by JR Wirth
“We’ll stay away from there,” Isaiah promptly answered. “That’s for dang sure.” Hands-on-knees, Isaiah got eye-level with us. “If we’re right about this,” he said, with serious conviction. “We need to get to the others, and quick. They’re too young to care for themselves and could be in serious danger, or worse.” His voice held a ring of authority I’d never heard before, but felt very happy to hear.
“I agree.” I patted Isaiah on the shoulder, encouraging his command. “And,” I continued. “I hope they made it through the fall, or whatever it was that happened.”
“It was time travel,” Isaiah said. “We put a hole in the time-space continuum, and were transported through gamma rays.”
“Huh?” My head reared back in disbelief. “Isaiah, you need to take a break from geek-land. You’re scaring me.”
Isaiah chuckled. “Just wait. We’ll meet some demented broken toys that will try to take out their revenge on us for throwing them away.”
“And keep away from the horror flicks as well. You’re getting a little crazy. Scary-crazy.”
I felt a sudden sense of urgency to find the others, and grabbed Bubba by the arm. “Come on, let’s go,” I ordered. I’d convinced myself I was calm and, indeed in control of my actions and emotions. “And, Bubba, you need to stay close to us. Do you understand?”
Bubba yanked on his arm. “I will!” he yelled. “Now let me go.” He wasn’t having any of it. Bubba was persistent and strong; he broke loose of my grip and walked beside us, frowning. Bubba never did like being restrained. He often spent long weekends in nothing but his underwear and, perhaps, a cape and a Ben Ten wristband, trying to sneak out into the cold backyard, so he could leap from the jungle gym.
Without warning, Isaiah stopped and pointed. Like he was eyeing a target, he slowly moved his arm up and down. He appeared to be lining up his right eye with some point in the distance, then walked briskly ahead of us. “Let’s follow the line!” he shouted. “We’ll make a straight line from where I landed through where you guys landed, and then continue to the smokestacks. If I’m right we should be able to find the others along the way.” He paused and shook his head. “We might even be able to save Christmas.”
I smirked. “How do you plan to do that?”
“Just follow me!” he shouted, putting distance between us.
“What if they’re not here?” I shouted, to Isaiah’s fleeing back.
Isaiah turned his head slightly. “If we’re here, then why wouldn’t they be here?” He beckoned. “Come on.”
“I think we need to figure out how, or why,” I shouted. But to no avail. Isaiah was putting distance between us and probably couldn’t hear me. I looked down and whispered to the snow, “Why we’re here in the first place.”
“It’s okay, Hailey.” Bubba grabbed my hand. “It’ll be okay.”
Hand-in-hand, Bubba and I followed Isaiah’s path.
“Maybe. Just maybe,” I whispered, continuing my worried thoughts. “Then we could figure out if the others are also here. And then we can concentrate on getting home.”
“I don’t think he can hear you,” Bubba said, and patted me on the back. “It’ll be okay, Hailey. Really, it will. I promise. I’ll save Christmas all by myself if I have to.”
“Thanks, Bubba.” I glanced at him and smiled at his youthful enthusiasm. I looked again to verify he was actually Bubba, since he’d never talked that clearly before.
As I considered the situation, and our options, I heard a scream of pain. Bubba and I looked up in time to witness Isaiah grabbing the back of his neck and head.
Bubba released his grip and raced to catch up to his brother. “Are you okay?” he shouted, fear and concern written on his face.
“I don’t know. My head and neck hurt a lot.”
“Me too!” Bubba cried. He then jumped up and down, waving for me to catch-up. “Hurry Hailey, hurry.”
As I approached, not wanting to be left out of the pity-party, I shouted, “Me three!”
When I caught up, slightly out of breath, Bubba was wiping his forehead at the hairline. He glanced at his hand. “Cool! I’m bleeding!” he shouted with a wicked grin.
I ignored his celebration. Instead, I considered the situation, including why we all had head injuries. Could it be from the way we landed—or was something else going on? I back-tracked my thoughts, to where the unwelcomed journey began.
