"Lynzee, time to wake up." The echoes of my mom were so clear. I can see her shadow casting upon my dimly lit room.  I shot awake then sat up panting. I awoke once again on to a snowy night of Christmas Eve.

   The wooden house was still cold. The curtains shading the shattered windows aren't useful. I have nobody to cuddle with even my own mother and father. They are all dead. My whole family that I once lived with are now sleeping beneath the Earth's surface.

   They all are now having a decent life on the other side. Having Christmas with my dead ancestors among my own family tree. I am left behind with the shadows among myself. A shadow cursed upon misfortune cast among me. I am still waiting to break its chains and flee, however I know it was just my imagination. My family had wasted away from itself then soon me.

   The recent death was my biological mother, Marie Fawn. She died from illnesses. She had Influenza B while her left breast was swollen while it was giving out a yellowish discharge. I was educated by my own father. I succumbed to know what was the cause of mother's death. One uncontagious disease that slowly kills the person from the inside out. It kills emotionally and physically. CANCER. My mother had died from breast cancer and Influenza B.

   I opened the curtains and look beyond of the white fog and snow. Forest barricades myself from the nearest neighbors miles away. I was isolated from the real world. I only linger near this old collapsing wooden cabin. I then stare at my cracked reflection within the glass window. The cracks meant my barren self. The cracks indicates that I am falling apart and soon to collapse within. I am broken.

   "Hang on, Lynzee." I mumbled to myself. "Someday, I long to get out of this mess."

🎄🎄🎄Last December🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

   "Lynzee, wake up, it's your birthday!" Mother nudges me like a kitten. "It's your fourteenth birthday."

   "Mom, it's December 20th, give me time to sleep." I covered my thick blanket over my head.

   "Well, Daddy Jeffrey let you hunt deer for supper." Mother nudges me again.

   "Fine." I lifted the blanket off of me then stare at her flat. "You better not be joking around."

   Papa walked in my room with a shotgun in his hands. He looked at me. "Ready to go hunt some deer?" He winked.

   "Okay, let me get dress first." I replied.

   "No, put the buffalo coat on now and take the shotgun. We've haven't ate for two days now and time is running out." My father disapproves.

    I put the thick furry coat at the edge of my bed. I wrapped it around myself then got up then grab Dad's shotgun.

   "Ready." I said softly.

   Papa and I walked outside into the woods. The December aura has already brushing over: quiet, calm, and wintery bliss. My Papa Jeffrey walked almost approximately a quarter of a mile of forest until we saw a deer.

    "Your first deer, Lyn, aim your gun at its head." He commanded.

   I aimed the gun at the deer's head. Then the deer looked at me then to its left. It then later run in the opposite direction. I pulled the trigger and saw the bullet brush past the deer then right into the tree. I can see bark of the tree fly off.

    "Dang it!" I groaned.

   "Rahhhh!" I've heard a raspy low roar nearby. I looked towards my father then looked ahead. I see a giant brown bear trotting towards us.

   "Dad!" I screamed and pointed at the bear. Papa Jeffrey turned to what I was pointing at. He looked and the bear stood over seven feet tall. Inches above my dad's height.

   "Lynzee, run!" He screamed.

    I aimed the shotgun right at the bear's head. I almost pulled the trigger until dad shouted: "It won't be effected by it, run!"

   I immediately started running back towards the cabin leaving Dad behind. Before I stepped out to the clear area of the woods, my dad's murderous screams became behind me deep within the woods.

   I've turned. I was tempted to run back and help father, but I fear it might be too late. I also didn't want to face death. That's when I heard the cabin door slammed opened by my mother. Mother rushed towards my side with worry.

    "Lynzee, where's Jeffrey, I've heard his scream?" She cried.

   "A bear came at us." I said. "He told me to run!"

     "Oh my dear, Jeffrey!" She began to run towards the woods. I immediately gripped onto her and made her turned around.

   "He's gone. Daddy has been mauled by a bear." I said. I've always remembered the words I said to her about papa's tragic death. I can see the expressions mourn, sadness, and worry. Thy tears of obliteration and wither rained down to her cheeks. She collapsed to the ground crying. O' dear, I remembered the pressure beneath my eyes started to rise. I hold my tears in no matter how powerful the pressure got. I tried to show my bravery towards mother.

    "Mother, let's get back into the cabin, don't try find him, you'll get lost." I said to her. I put my palms softly against my mother's cheeks. I stroke the tears from her eyes. The lost of her love made her feel like a child and I am the one who feels like mother being there for her.

