Carly Malec (harlot_of_peril) wrote in darker_london, @ 2019-12-30 22:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | carly malec |
There are two sides to every story - Carly
Carly hated Christmas.
It hadn't always been that way, she hadn't always been the Bah Humbug type. Even as a teenager who thought she was too cool for everything, Carly had loved everything about Christmas. The bright lights, the terrible songs, the rampant consumerism. (Probably that last one the most.)
But it was hard to get worked up about Christmas when she didn't have anyone to spend it with. Even when her father had been difficult and surly, he'd always put all their difficulties aside for Christmas. Something about the tradition of it all seemed to make him more of a dad than he usually was, and they always went and bought the most beautiful tree. On Christmas day she and Jonas and their dad would sit around it opening presents and drinking their coffees and everything felt - for a brief bright and shining moment - like they were all happy together.
But those Christmases were many years gone now and it was just depressing to even put up a tree for one person. She and Jonas had drifted and he'd moved north, but even their strained relationship was stellar compared to the one they both shared with their father.
So the most festive Carly got in the lead up to Christmas this year was the company mandated Christmas reindeer headband she had been given.
Christmas Day itself was spent mostly in bed, eating an entire family pack of Ferrero Rocher - past their use-by-date and thus affordable - and watching the stream of makeup tutorial videos that youtube played endlessly.
It was general dumbarse-ary that sent her back to her childhood home on Boxing Day, smoking on the other side of the street and watching the house like some sort of stalker. It was extra dumbarse-ary that sent her onto the property and through the thin gap in the hedges she always used to use when she sneaked out to parties.
The backyard was as maintained and perfect as it always was - the work of a gardener and not any of the people who lived in the house. Which was now just Elias Malec. Standing in the drizzle and looking up at the windows, she wondered if he was home. She wondered if he had a Christmas tree up.
Maybe he wouldn't be alone. Maybe he was seeing some woman now. Maybe she even had kids - ha! Good luck to them in that case. Good luck to them with Elias as their father. She ran her hands over her getting-wetter-by-the-second braids as she concocted an entire fantasy life happening inside the house: A big white dog, the kids playing with their new expensive robot toys that were both fun and educational, the girlfriend in a red dress because she loved Christmas.
But the fantasy didn't linger. Carly knew that if Elias was home he was probably home all alone, with only a glass of scotch to keep him company. Sitting in his study like the moody little troll he was.
Carly shook her head to dislodge the raindrops from her face. "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal," she muttered up at the windows before turning around to escape once more out the hedge.