It was around 7:08 in the afternoon when I found myself in the Powell's backyard watching the sun set making the snow around me glow. I was currently thinking when I heard a door open. I looked over to the house and saw AJ standing in front of the sliding door. I waved and she walked towards me. She sat next to me and looked into my blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" She had asked me. I shook my head.

"Nothings wrong I'm just thinking" I replied. She looked down.

"Oh ok" she said before Brycie called her inside. A few minutes later I heard the door open again. I looked over again and saw Alan walking over towards me. He sat down next to me and started talking.

"Hey" he said.

"Hi" I replied. We sat in silence for about 2 minutes.

"AJ said that you seemed upset. Is anything bothering you?" He asked. I sighed.

"Yeah actually. I just didn't want her to ask about it" he looked at me, encouraging me to continue.

"It's my family. I...I don't want to loose them. I don't know what to do. I mean it takes to long to get to Iowa and I can't call them..." I kept on rambling for a few minutes until I was finally done.

"Well if it's God's will then somehow He will lead you to them or them to you. You just gotta trust him" he replied after taking in my problem. After that had been said he left to let me think. I watched as the sun started to set making the sky a beautiful blue with pink fluffy clouds and making me want cotton candy. I heard he siding door open again and I saw Spencer with the one thing that I was craving. Cotton candy. I got up and ran to him. He smiled and opened his arms. I gave him a quick hug the stole the delicious treat.

"Hey!" He said playfully. He followed me to the bench and sat down next to me. We talked about random things while eating the sugary food that he had brought.

"So are you excited about tomorrow?" He asked me a stupid question.

"Uh duh. Why wouldn't I be it's Christmas!" I shouted and raised my arms in happiness. He laughed at my silliness. I then got a little more serious.

"It's my first Christmas in a long time" I had almost whispered. He looked at me with a look of sadness.

"Really?" He questioned as if he hadn't heard me. I nodded and looked down.

"Yeah. You see my family wasn't always atheists. We would celebrate all of the Christian holidays like Easter when Christ arose or the Passover when the angel passed over the doors that had lambs blood on the outside of the doorframes. But ever since a good friend of my father's died, he turned away from Him and hated God. And he hated Him for letting a good Christian man die. I was like eight when his friend died. So I haven't celebrated Christmas for ten years. It's sad really" I ended my story, then leaned into Spencer's side with tears in my eyes. He squeezed my shoulders and turned my head to face him. He was smiling.

"Well we'll show you how we celebrate Christmas tomorrow. You'll love it" I smiled at his happiness. I leaned up and turned to him, then hugged him. When I pulled away, Brycie asked us if we wanted to watch a movie. We nodded and went inside. I had a great time and I couldn't wait for tomorrow.

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Hey guys, ninja_of_steel here and this is just a chapter to fill you in on a little bit of Riley's past and what her family was like. And don't worry there are many more chapters that will fill you in on her life in Iowa.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see all of you beautiful ninja in the next one.