I suddenly got it. I snapped my fingers, and shouted, “I think I know what’s going on. I think I know what happened.”
“What?” Isaiah asked, still rubbing his neck and head.
“You were in the garage room, right? That’s what you said.”
“I’m pretty sure. Yeah, why?”
“And you were texting, right?”
“Yeah?” Isaiah turned and cocked his head. “What are you getting at?”
“Well, while you were texting, the rest of us were fighting about which presents under the tree, belonged to whom.” I paused and took a breath, considering my next set of thoughts. “After that we ran into the garage room, where we were playing before. We ran around, and for some unexplained reason, ended up in a circle around you. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, we all fell forward and maybe we all hit our heads at the same time we landed on you.” I paused and nodded, then shrugged and smiled apologetically. “Sorry about that.”
“That’s really bizarre.” Isaiah shrugged. “But, being here is even more bizarre, I suppose. So, our banging our heads together just may be the reason why we’re here.” Curiously, he looked at his phone, and then toward the ground. “What did you guys say to each other when you were at the Christmas tree?”
“Mostly we said bad things, like, ‘I hope you don’t get any presents, you little weasel.’”
“Wow, that’s pretty harsh.”
“I know, right? And then…” I paused, briefly blushing with a hint of shame. I grimaced and shrugged. “Well,” I continued. “I think I might have said something like, I was going to steal all of their presents, so they wouldn’t get any. And then someone else said, ‘I hope all the presents disappear and no one gets anything.’”
“That wasn’t very Christmas-like of you guys.”
“Well, we were all being a little bit mean,” I admitted sheepishly.
“So…” Isaiah paused and shook his ailing head. “Instead of the presents disappearing, we did.”
“Yep, that’s what it looks like.”
“What should we do now?” Isaiah puffed. He sighed and stretched his body from side-to-side, then groaned as he tilted his head back and forth.
“I don’t know, but, are you okay?” I could tell that Isaiah hurt more than me, and maybe had a concussion, though I wasn’t sure what that was.
“I think so.”
Realizing that I couldn’t do anything to help Isaiah, I turned my attention toward Bubba’s forehead. I was shocked by the amount of blood, and panicked. Bubba could see the fear in my gaze and, by the look in his eyes, he too felt scared. I shook my head, thinking, This can’t be happening. It’s supposed to be the season of hope and giving. Instead, it’s the season of fear and pain. And what about the Christmas spirit…Where is that?
Returning from my brief break, I faked a smile at Bubba. I wanted to help him feel better, but didn’t know what to do. Other than putting ice on a boo-boo, I wasn’t much of a nurse. So, I did what I knew best. I gathered some snow and rubbed it against Bubba’s forehead. “Merry Christmas, Bubba,” I whispered, trying to take his mind off his injury. Then, magically, as though he was never injured, the blood vanished.
Bubba’s smile returned. “I feel great,” he raved. “You did it.” He turned and sprinted along the imaginary path that Isaiah had laid out.
“Bubba, wait!” Isaiah yelled.
Stran
gely enough, Bubba obeyed again. He stopped and threw his hands in the air, then got down and rolled in the snow, shouting, “Merry Christmas!”
Isaiah and I shared a smile, then ran to catch up with his brother. When we reached Bubba, we huddled together.
Isaiah took the lead. “Everyone keep an eye out for anything in the snow. Arhi may be hurt and can’t move,” he said, referring to his kid-sister, Arhiana, by her nickname.
With caution in our thoughts and actions, we walked in silence. Carefully eying every pile of snow and all valleys in between, our band of three Christmas soldiers looked for any sign of life. At arms distance plus two feet, we hiked side by side. We were close enough to each other to be safe, yet far enough to see from different points of view.
Finally, Isaiah stopped and sighed. “According to my calculations, this is where Arhi should be, but I don’t see anything.”
As if totally ignoring Isaiah’s obvious disappointment, Bubba shouted, “Wow.”
