An Unfinished Painting

18- Remembering the past (part 2)

   That Christmas we were finally moved into the new penthouse in New York City. My room was two doors down from my brothers and my parents room was in the main bed room at the end of the hall way upstairs. I was always jealous of their room, they had big glass windows for walls, a huge walk in closet, a jacuzzi for a bathtub, a shower that even had a seat in it, and two sinks on the other wall in the bathroom along with a long mirror. Our penthouse was more castle themed because mother was in love with all things vintage. I really liked the new house, it reminded me of the novels I would read, with the huge castle mansions the fairytale characters would live in. And little did I know at the time that this castle looking penthouse was going to be passed down to me.

"Come down, everyone is waiting for you. Let's get this over with." Sage said after barging into my room.

"Sage!!" I sat up, grabbing my thin rectangular shaped glasses, "You're so annoying." I got out of bed and walked down stairs where my parents were, my mom holding a camera and my father holding a hot cup of coffee.

Christmas was the only day out of the year we all would eat together. Not that we were not a close family or anything, but it was either my father who was at work, my mother who was either out on a sale, or me who was at the library. And now that my brother was going to college at Colombia, he was rarely home. That Christmas, we opened up gifts in the living room after eating breakfast that my mom had cooked for the family.

"I have to go to work." I watched my father say this to my mother.

"Are you serious? It's Christmas, you're really going to leave the kids?" She looked over at me, as if I was suppose to say something.

"I forgot it was Christmas, I wonder if the library is open."

"Yeah I'm going to my girlfriend's place in a bit, so I don't really care if dad leaves."

"Which one?" I teasingly asked.

"Augie! That's not nice!" My mom stood up from the dining room table, "Anyways, I'm going out tonight with my friends for wine night."

My father laughed, "You can't be on my ass about leaving if you're not even going to be home yourself." My mom walked over to dad and leaned down, starting to kiss him.

"Ah come on, get a room" Sage stood up, "I'm leaving."

"If you're grossed out by a kiss, then don't go around having sex every chick you can." My father stood up from the chair he was sitting in, "Come to my office later." He quietly said to my mom.

"You have no shame." I said to my father before walking back up to my room.

This is usually how it went when our family gathered in one room, we never fought nor argued. My parents loved each other a lot and my brother and I got along as if we were good friends.

I put on my winter coat with my rain boots and walked over to the library. I stood outside the store for a moment as I gazed into the window, the lights were not on and on the window was a sign that said 'closed for Christmas' in bright red was hung. I never understood why people celebrated holidays, including Christmas. It was just another day. My brother and I would open up a few gifts, even though I think my parents always got stuck on knowing what to buy me. I never wanted or asked for anything, my mom would just buy me an absurd amount of clothes for the following year, as if Christmas was her excuse to buy me a new clothing line.

I took the subway up to 110 street at the North end of Central Park, from there I decided I would walk the park, from top to bottom. Walking around the big lake was always my favorite thing to do, along with looking at the different statues scattered throughout. The sun was starting to appear through the clouds, even though it was thirty degrees outside. I always wore my black sunglasses outside, along with a hat, sometimes people would give me a weird look, as if I were some sketchy kid. I only stood at five foot four when I was fifteen and I had the body of a runner. My muscles were small, but I was in good shape and in high school I became a pretty fast runner, even though I never joined the running team at my school. (With my eyes being so sensitive to light, my mom discouraged me from joining any kind of sports team.)