sirens•jaynnie

Chapter 34

•skip to Christmas Day teehee•
-Annie's POV-
      My eyes flutter open and I am met with the familiar surroundings of my bedroom.

      Christmas used to be my favorite day of the year. You know, getting a bunch of presents and having a fun lighthearted day with my family.

      The thing is, my parents are just not good at picking out gifts for older kids, and this isn't just something that changed after my brother passed, it's always been like this. I remember when I was 9, which meant Caleb was 12, I watched him open this one gift. Batman socks, I think. Hey, at least they weren't just plain boring white socks, but still, socks? Really? That was when I realized that older kids don't really get the best gifts.

      What did I get last year? Hm...A set of pajamas, a lot of gum for some odd reason(but I didn't really complain since it helps me focus), and like..a mini lava lamp. That obviously wasn't everything, but you get the picture. Hayley's on the cusp of lame gifts, too. The difference between us though is that she'll probably say something about it.

      I rub my eyes and check the time on my phone. 7am. That's too fucking early even for Christmas. Whatever, Hayley has probably been down there waiting since like 4:30. I slowly step into the hallway and crack open my sister's bedroom door.

      I peek in and see her reading on her bed before she looks up at me.

      "Finally! I've been waiting for hours!" She sighs and jumps out of her bed. How does she have energy?

      I follow her downstairs and we see Mom sitting on the couch staring out the window.

      "Morning." I speak up. She turns around and stands up.

      "Merry Christmas, girls! Did you sleep well?"

      "Yep!" Hayley replies and I nod.

      "Is Dad still asleep?" I ask.

      "Yeah. You two should go in there and wake him up."

      Hayley just gets up and shouts "wake up!" Like the obnoxious child she is and my Dad appears.

"I wanna go first!"

"...Why can't we just open our stuff at the same time?" I scrunch up my nose.

"Then you can't pay attention to what I got." Hayley says.

"That's narcissistic, but whatever." I sit on the floor.

She opens all her stuff and I sigh before scooting closer to the tree.

"Wow, I actually just ran out of gum. Thanks." I shrug with a small smile. Hey, why not throw them a bone?

I open a couple more items of the same boring nature until I get to the last two, which my mom requested to save for last.

      I tear away the wrapping paper and see a small stack of records.

      "Wow, these are tight. Thank you guys." They really are cool, but it's kind of sad that they don't even know that I don't have a record player. They'll still be cool for my room, though, because right now it just looks like a prison cell with a Lana Del Rey poster.

      "Go ahead, open the other!" My dad beams.

      I open it up and surprise surprise, a record player.

      "Holy shhh..." I do myself a favor and trail off right there.

      "This is really sick. Thank you guys."

      "Merry Christmas, girls."

      My mom holds her arms out and I playfully roll my eyes before we all huddle up into a group hug.

      "Time for Christmas breakfast!" Mom exclaims dramatically.

      "I'm tired. Can we have breakfast at like 12?" I request. It sounds like I'm trying to be funny, but I'm dead ass serious.

      "I don't see why not. Go get some rest." Dad pats my shoulder and I turn the corner before trudging up the stairs.

A/N
This one was BORING boring oops but I felt like I couldn't skip Christmas because idk
I promise there will be cute content in the next chapter and BIG TEA in the few after that🤪
September 21st-24th, 2019