    Mother and I walked back into the cabin. I turned to mother and pressed my hands upon her shoulders. "Father is in the afterlife. He is in a better place now watching us from the other side and we will meet him soon." I said while a tear stokes down my left cheek.

   I went to bed very early due to I was exhausted and long to get my sad fourteenth birthday done and gone.

    Two days elapsed and began to notice mother being very sick. She must be having influenza, so she stayed in her bed.

   "Hang in there, Mama Marie." I said to her while pulling some covers over her.

   "My left breast hurts." She complained. The horrendous memoir of me pulling the blankets off of her top half of her body. I ripped part of her shirt near her left breast to see her left breast swollen with a yellowish discharge. I  also remembered trying not to puke from disgust. "I will put some ice on it." I gagged.

   I walked out of her room and went to the old fashion hanger and realize mother's thick furry coat was soaked. I knew mother Marie didn't wore the coat when she rushed outside the other day when realizing about Father's death. She must've snuck out while I was sleeping.  

   I made a snowball from the compacted ice on the ground then looked and gaze into the woods. The flashback of my father's screams still lingered around in my head.

    I bring the compacted snowball inside the house and put it upon mother's head. I then cleaned my mother's left breast. I know that private parts of females and males body don't disturb me as much anymore. We used to get very cold winters and dry hot summers. Hot enough that we barely wear clothes. All privates parts from the body are natural.

   Christmas Eve has arrived. Mother didn't get any better and the cough got worse and worse. Mother Marie was only love that I have left, so I decided to take care of her. Her left breast was bloated. It was way larger than her right breast.

   I pressed against my mom's forehead. "You are having a fever." I informed. "It's been that way for like three days."

   I grabbed another snowball and gazed upon dusk. Another day of misfortune and lost. I can see the winter clouds rolling in from the west. I head back inside and wrapped the freezing snowball within a cloth and put it against mother's head.

   I then gather lumber to build a fire within the fireplace. I knew it was going to be a froidful night.

   "Lynzee!" I heard mother's raspy voice from within her room. I walked inside. It's been days since mother had ate food. I can see her ribs around her chest area. Her hair was clumped and scalped. It's been months since we've showed. We only bathe during sunlight within the summer.

   "Yes, mom?" I said to her.

   "Father wasn't dead that night." She whispered.

   "What?" I gave her the brow. "You snuck out, no wonder why you are sick."

   "I found him on the ground breathing and very weak to move. The snow was covering him like a blanket. He was full of deep cuts and marks. I was hopeless to help him, so I left him to die of hypothermia."

   That moment my gut dropped and began to stroke my lips with my left palm. I was suprised papa didn't die from being mauled by a bear, but hypothermia. "I am so sorry." I cried.

   "It wasn't your fault." She said. "Husband Jeffrey was great man. Who hunt and sacrificed everything he can to help us. Now, it's your turn to save yourself."

   "I am not ready." I began to cry.

   "Lynzee, I knew my time was already coming. Your's is too far and you're too young to die. Father was a wealthy hunter before he met me. He married me in order to keep me well. He sacrificed his greed to help me and you." Mother removed a necklace of a closed amulet. I opened it up and it showed Papa Jeffrey and Mama Marie beside each other smiling when they were a newly wedded couple. Mother looked beautiful and dad looked handsome.

   "Remember me, Lynzee. We always be beside you even though we are on the other side." She said before closing her eyes and taking her long last exhale. She then went stiff and still.

   "Mother?!" I cried shaking her warm body that's slowly turning cold. I checked her pulse. No sign of a heartbeat. I gazed into mother's closed eyes and one last sweat of tear go down her eyes. I then buried my eyes into my palms of my hands and let the pressure come out! I was crying because I lost my last person who cared about me, my mother. Beforehand, my father.

🎄🎄🎄 Present Christmas Eve 🎄🎄🎄

     I stare at my necklace that mother gave me at the palms of my hands. I constantly stare into my eyes of my recently married mother and father. They all looked so happy and healthy. Now, they're gone. I am their last hope left. I then stare at the fire place chewing off the last bits of a pine cone from a nearby pine tree. Scraps that's edible are necessary for survival.

    This Christmas, I am now fifteen with no gifts from mother and father. I have no one nor anything. My aunts, my uncles, and my cousins are unknown and don't know I am alive with my family's demise by my side.

   Note: The spelling nor my grammar isn't 100%. Nobody is perfect, but this is my first heartbreaking Christmas Story. Hope you all like it.