Surprised at his reaction, Isaiah and I turned. We saw Bubba look straight up in the sky. He put his hand on his forehead, as if to block the sun from his eyes.
Confused by the outburst, Isaiah and I briefly stared at Bubba, then at the large object towering over us. We too had to shield our eyes as we looked up. But it was not the sun that altered our vision, it was a large collection of colorful lights streaming down from Heaven.
“It’s beautiful!” I exclaimed, and then blinked twice to get a better look.
Isaiah smiled widely. “It’s huge,” he whispered.
I took three steps back to see a different angle of the enormous object. First, I noticed the scattered lights were perfectly shaped and placed. Then I noticed the structure’s green, leafy material. Then there was what looked like dozens of icicles flowing down the sides of the object. I took a few more steps back and smiled. I could see that the object was pyramid-shaped and at the top sat a brightly-lit angel. The angel was as big as the sky, and seemed to be smiling down upon us.
Still in awe, I pointed. “What does that look like?”
Isaiah joined me, staring up at the angel. “It can’t be, can it?” He quickly walked around, observing the colossal object from different angles. Then, in disbelief, he said, “It is! It’s just like Grandpa’s Christmas tree.”
“My thoughts, absolutely,” I responded. I flashed a playful smile, since I was finally able to utilize my new, word-of-the-week. “It absolutely is.”
We looked at each other and then at Bubba, who, without moving, continued to stare up at the tree. Suddenly Bubba waved to it.
“This can’t be good,” Isaiah whispered.
We glanced back at each other and then raced to join Bubba. When we reached him, Isaiah and I looked up. We searched the tree until we found the spot Bubba was looking at.
“I don’t believe it,” I said, and then covered my forehead, blocking out the light to get a better view. “It’s Arhi!” She was sitting on a branch, smiling and waving at us.
Hmm. Noticing that Arhi was unharmed, and very cheerful while she sat on the tree branch made me think that, just maybe, Grandpa was right and that Arhi’s guardian angel may have saved her life.
“Bubba come get me!” I heard Arhi yell, bringing me back to the situation at hand.
“I’m coming,” Bubba shouted and made a spirited dash toward the tree.
“Wait!” Isaiah yelled. He reached out to grab his little brother, but missed. Instead, Isaiah fell face first into the snow.
This time Bubba did not obey. Instead, he continued his sprint toward the tree. “Bubba to the rescue to save Arhi and Christmas!” he yelled. All I could see was his little arms and legs pumping and twirling, leaving a downpour of snow dust in his wake.
Bubba quickly found a branch that must have broken when Arhi landed. It bent down to the ground from the tree. He sized it up and gave it a tug, then began to climb. To my surprise, he climbed the entire twig and branch and, within seconds, was next to Arhi.
“Follow me,” Bubba said, carefully maneuvering the length of the branch back to the twig. He guided Arhi as he went. Once at the twig, he yelled to us, “Catch her!” Bubba waited until we were in position, he then helped Arhi to the stem and held her. Feeling she was secure, he yelled, “Okay, slide!”
Soon my five-year-old cousin Arhiana, slid down the tree branch, giggling and yelling, “Woo hoo! This is fun!”
She slid straight into Isaiah’s outstretched arms. Seconds later, Bubba came barreling down the branch. At the bottom, he hit the snow and playfully tumbled to his feet. He proudly wiped his hands and adjusted his Ben Ten wristband. “All in a day’s work,” he said with an East Coast accent, which shocked us all.
Happy to be reunited with their sister, Isaiah and Bubba jumped around Arhi. She giggled again, and then joined them in their celebration.
I, on the other hand, was not happy. I had to find my little brother and sister, now. “Come on!” I yelled and started the journey toward the smokestacks.
Directly in front of me was a large hill of snow. When I got to the top, I could see a valley. The first thing I saw was a train pulling three cars. Then, as the train passed, I got a glimpse of where the columns of smoke were coming from. “Look,” I yelled. “Over there!” I pointed and continued. “There’s a sweet little town.”
They all rushed to get to me. Isaiah was the first to arrive, and then Bubba, holding Arhi’s hand. For several moments, we just stared at the quaint little town.
