Pinophyta

• Pinophyta

• Pack: Cy7 Days Of Christmas: Advent Of A Frozen World (cy7advent) (Day 7/7)

Made by Satan

BPM: 170 & 150

Amply warmed by alcohol and more amply frustrated by her family, Rene grabbed her leather jacket from her chair, quickly slipped into it and left the restaurant.

From the noise of repetitive carols and triteness of all who ate alongside her, she stepped into the icy night, leaving behind the nuisance that is the restaurant to the tune of the receptionist’s “thank you”.

Everything felt plastic, even the woods just north of her seemed more human.

Rene kicked a discarded beer can into the road, and a wheel soon flattened it into the asphalt, the sough of the winter wind bidding its bygone life farewell.

“What’s a girl like you doing in the street all alone?”

While Rene was captivated by the sounds of the can and the wind, a bearded man in a trenchcoat and an ushanka had walked up.

She took a close look.

“Hey, you look familiar. Have we met before? You look like a waiter in there, and maybe a guy at -”

“Common face I suppose, though we all come from God, so in a way we have met.”

Rene guffawed.

Terrible line.

“Cider’s my boy for tonight. You think you could top him?” Rene said with a smirk.

A sigh from the man.

“Heh, not about to flirt, though I will warn you cider’s not the best choice of a boy toy.

“You know, my uh, father, you could say, he threw me out. Now I barely remember that I can buy myself nice things, which I really should do.

“You too. That bracelet of yours? It’s probably broken.”

And so it slinked, down, down into the snow.

“Go buy yourself something you like when you can. Maybe a chain instead.”

Rene gazed at her broken bracelet, musing that maybe she did need a new one.

She could buy a bracelet.

Or maybe a chain instead.

It was Christmas.

She deserved nice things.

When she looked up, the man was gone, but she felt lighter.

It would be easier to fall in, just accept that Christmas is a chaotic hodgepodge of naivety, apathy and frustration.

So is life. People had their lives to deal with. Christmas was a great time to spend without remorse, to take away their stress through shopping.

She too had her problems.

“Which chain should I buy?” Rene pondered as she returned to her glass - now filled again with cider - and her family.

---

Down the road, towards the woods, a ghostly fire consumes a discarded ushanka and a trenchcoat, their original bearer nowhere to be seen.

Not that there was anyone near enough to witness this.

The winds muttered, seemingly diarising, “Too easy; this one isn’t a real rebel. Just a few words and she’s done for.

“Now, you. Celebrate.

“Idiot.”