Last Christmas | Teen Ink

Last Christmas

May 14, 2022
By Elina-Zhang BRONZE, Zhejing Ningbo, Other
Elina-Zhang BRONZE, Zhejing Ningbo, Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

It is Christmas eve. The colorful Christmas tree, the fragrant Christmas dinner, and the warm orange lights all seem to overflow from houses to melt the snow dancing outside. A woman sits by the window, headphones in her hand. The house is cold. The fireplace is out; her pale face is illuminated only by the snowflakes falling outside of her window. Ruffling her long blonde wavy hair, plugging headphones into her ears, and tapping on a computer with only 17 grams of power, the woman listens to a familiar young man's voice coming from a voice memo from December 2, 2016. She wrapped herself in a blanket and closed her eyes.

"He Yee, you don't have any pitch, you ruined me in the last chorus competition, how can you sing with me at the Christmas Eve party?"

"Daniel, don't tease Yee!"

"Oh, Chris, I'm just kidding, if you two don't sing with me, who else will? Let's sing last Christmas, it’s my favorite band Wham’s song!"

 

“…Now I know what a fool I've been, but if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again…”

 

 

At the table, the man lights only a single lamp. “Last Christmas” is flowing in the room. In the dim light, he opens a vellum book that is more than half-written and writes December 25 after the current date.

   “It's the fourth year since you left, Daniel, and it's Christmas Eve again. God is so unfair, and we were left to suffer so much. We had a friendship as strong as the ice in Lake Baikal, but you insisted on making that phone call that finally changed the rest of our lives. We love her just the same, but you were the star at the top of the Christmas tree in her heart. And standing to her left, I was like a galaxy away.

   “Everyone thinks you were drunk, so you drove your car into a truck on the street on Christmas Eve. But no one knows that you were so excited and shocked before the accident, while the driver of the truck was also a tired father who rushed home to reunite with his wife and daughter. I was probably the only one in the world who knew that you wanted to confess to Yee on Christmas Eve. How happy you were, you didn't even notice my dimmed smile. You were so excited to get out of the pub that you couldn't wait for the clock to strike midnight, forgetting that we had already drunk a lot. You drove halfway and called me very excitedly to ask for ideas on how to ask Yee if she wanted to date you. Sadly, you didn't know that you were a dazzling existence in her heart. Every time she looks at you, her eyes look like a blazing fire in the fireplace, burning a hole in my heart, making me tear up with pain. Unfortunately, it was that phone call that brought my patience to its peak. I told you, without a moment's hesitation, how much I cherished her. I guess you were so stunned and overwhelmed that the loud thud and painful moaning sounded like a splash of cold water that woke me up from the paralysis of alcohol.”

 

The woman in the recliner frowns as if she had dreamed of something bad. Snap, a loud bang on the window suddenly shocks the woman to a shiver. She wakes up from the dream and quickly gets up to check it out, but it turns out to be just a group of young boys and girls in full costume heading home down the street, laughing and throwing a snowball, just like their past. A pale face and a pair of tearful eyes display as she looks up at a shadow shining out of the glass. She takes a deep breath. A car accident had taken away two of the most important partners in her life. A boy who always loves to sing last Christmas will never have the chance to sing with them on Christmas Eve. And she never saw the boy named Chris again. In fact, the boy who loved to joke and always livened up the atmosphere was important in her heart, but he’s her best friend only. There’s already another person who walked into her heart, who knows her best and understands telling a joke can make her happy when silence is the best comfort. But God always jokes with you, and people who missed you for so many years. The dream of this Christmas night was a gift that God owed her for so many years. This Christmas Eve, she will not stay in the cemetery like in the past years all night. After dropping off Daniel's favorite lily, she had somewhere more important to go. She grabbed her car keys and drove quickly toward Chris' house, where they would not be missed again.

 

“…With a note saying I love you I meant it. Now I know what a fool I've been…”

 

Bang. The traces of the wheels of the car in the darkness of the night were gradually covered up. The snowy Christmas night never sounded again.


The author's comments:

This is a story about three friendships, three misses, and two regrets.
Two boys are deeply in love with a girl, they used to be the best iron triangle, but a providential car accident has torn them apart. The accidental death of one boy leaves the other two in deep regret and sadness, thinking of each other but no longer in contact. A wonderful dream allows the girl to see the secret of the car accident, when she decided to bravely chase love, the heavens once again played a joke with them.


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