NaNoWriMo 2004

Original Story
Untitled
Current Word Count: 15,861
Still in progress (i.e. hasn\'t been abandoned yet)
sadi_kaeleer@yahoo.com


Part 1

Outside the window the moon shown full and bright. The wind howled ineffectively, and the wind chimes danced and laughed in the wind\'s anger. And through it all the girl in her bed slept, and in sleeps warm embrace, dreamed a true dream.

*.*.*
Screaming, gasping for breath, I sat up in bed. Sleep tried to suck me back to that shattered landscape. I had to use my hands to keep my eyes open to keep from replaying the nightmare on the back of my eyelids. Desperate to be awake, I let the memory of the dream fade, too busy trying to remember how to breathe. I shoved the dream in a box in my head, and promised myself we would never have to look at it again if we didn\'t want to. I looked at the clock and swore. There I was, alone and sweating in fear by my own choice. I could have been with Jason and Ian, with no worries of nightmares or dreams, but instead I had wanted to sleep on my own and try to get at least six hours. So much for that hope.

Shivering and feeling lonely, I got up and pulled a night shirt over my head. It fell over my body in gentle purple folds, soft and familiar.

As I walked down the short hall, I remembered flashes of the dream; searing white, a lone feather blowing away, broken earth dead and dry as dust. When I reached their door I paused for moment, watching them curled up to one another, around each other, connected more than physically. I sighed, then crawled onto the bed and under the covers, curling up against Ian\'s back.

He turned around and pulled me into his arms. Jason murmured in his sleep and snuggled up to Ian\'s back and his arms coming around to hold me too.

Borrowing closer, I close my eyes and smiled at their warmth. I shoved the box that held the memory of the dream as deep as I could and tried to fall asleep.

The one draw back, of course, was the reason I usually slept alone, as much as I hated it. I am a light sleeper and the boys make more noise in their sleep than anyone else I have ever slept with.

Ian works at night, and Jason is a heavy sleeper, so it works between them. When I stay in their bed I rarely get any sleep, which always leads to me being grumpy, which leads to me getting kicked back into my own bed. But, just every once in awhile, company is better than rest.

Tonight was one of those times, so when I got woken up constantly, I just snuggled closer and fell back to sleep, and didn\'t mind.

The next afternoon it led to a lot of yawning as I sprawled in a chair by the window. Dawn had not touched the horizon when I crawled out of bed and began to rabidly clean the apartment. Out of the three of us, I am the least organized and neat, so my room needed some massive attention. Scrubbing every inch of the rest of the apartment was redundant, but it made me feel better. I took a break for lunch, meaning to clean the bathroom next, and then just flopped bonelessly. There\'s a reason why I\'m the least neat of us.

Jason got up first; lumbering into the bathroom, he only spared me a sleepy glance as I swept the hall before closing the bathroom door and starting the shower. Ian got up two hours after that, eyes tightly shut as he stumbled into the bathroom. Jason laughed and snuck back into the bathroom a few minutes after the water turned on. I just shook my head and smiled as I let my eyes slide closed for a second.

When we were finally all assembled in the kitchen/living room, I considered my plan of attack. I eyed the boys; Jason was by the coffeemaker, looking cute and sleepy in boxer shorts, and Ian was not very far away, poking around in the fridge while wearing only a towel. Mmmm...

I was still watching that fine ass wiggle when I asked, “So what family things are we all doing this year?”

Ian stood fast and smacked his head on the fridge on the way up. Jason spewed coffee and started choking.

Grinning, I waiting from them to gather themselves for a response as Ian absently patted Jason on the back and rubbed his own head at the same time. Impressive.

“Well,” Ian said thoughtfully, “I don\'t remember if I told you guys or not, but Mom called me last week to say that her and Dad are going on a cruise for the holidays. It\'s Mom\'s Christmas present from Dad. The rest of my relatives would like it if we stopped by to say hi at some point, but that\'s about it from my side.” He looked at Jason, who was still wheezing. “Does your family want to see us on Christmas day as per usual?” Jason, eyes watering, only nodded.

