A Christmas to Last Forever
“Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your gifts. I know I enjoyed mine. Every year you guys get me the same gift and it never gets old. My present is non refundable and more than I could ever ask for. My gift is you.”
“Edward?”
“My wife and two boys, just beautiful. With every year I love you more and more!”
“It’s time for your medicine. If you don’t come out now, you won’t get a chance to play your game.”
“I wouldn’t trade a thing in the world to lose one single second from the three of you. The day I met your mother, my beautiful wife Maureen, was timeless. Then there was you son, my first born, Paul, June 21st, 1983 and you, my second born, Richard, February 22nd, 1985.”
“You need to come out now, Edward.”
“I never want you any of you to grow old. I never want to lose you. I swear that I will do anything to make sure that you never leave me. I never want this memory to fade away.”
“Time is ticking away.”
“Listen, I have to go. I love all of you. I’ll see you again next year, same time and day, December 25th 7:35 am. Daddy loves you.”
“My god, I’ll never understand that crazy Eddie. I can’t believe he killed his entire family just because his wife wanted a divorce. And Christmas morning of all days to get butchered into pieces. I wonder what the cops thought when they found him sitting on the living room floor, laughing. There was also that weird drawing on the wall of the wife and kids done with their own blood. Well, I guess that would explain why all of his finger paintings end up in red.”
Richard De Fino is a born and raised New York City writer. He has appeared in Writers Digest, Fuck Fiction, theNewerYork and is forthcoming in Two Cities Review.
