The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Parte 1 Sin Título

"No. You unwrap your present first." Said the young woman as she sat on the ultra feminine pink velvet couch right beside him, a smirk of a smile on her lips and her dark brown hair's perfume came all the way to him.

The Christmas tree had been placed right beside the couch near the window; the exact place where it could be seen from any angle in the living room and from the street one could guess the silhouette thanks to the lights that could be barely seen through the curtain. Several wrapped boxes and colorful paper bags were placed very carefully right under the tree. She couldn't wait any longer for opening the presents.

They had spent most of the time talking and laughing, listening to music, even dancing, outside, however, everything was silent except for the almost imperceptible sound of the snow covering the streets. Any other year one might see youngsters playing in the snow or cars passing by, but not this year. The winter storm had arrived just in time for Christmas Eve and stronger than the past two years forcing everyone to stay at home for at least two more days, which by the way came in hand for her plan.

The house was filled with the scent of cranberry and pear pie, hot wine and herbs and butter roasted turkey while Nat King Cole's voice set the mood for a perfect sleepless night. He noticed her efforts on the food and memories from the past came to his mind, memories of their time when both were young and stupid, especially him. He had been the cliché. The perfect popular handsome boy who liked to mock everyone. She was the loner. But he had changed, oh boy! Of course he had. He was now a different person and was determined to apologize to her for that particular time he chose her as his public-yet-personal joke.

They both came across in the groceries store one day before, he immediately recognized her, she didn't. He took courage and approached her, and after just a minute she smiled widely and greeted him as she had never been humiliated by him. He was alone for the festivities, she found out. His parents had won a two day trip to a cozy hotel in the mountains for the holidays and could not reject it, while his girlfriend had decided to not join him to celebrate and was instead celebrating with a new guy she had met a month before, which was a lie of course, she had been cheating on him for at least six months now.

Her dark-brown haired new friend had proven to be very understanding when she asked him to spend Christmas Eve with her as she was also alone and, according to her belief, nobody should be alone in Christmas. So there he was, at her place in front of an electric fireplace, one step away from a very cute Christmas tree, sat on a pink velvet couch drinking hot wine, listening to a classic with a nice good looking woman in the middle of a snow storm.

"OK" He said as his fingers ripped the wrapping paper decorated with Santa's face on it.

She smiled widely.

"How to commit a murder for dummies." He read out loud looking at her confused.

"It gets better, I promise." She said as she tilted her head and her brown hair fall on her right shoulder and the smirk of a peaceful smile painted her lips. "But first finish your wine. You'll find the truth there."

She sipped her wine. He drank up.

It was delicious. It had been flavored with spices, cinnamon and just a little bit of orange juice. People in Germany used to drink it during winter season due to the low temperatures and it helped them to stay warm, she had explained to him earlier. One sip, then another, then another and another.

Something appeared at the bottom of his cup. He smiled at first. She had a strange sense of humor. Soon, his smile froze, not soon enough if you asked her. His eyes went wide open, his sight went blurry, his hands dropped the cup on the springy blanket and his breathing got heavier by the second. One last glimpse at her and he knew. The truth was at the bottom of the cup.

She had changed just as much as he had. Or even more. But she had never forgotten.

The lights of the Christmas tree now gave her a wicked appearance. Her beautiful smile was now devilish, her hair was like fire and yet she was there, calmly looking. Nothing. Nothing but darkness, no pain, no gasping for air, nothing.

She turned her head to the window. She knew he had understood the message. There was nothing to worry about, the storm would take care of it, of him.

The words "You have been poisoned" could easily be read at the bottom of the cup.

After all he did found the truth.

And she agreed, Christmas was indeed the most wonderful time of the year.