Under The Mistletoe

Christmas To Remember

I walk out of my family home wearing a long red dress that covers my high-heeled sandals and have on a Victorian hairstyle with a tiara adorning it. I also have dangling earrings on and a necklace to match.

My boyfriend alights from his car once he sees me, and I see pride in his eyes as he approaches. He takes my hand and kisses it, then tells me that I look like a princess. I smile knowing that my hard work hadn't been in vain.

He takes me to a city ball where we enjoy a magical Christmas, feasting, drinking punch when we shouldn't be, and slow dancing into the night until it's time to go home. We win the crowns for the best-looking couple, and I'm ecstatic.

For the first time, I feel free, and consequently, I discover that I can pause time and relive a memory that has passed. I don't panic because it's a usual occurrence in my father's family, and he has prepared me for it. He told me that when the time was right, I would discover the ability, which would improve as I grow. My time was my feeling of freedom, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

After the ball, my boyfriend takes me home, and we share a passionate kiss in his car. We both stagger up to my doorstep in laughter, then share another long delicious kiss before he bids me goodbye. I stand and watch him enter his car, then drive off. Moments later, I hear the car screech from a distance and the ensuing thunderous crash.

Before I hurry down the mini stairs to run down the street, someone dressed in rags runs out of the next house, disoriented. A man goes after her and pulls her back in by the hair. Our eyes meet for a second as she gets to the door, and I notice that she's me.

I immediately restore time, breathing frantically, and upset with myself for staying longer than usual in that memory. But at the same time, I'm confused about what happened in it.

I remember the memory like it was yesterday because I've relived it every day for the last ten years since I went on my first date on Christmas day with my boyfriend. I never stay beyond ten seconds after I watch him leave because I know that he would die in a car crash, but something went wrong today.

For the first time, I wasn't able to restore time when I wanted to; it just happened at its own pace. I also don't remember running out of any house in rags and being dragged back in like a criminal. I don't know if it's something I've missed, but I'm sure I've never lived that moment before now.

After I relive the memory again and experience the same thing, I take a drive to my family home to speak with my parents. If there's a strange memory I don't recall having, maybe they'll help me remember. But when I see them and recount the memory, they have no idea what I'm talking about. They suggest that it might just be time for me to move on from the memory and get another boyfriend before the dead one traps me in time forever and drags me back in whenever I try to escape. I halfheartedly agree with them that it's time to move on, but I confirm that the man in the memory is no version of my late boyfriend, and I've never set eyes on him.

The memory remains a mystery, but my mother believes that it could be a message, and there's only one way to find out: I relive the memory again, and this time, my father will join me because he had looked out of the window that night when he heard the car crash. If he sees the memory, then it's definitely a message, but if he doesn't see the memory, then it's up to me to move on. I agree, and he pauses time for us.

My memory plays out the same way with the recent incident, and when time is restored, my father is in a state of shock. It takes him a moment to come out of it. I figure that he saw the same incident in his memory and conclude that it was a message, which I hope he can tell me. He looks to my mother, and simply says, "It's her."

I don't understand the message, but my mother suddenly breaks down in tears. I turn to my father and ask what he means, then he lets me know for the first time that I not only have a sister but also that she's an identical twin, kidnapped without a trace when she was three. My father recognises the man as a neighbour who had moved out but just returned the day before.

I believe my sister's memory crashed into mine because we're twins, and she probably discovered her ability to pause and relive memories when she had a few seconds of freedom before her kidnapper dragged her back in. We march over to his house immediately and demand to search his property. He doesn't let us in, of course, but my father forces his way through, then holds him down while my mother and I search the property.

We freeze when we find my sister chained in a room in the basement. We release her, then take her upstairs. My father is happy but enraged at the same time. He doesn't want to hand the neighbour over to the police, because it would be too easy. Instead, he uses magic to fish out the man's terrible memories, then puts him on a time loop with them before locking him in his basement.

It's tough, but my sister adjusts easily to her new reality, and we all have a Christmas to remember, which is now my favorite moment to relive.