Jak's Christmas
In a large house, a small group of friends gather around the fireplace as the snow outside drifts down to the earth. The small group consisted with friends by the names of Jak, Daxter, Evangeline, Keira, Samos, Ashlin, Tess, and Torn. They were in a house in the wasteland city of Spargos. They had all, except Ashlin and Torn (to busy with work), put up a Christmas tree in the corner of the room and had put presents for them all at its base. The room they sat in was a nice cozy room. The fireplace was the only light, and lit up a lot actually, and it was nice and toasty, the opposite of the snow covered grounds of outside. The room had a cotton circular rug on the ground with a couple of soft, comfortable recliners were around them. Evangeline and Samos had made hot chocolate and eggnog for their friends and Keira helped bring it out.
Evangeline sat on the ground leaning against one of the recliners and in that certain recliner Jak sat with his legs dangling over the end of his seat to the left of Evangeline. Keira sat in a recliner next to Jak on his right and Ashlins was in a recliner to Jak's left. Samos stood next to his daughter, Keira's, seat while Torn was in yet another recliner next to Ashlin. Daxter, the ottsel of the group, was sitting next to Evangeline on her right with Tess, a newly made ottsel, sitting next to him on his right.
Evangeline was smiling big. This would be the first Christmas she and her friends would ever have. Back were she, Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Samos had come from, Sandover Village, Evangeline was the only one in the whole village to even know about Christmas. But, unfortunately, She had no friends or family to celebrate it with. She was always alone. And here in Spargos and Haven, battle enraged them both and there was no time for Christmas. Then, when the battling was finally over, people were still busy doing work with repairs. Now, finally, they had time to celebrate it.
"So, are you all enjoying yourselves?" Evangeline was about to ask but Samos beat her to the cut. Everyone nodded.
"I love Christmas! I never knew about it until you invited me to this little party," Tess said turning to Evangeline.
"YEAH! Christmas is AWSOME!!" Daxter exclaimed.
"You're only saying that because you get presents, aren't you Dax?" Evangeline said down to her furry friend more in a statement way then a question way.
"Well, how would you know?" Daxter asked accusingly.
"I'm the almighty Evan! What would you expect," Evan replied smiling big. She never really did like being called Evangeline; to her it sounded to formal, so she made it clear to her friends to call her Evan. Daxter rolled his eyes and went back to sipping his eggnog.
"You know, I'd like to know why we're even celebrating Christmas anyway," Keira commented after taking a big gulp of hot chocolate.
"Yeah, what is so special about it?" Ashlin followed up Keira's question quickly. Evan, who had been drinking hot chocolate when they had asked that question, instantly spat out the drink in her mouth. Evan coughed a bit and rubbed off the drink from her mouth. She was still coughing a bit.
"Hay, you OK?" Jak asked from behind her and he leaned forward a bit so that his face was right next his best girlfriend (NOT IN DATING TERMS! IN FRIENDSHIP TERMS!)
"Yeah, I'm fine," Evan replied coughing one more time and finally stopping. She looked back at Jak and smiled. Jak calmed and leaned back in his chair. Evan then turned to her friends and said, "I'm surprised you don't know where Christmas came from."
"We've never celebrated it before. What would you expect?" Torn said irritantly.
"Yeah, but still. It's the most famous story of them all," Evan said setting her cup down on the ground in front of her.
"Does it have anything to do with Mar?" Ashlin asked. Evangeline shook her head.
"No, it was in a time long ago in a place called Bethlehem," she said closing her eyes to remember the story she had been told by the red sage many years ago.
"Well, tell us!" Daxter exclaimed impatiently. Evan smiled and opened her eyes again. All her friends were staring at her waiting for her story.
"In a little town called Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph walked door to door looking for a place to sleep. The inn was full and Mary was expecting a child to be born soon. There was no place to stay so the couple had to go to a small stable for the night. Mary gave birth that night and laid the child in a horse feeder filled with hay. This child had been 'prophesized' by an angel a few months ago and she knew that this child was the very son of the Lord himself. Mary had been blessed at birth of being free from original sin so she could give birth to this child. The child was named Jesus and he would be the savior of the world and all mankind. And that is why we celebrate Christmas. It is the birth of Jesus Christ," Evan told stories so well that even Daxter stayed silent in awe. Everyone was captivated by Evan's stories.
"So, Jesus was very important?" Keira asked.
Evan nodded and said, "Very. He had no sin and was a prophet already at the age of, well… he was really young."
"Cool," Daxter commented. Tess nodded in agreement. Evan looked at her watch. 11:49 p.m.
"In eleven minutes it will be officially Christmas day and we'll get to open presents!" Evan announced.
