Chapter 62

[The following chapter contains strong language. Reader caution is advised.]

Saturday 25th December 1999

Is it weird that I went into Christmas Day hoping I could just relax and unwind? Not like I wasn’t excited, but my exhaustion was almost matching my excitement.

Firstly, there’d been Christmas shopping, and the usual struggle of trying to find things that people would like and fit our budget constraints… though we all pooled together to get Kitty an art set, with all manner of pencils and pens and fancy art tools. Speaking of Kitty, she has no money to her name, so she told us she’d make us all presents. I didn’t know what to expect in that regard…

And of course, I had to break the budget rules for Dakota, since I had to get her a joint Christmas/First Anniversary present. I wound up buying a sparkly photo frame, a bracelet with a “D” on it, and a box of chocolates. Even that didn’t feel like enough… I got her a huge Christmas card, too. “To a wonderful girlfriend at Christmas”, in fancy golden lettering, over two teddies in the snow, one kissing the other’s cheek. My first time buying a “girlfriend” Christmas card. Things like this remind me so abruptly that I’m actually in a relationship; like I stop for a moment and the absurdity strikes me.

Oh! Speaking of Dakota, I should mention Saoirse too. She spent her week here, had a sweet reunion with Neil and Cassie, and thankfully gave the okay to Dakota’s proposition to stay here for Christmas. Victory!

The Sixth Form Christmas Party came, and once again, Dakota and I stayed home and danced together instead. The only difference was that we had Kitty downstairs, so of course we had to see to her and forego a romantic dinner to fit her in. And I’m certain Bao, Kendal and Zahid were tipsy when they got back…

School ended on Friday (17th December), and then it was just a countdown until that double-whammy of our first anniversary and Christmas Day. I made sure to book us a table at a really nice restaurant and oh man, how she looked in the dress she wore… we had an amazing meal and then we walked home past all the Christmas decorations and danced down the street surrounded by their festive fluorescence.

(And then we had quiet anniversary sex in my room, because I was really anxious my parents might hear us, let alone Kitty…)

At some point, in the dead of night, I found myself suddenly awake, as though something had startled me. Not that I could identify anything: I certainly couldn’t recall any nightmare I’d just been having. Dakota was asleep by my side, so it wasn’t as though she’d done something to disturb me. I opted to lie there and listen keenly to the silence of the house, just in case whatever may have woken me happened again.

That said, attuning myself to the silence probably wasn’t the smartest of ideas. A pebble knocked against my bedroom window a few seconds later and I pretty much leapt clean out of my skin.

“Nhnnn… it ran out…” Dakota whimpered in her sleep, and rolled onto her side. My seismic jump at the pebble must have unsettled her a little. Trying not to do so any further, I delicately leant across to the window and moved the curtain open a little so I could peer out without being seen. I was too tired to really give much thought to who could be trying to get my attention at this hour, or why they would use this method, or if they were a friend or an enemy. All I was able to consider was that it would be best to tread carefully rather than brazenly opening the curtain wide.

What I saw was Lucy, stood in her contact suit, preparing to throw another stone at the window.

I flung the curtains wide right as she raised her arm up. We both stayed frozen for a second or two, before she dropped the stone and waved energetically. I returned the wave with much less vigour, too tired and confused to hope to match her enthusiasm.

She pointed – with her right hand – off to the left, with an arching movement, a gesture which I read as a request to go and let her in. I offered a thumbs up in return just to show I’d gotten the message, and then withdrew from the window. I opted to crawl out of the covers and then down the bed, rather than trying to clamber over Dakota. I thought that would be the hard part, but once I tip-toed out of my room, I realised I should probably try to be as quiet as possible for the rest of the journey, too. It was only once I was halfway down the stairs that it dawned on me that Mum and Dad likely wouldn’t have a problem with Lucy returning at whatever time it was.

It wasn’t like she was sneaking in from a night out. This was, assumedly, a joyous return.

