The Land of Magic

An Invitation

A few weeks passed. Everyday, Alex just walked to the park and watched everyone play. Everyone he knew had gone home for the holidays, but he stayed, because he had no where to go. He had planned on spending Christmas with Tiffany in the park, skating and building snowmen. But now he couldn't.

A few days before Christmas, he received a letter. It had seasonal decorations around the border. He opened it up and read it.

"Dear Alex,

You are invited to two of my Christmas parties on the 25th of December. There is a peaceful party where we all just gather around and have a fun time at 1 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. We'll be having another fun party with the entire school at 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Both of the parties will be held at my house, which is at 19, Winterhope street, Greenwood. I hope you will be able to attend both. Happy Holidays!

From,
Felicia Sterling"

He decided to go for both, he had nothing to do anyway. He put the letter on his table and went outside.

He walked from his dorm to the entrance of the school. He looked up at the sky. Tiffany would really enjoy this snow..... With a heavy sigh, he walked to the mall to get a present for Felicia.

He couldn't decide what to get her. Girls are complicated. If I get her this she wouldn't like it......she wouldn't like that either.... After a while, he gave up and decided to get her a necklace with a charm of a little bunny wearing a scarf on it. It's cute, he figured. He decided to get Sylvie an identical one, except Sylvie's would have an owl instead of a bunny.

As he was about to pay for the gifts, a familiar voice talked to him. "Getting gifts for your friends, I see. Might they be....gifts of affection?" Alex knew who it was without turning around. He sighed, and said, "No, Denuis. Just Christmas presents. What are you doing here, by the way? I thought you went off to PalenWood for the holidays." Denuis shrugged. "My family decided to stay here this year. Might you be going for Felicia's Christmas party as well?" Alex finished up paying then nodded. "Yeah, what about you?" he asked. Denuis frowned. "On the day of the party, I wouldn't have any spare time. I will be going now. Goodbye, I shall see you after the holidays." And with that, he walked away.

Alex bought some wrapping paper, and went home to the dorm. He hadn't wrapped any presents before, so he was going to have a tough time figuring it out. After 1 hour of struggling, he finally wrapped the two necklaces. Now there was a mess on the floor. He sighed and cleaned it all up.

Great, he has presents, he has an event, now what? Well, I know where Winterhope street is, I'll just invite Felicia out for some coffee, he thought. He pulled out his phone, and messaged Felicia.

"Hey Feli. Are you free now?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"I have nothing to do, maybe I can go to your place, then we can have a walk?"

"Sure. I'll go get my stuff then."

"Okay. Be there in around 15 minutes."

He put his phone in his pocket, grabbed his scarf, then left.

17 minutes later, he was standing outside of Felicia's house. Well, it was more like a mansion. It was huge. He went up the walkway and rang the doorbell. "Ugh, who is it?! You're ruining my playtime with my cute poochie!" came a high-pitched voice with a disgusted tone. The last person Alex expected to see opened the door. "What are you doing here?!" screamed Claire, when she opened the door. "I should ask YOU that. Why are YOU here? Isn't this Felicia's house?!" Alex asked, his voice filled with disgust, too. 

"Ugh, I'm just here for the holidays. I don't want to spend any of my time in this dump, but my dad forced me to. Yes, it is Felicia's house, but ugh, I don't even want to speak about my, uh, abomination of a cousin." Just then, Felicia came to the door. "Hey sorry, I was just getting my stuff." She pushed Claire aside, and closed the door. Both Felicia and Alex could hear Claire screaming on the other side. "Ugh! Daddy, she pushed me! Isn't that against my rights?! She needs to be punished! Daddy! Are you even listening!? Daddy!" Felicia rolled her eyes. "She's been such a pain to live with." Alex gave Felicia a look of disbelief. "Claire is your COUSIN?!" he said, nearly shouting.  

"Yeah, but I'm not proud of it. Neither is she. Anyway, where are we going?" Felicia asked. Alex shrugged. "Dunno, haven't planned anything. Just thought we should take a walk around town." "Sure, you lead then." 

They leisurely walked around and talked about everything. Everything was going well, and Alex laughed for the first time in a few days. That is, until Felicia suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, sorry for your loss Alex. And sorry I couldn't attend the funeral." Alex's face dropped. "Oh......thanks, I guess. Sylvie was there too. Her sister was in the crash as well, but the doctors managed to save her, but not Tiffany." 

Felicia frowned. "That's strange. They should have the same injuries, seeing as how they were in the same car. I don't trust her, and neither should you." It was Alex's turn to frown. "Not trust Sylvie? Why? She's-" "Ugh, whatever. Can we not talk about Sylvie anymore? Let's just forget this whole conversation." Alex shrugged. "Okay then, whatcha wanna talk about?" "Oh, the other day.......

Later that night, Alex was thinking over their whole conversation. Was he falling for Felicia? Well, she is funny. And smart. And everything Alex liked. Then, Alex noticed something strange. He had told Felicia about the crash, but he didn't tell her that Tiffany and her friend were in the same car. Nobody else talked to her about it, so how would she know? Unless, she was involved with it.......