Our Christmas Spirit: A Holiday Short Story

By Chai Rose

Our Christmas Spirit is a clean Holiday short story about childhood friends getting a second chance at love.
When Abbi decides to brave a snowstorm to visit her old friend Annie in a small town in Vermont, her car slides off the road and she soon finds herself lost in the woods. But a stranger helps her find her way to Zach's cabin..
And so begins this Christmas love story. Will Zach and Abbi finally realize the love they have been hiding for years and allow themselves to love each other? Or will each of their pasts keep them apart forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chai Rose
• Release date: Dec 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536544268

Book preview

Abbi

I knew was going to die – right there in the snow in the middle of the woods. I wasn’t on the edge of death yet– I still had at least a couple more hours or so I thought. But, to be totally honest, I have no idea how long it would take to freeze to death. Is it minutes or hours? I would think it has something to do with how warm you can keep yourself and how dry. And I was really cold and really wet, so I knew I was pretty much screwed.

Less than an hour earlier I was driving through a snow storm, trying to get to Annie’s house for Christmas. I hadn’t seen her in over 8 years and I couldn’t wait to spend the Holidays with her and her family – her parents and her little brother, Zach. Since Henry left me 5 months and 17 days ago, my life has been a mess. I just can’t seem to find happiness or even a purpose to my life. So, I made the trip from New York to Vermont and I wasn’t going to let a little snow stop me. Except it did stop me. But, to be fair, it was more than a little snow.

I was sitting there with my back against a tree, wondering if I should stay in one spot or continue to wander. If I got up, I might be wandering all night and freeze to death even deeper in the woods. But if I stayed in one place, I was certainly going to freeze to death. I had to keep moving, didn’t I?

I pictured my half decomposed body being found by some hunter in the spring. I’m just lying lifeless, exposed and dead. And this caused the tears to try to push their way to the surface, but I fought them back. Don’t do it. Do not cry. It will not help.

What was Henry doing as I sat freezing in the woods? He was probably lying beside his new wife with his hand on her newly expanded stomach. He didn’t want to have kids, that’s what he always told me. He also didn’t want to get married until everything was perfect – perfect for me. That’s what he said. But then he went and got his secretary pregnant, and in the small space of less than an hour, he told me he was in love with someone else and was moving out and was getting married and was having a baby. Within 12 hours, he was completely moved out of our apartment and out of my life. I was shell shocked. Completely floored.

Christmas was always my favorite time of the year (even though Henry found it annoying and over hyped). So Annie, whom I always kept in contact with, invited me to come and stay for a week or so.

I was hesitant at first, but I didn’t want to be alone and I liked the idea of being in a cozy Vermont town for Christmas. So, I left after work just 3 days before Christmas and kept on driving even when I could barely see through the snow. I was only a few miles from her house when I thought I saw something run across the road. I only jerked the steering wheel a fraction of an inch, but that was enough. The car started to skid, first to the left, and then back to the right and off the road. I think I spun around completely at least 3 times before the back passenger side hit a tree and everything stopped.

I was fine physically, but plenty scared. My cell phone had absolutely no reception so calling for help wasn’t an option. I sat in my car for several minutes and then I realized that I could freeze to death sitting in the car. Somebody had to pass by on the street, and I could flag her down and ask for ride into town. That was my plan. But I slipped and fell as I got out of my car, and then I slipped and fell again after about 10 steps, and somewhere in the middle of all the slipping and falling I got turned around and walked in the wrong direction.

I stopped after no more than 50 steps and I