The Inkling Volume 2

Beneath the music
By Gemma Bridges
I awoke from my slumber as the fairy lights were slowly coming into
focus - almost out of battery due to the fact I’d put them up in the
middle of November in a rush of festive excitement. A week to go, and
I had already opened all the windows in my advent calendar;
chocolate wrappers now lay scattered on the thick, fluffy rug that my
dog liked to lie on, slightly matted head on his paws. Why couldn’t
Christmas be all year round?
Wafting up to entice me from my room was the smell of freshly baked
Christmas cookies - Mum baked them every year, and no one ever got
tired of them. Passing the big Christmas tree, the smell of pine tickling
my nose, I crept into the kitchen, looking longingly at all the presents. I
stuffed a cookie in my mouth...not carefully enough though, as it was
still too hot.
“Really?” I jumped, not realising my mum had been in the room - I
hoped she hadn’t seen me eat it, but the crumbs around my mouth
was a tell-tale sign. She sighed and shook her head, while I grabbed
another cookie and scampered back up to my room, hoping she
wouldn’t remember later.
“Jingle bells, jingle bells…” I pressed play on my CD player
(home to my full collection of Christmas music), brushing aside the
glittery tinsel as I did so. Turning it up to full volume, I decided that
maybe I shouldn’t have wrapped everyone’s presents in November:
now there was nothing to do.
“FOR THE LAST TIME, TURN THAT RACKET DOWN!” I heard
the yell of my dad, for the tenth time that week. Honestly, what was
wrong with my family? They just needed to embrace the Christmas
spirit - it wasn’t my fault that they complained when I coated the house
in lights and tinsel!
Sighing, I turned the music down.
A few days later Christmas Eve arrived, bringing with it presents under
the tree and a particularly ugly assortment of Christmas jumpers.