Ever-so-quietly, I dug out the key for the front door and unlocked it, bracing to summon my Lokon sword just in case this was some bizarre trick. A turn of the handle, and then a thrust of the door, open wide.

“Merry Christmas!” Lucy managed to cheer at low volume, and then grabbed me into a hug. Something hard patted against my lower back a few times before settling.

“Merry Christmas…” I echoed. “Can you explain what’s going on, because this seems really weird…”

“Y’know when you said Melody might’ve set up a trap…?”

That response already told me everything I needed to know, but the slightly-sheepish grin she was sporting as she broke from the hug was ridiculously incriminating.

“Lucy, you know I hate having to boast that I was right, why do you always give me opportunities to…?” I asked her with a playful smile.

“It was crazy, Alex! She let us capture her just so all her goons could find Adam’s place! They attacked and we had to run… we don’t even know if Adam’s alive or dead. And I know you don’t believe me half the time, but I swear on my life it’s true. Unless you think Adam sent us out to visit our families while wearing out contact suits and really needing a shower.”

She was right… as wild as that story seemed, there was no reason to assume it wasn’t true…

“Did all of you make it out…?”

“No idea about Dom, but the six of us did,” she shrugged. “We’ve been making our way down here for about a week now…”

A big yawn interrupted her.

“Gonna get to bed…”

“You can’t, Kitty’s sleeping there…”

It dawned on me a second later than I would’ve liked that Lucy had no idea what was going on this Christmas.

“Uhm… Dakota’s staying over for Christmas and Kitty’s here too…”

“Oh well, I can share with her,” Lucy sang, shutting the door behind herself.

“She barely knows you, I really don’t think it’s a good idea for her to wake up and find a stranger in bed with her…”

“It’d be one hell of a Christmas present!” she grinned. “Your bed, then.”

“No room, Dakota’s with me…”

“Alex, all three of us and Kendal managed it before.”

“… true… but no, come on, just take the sofa…”

“Alright,” she yawned, “I’ll wrap myself up and be everybody’s best Christmas present!”

And then she stretched, showing off a slightly-battered silver briefcase handcuffed to her left wrist.

“I’m too tired to come up with a witty suggestion, what the hell is that briefcase…?” I asked in what felt like one elongated sigh.

“Something Dom didn’t want Melody getting her hands on,” she told me while handling the case. “I’ve tried unlocking it but I dunno what the code is. I tried 1983 and then I just started from 0000…”

“Okay…” was all I could muster. I yawned heartily, and Lucy chuckled.

“Got you yawning too,” she observed.

“Yeah, I need more sleep…” I nodded, hoping that would end things. To my slight surprise, she gave a light nod back.

“Saaaame… I better get to the sofa, jerk,” she exclaimed dramatically.

“Alright, good night,” I waved. “Sleep well. I better not wake up with you in my bed.”

“I proooomiiiiise!” she sang behind me as I slithered back up the stairs.

…

I woke up hours later to the sensation of Dakota kissing my cheek. My eyelids fluttered open to her softly-smiling face.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” she purred.

“Merry Christmas…” I muttered back dozily. “Nice wake-up call.”

“Of course. Kisses for Christmas, feet for your birthday.”

I blinked a couple of times, trying to process that.

“Really…?”

She proceeded to pinch my nose and gently shake my head.

“So next time, don’t disappear before your birthday!” I was warned, with a faint air of genuine irritation.

“Got it,” I assured her nasally, appeasing her enough for her to release me. “Do I get woken up by your boobs at some point…?”

“Valentine’s Day. You missed out this year because you woke up before me.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure to get some sleeping pills on February 13th…”

And that was the last quiet moment I got that day.

My bedroom door swung open two seconds later, and Lucy came barrelling in, almost in her underwear save for her left arm still being armoured up.

“Come on, lovebirds, it’s Chriiiiistmaaaaaaaas!” she wailed, running up and leaping onto the bed like an excited child, the briefcase slamming onto my leg through the duvet. I wailed out in pain; Lucy just patted my head.

