Christmas Chronicles (Teddy x OC)

The Broken Frame

Our story begins on Christmas Eve day. Kate and I sat in the living room watching Christmas over the years. My dog laying her head on my lap.

"Okay, here we go, I think we have it all set up." Kate's dad says, showing off Christmas garbage from presents. It was 2006 December 25th, the camera zooms out and it shows her dad next to the presents. "Ah, yes! Okay." He laughs a little. "Did you get it?" Kate's mom says on the camera also while putting bows on a toy truck. "Here." He hands her the camera. "You like it?" She grabs the camera from him. "I love it so much!" He says off camera. "You want me to do it? Teddy, do you like your new fire truck? It's just like Daddy's!" Her dad then came back in the camera frame, lay next to Teddy, and smiled. I laughed quietly at how cute Teddy was when he was a baby. "Ted. Teddy! Look at the camera. Look and say 'Hi Mom!'" "Hi, Mommy." He was so focused on the toys. "Hi!" His mom says behind the camera. "Well look at her and say it." He looks up, smiles, and says "Hi, Mommy." "Good job!" His dad says. And that was the end of that Christmas video.

It went through the years until I came on the camera. "Lena, what did you get?" Their mom points the camera at me. I was struggling to get the box opened. "I don't know yet, but it's not opening. Can you open this?" I gave the box to their mom and she opened it and out dropped three $100 bills. "Here, you want to read this?" She gave me a card, while still having the camera on me. "Dear Lena, me and your father are very sorry to miss this Christmas with you again. So we're giving you money to buy yourself a companion for when we're gone." I smiled big when I realized what she was talking about. "If it's what I think it is, then you can always bring them over." "Can you drive me to the shop during the week?" I asked her holding the $300. "Of course!" The camera's direction goes over to Kate and Teddy, both holding their gifts. Teddy uses the knife that his dad gave him a couple of Christmases ago. "I got a candle-making kit!" Kate says happily. "I got new shoes!" Teddy lifts the shoes and smiles big. The camera skips to December 27th, which is the day I got Lucy, my 4-year-old Golden Retriever. "Lena, where are we going?" The camera then catches my attention from the window and to the camera. "The pet shop." I smiled and held up the $300 again. Kate and Teddy are in the car with us, their dad driving. Kate is in the middle, and Teddy is on the right window seat. "What kind of dog do you think you're getting?" Kate asks me. "Maybe a golden retriever." I looked at her. The camera then skips to when we were at the shelter. "Here is your dog, and have a great day!" The lady says. She walked the 5-month-old puppy around the counter, with a leash, and a collar. As we went out of the shelter, Mrs. Pierce points the camera at Teddy, Kate, and me walking to the car. "What's her name, Lena?" I looked at the puppy and she looked up at me. "Lucy." The camera stops after I smiled when I said her name.

After the 2016 and 2017 videos, Kate looks at the camera. "I miss you, Daddy." She says to herself.

"Hey, it's okay." I rubbed her back and smiled at her. She looked back at me and smiled too. She takes out the tape named "Christmas 2017" and put it in a box, where she then takes out another new tape and looks at it. "What are you thinking about?" I asked before she ran up the stairs to her room.

"Maybe needs alone time." I looked down at Lucy and pet her head. "Let's go home," I told her and stood up. When I tell her 'home' I mean my room. My room has lots of cool things in it, like models, posters, Star Wars, Marvel stuff, and Harry Potter stuff. Even a desk for schoolwork and drawing. Skulls from animals, Mrs. and Mr. Pierce think they're fake with extreme detailing when I and Teddy found them when I was in 8th grade.

We walked up the stairs and I flopped on my bed. I took my phone out of my pocket and began scrolling on TikTok. I heard talking and paused the video I was on, which was a dark-humor video. I heard Kate talking about her address and her during the year. I stood up and Lucy stayed laying in her bed next to my closet. I walked to Kate's room where I saw the camera in front of her and her talking to it, making a video for Santa to watch. I leaned against the door and watched her, a couple of seconds later I felt a presence behind me. I looked and it was Teddy. He looked at me, smiled, then looked back at Kate. He bent down, grabbed a shoe of hers, and threw it at her head.