The Christmas Crystal

The Christmas Crystal

He couldn't believe it! It was Christmas Eve and this had happened to him. Of all nights!
A fifteen-year-old boy walked down the snowy streets of the city with a little box in his hands. Inside it was a little glass pendant that would have been his friend's Christmas present had it not been hopelessly shattered. More precisely, if they hadn't have hopelessly shattered it. That guy with his posse had waited until he had left the store with his gift. They hadn't tried to rob him, but it didn't matter anyway. His Christmas was ruined.
The boy looked to the little broken glass Christmas tree he had purchased. He had seen her look at it in the shop window and he knew she liked it, but he hadn't had the money at the time. In fact, it had taken him two weeks of shoveling snow, day in and day out, to pay for it! What was he going to say now?
He walked down the stairs of the subway station as he continued to gaze sadly at his shattered gift. Sitting down, he finally looked up to glance at his surroundings. The station was practically empty save a few stray people that were on their way home. He saw an older woman trying to balance several shopping bags on her arms, a man in an expensive suit with a briefcase urgently looking at his watch, and a woman and a young boy smiling as they both tried to listen to the message on their cell phone.
His heart saddened a bit more. The woman looked like a grandma, and he could see a toy poking out of the top of one of the bags. The man in the suit had opened his briefcase and pulled out a homemade Christmas card, complete with crayon scribbles; and the mother and the little boy finished their conversation when the boy said, "I love you, Daddy! Merry Christmas!"
He was really hurting now! All of these people had family to go home to Christmas to, or were at least in touch with them. He was an orphan. His parents had passed away when he was a kid, but he still missed them. That was one of the reasons he had purchased his gift. His best friend was always there and he could always go to her when he was down. All he had wanted to do was to show her how much he appreciated that.
Once again, he opened the box of his broken "thank you," but he heard a little voice pipe up next to him.
"Oh no! Was that a gift for someone?"
He looked up to see a little girl with big, blue eyes and freckles looking sadly at his box.
'Yeah, well," he started, "it was." he looked down again.
"Oh." she said looking down again.
He peeked out of the corner of his eye to look at her again. She seemed extremely pale for someone with freckles that dark, but what caught his attention the most was the lack of hair that would normally poke out from under her cap.
"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it." he said as he sat back against the bench. "I could barely afford this, and the stores are all closed anyway, so..." he trailed off.
"I'm sorry." the little girl said. "I didn't mean to be rude."
He smiled, "Nah, it's okay." his smile faded a bit. "I just wish I didn't have just a box of broken glass to give her for Christmas..."
"Is she your friend? A good friend?" she looked up at him.
"Yeah, she's always been there."
She beamed at him. "You're lucky! It's hard to find a good friend. Not a friend who just comes around for Christmas..." she looked down and tucked her knees under her chin. "One that will stay with you when you're sick and can't come outside, but they stay anyway."
His face saddened again. "Do you have a good friend?"
She shook her head slowly. "Nuh-uh."
"Oh." he said just as she had and with the same expression. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be rude."
For a moment, she looked surprised, but then started to giggle. "It's okay!"
He smiled at her too, and she looked again at the box.
"She's a really, really good friend?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"A really, really, really, really good friend." he smiled as he replied.
"Then you can give her this!" she quickly reached behind her neck and pulled out a sterling silver chain with a real crystal pendant that had been hiding under her scarf. The pendant was a blue snowflake that closely resembled a star. "It was my grandma's!"
He sat there awestruck as she handed him the necklace. "But this is yours! I can't just take it!"
She smiled brightly. "Of course you can! I don't mind!"
He opened his mouth to talk again, but she chimed in before he could speak, "Besides, I won't be needing it much longer, and you have a better use for it!"
He was moved almost to tears.
"Thank You."
She smiled as she rubbed her arms. He could have kicked himself for not realizing that she had been shivering this whole time. He quickly shed his jacket and put it on her.
"Thank you." She said smiling.
He smiled back. "Don't mention it!"
She beamed at him but quickly turned her head when she heard a woman calling.
"Honey! Where are you?!"
"I'm over here, Mommy!" she called back.
A man and a woman came bustling around the corner. The little girl got up and moved to take off the jacket, but the young man stopped her.
"Keep it."
She looked up at him surprised, "But it's yours!"
He gave her a wink. "You've got a better use for it!"
She gave him one last heartfelt smile. "Merry Christmas!"
He tucked his jacket tighter around her, and the little girl jogged away, clutching his jacket as she went to her parents. He watched them fuss over her and gave her a farewell in his mind, "Merry Christmas! I hope it's your best ever!" He meant every word, especially knowing it was her last.


"I can't believe it! Where could he be?" She sat on the sofa in front of the fire with her wool blanket and cup of hot chocolate. She looked up at the clock and gave another aggravated sigh as she tilted her head back. What was taking him so long?!
She looked to the coffee table and the picture frame that contained the picture of her, her little brother, and her best friend. She remembered when they were kids and how he was always upset that he could never afford to get her a nice Christmas present, especially this year. She had looked out the window and watched as he worked in the snow like a pack animal. She had tried to tell him it didn't matter if he got her anything or not, but he insisted.
She shifted her gaze to the Nativity scene her family had placed under the Christmas tree. The way she thought, the gifts that seemed like nothing but were given out of love were far better than the extravagant gifts given out of obligation.
Her head quickly snapped to face the door as she heard a pounding from the outside. She cautiously got up to look through the window and found her friend shivering in the cold without a jacket. She quickly swung open the door and pulled him inside.
"What on earth are you doing?!"
"S-s-s-sorry." he said as she bolted the door as if to further banish the cold air outside. He tried to kick the snow off of his boots, but she pulled him to the sofa.
"Oh, never mind that!"
She sat him down where she had been sitting and wrapped the blanket around him. "I'm going to get another one." she said as she walked over to the closet.
As she was searching through the linens, the boy set his precious little box next to the picture frame on the coffee table. She came back with a blanket that was twice as thick as the first and tucked it under his chin.
"There you go."
"Thank you." he said tiredly as he drifted off and fell asleep.
She stood there for a moment, hand on her hips, trying to figure out what had gotten into him. Her gaze wandered to the little box with her name on the tag.
When she had opened it up to find what was inside it, she put her hand to her mouth to keep herself from crying. She looked over to her sleeping friend with a smile and thought of how hard he had worked to show her he cared. She wiped away a tear and whispered.
"Merry Christmas."

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Merry Christmas everyone! I had this made up for a school project, but it was origionally a fanfiction I was dreaming up for Kagome and InuYasha, but this fit. I purposely didn't give the characters names because I wanted to focus on the actions and not the characters!

Merry Christmas, again, and a Happy New Year!