“Lucy! When did you get back?” Dakota asked, with eyes wide.

“Last night, I guess you didn’t hear but Melody took over Adam’s place and we had to run. Dunno if Adam’s even alive and Dom gave me this mystery briefcase to look after,” Lucy recapped with more energy than I think I could ever muster at this time of day. “Come on, get up, it’s Christmas!”

“O-Okay… give us a minute…” my girlfriend spoke; Lucy leapt back off the bed and dashed out of the room.

“I take it you heard about that, then…?” she asked me once we were alone.

“She woke me up throwing stones at my window so I could let her in… she caught me up on what happened…” I explained, rubbing my leg all the while.

“That’s… big news…”

“I know. But let’s just… do Christmas today,” I suggested. Dakota nodded, and kissed my cheek once more.

We got up, threw on dressing gowns, and convened with Kitty in the upstairs hall before heading downstairs to open presents. Fortunately, Lucy had presents to open: Mum and Dad had planned on driving to Adam’s to drop them off and were relieved that they didn’t have to take the time out to do so. Dakota got me a nice blue-and-green scarf, a keychain and another Beast Wars figure (I know, spot the odd one out), and she loved her presents. Kitty had made us all – the Painters, not the Matthewses – semi-3D art pieces of ourselves. We – Dakota and I, since the others weren’t here – put ours up on the mantle amongst the Christmas decorations.

And so the day rolled on. Dad took Lucy to the garage to slice the handcuff chain with the saw, though he wasn’t sure how to get the cuff off for now. Grandma and Grandpa arrived and we opened some additional presents while they fawned over Dakota (and Kitty, when they got the chance: she generally tried to stay quiet and out of the way).

Christmas dinner. Dakota and Kitty were inducted to our tradition of referring to the Bernard Matthews turkey as Dad’s, all rising to our feet and saluting at the dinner table. We talked and laughed and pulled crackers before reading the stupid jokes inside.

It was festive and fun and non-stop, just like Christmas should be.

And come the evening, with the grandparents gone, Lucy casually committed a cardinal sin of Christmas.

“Nope, let’s see what else is on…” she grunted, snatching up the TV remote and switching channel.

“Lucy! Switch it back over!” Dad growled immediately, and on a good day, there was half a chance that would’ve worked.

“I’m bored,” was all she muttered instead.

“I don’t care, we were watching that.”

“And I don’t care, I wanna watch something else.”

“Lucy, do what your father says,” Mum chimed in now. I sank back into my space on the sofa, worried that this was about to blow up into a full-on row.

“Why should I?” Lucy asked bluntly. “I do what I want.”

“That’s not how we raised you,” Mum told her sharply.

“Which is a shame, because it suits me down to the ground…”

And Lucy threw the remote over her shoulder, behind the armchair she was sat in.

“Right…” Dad snarled, rising to his feet and heading for where the remote landed.

“Left,” Lucy countered impishly.

“Do you want to go to bed early? Because you’re going the right way about it-”

“Dad, I fought a woman and stabbed her in the hand last week, your threats don’t mean anything to me anymore…”

Kitty pulled her hood up, her knees tight to her chest.

“You did what…?”

Lucy smirked up at our father with some strange sense of pride.

“Hit some other people with that briefcase, too. Didn’t really have much choice, they would’ve done just as much to me.”

“What did that lunatic have you doing up there…?” Dad asked, angered; Lucy drew air through her lips in dismay.

“Dad, Dad, he’s not a lunatic. I am.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lucy-”

“Alex,” she looked to me as I hopelessly willed myself to turn invisible, “tell him how it works.”

Of course, Dad and Mum both turned their gaze on me.

“No, I mean it’s nothing like that-” I spluttered in the hopes of ending things right then and there.

“He’s crazy too, in case you wondered,” Lucy chimed in anyway. “We’re both monsters.”

