On the First Day of Christmas

[franceslievens]

For soundbites check Trailer #4.

“Is it a present?” the shopkeeper had asked. Silently she nodded in reply. “Yes, you can wrap it up,” she thought, but the man hadn't asked and had taken orange silky paper to fold around the precious gift.

She was fiddling with it now, the silver necklace, hidden underneath her wintercoat. This morning she had taken the package from its spot under the Christmas tree. Tearing up the paper, she hastily unwrapped the thing she'd longed for. When she could finaly put the necklace on, she felt like a queen or an empress. Catherine the Great reigned her subordinates from her living room. She felt beautiful when she put on her coat and went outside.
Now she was walking the deserted streets of her city. Cold weather kept people inside where they stuffed themselves with copious amounts of food and wine. Afterwards they'd sit in their sofas watching The Sound of Music and snoring when Julie Andrews sings The Hills Are Alive. She could see them, hear them, smell their food even.
By then the lightness had gone from her step. Her shoulders slumped when she put her hands deeper into her coat pockets. There was no food waiting for her, no people laughing or even quarelling over wrongly chosen presents. There was only a silver necklace she'd bought herself to make her feel better, if only for a short while. It hadn't really worked. She was standing next to the canal now. It occured to her she had actually no idea how she got there, or what the shortest way was to go home again. Her high heels went click-clack on the uneven pavement. Out of nowhere the thought came: “Would it be such a waste if I stumbled and fell?”

Comments

[chrissie-linnit.livejournal.com]

I know her... so very, very well.

Sometimes I want to grab a hold of her and hug her so hard so that she knows she's not alone, but there are other times, times when I just want to hold her hand and go with her, wherever she stumbles.

Beautifully written, pet.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Thank you, honey. Maybe she won't stay alone this week. We'll see where life will take her.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

This is so sad, and so true.

Chani

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is. Christmas isn't as nice for everyone.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I know, hence my post on Christmas Eve. Christmas is the time when there are the most numerous suicide attempts...

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

And family tragedies. There were, I think, two stories about a murder followed by suicide in my newspaper this morning...