next to his bed. It read seven twenty-eight. Two minutes until Marko would ring, he was always on time.
“No problem, I need to practice my guitar and put some finishing touches to my costume anyway.” She said as her spaceman disappeared from the control room.
“You still haven’t told me what movie character you are going as.” He asked as he started logging off from the game.
“I know, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” She laughed, teasingly.
“I expect great things if you are going to beat last year’s werewolf.”
“I don’t think you will be disappointed. Anyway, I’ll let you go to Marko, he’ll be mad at me if I make you late.”
“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow! Goodnight!” With that last comment the speakers dinged, and the connection was gone.
Frankie brought up a script on his computer, not that he needed it. He had been practicing with Marko for weeks and he knew it word for word, he wasn’t even in the play.
The moment the clock displayed seven thirty, Frankie’s phone started to chirp and the face of a Jamaican boy, with short, frizzy black hair appeared on his screen.
“Hi Marko, ready for tomorrow?” He asked.
“I was born ready!” replied Marko, confident as ever.
“Is your sister joining in tonight?” Frankie asked, readying the script.
“You mean you didn’t hear about her?” Marko asked.
“No, what happened?”
“You didn’t hear what happened in art class?” He asked again.
“No, tell me!”
“You mean you don’t know what happened to Sophia?” Marko teased one more time.
“Just tell me!” Frankie moaned as he got bored of the constant questioning.
“Kevin spilt green paint all across the desk when he was painting a Christmas tree.” Marko explained.
“That sounds about right, he is a bit clumsy.” Frankie confirmed.
“Well guess who was leaning under the desk getting something out of her bag.”
“It spilt onto Sophia?”
“All over her hair!” Marko said as he started laughing.
“She must have gone mental!”
“She nearly had a panic attack, she loves her blonde hair, she had to go to the toilets and wash it out.” Marko continued.
“Did it work?” Frankie asked.
“Nope, and she’s been in the bathroom ever since we got home so I don’t think she will be practicing with us tonight.”
“Fair enough then, one last run through?” Frankie asked as he found the start of the script.
“Who are you talking too?” A voice blasted in from the other side of the room and once again Frankie jumped in his seat.
“Jess! Some privacy please!” Frankie shouted at his little sister stood at the door. The small, ginger haired girl was three and a half years younger than Frankie but in Frankie’s opinion, she walked around with the confidence of a middle-aged woman.
“Is that the script for tomorrows play?” She asked as she ran across the room, over the piles of clothes and towards the laptop.
Frankie had just enough time to close the lid before she got close enough to read it.
“Yes, but it isn’t for you! You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” He said.
“It’s going to be great though!” Marko confirmed from the phone that sat next to the laptop.
“Hi Marko!” Jess said. “I heard what happened to Sophia, I hope she is okay.”
“She’ll be fine, it’s only green hair, she’ll get over it.” He confirmed.
“What do you want anyway?” Frankie scowled at his little sister.
“I am just bored and excited about tomorrow, is it as good as people say?” She asked for the millionth time tonight.
“I forgot it’s your first year at middle school. You are in for a treat!” Marko’s voice came out of the little phone “At the end are you going to come and get a selfie with me and the cast?”
“I can’t, I don’t have a mobile phone yet, Santa is bringing me one for Christmas.” She replied.
“Santa? Really?” Marko asked.
“Yes, my nine-year-old sister has asked Santa for a mobile phone.” Frankie said, reminded his friend of his younger sisters age. “Don’t get your hopes up, a mobile phone is very expensive.”
“I know but you had one when you were my age.” She reminded him.
“Yes, but that was a long time ago, things cost a lot more these days.” He fought back.
“I don’t care, it’s only fair, besides, I think I saw the box on mums’ bed a few weeks ago.”
“Well if you saw it in mums’ room, then it isn’t for you, all your presents are with Santa.” Frankie reminded her.
“Oh yeah.” She said, the disappointment visible on her face.
“Jess, you know about Santa, right?” Marko asked carefully, sensing the tone of the room.
“The jolly fat man that brings presents at Christmas? Sure.” Jess replied, a hint of joy returning to her voice.
“Do you know his history?” Marko pressed.
“I think so, he lives in Lapland and has a factory at the North Pole where he makes all the gifts. He has an army of elves and reindeer that can fly. Also, he was called Saint Nicholas.” She explained.
“That’s right, but now there are so many people in the world that he cannot make all the gifts in his factory, although he still delivers them all.” Marko continued
“So where does he make them?” She asked.
“Every year Santa makes everybody a single present, but sometimes your parents want to give you more, so they buy you gifts and send them to Santa for delivery on Christmas Eve.”
“Is that why I had to give the gifts I bought Mum and Frankie to my dad, so he could give them to Santa?”
“That’s right.” The boy in the phone confirmed.
“Wait, you have got me a gift?” Frankie asked.
“Dad said that now I’m at middle school I had too.” She explained, then stuck her tongue out at her brother.
“Every house has a place to drop off presents that only your parents know about, and the elves will come and collect them for Santa.” Marko continued.
“What present have you got me?” Frankie asked again.
“And then Santa delivers the presents at Christmas.” Jess said, ignoring her brother.
“Yes, but only if you have been good.” Marko reminded her.
“So that mobile phone box I saw at the back of mums wardrobe could be for me?” The happiness returned to her face as she realised the phone could be for her.
“I thought you said you saw it on mums’ bed?” Frankie asked.
“Maybe, or maybe I was looking for it, does it matter?” Jess started to hop around the room, excited that she might be getting a mobile phone.
“I hope you weren’t looking for it, that could get you on the naughty list.” Marko interrupted.
“Really?” Jess said, instantly stopping her gleeful bouncing and returning to the phone.
“I have heard about kids being put on the naughty list for less.” Frankie added.
“You still have time to be good, go and ask your mum now if she has anything that she needs you to do.” Marko suggested.
“Good idea!” Jess said as she jumped across the room, out of the door and down the stairs.
“That was amazing, I hope your acting is that good tomorrow in the play!” Frankie complimented.
“You know it will be and you better laugh!”
“Don’t worry, I will always be there to laugh at you.” Frankie chuckled to himself.
“Not laugh at me! At the jokes.” The phone hissed.
“Well, I have heard them a thousand times already, but I’ll try!”
“Sophia is out of the shower, I better jump in before she decides she still hasn’t got all the green out. See you in the morning!” Marko’s voice was already becoming distant as he ran away from his phone.
“Good Night!” Frankie shouted after him.
Outside the bedroom door, a clatter could be heard downstairs as Jess wandered around shouting to her mum and asking if there was anything she could do to help.
Frankie let out a smile which turned into a large yawn and he realised that he would need to sleep soon if he was going to have enough energy for tomorrow.
He shut down the computer and started to prepare for bed. He opened his cupboard and made sure that his outfit was complete and that his lightsabre that he received last Christmas was plugged in and charging. Tomorrow was going to be a fun day!