“Lucy, for fuck’s sake-” I snapped at her in a panic.

“Lokonessence…” Dakota interrupted me calmly. “It only bonds to people with… irregular brain chemistry. According to Melody, that makes us monsters, but-”

“No,” Dad sneered, turning back to Lucy now. “That isn’t right. You’re not crazy, you’re just your own person…”

“I’m crazy, Daddy-o. All four of us,” she gestured towards Dakota and me, then to Kitty in the other armchair, “are certified wackos. Oh, and while we’re at it, I’m bisexual. I like women as well as men.”

“I don’t know why you’re saying all of this-”

“Because it’s true.”

Lucy looked to me with a chipper smile far too inappropriate for the atmosphere.

“Anything else you want to confess to? Kinks you wanna spill or something? I can do it for you, if you want.”

“No!” I yelled urgently. “And how do you even- no, don’t answer that…” If she really does know any of my kinks, I’d rather stay ignorant…

“You can’t be mad, or queer,” our father stated adamantly. “You’re my daughter.”

“Every monster has a father,” Lucy replied effortlessly, like she’d been mulling over this. “I’m done living by other people’s rules. I’m going to do what I want-”

“Because she thinks being a ‘monster’ gives her a free pass to excuse doing shitty things,” I finished for her.

“Like your temper tantrums,” she noted.

“D’you think I like being like this?!”

“No, you’re ashamed of what you are…”

“Both of you, stop it!” Dad shouted over us. “Neither of you are insane! Just stop talking!”

For a few seconds, that actually seemed to have worked. Kitty rocked a little in her chair, Mum’s eyes bounced between all of us, Dakota rubbed my shoulder… Lucy continued smirking devilishly.

“Kendal and I were dating, by the way,” she bubbled. “I dated a girl. Have fun excusing that, Dad.”

Dad slammed the remote onto the coffee table and strode straight for the front door.

“I’m going for a walk,” he grumbled fiercely. The door banged shut seconds later.

“Why can’t you just do as you’re told, Lucy…?” Mum finally spoke.

“Don’t want to, not going to,” my sister replied, relaxing back in her chair. “And if you and Dad want to disown me now you know I’m not some sane straight girl, go ahead.”

It worried me that Mum didn’t reply straight away, instead mulling over her words.

“You’re still our daughter, no matter what,” she concluded at last. “We love you despite anything else…”

“We’ll see what Dad has to say about that,” Lucy pouted playfully.

…

Dad didn’t return until quite late, and with how deeply Lucy had broken the mood, we’d spread out across the house somewhat. Mum remained in the living room, while Lucy had gone into her room and Dakota, Kitty and I hung out in mine. Our light conversation was interrupted only by the brief pause as we listened to Dad entering Lucy’s room.

“She reminds me of my sister…” Kitty mentioned quietly.

“How so?” Dakota enquired, shuffling a little closer to Kitty.

“She’d always want to be the centre of attention… always riling Mum and Dad up…”

Kitty twiddled her thumbs all the while, clearly pained to even think about it. Dakota promptly hugged her tight.

“It’s not fair you couldn’t just have a nice Christmas this year…”

“It was still good until…”

I didn’t finish that sentence. Stupid argument to make, anyway.

“I enjoyed it, mhm…” Kitty nodded. “Your parents are nice. It was a good day. I don’t even hate Lucy…”

I joined the hug, holding my girlfriend and our friend.

“Tomorrow’s a new day. Things will turn out alright. And some day, Lucy’s going to realise how stupid all this monster stuff is…”

Dad opened the door on us, scowling softly, perhaps even a tiny bit drunk.

“I love you, son. I don’t think you’re crazy…”

He sighed.

“If you really are, I won’t think less of you. But it’ll be hard for me to deal with.”

“It’s hard for us too, Dad…” I told him, trying to smile for him.

He nodded, and wished us goodnight, closing the door and leaving the final minutes of Christmas to the three of us.