Maybe In Another

They were separated as to not confuse my gifts with Melanie's. I entered the kitchen and, to what was no surprise, I found mom cooking. "Good morning, mom." I say, still tired. "Morning, Wes

ld end up falling asleep, and the next morning my mother took the picture. For a second, I zoned out, before letting out a slight chuckle. It made me sad, definitely, though I appreciated the fact that I forever had a piece of my dad to carry with me. "Thank you, Mom. This is sweet." I said. We finished unwrapping our gifts and then snapped a family photo. We had our Christmas dinner before going out into the backyard. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" Melanie said in song. She was trying to replicate Anna from frozen. "I'm up for it!" Mom shouted. "Me, too!" I budged in. We started by rolling up the biggest piece, the body. "Go long, Wessy!" Melanie had a snowball in hand and began a throwing motion. I ran as fast as I could to get underneath the snowball, before I got smacked into and forced into the ground. "Man, that hurt. What the?" I looked up and my mom was standing over me. "And Julia lays the hit, and the ball comes loose! It's incomplete on the play. Second down!" She says through laughs. I get up with a smirk. "Real funny, mom, watch this." I say. I run up to my mom and tackle her to the ground. All 3 of us let out laughs. Mom and I got up and began to work on the head of the snowman. "I'll get the nose!" Melanie shouted. "I got the eyes!" I said. "Wait, kids. It's missing something." Mom said. She roamed around and found a hat and put it on the snowman's head. "We need a name." Melanie stated. "What about Gary?" I asked. "Like your dad. I like it." Mom answered. We all huddled around the snowman and took a selfie. "Who's ready to watch Christmas movies?" I asked as I raced into the house. The Christmas Story felt like the perfect movie to watch this year. We all watched movies until we fell asleep. For the first time in a while, we had been a family again. Days passed and New Years came. I got a text on my phone from Lindsay's number asking me to go to a party. I hadn't gotten out at all since my father died, and I thought it could be a good opportunity to get out and socialize. Maybe I might be able to escape my troubles. I told my family I love them and wished them goodbye before heading out to my car and driving to the party. The party was loud, and the lights were bright. They had a heated pool. Lots of people were participating in explicit activities in the middle of the open. "I guess this must be the place." I said to myself. I walked out and tried to find Lindsay. When I found her, she was sitting on a couch alone with a bag on the table. "Lindsay?" I say, "Are you okay." She tells me that she's fine and offers me a seat beside her. She hands me the bag. I ask her what it is, and she casually says it's marijuana. I tell her she's nuts if she thinks I'd try that. She picks up a lighter and grabs some rolling paper and weed and makes a joint. She lights it and holds it out to me. I'm not gonna lie when I say I was extremely tempted by this offer. Life has been a daze since my father passed away and this was an opportunity to escape and live a little. I take the blunt and take a hit. I do this again. Then again. Then again until the blunt is no longer smokable. Then, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a bottle of over the counter prescription meds. She tells me these aren't allowed. Only weed was permitted in the party. She asks me if I want to sneak off with her. I agree, and we go to my car. I couldn't even think clearly. She offered me the meds, and I obliged, taking a few. My head began to spin way faster than it was before. I was beginning to feel much happier. I was beginning to feel like a whole different person. I felt like there weren't any problems in the world. I lost track of time swimming in the pool. I lost track of time dancing to the music. I checked the time on my phone and sa