THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS

Two.

16th of December,2013.
07:45am.

Kelsia Oliveira woke up the next morning and got out of her queen sized bed with a yawn.

Her eyes drooped from the lack of sleep last night as she made her way to her large en-suite bathroom to take care of her daily needs and brush her teeth.

Her father mustn't know that she sneaked into his home office, which was located beside his library-where he sometimes sees some of his patients- last night after he went to bed around five am in the morning. At first,Kelsia thought it was Mrs Dorcas,their eighty years old neighbour who had finally come to admit about the pain in her waist. But,she was shocked to find a complete stranger laying on her father's working table.

The lady was not that beautiful,but she was attractive. And very young. Kelsia remembered touching her golden blond hair- it felt soft and silky- but it was also dirty and stinky.

The stranger also had freckles all over her cute nose. And her lips were really pale,as if she painted it with chalk.

After doing her business,Kelsia sneaked out of her room and went to check on her father,whose bedroom was three doors away from hers. Satisfied that he was still deeply asleep,she sneaked downstairs to where her father's office was. Taking a deep breath and praying that the patient was still fast asleep,she grabbed the knob and turned it softly.

The door creaked open in the silence,making Kelsia cringe inwardly. She waited for the sound of her father's footsteps and when she got none,she pushed the door open and walked in.

The patient lay unmoving on the bed,which had blue covers as sheets. She was facing the doorway and her eyes happened to be closed. Kelsia tip-toed across the room to the bed to stand beside the fast sleeping patient.

Smiling to herself,Kelsia reached up a hand to push the strand of hair resting on the patients nose when suddenly,the patient opened her eyes.

Green eyes met light blue ones.

Kelsia let out a horrified scream and started to scramble back,only to end up on her butt. Just when she started to calm down,she was grabbed from behind,making her let loose another blood curling scream.

"Shut up!" Fredo roared,while shaking his daughter to stop her from screaming.

Kelsia seized screaming. She knew that she was in deep shit with her father discovering her in here.

"What are you doing here?" He released her as if she was a hot coal. "Didn't I warn you not to come in here?" He inquired harshly.

Kelsia didn't do as much as bat an eyelid.

"I heard some noises down here and I decided to come and investigate." She replied calmly.

"I didn't ask you to,did I?" He glared down at her. "Aren't you supposed to be preparing for school,already?"

Kelsia nodded.

Fredo sighed. "You are so stubborn just like... " he sighed again. "For disobeying me,you are not going to Dorothy's house anymore for Christmas. Now go and prepare for school,breakfast would be ready by the time you come down."

Kelsia turned to look at the,now awake,patient,who was frowning at her father, before walking quietly out of the room.

"She is just a little girl and that was too harsh."

Fredo turned his icy blue eyes on his patient;his lips pursed. "Who are you to tell me how I would talk to my daughter?"

The patient frowned at him. "I just thought-"

He cut in sharply. "Keep whatever you're thinking to yourself. You're nothing but a stranger here,and I am still deciding if I have to call the police or not,depending on what reason you give me as to why you were shot last night?"

The lady licked her lips. "Can I get a glass of water,first?"

Fredo nodded. He left the room and returned with a glass of warm water. After pulling the lever to make the bed let her sit up,he handed to glass over to her good hand. Fredo waited until she had her fill before collecting the glass cup from her and setting it on a nearby table.

"Well?"

The lady licked her lips. "What do you want to know?"

"Your name, where you are from and why you were shot last night."

"My name is Kate Donovan." She closed her eyes and her face became so pale that Fredo immediately rushed to her side.

Placing the back of his right palm on her forehead,he cursed loudly at the way her body was raging with fever. Rushing over to one of the cabinets at the far end of the wall,he grabbed a bottle of Morphine and paracetamol. He rushed back to the bed. After collecting two pills from each drugs,he forced it down her throat with water.

After that, he checked on the IV drip passed into her vein to give her some of the blood she lost last night. It was good that she was passed out by the time he removed her bullet,that was stuck between her scapula.  Or else she would be singing in pain when he was doing the work. After he had removed the bullet,he had someone stopped the bleeding,stitched her up,wrapped a gauze around it,then finally covered it up with a bandage.

Then he had proceeded to change her out of the bloody hoodie and dirty leggings she was wearing into one of his own t-shirts,since he didn't have any hospital gown at home.

By the time be finally went to bed,he was so exhausted that he fell asleep almost immediately, only to hear his daughter screaming. Fredo's first thought was that the stranger had finally awaken to let her accomplice into his house. He had raced all the way downstairs,only to see that the patient had not move at all,and it was his own daughter,who was attacking her with noise.

Touching a finger to the base of her throat to feel for a pulse, Fredo was satisfied to see that it was beating steadily. Then he touched her forehead,she was still hot but not as before.

He dropped his hand to his side and stood watching her slowly drifting into unconsciousness. She looked peaceful,young and so innocent that Fredo couldn't believe that she almost died last night.

Why was she shot? Where did she come from? And most importantly, who was she?