Lucas And The Time-Traveling Fog Unfinished Business

Chapter (15): New Year New Me, Literally

I woke up the next day and had no idea where I was. I was in a different bed and the room was a completely different color than I normally was in, as it was not dark green but rather a room with red stripes with the same wooden floors as my old room but had a gray rug. As I got up from my bed, I heard a commotion coming outside my room. So, I opened the door and as I walked to the hallway, I saw Susan who somehow got into her pajamas. But now that I thought of it, I believed Mary must've woken her up before she had gone to bed that night.

But she was talking to someone about something. I didn't know what or who she was talking to at first as I was still groggy from having just woken up. Anyway, as I was walking to see what all this hullabaloo was about I heard Susan say "Finally you're awake. come on sleepyhead, I want to open the presents that Santa gave us." As she began to drag me by the arm. I stopped her from dragging me after a few feet and asked, rubbing my eyes

"Santa? He came here?"

"Yesss he did, now let's go. Or else the last one down is a rotten egg." Mary said coming out of the room she and Susan shared, closing the door.

So, we raced downstairs where we all acted like kids, even me. Susan, the one who got so antsy won... no brainer there while I came in second and Mary was last so I guess that meant she was the rotten egg. But the thing I would never forget about that day was seeing the Christmas tree in the living room with its colorful ornaments that I had never noticed until now and seeing a big pile of presents which by counting all of them seemed like there were maybe six beautifully wrapped presents for each child in all different sizes. I had to do a double take just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming because I always assumed these parents of Gary's were more serious and less compassionate than the rest of Gary's family. But I was glad I was wrong.

For the longest time, I thought these people were weird for having this kind of tough love on all of us but I was glad it's not the case here. If there's one thing that I'd learned just being in the past twice now was that no matter what family you're in, the love they had for you never went away, it changed... sure. But no matter how big or small... it's there and sometimes you just couldn't see it. Anyway, we were all so excited for the presents that we rushed to the big, decorated tree, determining which ones had our name on it and the ones that didn't were handed on to the person who did.

Once all the presents were sorted out, we started from the youngest to the oldest. Susan went first and surprise, surprise, it was another Barbie doll but with an outfit that looked like some kind of chef. Then it was my turn, I opened this small rectangle box with Santa Claus' face with a green background on it first. I shook it before opening to get a feel of what was in there and I definitely heard something. As I ripped the wrapping paper to shreds, I was surprised to see that it was a pocket knife with a dark red wooden handle. I was not expecting that at all. I was literally speechless as I was just staring at the box and at the parents.

They asked me what it was and I proudly showed them the pocket knife that I desperately needed ever since I told Mary what happened to me. Everyone was impressed, even my dad commented how that's one beautiful knife I got there.

I was probably the happiest kid at that moment and whatever presents I did end up getting, none of it mattered to me as I lay in my bed holding the pocket knife in my hand admiring its beauty and craftsmanship, thinking to myself As long as I have this knife with me, Tommy will have to think twice when messing with me.