The clock struck 8 pm, everyone was still wide awake on was Christmas eve. The kids were already excited to open the Christmas presents but they had to exercise a little patient till the sun was up in the morning.
Sylvia was busy with the decorations while Claire was helping out in the kitchen.
Little Dave was playing with the dolls and toys. Everyone was busy with one thing or the other, the house was filled with excited people, some were singing and making merriment of the season.
Everyone was excited, happy, and having fun except Celine. She sat at a corner close to a window, looking through the sky. She had always been the same every Christmas eve, the night that breaks into Christmas day. No one could guess right why Celine has always been that way on eve night, no one except her mom and grandma.
Little Celine lost her dad when she was only six years old, the trauma was too much for a little girl her age to cope with. She cried every night wishing it was all a bad dream or nightmare she could wake up from.
Every eve night, Celine misses her dad the most because of all the fun things they used to do together.
She remembers how her dad used to buy her different kinds of toys, take her shopping on Christmas eve, how the decorated the Christmas tree together and how he would hang her on his neck so she would place the Star on top of the Christmas tree and how the dad will swing her after putting her off his neck that she giggles and laugh so loud.
The two of them once scare her mom that she ran out of the kitchen to find out what happened that Celine was shouting so loud only to find out that her dad was behind her loud and terrible screams.
Celine couldn't get over her dad even when she has turn thirteen already. It's been 7 years since the departure of her dad but the memories are still very fresh in her mind.
While everyone else was busy celebrating and jubilating, Celine was always at the corner of the house, looking at the sky through the windows.
As if hoping for a miracle to happen and her wish granted.
If only Santa Claus grants wishes, all she could ever ask of was to bring back her dad. She misses him so much and nothing and no one could fill the vacuum in her heart.
Celine! Celine! Grandma called out to her. Come here my child, help me with those packages.
Celine ran to grab the boxes Grandma was pointing at, she got them and handed them over to her
Grandma opened one of the boxes and in it was a hardcover book with the encryption "WISHES"
Celine fixed her eyes on the book for a while and hope grandma would open the pages. She was eager to know the content of the book with such a title.
Grandma noticed the looks in her eyes and asked if she could read the pages to her. She immediately answered 'oh yes please'
She flipped the pages till she got to page 10. Celine asked her why she didn't start from page 1. Grandma responded that there was something she needed her to see in the particular page she flipped to.
She handed over the book to Celine and asked her to read what she saw on the page.
The subtitle she read aloud "Our Loved Ones"
Though departed
Yet never apart
Distance created
Only what the eyes could see
Memories in our hearts
One that could never be erased.
Loved, nurtured, and cherished
Even in years to come..
She wanted to read more but was stopped by her grandma. You can finish the rest later my dear child, her grandma said to her.
Tears almost rolled down her cheeks as though she understood the lines from the page she just read.
Celine was a young and smart girl. She didn't need her grandma to explain or give interpretation to the words she read in the book.
Celine's grandma pulled her slow to her and whispered some words to her "I know what you are going through my dear, I see and feel your pains" but my child, you shouldn't keep torturing yourself that way.
Search your heart and you will find that which you are always searching for. *Our loved ones may have departed from our sight but never from our heart*
The memories of those you cherish live forever with you.
Wipe your tears, nurture, and cherish the sweet memories you once shared. He wasn't gone forever, he still lives in you.
The words of Celine's grandma strengthen her for the night. But more than her grandma's words, the lines she read from the book which was supposed to be her Christmas present changed her life for the better.
Grandma told her to keep the book that it was hers. Grandma's Christmas present to her.
Celine's gloomy Christmas eve turned out to be the best for her.
She hugged her grandma and thanked her for the Christmas present. The best present she had received on Christmas.
~Weird Fairy