An evil grin lit my face as I jumped up and cheerfully announced, “Great! Then I can drag both of you with me to Grammy\'s Christmas Eve party again this year!”

Jason whimpered; Ian closed his eyes and sighed while shaking his head.

I cackled and then clapped my hands together in glee as I ran off to call Grammy and reassure her, that yes, of course we would all be there tomorrow night. How could she ever doubt our love for her like that? Heeheehee. Especially when she was so kind as to give me two days off at the busiest season of the year.

*.*.*

\"Fuck!\" Jason yelled and flung a random armful of clothes onto the couch beside me. \"Have you seen my..\" He stopped and we both looked up as Ian came back into the apartment.

\"Holy hell is it cold out there! Oh, it\'s gonna be a Whiiiiittteeee Chirstmaaaaaass..\" Ian\'s incredibly off-key singing made me laugh and cringe, even as I started to sing along. Jason just shook his head and wandered back into his room in search of ... whatever it was he was looking for.

Ian started to take off his snow gear, and I leered half-jokingly. \"Oh yea baby! Take it allll off!\"

He did a cute little hip wiggle, grinned at me, and then yanked off his boots and headed in the direction Jason wandered in.

\"I\'ve been looking for that shirt EVERYWHERE!\" was the next thing I heard, screeched at the top of Jason\'s voice, followed by quick lip smacking and laughing. I grunted and kicked the coffee table and got back to reading my awful cheesy novel. It was really truly cheesy, in a bad way, so I kept finding it hard to pay attention to the cardboard characters or their whorl-wind romance. Jason and Ian\'s romance is much more entertaining when it didn\'t want to make me cry. Also the author of the book had to be either a virgin or stupid, because they seemed to have no grasp of human anatomy.. Where as Jason had a really good grasp of anatomy. One particular piece.. Very good grasp indeed..

Giggling to myself, I realized they probably don\'t notice that their door is wide open, and the hallway just short enough that I could see a peak.

Watching them fall in love has been the most heart-wrenching thing I have ever witnessed, and heart-warming. The way they think of each other, the little notes they pass through me to be silly. The look in their eyes. The small murmurs and soft touches.

Sniffling, I had to get up in search of the tissues. It was soo that time of the month.

\"Hey! Hey hey hey! We have a three freaking hour ride in front of us. I know that stuff is fun, but I have to be THERE by 5, and it\'s already getting close to noon! So can we get a move on please? And I know you haven\'t packed a damn thing yet, Ian! So get that very finely shaped ass in gear. I\'m taking a shower.\"

\"No!\" Jason yells in a laughing voice. \"I want to get in there first! You\'re such a girl. You take forever and use up all the hot water.\"

I look down at my chest and then back at them as they watched me. \"Uh, yea, the last time I looked, I am, in fact, a girl. And I got in here first, so tough.\" I grinned and stuck out my tongue at the both of them, then backed up, slam and locked the door as quickly as possible.

The boys on the other side were laughing so hard they couldn\'t even yell at me, and they ceased knocking on the door once I turned on the water.

Mmmm. Hot water. Quiet time. Time to think, time to myself. I tried to be quick, but it was so hard to leave that warmth when I knew the cold that awaited me outside.

For the purposes of speeding along the process of getting everyone out the door on time though, I did manage to keep the shower pretty short, for me.

Jason grumbled a bit once he finally got in there, but kissed me on the forehead when I started to apologize. \"Just kidding, beautiful.\" he told me, and then kicked me out gently.

I peeked quickly into the boys room to make sure Ian was getting ready, then dashed into my room. The humidifier had been left on purposefully, and my room was nice a warm. The bed sent out nap rays, but I resisted. Everyone must be on time to Grammy\'s Christmas Eve party, or they get The Eye. Everyone must also dress up and Look Pretty. I snorted, but began the process of ripping my closet apart in search of something halfway decent.