“It’s beautiful,” Arhi said, waving to the village.
“Absolutely, it is,” I agreed.
I looked up to get Isaiah’s reaction. He stood frozen. Then, in a monotone voice, Isaiah muttered, “Merry freaking Christmas.”
Suddenly, from nowhere, another train came by, again blocking the view of the town.
Bubba’s eyes grew as big as his smile. “That’s cool!” he shouted. He then ran to catch up to the passing train.
We all ran after him. But, by the time we caught up, thirty yards from the tracks, the train was long gone. Seemingly within seconds, however, another train came barreling by.
“What the…” I caught myself and covered my mouth before I said one of those bad words that only the adults are allowed to say, but shouldn’t. “Don’t want any little ones hearing that stuff,” I whispered. “Or tell on me for saying it.”
I turned and saw Isaiah smile.
He chuckled. “That’s what I said,” he joked, and chuckled again. He then looked back at the passing train. “Boy, they sure have a lot of trains here, don’t they?”
“Absolutely, they do.”
Feeling increasingly anxious, I stepped away from the group. Where are my brother and sister? I thought, trying to keep the tears from flooding my cheeks while I collected myself. Before I became too overwhelmed with emotion, I heard Bubba laugh. I turned to get a view of him, still concentrating on the train.
Bubba laughed again. “It’s the same train,” he shouted. “Watch, it will come around again.”
Sure enough, seemingly within seconds, the same train with the same decals, and the same three cars in tow, came around the corner of the town. This time it was tooting its horn.
“See, I told you so.”
Arhi smiled. Outfitted in a very cute, dark-green Christmas dress, which accented her olive skin and dark hair, her teeth shone as white as the glistening snow beneath our feet. And, for some reason, she had all of her teeth, unlike before our journey when she was missing a couple of her bottom teeth.
Hmm, that’s weird, I thought. Do we heal as we get closer to the town? My pain seems to be a lot less, that’s for sure.
Still smiling, Ahri squeezed Bubba’s hand. “You’re so smart, Bubba,” she said. Her smile then broadened. “I’m so glad that you’re my brother.”
/> Bubba and Arhi seem to be in a completely different zone than Isaiah and me, I thought, noticing their playful take on the peril we were in. They seem to be much happier about being lost in a living nightmare. Maybe it’s because they’re so much younger, and they don’t understand what’s going on.
The train made another pass. Bubba and Arhi waved at the conductor, who leaned out the side window, waved and laughed. Then Bubba looked at Arhi and put his arm around her, guiding her toward the train. “Let’s see if Hayden will let us drive the train.”
“Okay, let’s go!” Arhi shouted.
“Wait…what?” I yelled at the fleeing children. “Hayden, huh?”
They either ignored my words, or didn’t hear them. Instead, as fast as their little legs would carry them, they ran toward the tracks. But, by the time they got there, the train had made two more trips around the tracks, and was now out of sight. To my surprise, however, each time the train made a pass, my little brother, Hayden, smiled and waved out the window. Seemingly strange to some, but not unexpected by me, he was still holding the Skylanders toy he’d held all night.
“How are we going to get him out of the train?” Isaiah asked, looking shocked by the sight of Hayden in the train.
I looked around for a clue as how to get Hayden out of a speeding train. Not seeing anything of use, with head-in-hand, I said, “Let’s get closer. Maybe we can figure something out from down there.”
Together we moved to the side of the tracks, but quickly had to move back because the train was, once again, coming around the corner.
We all waved at Hayden.
Suddenly, I realized I didn’t feel pain any longer. Looking at Isaiah, I saw that his face was relaxed and no longer pain-filled.
None of us felt pain any longer. “The town is healing us,” I whispered, unsure of what to make of the situation. I wanted to share my thoughts with Isaiah, but wasn’t prepared to make such a grand statement. My increased health, moreover, may have had more to do with finding my brother. Even though I had no way to get to him, just knowing he was safe and sound brought peace to my psyche.