Tangled in South Park

Christmas

*Early the Next Morning*

I groan, flipping onto my back for what feels like the hundredth time tonight. I've been trying to fall asleep since I got home from Wendy's, which was at a reasonable time before midnight. I was hoping to fall into a nice sleep in order to wake up fairly early to see if what I've been waiting months for has happened. Instead, I feel like each minute is being dragged out as long as possible.

I stare up into the darkness, wondering if I can do anything to fall asleep. No matter what I seem to do, my brain refuses to shut off. I'm just lying in my bed waiting for something to happen. If this were ten years ago, I would be anxiously waiting for Santa, hoping that I would be able to hear the reindeer on the roof as he stopped at my house. Then I would wait a minute or so before sneaking down to see a pile of presents beneath the softly glowing Christmas tree. Then I grew up, and those ideas disappeared along with other things. I grew up and realized that not everything is rainbows and cotton candy.

I sit up, looking over to see my clock blaring 3:13am. "I can't just lie here and hope that I fall asleep. I need to get up and go get something to drink that will hopefully calm me down enough to finally rest." I fling my legs over the side of my bed, standing up and then carefully walking over to the door of my room. Then I slowly open the door, and head out to the hall. The only light now coming from the dim plug-ins that my mother thought would be perfect for late night trips to the kitchen, and I have to agree that they are perfect.

I carefully make my way to the stairs, slowly heading down because the last thing I need is to fall down and wake the whole house up. There's no reason for them to worry about an abnormal night where I can't fall asleep. I just need some tea to calm the nerves. Then it will be right back to bed for me.

I reach the bottom of the steps, looking out at the Christmas tree that Karen, Ashlyn, and me put up the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun trying to figure out how the pieces of the artificial tree went together, and we had to get chairs in order to reach the top. Then we went to town with all the ornaments. We made sure that not a single branch was left bare. I know taking down will be a pain, but in the moment I didn't care about that at all. I just wanted to have fun with my sisters. Now a good sized pile of presents sits beneath the tree ready to be opened in a few hours. My eyes drifting down to that area to see if my parents placed anymore presents to keep up the fun of being Santa.

What my eyes actually land on makes my heart skip a beat, breath catch in my throat, and tears instantly spring to my eyes.

"Kenneth?" I choke out, wanting to step closer, but my feet feel cemented in place. "Is that really you?"

Kenny McCormick is sitting in front of the Christmas tree, a beautiful lopsided grin plaster on his face. His blonde hair is perfectly messy; blue eyes staring right back at me with a sparkle of love. He's wearing an old band t-shirt (though I'm sure his signature orange parka is around here somewhere), grey sweatpants, and black socks with kitten faces all over them. He looks just as handsome as the last time I saw him. "Ah, so you've been hallucination me?" His deep voice is music to my ears.

"This is real? I'm not dreaming, am I?" I feel the tears begin to trickle down my cheeks. "This would be too cruel to be a dream, right?"

"Oh, princess," he reaches a hand out for me. "I can assure you that this is not a dream. That I am one-hundred percent real. It's been too many months away from you, and I just want to feel you in my arms again. My princess," he chokes out.

"Oh, Kenny," I mumble, rushing the short distance over to him, collapsing to my knees before throwing myself into his arms. His warmth encasing me in a way that I have missed so much. "I've missed you so much. I didn't think that I could miss another person that much."