Grammy during the holiday season is scary if you piss her off.

White bra and granny undies. Loose red sweater, black slacks and cutesy choker with santa bell. Every time I turned my head or coughed it rang, and it amused the hell out of me. By the end of the evening it would have either driven Grammy crazy or amused her too.

By the time I managed to stuff enough random clothes into a bag and grab my bathroom supplies, the boys were ready and waiting for me in the living room.

Quick check of the time. One fifty. Whew. No snubbed-feeling Grammy this year. I did a little time-victory dance. Ian laughed at the tiny jingling coming from my throat.

\"All right! We\'re all ready, and on time for once! You can hear the shock in my voice. Now let\'s go!\" I grinned at them, bouncing from foot to foot.

They smiled back, but didn\'t move to leave.

Finally I noticed that Ian was holding something behind is back, and I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them. \"I thought we agreed that we weren\'t trading presents this year?\" I asked them quietly, starting to get angry.

\"We did.\" Jason said calmly \"But..\"

I growled. Ian flashed a grin, and then held out a bright wrapped present with a gaudy red bow on top.

\"Merry Christmas. I\'ve had that old thing kicking around forever, and only just found it recently. I thought you might like to have it. It\'s not really a present, I just wrapped it to make it look pretty. So you don\'t have to feel bad about not having anything for us.\"

Grumbling, I looked at them pleadingly \"But yes I do. I feel awful. I wanted to give something to you guys too! You evil little bastards.\" Ian handed me the package and I sniffed as my eyes misted.

\"We love you too, Cee.\" Ian whispered into my ear as he hugged me, then backed up so I could hug Jason too.

\"Thank you, then. I\'m going to wait until tomorr-\"

\"No, please Cecelia. Please open it now. I want to watch you open it.\" Ian begged. I looked from him to Jason, who just shrugged.

\"Ok then.\" I opened it carefully, oh so slowly. Making them wait for my reaction to get back at them for this surprise.

When I finally looked at the cover, I did cry. It was a book on how to make origami. Entitled Origami Dreams, it was nothing special in and of itself, just their kind thought and love that made me sniffle and go misty-eyed again.

Another round of hugs and I felt stable enough to talk again. \"We need to get going or we\'re going to be late - again! And I\'ll never hear the end of it.\" I laughed, then stop and looked at them. Looking at the ground I quietly again said, \"Thank you for getting me a present.\"

\"There\'s a secret about that book, Cee. The woman I got it from said that if you put your heart\'s desire in it, it\'ll come true.\" Ian told me. I laugh and snuggled the book close to my chest.

\"Sounds like a plan. When I figure out what my heart desires most, I let it know.\" I laughed again, then stuck the book into my backpack and started dragging everyone and everything out the door, because now we were late. Goddamnit.

*.*.*

Ian unlocked the car and popped open the trunk. I tossed my overnight bag in and raced with my backpack to the passenger side. Before I could touch the door Jason beat me there, slapped his hand over the handle and, grinning, called \"Shotgun!\"

Glaring doom at him, I climbed into the backseat while grumbling.

We all got settled in for the long ride; Ian and Jason fighting for control of the radio while I pulled on my headphones and turned on my iPod.

Watching the scenery pass by, boredom quickly set in.

Rummaging through my backpack, I found Origami Dreams and started looking through it.

It was pretty plain as hardcover books go. It reminded me of some of the old Victorian books I had collected: old style drawings to show the steps of how to fold the paper into different shapes, Classic New Time Roman font and that old, moldy book-library-smell. The title page had been ripped out, which would detract from its value, but considering it was a gift, I wasn\'t going to be parted from it any time soon.

On the very last page there were strange characters that resembled kana, Japanese alphabets, but not quite, and they were much too simple to be kanji.

