Unexpected Visitors

Chapter One: Our Guests Arrive

The snow kept falling on that cold December day and Aurora stared out the window looking at the snowflakes as they came down. It was three days before Christmas and the biggest snowstorm ever had decided to stop over their little town in the middle of nowhere. Winters in Ontario were known to be brutal, but this was ridicules, she thought.

The seventeen-year-old pulled her quilt tighter around her small body as she shivered again. Watching the snow was the only thing she could think of doing since their power had gone out over an hour ago.

Her brother walked in the living room where she was sitting. He looked at her huddled up figure on the couch beside the window for a moment before he spoke. “Aurora?”

“Trevor,” she responded still looking out the window, as if mesmerized by the falling snow. Even though she and Trevor were four years apart, they were very close for being brother and sister.

“The power is still out,” he updated her.

She nodded to show she was paying attention and he continued, “Mom and I are still listening to the battery powered radio. Apparently a lot of power and phone lines are out.” He paused for a minute and glanced out the window as well, “you sure you don’t want to come up and listen with us?”

“I’m sure,” she said. “I’m bored enough as it is, thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” he said disappearing up the stairs at the back of the room.

A few minutes later Aurora’s nineteen-year-old sister, Liz, came bouncing down the stairs. “Hey Honey Bug,” she said as she pounced on her little sister. Aurora just swatted her away.

“Liz, you have way to much energy for this early in the morning,” she said.

“Aw you’re so mean!” Liz pouted at her sister. “And I came all the way down here just to tell you the good news.”

Aurora’s head snapped up. “Good news?” she repeated.

“Uh huh.” Liz walked over to the light switch and flipped it on and the light bulb lit up. “And check this out: Gran and Grandpa called Trevor’s cell.”

“And?”

“They’re coming over in a bit. They have no power either. Mom said that if we want a Christmas dinner, we’re going to have to start cooking the turkey now before the power goes out.” Liz paused and looked at the battery-powered clock on the wall. They should be here in about a half an hour, depending on how bad the roads are.”

“Uh huh,” Aurora agreed, and at the same time there was a knock at the door. The girls just stared dumbly at the direction that the noise had come from. “What? They can’t be here already, can they?” They walked to the front door and Liz pulled it open.

“Merry –” she began.

“Chris?” Aurora interrupted staring up in disbelief at one of her classmates as he stood at the door with an older man, who Aurora assumed was his father.

“–Mas,” Liz finished looking amused as she pushed her sister out of the way as she invited the men inside. “Come in, you must be freezing. And I don’t mean to be rude, but we’re losing what little heat we have left in this house.”

“Please excuse the intrusion,” Chris’ father said politely as they entered the house and shut the door behind them. “Can we please use your phone? You see our car broke down a little ways down the street. Yours is the only house with anyone still here.”

“The phone’s dead, but my brother has a cell phone. I’ll go get him, just wait a minute.” Liz replied and turned to walk out of the kitchen.

Aurora quickly grabbed hold of her sister’s arm. “I’ll go get him for you,” she offered just looking for an excuse to leave the room.

Liz just shook her head. “No, you can stay and entertain our guests. I’ll be right back.” She pulled her arm from Aurora’s grip and left the room to find their big brother with a smirk on her face.

“But wait. No … Liz.” Aurora trailed off as she watched Liz leave. She turned back to the guests, who were both staring at her, and she gave a nervous smile.

“So you and my son know each other?” the man asked covering up the awkward silence.

Aurora nodded, unsure of what to say or do. Her attention was now on the tall Italian teen that stood a few feet in front of her. He had short black hair with highlights and dark chocolate eyes. There wasn’t much tanned skin visible to Aurora because of the thick winter coat he had on.

Aurora’s attention was back on his father when he started talking to her. “And what’s your name?” he asked.

“It’s Aurora,” Chris supplied for her.

Aurora looked back at Chris; he had remembered her name. For a moment she wondered what else he had remembered from their few classes that they shared when they were in grade seven and eight. She didn’t have much time to think about it though, because Liz pounced on her from behind and they both fell to the cold, tiled floor.

“Ow,” Aurora groaned as she pushed her sister off her from the second time that morning.

Their mother and brother appeared from the opposite direction that Liz had come from. Their mother gave Liz a disapproving look and Aurora a sympathetic one. Then she turned to speak to the guests while Trevor helped Aurora off the floor.

