8 Months of December

Porcelain

Ivy Elyna's eyes fluttered open and were greeted by the slightest bit of sunshine falling through her bedroom curtains. She sniffed the air expecting to be greeted by the smell of coffee, she personally hated it, but the smell always arose in the morning due to her parents. Today though, there was no smell.

She got up off her bed and walked to her window, the smallest snowflakes were falling from the sky, but the roads across her house were empty. She left her room and walked into the living room, it was empty too. "Maybe they all went out.." She thought to herself. She checked their driveway and needless to say, it was empty as well.

She sighed and checked the calendar, "Surely there wasn't anything happening today, we just went shopping for groceries yesterday.." she thought. But yet there it was, DECEMBER 6TH, 2016 was marked with a fading blue marker; Buy A Cake For Holly's Return 

"Oh yea. She's supposed to be home tomorrow."

Her sister was with friends for a month in Argentina. She's 19, so she's old enough to be responsible for herself, but she has yet to move out, and everyone misses her more than anything.

It was 12:21pm, Ivy tended to sleep in late. She decided to heat up some food for brunch and then relax until her parents were home.

She waited for hours, and nothing. "Did they decide to just leave me?" she wondered. She wandered into her sister's room without even realizing it. You could've sworn Holly was just there. She tended to be messy, but everything was where it was when she was home.

Ivy looked at her sister's shelf, it was filled with books and knick-knacks and a single porcelain doll. Holly's first doll. Their parents aren't sure why she kept it but Ivy knew without asking. Holly, just like herself, tried to hold on to something she would never experience again. A childhood. The feeling of being held and taken care of. Of waking up on Christmas morning with a magical feeling knowing "Santa" was just there. Of being excited by the smallest things. Of when your only fear was the dark.

She walked over to a drawer and found letters. It wasn't just Christmas and Birthday cards, Holly wrote them all.

Ivy didn't need to open them to know what they said. She's read them before. Several times. She practically knew the grief-filled words by heart, so why did she pick up the most recent one and read it again? If asked, she would say she didn't know. But she knew better than anyone why. She knew what those words meant, that she was the only one who saw them, and she knew she couldn't stop reading them.

It was dated NOVEMBER 6TH, 2016, the day before Holly left. She picked up the wrinkled paper and started to read again:

"Dear Family,

You have no idea the love I feel for each and every one of you. You have brought nothing but happiness into my life. I guess that means I should say I'm sorry I'm writing this, but it was doomed to happen, wasn't it? .."

Ivy's eyes blurred up and she heard her phone ringing and put the letter back down. She went back into the living room and hurried to her phone, which, by the ringtone, signified her sister was calling. She grabbed her phone and checked the screen.

9:43PM

No one called.

You would think she would've learned by now. That's the sixth time today.