Stumped, I shrugged and began to flip through the various explanations and drawings. There was, of course, the crane, and then frog, fish, cat, and many others. On and on, the instructions went. Then I saw an entry on how to fold a pair of wings that looked as if posed on that moment before flight. I could almost feel the air in my face and the miles below me while I soared at a dizzying height, gitty with delight.

Pulling out a sheet of notebook paper from my backpack, I squared it off and began folding. Every edge crisp and perfect. Agonizing effort at perfection. Pulled into a separate world of obsession, the design so deceptively simple. Growling at my mistakes, I crumpled my first try, pulled out another sheet, squared it off, and tried again. And again.

What would I give to have wings like these? I thought to myself. I would give nearly anything that was my right to give. Not my life surely... well, maybe not. I would give my health and comfort, maybe.

Picturing what it would be like to glide above the world with the wind in my face, I tried ocne more to fold the wings. Holding that picture in my mind, the paper seemed to almost fold itself, and I smiled with glee. So much hope. Fly, fly away. I want to fly away. To a place with room for only enough for love.

Sighing, I held up the finished product, and smiled. They really were cute.

Kissing them, I set them in the book as a marker to that page to come back to later, and continued to flip through the rest of the entries. Nothing else pulled me so strongly again, though, and before I knew it, we had arrived. I closed the book and shoved it in my backpack and prepared to face The Relatives.

*.*.*

\"Ooo... Man.\" Jason whistled through his teeth as he crawled into bed. \"Hey Cee, how did you talk Granny-Dear into letting us all have the room together? Isn\'t she afraid we may do something.. I don\'t know.. sinnerish? Geez, every year I always forget how crazy she gets around Christmas..\" He pulled the blankets over his head and shivered.

I yanked off all my clothes and tossed them in the corner near my bag before I climbed in next. \"Grammy is NOT scary.. She just, uh, intense. And usually she likes it when the sexes are separated, but she knows you\'re gay, so she sent to me make sure something doesn\'t happen. Heehee. I love Grammy. Where\'s Ian? My hands are cold.\" I looked over at Jason already half-asleep, and smiled a very evil smile. Sneaking very slowly, my hands almost on his chest, Jason\'s eyelids shot open, and a wicked smile bloomed as he grabbed my icy hands and pushed until they were on my own chest. Screeching at the cold, I fought him as hard as I could, but Jason had a lot of arm strength on me, so I found myself stuck until Ian came bursting into the room a little while later, wondering what all the noise was about.

Ian actually knew what was most likely happening, but the rest of the family flipped out at my yell, and banged on the bathroom door until he came out and went to see what was wrong. He laughed, that bastard. Jason let go, but I still stuck my tongue out at him.

\"Better keep that in your head, or you might lose it\" Ian laughed, shucking his clothing and climbing onto the bed betwixt us two trouble-makers. I stuck my tongue out at Ian too. Then meeped when he leaned in and bit it, holding onto me by my tongue.

Jason grinned. \"Thought he was kidding, didn\'t you? Hahaha! Now.. I can tickle you!\"

\"Uhhhhhh!!\" high pitched and my eyes wide, I tried to get away, but Ian held tight. Ow. Tears stung at my eyes, and screeched again, wordlessly. Ian let go and laughed.

\"Mustn\'t upset The Relatives.\" He whispered in my ear as he gagged me with his hand. Then Ian grabbed my wrists with his other hand so I couldn\'t get away as Jason proceeded to tickle me until I almost wet the bed.

\"AHHH!!! I HATE it when you do that!\" I yelled as I made a mad dash off the bed in the direction of the bathroom. Their laughter followed me out the door, but it was their deep, gravely voices talking so quietly that I came back to a minute later. I worried at their serious faces, but then grinned.

The water had made my hands cold again.

Acting as innocently as I could, I crawled back onto the bed and stuck my hands on Ian\'s thighs. The yell that followed was great, and worth the next round of tickling that followed.

After that, at last, we were all tuckered out and the stress that had built all night had been released. We curled around each other for comfort and fell deeply asleep; happily, wildly in love.

And that\'s when the pain set in.