𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥 || 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕠𝕟

SIXTY-TWO

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DELUDE
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"SHH! WE DON'T want them to hear us!" The eldest child, Anya, hissed to four of her five younger siblings - Sasha, Alexander, Katerina and Luka. Anya was seven years old, Sasha and Alexander - the twins - were six years old, Katerina was four and Luka was three. Dimitri, the youngest, was almost one and was still sleeping in a crib at the bottom of their parents bed. They were a mischievous lot. Irina was adamant they got it from their dad, Steve, but he was insistent that he was not mischievous. Each of them were the spitting image of Steve but had Irina's eyes.

It was Christmas morning and the five kids were too excited to sleep any longer. They weren't quite sure what time it was but they knew they couldn't resist the presents any more. Anya put her hand on the door handle, twisting it before looking back at her anticipating siblings.

"Three... two... one... charge!" She whispered before flinging the door open. The five kids let out battle cries and leapt onto their parents bed, waking them up.

"Holy mother of God!" Steve cried out.

"We're under attack!" Irina exclaimed with a laugh and began tickling Anya.

"Little nuggets don't know what they're in for now!" Steve announced and the kids shrieked with giggles. He picked up the twins and hoisted them over his shoulders before spinning around, making them scream. Luka leapt on Irina's back and she stood up laughing. Katerina stood on the bed and tossed the pillows into the air.

"Merry Christmas!" She yelled with a big grin on her face. "Let's open presents!"

"I think that's a fantastic idea." Irina chuckled and Steve dropped the twins onto the bed and kissed each of his kids on the forehead. Irina walked over to Dimitri's crib and saw that he was still fast asleep. She chuckled down at him and called Steve over.

"Look. He's still fast asleep." Irina giggled. "He's just like his dad." She smiled at Steve before lifting her son out of the crib.

"What time is it?" He mumbled to Irina.

"7:30am." Steve chuckled back to her.

"Oh... not as early as last year." She giggled.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Katerina begged, tugging at Steve's arm and dragging him out of the room. The other six followed and they all hopped down the stairs and into the living room where a bunch of presents were underneath a large, decorated Christmas tree.

The kids all ran to find their presents and Steve grabbed one of the presents for baby Dimitri. Irina sat on the floor with Dimitri between her legs as Steve popped the present in front of him. Dimitri picked it up and rattled it around a little. Irina giggled but let him do it at his own pace and figure out out himself.

Luka ran over to him with a toy aeroplane, zooming it around. Steve chuckled, lifting up his son and zooming him around the room like a plane. Luka laughed and squealed and Steve made plane noises before landing him on the couch. Steve gazed at the sight before him. His kids all excited and happy opening their presents from who they thought was a random guy in a red suit that hopped down their chimney but was actually their mom and dad. His wife chuckling at their baby who was slowly but surely tearing open the present in front of him. She looked so beautiful. He felt so lucky.

But that was until he began feeling fuzzy. His vision became blurred and he felt an immense feeling of sadness and despair overcome him. He could feel himself blinking and the sight before him became a white blur.

Steve opened his eyes and rubbed them because of the bright hospital lights that surrounded him. He blinked a couple of times to come to his surroundings and immediately remembered why he felt the sadness overcome him again. Irina lay in front of him, still unconscious with her limbs in casts.

He let out a sigh and looked down to see his hand interlocked with hers and a marker pen in his other hand. There was a packet of colourful pens on his lap and he remembers what he was doing - decorating her arm cast. He wrote her name and his name in colourful pens with patterns around it and some very bad drawings.

"Hey, beautiful." He whispered to her. He knew it seemed like he was talking to himself but he just preyed that maybe there was a chance she could hear him. "I just had the best dream." He grinned. "It was, uh, it was Christmas morning and our six little nuggets woke us up super early to open their presents. They were all excited and you were on the floor with baby Dimitri - he's the youngest - and you were watching him open a present. I was running around with Luka pretending to be aeroplanes, and it was... it was perfect." He smiled, giving her hand a squeeze. "You know, uh, I actually thought that maybe the baby was gonna be a boy up to now. I thought little Alexander was gonna be our first nugget. But now I think it might be baby Anya first." He said, moving his hand to her belly and rubbing his hand over it soothingly.