in your starlight ; luke patterson

nine.

"Merry Christmas, Elara!" The boys sang cheerfully, waking Elara from her sleep on the sofa.

She opened her eyes to see the boys all wearing Santa hats, with huge smiles on their faces. The tree in the garage was surrounded by presents and the walls were lit up with fairy lights.

"Merry Christmas, boys." She said sleepily.

"Julie's going to join us later, but we can still celebrate ourselves this morning." Alex said, grinning.

The boys all looked so happy, unwrapping a few of their presents but leaving some for when Julie arrived.

Luke noticed Elara was standing alone outside, watching as the first snowfall began to fall from the sky. It rarely snowed in Los Angeles, even when she was alive, and it made her feel extra Christmassy.

He thought this was the perfect time to surprise her. Grabbing the guitar case from his hiding place he carried it outside.

"Merry Christmas, Elara." He said softly, standing besides her.

She turned to look at him, her eyes glossy from watching the snow. Glancing down she noticed the guitar case he was holding.

"I wanted to get you something special... I hope you don't mind." Luke said.

As soon as he opened the guitar case Elara gasped, kneeling down and running her ghostly hands over the strings.

"Is this...?" Elara couldn't even finish her sentence, she was too shocked.

"It's yours, the one your parents got you for your birthday." Luke replied.

"Luke... I don't know what to say." She said.

"You don't need to say anything." He said quietly.

"This is the best gift I've ever gotten, it must've taken you forever to find it... speaking of, how did you find it?" She asked, standing up to face him. Luke was slightly taller than her, so she had to look up at him, watching the snow fall on to his brown, curly hair.

"It's a long story..." he laughed.

"Thank you, Luke. This truly means the world to me... I also got you a little something." She said as she reached into her pocket.

Julie had helped her get it, considering she had no money and it wasn't like she could go to the mall. She pulled out a small box that she placed in Luke's hands. He opened it slowly, a smile flickering on his lips.

"I love it." He grinned, it was a silver necklace with a silver guitar pick — the words 'Sunset Curve' engraved on the pick.

Luke suddenly noticed the time, "I'm so sorry to leave you like this, El, but I have to go... but I promise I'll be back later and I want to hear you playing your guitar, deal?"

"Deal." Elara nodded, curious as to where he was going but decided to let it be. She managed to take hold of her guitar and carry it into the garage where the boys were messing around.

Luke poofed into existence in front of his parents house. The snow had settled on the ground now, covering the world in a white blanket. This time of year always pained Luke as he'd left home on Christmas Eve after an argument with his Mom.

He peered through the windows, watching as his Mom and Dad lit three candles. One for his Mom, one for his Dad and one for Luke.

It broke his heart seeing them so sad, his biggest regret was leaving them behind. He'd never meant to leave things unsaid between them, yet he couldn't do anything about it now. Instead, he poofed inside — sitting on one of the chairs opposite his parents as they turned on the television to absentmindedly watch a Christmas movie.

"I'm sorry, Mom." He said, his eyes were glazed over with tears threatening to fall.

He spent the afternoon with his family, until he finally poofed back into the garage. His cheery attitude from the morning had vanished, but he kept a smile on his face in front of his best friends.

The boys knew where he went when he disappeared, his family were his greatest weakness.

Elara noticed the change in Luke, and decided to give him space. Although she noticed a glimmer at his throat and saw that he was wearing the necklace she'd got him, which made her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach.

Eventually Julie joined them and Christmas songs filled the air whilst the boys tore into the rest of the presents.

Reggie was happy with his new tartan guitar strap, Alex got warm hoodies and Luke got a vintage vinyl of his favourite 90's band that Julie had found in a thrift shop.

"I know this day is hard for a lot of us," Alex said as the day quietened down, "but I am thankful to have you guys. Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Everyone exclaimed, smiles all around.

Eventually Julie headed back into the house to be with her Dad and brother, Alex and Reggie had fallen asleep after the excitement of the day. All that were left were Elara and Luke who were sat on the couch together, Elara strumming her guitar and Luke scribbling lyrics down in his note book.

He began to hum along to the chords Elara was playing, and then he added a few lyrics. He begun to sing, his voice was husky after a long day and Elara couldn't help but keep playing just to continue hearing him sing.

"That was beautiful, Luke... you're so talented, it's crazy how you aren't famous." She said softly.

"We were close once, before we died Sunset Curve was going to be big." His voice cracked slightly, Elara had never seen so much sadness in someone's eyes.

"Luke..." she wanted to tell him how much she wished they'd gotten the chance. Instead, he disappeared, poofing out of thin air. All alone, she figured he'd gone back to his parents house, Alex had told her he regularly visits them because he can't forgive himself for how he left them.

♡