A Hole in the Heart

Chapter 7

Time blurrs by in weeks at a time until it is time for break. Christmas break and Dad is still in the hospital. He has had a few more strokes in his time there and the doctors are unsure as to why they keep happening. It snows all of the time and I have nothing to do.

I have been avoiding Sarah and Bryan and I think they are starting to realize it. Bryan does not come knocking on the door, and Sarah does not call. I have been helping around the house to avoid another tangent from Mom. She spends all of her time at work or with Dad. I can't bring myself to go see him.

I throw the covers off and get out of bed. I need to do some Christmas shopping. Grabbing decent looking clothes, rather than my usual sweats, I head to the shower.

I head to the mall and wander until I see a store that might have something. Starting with a present for Dad, I find a place with men's clothes. After looking through the clothes for a good twenty minutes, I settle on a forest green button-up shirt. On my way to the check out I see a tie display. There is a green, red, and silver striped tie that I add to my purchases.

Bryan, Sarah, and Mom are the only other people that I need to get gifts for. Bryan collects model cars so I go to a few toy stores to find them. He likes Applebee's so I get him a gift card there.

There is a movie store on the same side of the mall that the toy stores are on so I get Sarah a few. She is a movie fanatic. I see some cute phone cases. Sarah likes polka dots so when I see the pink and white polka dotted case with a bow, I just have to get it for her.

Mom has always been extremely hard to shop for;  I never know what to get her.  I decide to get her a yoga mat and a few gift cards. On the way out I see a cute, little pillow. It would be perfect for her to take to the hospital,  so I add that to my findings before going home.

♡♡♡

The house is empty when I arrive.  I go to my room to wrap the presents and then hide them in my closet. I wonder if I should go talk to Bryan or maybe call Sarah.  I have done a lot today so I do not get to finish the argument taking place in my head.  Instead, I doze off. 

I jolt myself awake twenty minutes later.  There is nothing to do, but maybe I could find something. Okay,  so what do I usually do? Hm... I sleep, talk to Sarah, hang out with Bryan. None of those things sound very appealing. I used to design a lot;  I guess that is worth a shot considering it's been awhile.

Mom comes home and I am still sketching. I suppose I look like I am on a mission because all she does is peak in to see what I am doing. She quietly closes the door and I do not hear from her the rest of the night. The remainder is spent in my room working on new designs that must have been brewing. It really had been a long time since I sat down to work in my sketch pad.

I work long into the night until I can barely keep my eyes open. Finally giving in,  I put down the pencil and crawl into bed,  instantly falling asleep.

♡♡♡

The next morning, I wake up freezing cold. It has finally decided to snow. I do not think that it will amount to anything but it is pretty to look at. I spend most of the day in my window seat watching the snow.