Alice Lennox

Chapter 3: Things Go Back To Normal, Sort Of

"Alice! Come on, get up!" I hear Charlie yelling across the house. "It's Christmas morning! Get up!"

"Okay, okay, give me a minute." I respond, pulling myself out of bed.

Wait a minute, I thought, looking around the room. When did we get back? Or did I somehow imagine everything that happened last night? When I got dressed and made my way to the living room, Charlie was already tearing into gifts. 

"There's one for you over there." He says, pointing to a teddy bear holding a card.

One of the first things I noticed was that there was what appeared to be a charm bracelet on the bear's paw. I took it off and put it on, examining the one charm on it. I couldn't tell what it was at first, but then I figured out that it was supposed to be the Pole. There was also something about the bear itself. The way it was dressed felt so familiar, so I finally took the card and opened it.

"Merry Christmas, Alice. It was fun getting to know you. Hope to see you soon!

~B"

So I didn't imagine everything. It was all real, and things are about to get interesting. Before I could think on it further, there was a knock at the door, and I saw Charlie running to greet Laura. He started telling her all about last night, but I could tell she didn't believe him.

"Well, I should get going in case my mom starts wondering what's taking me so long." I say, putting my coat on and grabbing the bear, along with the rest of my stuff.

"Bye Alice!" Charlie says as I head out.

Sure enough, Mom was waiting when I got home.

"Hey Alice," she says, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I respond, "Did you get my voicemail?"

"I did, sorry I couldn't be home sooner. How was it with Charlie?"

"It was a lot of fun."

"Oh and while I remember," Mom says, handing me an orange hooded jacket, "here's my gift to you."

"Thanks," I respond, "It's so cute."

~Skip Skipped the Ladies to the Master's Gate~

Things had kinda gone back to normal, but sometimes I would "mysteriously" get more charms for my bracelet. So far, I found a snowman, snowflake, a Christmas tree, and a wrapped gift. I had also gone out and bought an "A" for "Alice".

I had also kept getting calls from Neal, asking if I could come over. Most times I had been busy, but I eventually found time to go see what he wanted. As soon as I got there, he sat me down and started asking me questions about the whole North Pole thing. I answered as honestly as I could, but after a while, I countered one of his questions with one of my own.

"I don't want to sound rude, but I would like to know why this is happening."

He started to explain that he and Laura were starting to become concerned about Charlie and wanted to know what I thought about the situation, since I was there when the North Pole thing happened. I then told him that I believed it really did happen, and that I didn't understand why Charlie couldn't either.

Things started to get a bit heated after he said that I was just going along with things to mess with Charlie, but we later agreed that I wouldn't talk about it around them. I didn't like the idea, but it made them happy, so I went with it.