Saint Nick

16. December

That Sunday morning, Hazel was walking around town taking more pictures for her Christmas collection. The snow had finally stopped falling and left the city a merry white landscape, waiting to be photographed.

The churches rang for the third advent, music pouring out in blithe tones as the few birds who had stayed for the season tweeted in the trees. The sun tried to peak through the overcast clouds, but didn't quite make it through as the heavy promise of more snow later tonight rolled in over the city.

Hazel stopped by the Christmas market and snapped a few stills. The people who weren't in church that morning were out looking at a few things for brunch, while others were there for the beautiful Christmas market setup. The lights and colors alone could've done it, but it was the warm stands of delicious smelling crepes, cinnamon waffles, honey roasted almonds and cocoa that gathered the people on this lovely Sunday.

Hazel smiled and took a photo of a young girl grinning up at the twinkly lights while holding her father's hand. She had a gap in her teeth, missing her front tooth. Her father crouched down and picked her up, setting her on his shoulders as they walked on.

Watching them leave together, Hazel smiled and looked down at her camera to go through some of her candids. A lot of them were good while a few would need some minor retouching in the contrast and saturation department. The light came and went between the clouds and it wasn't always easy to catch the perfect moment with the perfect light.

But then again, perfection wasn't real.

Unless your name was Nick.

Hazel warmed on the inside as she thought back to yesterday.

She had absolutely no idea where they stood in this moment. She went in to break up with the man, but had ended up somehow having a naughty affair in the middle of the mall instead, resulting in the two of them having to race towards a security guard, just as he was locking up the mall. They had both been winded and looking like a mess, and what was worse was, was that Hazel knew the guard.

Gary, as his name was, had with a knowing purse of his lips let them out unscathed whereafter they had ventured towards Hazel's car where... well, Nick may or may not have driven her mad on the ride home.

But it had made the destination all the more enjoyable.

Sighing, Hazel rubbed a hand over her forehead when a melting droplet of snow landed on her eyebrow.

She had no idea what to do now. At this point, she figured she might as well follow Camille's advice for once and just try and go with the flow and not worry as much; she could worry when worry was due.

And right now, all she should be worrying about was capturing some pictures for her uni when classes returned.

Lifting her camera once again, she adjusted the lens and then searched for a target. She finally decided to point it down the market to get a long shot of the whole street to capture the Christmas life in one beautiful portrait.

But just as she focused her camera on the mall at the end of the street, a mystic glint of silver caught her eye.

Lowering her camera, Hazel stared down the road to find what had disturbed her lens.

Almost at the very end of the street, right in front of the mall, a man with shining silver hair and a bright blue hoodie stood and twirled a cane between his fingertips. He was tall and thin, yet lean in a subtle way, and had a funny glow about him that Hazel couldn't describe. She blinked almost in dazed confusion.