Pillars of Creation

Christmas Lights

Kira buried her head under her pillow, hoping that it would block out the yelling and giggling from her younger siblings. "Shut up," she moaned into her bed's foam mattress. "It's too early."

"No it's not," Anya retorted. She was the younger of the twins - and the noisier.

"It's Christmas," Mari added. As the elder of the twins, she sometimes felt the need to be more mature than Bailey. Today was not one of those times.

Kira lifted her head, opened her eyes and blinked in the light from the screen that took up the far wall of the room she shared with her sisters. The wallscreen was filled with images of cartoon animals gambolling across computer-generated landscapes filled with snow and festive greenery, proclaiming a "Merry Christmas to all you children!"

"Christmas? Why don't you go and open your presents and leave me to sleep?" Kira pulled herself upright and into a sitting position. She glared at the twins.

"Can't," Mari replied.

"Mom said we had to wait until she had got up." Anya smiled sweetly at her older sibling. "And we don't get any presents if we're not good."

Kira fumbled for the pouch that she kept under the bed, and rummaged through her belongings. Her fingers felt the familiar shape of her ARgoggles, and she pulled them out of the plastic bag. The goggles were an old pair: made of slabs of black plastic that the decals had long since rubbed off. They had been in her possession since she was eleven. Even then they had not been the latest model. Now that Kira was fifteen, the ARgoggles were at least two generations behind anything on the market - embarrassingly unfashionable rather than charmingly retro. She put the goggles on, snapping the plastic headband snugly into place above her ears, and turned them on. The lenses blanked, obscuring Kira's view of the room, then cleared. A series of data tags popped into her field of vision, overlaying the bedroom with red, green and blue infoglyphs.

"Time?" Kira demanded. A clock appeared in the top right-hand corner of the goggles. Kira grinned as she read the digits. It was late enough that her mother would be up. "Yeah, well. I'm older than you two, so I can do what I want." Kira knew it was a lie, but it would give her a head start on her sisters. She slid out of her bed and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Kira's mother was up and busy tidying the apartment's living area. This was a combination of lounge, kitchen and communal space. It was also used as a sleeping area by Kira's mother, the only adult in the household, as the sole bedroom had been given over to her children.

"Merry Christmas, mom!" Kira paused on her way to the shower room to give her mother a hug.

"And you, stinky!" Kira's mother wrinkled her nose in mock disgust as she returned the embrace. Then she pushed Kira away and went back to resetting the couch.

It didn't take long for Kira to shower and dress; she had become practiced in the art of getting ready quickly as the twins did not leave her much time to finish getting ready for the day. She pushed her way past her sisters and, still drying her long auburn hair, headed for the kitchen niche to grab a bowl of cereal. "What time's dinner?"

Kira's mother tapped the interface panel on the side of her ARgoggles and focussed on the glyphs that scrolled across the dark lenses. :Well, the President's speech is at one -."

"So I've got time to go to the mall?" Kira wiped her mouth and gave her mother a pleading look.

"If you're late, no dinner. And no presents. You know I like everyone here for Christmas."

"I won't be late. Don't worry." Kira swallowed the last of her breakfast and took the bowl back to the kitchen niche, dodging her siblings as they hurtled out of the shower room. Then she grabbed her favourite jacket from the pile by the door. "I'll be back before one."