The lucky one, Conrad Fisher

029. BACK TO DECEMBER

Chapter twenty nine

"Back to December."

Having only ever driven to cousins in the summer it was such a different energy driving down there during the winter, where as she crossed over the bridge it was dark out compared to sunny, skies, where as she passed through town, their houses were all decorated for Christmas with Christmas lights hanging from the roofs along with the balcony's and the tree's, but when she got to town square and looked out the window, it was beautiful more then it was during the summer, where all the little boutiques and shops were decorated for Christmas.

And all she could think about was if she was gonna be forced to be here then she was gonna make the most out of it, and maybe that's why it was Susannah's idea for her to come all the way out here, to get that cousins magic and out of her head, rather then focusing on school and how Susannah was inevitably and irrevocably dying.

Turning into the driveway of the summer, she parked and just sat there, looking at the house, used to always being here with Susannah and her mom first, where the three of them would always work on making this place perfect before the boys even arrived and even more so before the Conklins did, but when she thought about them, she thought about Belly, as she shook her head, she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, walking to the back seat, she grabbed her duffel bag along with her book bag, followed by the knitted blanket that Susannah had made her, as she shut the door.

She turned walking toward's the house, carrying her keys, she found the one for the cousin's house and stuck it in the key hole, unlocking it, she turned the handle and opened the door, stepping inside, it was cold, and not like in the summer where it was relieving feeling from the AC but cold from the cold weather, she she shut the door behind her, she looked up to the staircase, seeing all their portraits that Susannah painted hanging along it, she began heading up the stairs, and turned right down the hallway, and as she did, she stopped in her tracks, in between two room's.

Remembering what she did last time she stood here, where for the rest of that time she focused all her attention on her mom, Susannah and even Laurel, wanting nothing to do with the rest of them which wasn't fair to Jeremiah and Steven, but after what that summer entailed, she just felt drained, as she stepped into her room, she put her bags down, looking at the bed that needed to be made, she walked over to her dresser, which now was entirley different, no longer having the pictures of them from the years that they had been coming here, in which she quickly opened one of the drawers to distract herself, pulling out the sheets and blankets for this bed.

They were purple just like the ones Susannah had bought her for college, and just like the yarn lettering that her name spelled out on her knitted blanket, where she put the sheets on it, making sure they had tight corners, as she then put the white comforter over it, she then laid down the purple blanket, as she then turned around, picking up her knitted blanket, she threw it on the bed as well, and when she was done, all she wanted to do was go to bed after driving for so long.

Where in the weeks that passed being at cousins during Christmas time was actually turning into a fun experience, even if she was by herself, she had stocked up the kitchen, lit a fire on the fireplace to help warm the place up, she went ice skating, she went to a tree lighting ceremony that they had but most importantly, she did a lot of shopping, where she had even bought stuff to decorate the house for Christmas, where she strung lights up on the house herself, and even put a medium sized Christmas tree in the living room.

And then it turned into buying Christmas gifts, where she bought her dad a new watch, bought Adam a new button up dress shirt, bought her mom a purse she knew she'd like, bought Jeremiah this polo long sleeve shirt knowing he liked that style, and she even bought the Conklin's presents, buying Steven this cool jacket that he'd thought he'd like, bought Laurel a journal so that if she was away from her computer she could always write something down if it came to her.