16 Nights of Jingle

PROLOGUE

Ever since the beginning, the very moment she materialized and emerged from her mother's comforting and warm cocoon, all she remembers having done and thrived to do, was to run. Run away from pain, rage, peril, uncertainty and even family, her own flesh and blood, the ones who stuck with her through thick and thin, for better or worse, and for what? For her to just desert them when they most needed her? For her to have the constant need to betray and mutilate and lacerate  them when push came to shove? Or was it so she could run away and never return to the captors who shattered and broke her down day-to-day, so much that she cried and wept herself to sleep every single night?
  Well, this author foresees that we will never know the whole truth or even begin to understand her when it all comes to an end, or will we?

The birth of Nubia Weinhurst brought forth countless celebrations and gifts from the community and family. Life was good, in fact it was amazing! A newly wedded pair with new adventures, a new life and a much clearer view of the future ahead of them, who would not absolutely fall in love with that?
  Although at times there were moments of confusion and uncertainty, the pair had already learnt how to survive and stay on track and at this point nothing could tear them apart, or at least they thought.
  We all know that the good never arrives without the bad, we just do not know when that is.

FIFTEEN YEARS LATER

Nubia Weinhurst, now a fifteen-year-old girl, had a relatively great life, a very good one actually, until that afternoon, the afternoon of December 18th;
  "Nubia, I'm scared, what's going on downstairs?" Amarie, her seven-year-old sister, asked, now quaking in fear.
  "Don't worry, everything's going to be just fine. I'm here for you, and I always will. Never forget that." Nubia replied as she covered her sister's ears and eyes with a simple hug. She shed a few tears before sighing and whispering, "Happy frickin' birthday to me."
  Meanwhile downstairs;
  "I am so sick and tired of you John! First you lie to me and worst of all your daughters, and now this?" Their mother, Leslie horrifiedly reacted,
"I didn't do it! Leslie you have to believe me, you never believe me in situations like this." Their father, John, argued trying to approach her,
  "No. Don't touch me!" She exclaimed, pushing him even further away from her, "You're a lying bastard and a fricking cheater John."
  John banged a table with his fists and flipped it over on its side.
  "Oh, you wanna get crazy? I'll get crazy with you! I'll get crazy with you!"
  She furiously opened the cupboard, grabbed a few plates and glasses before facing John.
  "No-no-no honey! Calm down, you don't want to do this, it's just your emotions acting out." John pleaded, again trying to approach Leslie, who swiftly picked up a glass and flung it at him. He ducked underneath the table and it hit the painting on the wall. She threw a few more plates his way before placing the others on the countertop.
  She calmed herself and finally said, "John, I don't have time for this. I want a divorce."
  Why marry someone you claim or think you 'love' if you are just going to shatter their heart into a billion pieces? If the person actually loved you or even like-liked you, you would think they wouldn't cheat on you. This is exactly what was brewing inside Leslie's mind in that split second.
  John got up from the floor with blood oozing and pumping from his forehead, he grabbed a cloth and some ice blocks from the freezer. He wrapped the ice in the cloth and pressed it on his head before hissing loudly.
  "Fine, okay. I get it I'll leave." He surrendered.
  "I just hope your happy ruining my reputation and shattering the family apart. Fricking dumb idiotic bitch!" John exclaimed, trying to get the last bit of reaction from Leslie, who then grabbed hold of the sharp chef's knife lying on the countertop next to the plates and glasses.
  Okay let us pause. I know what you are probably thinking, but I promise you she does not end up stabbing or killing him or something. It was just to scare him a bit, which it did.
  John then grabbed his leather coat and rushed out of the house, with no trace of his whereabouts ever again.

A few months later, following the divorce;
  John moved in with his father in his Saydway City decent house a couple miles deep into his father's hometown, but one night back under the same roof with him drove him insane and after a heated  arguement with his father decided to find shelter elsewhere.
  "Justice." His father stated, watching John ride off on some motorbike he stole, before shutting his door.
  "Virginia! Doll face! Please take me back honey!" John exclaimed, standing outstide a rundown house in the middle of a rainy night.
  After breaking off his side piece's engagement and being sent to the hospital for almost dying from a fight, he became a raging alcoholic and substance abuser, who got fired from every occupation he ever worked.
Leslie, Nubia and Amarie set fire to their current home and moved into their new house in the small town of Sexton, Brinchwood, where they worked on rebuilding their lives and relationship.
  Nubia lost all hope in life, school, family and everything else that otherwise wouldn't have affected her. Her grades and averages dropped from outstanding to adequate, which was just the tip of the iceberg. The whole town and most of her family members shunned her and she quickly became a parasite of life, just hanging by a string.
  She worried her mother and sister, but they didn't want her to feel even more worse about herself than she was, so they just let her be.