Life is Stranger

Ashes

"Good morning Princess. Merry Christmas. I do wish you wouldn't drink so early in the morning. I made you breakfast."

"Jeez! I can't do anything around here without everybody getting up in my shit. Even on Christmas Day."

"Chloe, please, it's too early to start picking a fight. No one can even say anything to you. You fly off the handle like that. Eat instead. Please. You're losing so much weight that it's going to make you ill. You're just skin and bones."

"I'm too old to get lectures from you or Sergeant Pepper."

"Call him David if you don't want to be lectured. If you weren't so thin I would only give you one damn slice of bacon today."

"Like I care. Keep your damn slices of bacon. The sooner I starve to death the better. I don't want anything from you. This beer will do me just fine."

"Stop saying things like that. Will you have something to eat later? I've already started on the dinner."

"Don't bother. I won't be here. I'm going out."

"Out? Today? Where?"

"Anywhere but here."

"But today is for family. I want us all to be together."

"I don't have a family any more. Max dumped me. My dad is dead. You couldn't care less about me. But it's not like you give a damn, is it? You've already forgotten about Dad and started banging someone else already. Well I haven't forgotten about him and I never will. I'll never crap on his grave like you have. I will remember and love him forever. At least he still has me."

"I'm not doing this today, Chloe, but you're being terribly unfair. Those were really dreadful things to say, and simply not true. I still love your father, and I miss him dearly."

"Spare me the fucking bullshit! You may be able to fool yourself but not me – I'm not a little girl any more."

"Stop it Chloe. Please. Can we start this conversation over again? Your presents are over there waiting for you to open them."

"Didn't you hear me when I said I don't want anything from you? And do you even think for one minute that I'm going to accept anything from that prick you're trying to make me accept as my new father? He's just another reason to blow this town."

"But it's Christmas, Chloe. And please don't call him that."

"You just don't get it, do you? This isn't Christmas - not for me. It never will be again. Christmas doesn't exist any more. All it is now is yet another shitty day when I can't help but think about the people that aren't here with me. Max has abandoned me. Dad's never coming back. I'm all alone in the world and I just want everything to be over. Yeah, a real fucking happy day! Let's all play games and dance and sing! Crack open the fucking champagne!"

"You're not alone. You still have me. I'm here for you and I love you."

"Cut the crap. No you fucking don't. You've proved that with Stepdick. You love him, not me or Dad."

"That's not true either, and you know it. Anyway, a card was delivered yesterday. It's addressed to you."

"Who'd send me a card? No one gives a fuck about me."

"You know who it's from. There is someone else who knows you besides me that will always care about you. Here. Open it."

Chloe recognised the handwriting immediately. "Fuck this shit! She's got hella nerve. Over a year without so much as a goddamn word and then she has the audacity to send me a fucking Christmas card, like that's going to make everything alright again. She's insane. She belongs in an asylum."

"Give her a chance, Chloe. You owe her at least that. Open it. See what she has to say."

"I don't owe that selfish bitch anything! She's had far too many chances from me already. She'll never get another. I'm done with her forever." Chloe extracted a Zippo from her pocket and made for the garden.

"What are you going to do? And what are you doing with that? Are you smoking?"

"I'm gonna torch the fucking thing, that's what. Just like I did with those letters the selfish bitch sent me. And yes, I smoke. So fucking what?"

"Chloe, do you know how bad that is for your health?"

"Of course I do. The sooner it kills me the better. I don't want to be here. Do you finally get it now? And you can climb down from your ivory tower. I know that you smoke now as well. If you can do it, then so can I."

"Please don't talk like that. And I forbid you to smoke in this house."

"Whatever. I never want to be here anyway. This isn't my home any more. Make up all the fucking rules you like. I'm done listening to you and your pain-in-the-ass lectures. You're not my mom, not now. I don't have a mother. She died when my dad did. I don't have anyone. My life is just ashes." Chloe lit the corner of the envelope and aggressively tossed it into the barbecue. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Right! That's enough Chloe. Get to your room young lady. Right this second."

"Fuck you." Chloe replied through her tears and slammed the front door on her way out.

Flames quickly engulfed the card and soon all that remained were cold, grey, dead ashes. Before long the last remains of the fire blew away in the morning breeze, leaving no trace behind whatsoever of its existence.