"YEAH!" Daxter yelled happily. He was so much like a little kid. Evan picked up her drink from the ground and sipped a bit of it. It was silent for a bit and it made Evan a little uncomfortable. Jak leaned forward so he was next to Evan's face again.
"How much longer?" he groaned. Evan looked at her watch again. 11:58 p.m.
"Two more minutes," Evan replied. Jak nodded and leaned back in his chair. Soon, Evan looked back at her watch and it said midnight.
"Hay! Guess what?" she said to her friends. They all turned to her. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" she exclaimed and Daxter jumped into the pile of presents under the tree happily. Evan laughed and ran over to the side of the presents and sat down. Tess followed her. Daxter popped out of the pile holding three presents in his tiny arms. He passed one to Tess, one to Keira, and one to Evan.
"Those are for you, babes," Daxter said smiling and trying, with no provable, to sound more manly. Evan rolled her eyes.
"Just get some of the others presents," she growled shoving Daxter back in the pile. Soon, with a little help from Evan and Tess, Daxter had passed out everyone's gifts. Evan raised her hand and pointed her finger in the air.
"Alright," Evan called out," open your presents in five… four… three… two… one."
"NOW!" Jak, Evan, and Daxter finished and Evan flung her arm back down as if it was the beginning of a race. Everyone started unwrapping their presents. Everyone, even Torn, enjoyed it. They all had gotten one gift from each other. They were all having a great time.
It was 12:43 when they had all opened their presents. They all sat back in their "self-designated" seats and continued drinking their drinks again. Evan felt so exhilarated that she had finally celebrated Christmas. She looked to her left. Jak had changed to sitting on the floor next to her. Evan looked back at the fireplace and smiled. She had an idea to break the silence. She got up and put another log on the fire so it burned a bigger flame. Evan took a seat on the ground in front of the fireplace and grinned. The fire cast an odd shadow over Evan that she looked quite frightening. It looked like she was a dark creature in a dim light in a dark alley.
"Why don't we have a contest?" Evan asked her friends still grinning and disguising her voice so she sounded like an angry murderer. It scared Daxter so much that he zoomed behind Tess in fear. "Are you scared, Daxter?" Evan growled sounding more like a beast this time. Daxter peaked out from behind Tess and looked at Evan. "Good!" Evan growled grinning an evil grin that bared her teeth. Daxter squeaked and zoomed back fully behind Tess. Jak stifled laughter and Evan felt quite satisfied.
"So, what kind of contest do you mean?" Ashlin asked crossing her arms, also trying her hardest not to laugh at Daxter's nerdyness. Evan grinned more and skimmed her gaze over the group of friends. She faked an evil laugh. It sounded like a real one. She always was an incredible actor.
"A story telling contest," Evan snarled an evil and excited snarl.
"Story telling?" Torn asked raising one eyebrow and crossing his arms.
"A scary story telling contest," Evan replied smirking.
"Oh, that sounds like fun!" Keira exclaimed.
"How will this contest work?" Samos asked Evan. Evan glimpsed up and grinned even bigger.
"Each of us will tell a scary story," Evan exclaimed scaring Daxter even more, "then, we'll count how many people were scared by the story. Who ever have the most people scared wins." Everyone nodded in agreement and Evan cleared her throat. She would go first. "One dark and cloudy night," she said, "the moon was barely visible through the clouds. A group of people, good friends them all, were having a sleepover for one of their birthday parties. The group of friends consisted of two girls and two boys. The girl's names were Sheila, the birthday girl, and Megan. The boy's names were Richard and John. As they were setting out their sleeping bags they looked out the window to see that the school across the street's lights were on. They all found it quite odd that the lights were still on since closing time was hours ago, so they decided to go and explore. They all walked to the school and knocked on the door. It creaked open with an eirie creek and the group slowly walked into the school."
"NO! DON'T GO IN!!" Daxter screamed as he became more and more frightened. Evan smiled an evil smile.
"But they did go in my dear Daxter," Evan replied in an evil voice to creep Daxter out even more. It worked and Evan continued with her story, "So, they walked in slowly and down the hall. The lights above them flickered on and off ever so often. They walked farther and farther until they came to a fork in the hall. They decided that John, Richard, Sheila, and Megan would go to the left. Now, as John, Richard, Sheila, and Megan walked down the hall, they all felt a presence, an extra presence. They paused a second and looked around. They didn't see anyone. But, they were sadly mistaken, for when they looked up at the ceiling they screamed in terror as a beast of darkness jumped down. It had the shape of a human but was covered in pitch black feathers, all being terribly kept. It had lost feathers in a few spots, and instead of seeing skin underneath; there was only rotten bone. It had slavering fangs and four red slits for eyes. It leapt at the group with a snarl of death and grabbed Richard by his shirt. The creature started to drag him away when Megan ran forward in an attempt to stop the beast. It was useless. Just as she stepped near the creature extended another hand and set it on Megan's forehead. Megan screamed a blood-chilling scream as blood oozed from her mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. She then fell to the ground, dead. The others yelled in fear and the creature disappeared into the shadows, then, with Richard in his hand. Sheila couldn't believe what she had seen and ran after her friend with John on her tail.
