We Live To See The End

Prologue

Gia Zhang can barely feel the icy Christmas snow biting her skin anymore. She was shunned from her wealthy father's home only hours ago with nothing but her phone and a numb brain. It is two and a half hours until Boxing Day starts.

'Why can't you just accept me for who I am? I love who I am!'

'Gia, I refuse to have a daughter like you. Leave my home.'

'But Daddy! It's Christmas!'

'I don't care.'

As she hauls herself further into the winding side alleys of London, her throat begins to close and dry. Her boots clomp along the cobbled sidewalks. Her hands furiously rub her upper arms, only in her Christmas pyjamas. So much for whimsical festive joy.

She can finally see the house - three stories, with a winding turret on the top and a midnight blue door. The old one was famously smashed in by the now-broken-down AMI. Her waist-length hair whips around her face, obstructing her view of the house number. Scraping it away with her perfectly manicured nails, she sees it.

"Number Nineteen". Through the closed curtains, the silhouette of three people can be seen in the multicoloured lights. Gia laughs, just for one second. Not because anything is funny, but because she's here. She's found it. Her trembling hands reach towards the doorbell, nearly collapsing due to the frigid weather. She can just reach it, propping herself up against the door handle. The door opens. It reveals a slightly confused-looking man, his bright orange curls messed up and a Christmas cracker crown perched on his head. His glasses are hexagonal and silver, and his emerald-like eyes gleam from behind them. He wears a comical light-up Christmas jumper and pyjama trousers. As soon as his eyes meet her face, he covers his mouth with his hand.

'Hi. It's been a bit, hasn't it?' She shudders. She watches as two other people round the corner; one with a mane of frizzy black curls and amber eyes, the other with ear-length faded cherry-red hair and pale green eyes.

'Gia, oh my god,' He quickly grabs her wrist and pulls her inside the warm house.

'Ashton? Who's that?'