“My son’s cell phone doesn’t work anymore,” their mother explained. “The battery died a few minutes ago, but you are welcome to stay here until the phone works again, whenever that may be.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Chris’ father said. “But we don’t want to intrude.”

“Nonsense,” she responded. “It’s 40 below zero out there and there is plenty of room and food in this house for two more people.”

Aurora frowned as she listened to the conversation that was going on in front of her. Weren’t her grandparents going to be coming over? Is there really going to be enough space for eight people to live in this house?

“They’re not coming.” Trevor said answering her questions as he poked her in the side.

“What? Why not?” she asked rubbing the sore spot where he had poked her.

“My cell died when I was talking to them,” he explained. “They said they couldn’t get the car to start. It’s too cold out.”

“Oh.”

“Trevor,” their mother said, grabbing both of their attention. “Please go get your coat on and help Mr. Giovanni get his stuff from their car.”

“Yes Mom.” Trevor responded. He walked around Mr. Giovanni and Chris to the closet to get his coat.

Aurora decided that she wasn’t needed anymore and was about to leave when her mother called her back. “Aurora, Sweetie, can you please hang up Chris’ coat and make sure he’s warm enough?”

Aurora was about to protest but she realized she didn’t have anything better to do and her mother wouldn’t take ‘I hate him’ as a reason not to show him a little hospitality.

Trevor and Mr. Giovanni had already left by the time Aurora had finished hanging up Chris’ coat. Her sister and mother were working on getting their family room set up for them to sleep since they don’t have a guest room.

Aurora looked up at Chris as she stood alone in silence with him. She glanced awkwardly around the hall trying to think of something to say or do when she remembered what her mother told her to do. “Are you cold?” she asked.

“Yeah. A little,” he replied.

“Follow me,” Aurora said walking down the hall, around a corner and into the living room. She picked up the quilt that she discarded earlier and handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he said as he wrapped it around himself. “It’s already warm.”

“I know.” Aurora sat down on the couch and glanced at the staircase beside her. She desperately wanted to go up to her room, rather than stay and entertain one of the guys that made her life a living hell when she was younger.

“Were you using it?” Chris asked, getting her attention again.

She shrugged still staring at the stairs. “It’s my quilt.”

He walked up to her so he was standing directly in front of her, his legs inches from hers. “Wanna share?”

Aurora frowned at being caught off guard. She glared up at Chris. “I’m not cold anymore,” she responded quickly.

“You’re shivering,” he smirked, looking at her too-small-for-her-age form.

“I’m hungry,” she said changing the subject. She got up from the couch and avoided Chris and made her way into the kitchen.

Aurora searched through one of the cupboards in the kitchen until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a bag of the buns her sister made and grabbed one. She grabbed a clean knife and began to slice it in half, buttering one side.

“It’s rude to stare, you know,” she said after she noticed that Chris had followed her into the kitchen. After she had taken a bite and swallowed, she continued speaking, “Can I help you with something?”

“Aurora don’t be so mean to our guest,” Liz said slipping into the kitchen from behind Chris. She walked over to her little sister and stole the other half of the bun.

“I’m only giving him the same amount of respect that he’s always given me,” Aurora replied and walked to the other exit of the kitchen. “Which just happens to be none,” she finished and left the room.

Liz turned her attention from her retreating sister to the Italian teen at the edge of the dinning room. She finished the rest of her stolen half of the bun before she spoke again, “She really doesn’t like you.”

“I know.”

Liz turned to leave from the same way she came. “I wonder what you did to her to make her hate you so much,” she said to herself as she walked out.

~*~

AN: Ok, this is kind of a weird story. It was based on a dream I had and the characters are based on real people, I just changed their names. Aurora is based off of me, and her sister and brother are based off of my bother and sister. Also, ‘Honey Bug’ is actually my nickname that my sister gave me and she’s the only one that calls me by it. Chris is based off of a guy at my school that I actually had a dream about (yes I know it’s strange, why did you think I changed the names?). And as for “Mr. Giovanni”, I just chose a random Italian surname. And Aurora’s last name is also a random name that I chose. And as for figuring out Trev’s age, well it’s seventeen plus four; you can do the math, can’t you? (Here's a helpful tip if you can't remember their ages, they're all two years apart, just like me and my siblings.)

Reviews are greatly appreciated!! Thanks for reading. Sorry if there are any mistakes.