"They ran for quite some time," Evan continued her tale, "Until the came to the end of the hall where the janitors closet was. They slowly opened the door and screamed at the top of their lungs. Hanging on a hook in this closet was Richard's skeleton, still with its clothes over it. John leapt back in total fear while Sheila gapped at the corpse. John felt total fear and as he tried to run he felt something come over him. His head hurt so badly. He held onto his head and screamed. Sheila swung around to see her friend in agony. Foam formed around John's lips and his eyes grew blank. He slowly pulled out has pocketknife in his pocket that he always brought with him and stepped toward Sheila. He raised he knife up and Sheila screamed. John then brought the knife down into Sheila's eye causing her to fall to the ground never to breath again. John breathed heavy as his vision came back and he saw the dead Sheila at his feet. He yelled in fear and leapt backward to bump into something big and black. He slowly turned around to see the creature that had attacked him earlier. He screamed in fear as the Creature lifted one of his claws and put it on John's forehead. Everything went black as John fell dead to the ground." Daxter was shaking with fear as Evan finished her story. She had frightened Daxter, Keira, Ashlin, Tess, and a bit of Jak. She smiled her approval and got up. She sat back down in between Jak and Daxter. She smiled her normal smile, a happy and fun smile, and giggled. She loved scaring people for her amusement. Everyone went on with his or her stories. Jak got four points, Daxter got none, Tess got one, Ashlin got three, Torn got three, Keira got two, and Samos got them all other then Evan, Jak, and Keira, they had heard the story before. In each story, Daxter was always one of them to be frightened. Samos won in the end, with Daxter mumbling something about cheating, and everyone congratulated Samos. It was then time to head to bed. They all went up to their separate rooms up stairs and went to bed. But, Evan stayed awake as she went out onto the back porch were an awning covered her from the falling snow. She looked out at the ocean a few yards away. She crossed her arms and set them on the railing. She had enjoyed herself so much at this little party. She smiled big as she remembered the look on Daxter's face when she told him her story! She had loved that! And when the sun rose, it would still be Christmas and she could have some fun in the snow like she used to in Sandover Village. Evan's smile faded as she remembered her old home. She felt home sick every once and a while at the thought of Sandover. That had been the only home she ever knew. But, Evan forced herself to smile again. She WAS home. Yes, in a different place, but it was her home. She had friends here and excitement. She loved it and there was no denying it.
Evan didn't feel home sick after she told herself that she was home. She continued to look at the ocean. She was thinking hard. She did that when it was silent or she was by herself. She was thinking of why it was snowing when they were so close to the desert. She shrugged off the thought, thinking that it would give her headaches in the end, and continued watching the crashing waves. She then heard footsteps behind her.
"Are you alright?" a very familiar voice sounded. Evan turned her head back a bit to see Jak walking up to her. He joined her by putting his crossed arms on the railing and looking at the sea.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Evan replied looking at the ocean too.
"Just thinking?" Jak asked her looking over at her through the corner of his eye.
"How'd you know?" Evan replied back. Jak always did seem to know what was going on with Evan, and, to be honest, it was sometimes a little creepy.
"I know you," Jak simply said back. They both were in silence for a small period of time.
"So, why are you up?" Evan broke the silence turning to her friend.
Jak shrugged and said while still looking out at the waves, "I thought I'd put out the fire in the fireplace," Jak then turned to Evan, "then I saw you out here and I thought I'd check up on you." Evan nodded, smiling.
"Did, you already put out the fire?" Evan asked.
"Yeah, it's out," Jak answered. They both looked back out at the sea when a large clump of snow fell on top of their heads from on top of the awning. They both groaned.
"Figures," Evan moaned shaking some of the snow off her head. Jak did the same. They both still had a bit of snow stuck in their hair. They both laughed happily, like they used to in Sandover Village. The laughter died down and they both looked back out at the sea. It was so calming. Then, Evan became curious and turned to Jak.
"Do you miss Sandover?" She asked him.
The question caught Jak by surprise and he had to think for a small time before he could answer. "Sometimes, but then I remember that this was where I was born and I need to stay here," he finally said.
"Is that it?" Evan asked.
"No, I also need to make sure Daxter doesn't get into trouble," Jak said laughing slightly. Evan giggled and Jak continued, "and, my home is where my friends are." Evan smiled. That was here big reason too.
"I have the best friends in the universe, most definitely! And the best, best friend anyone could ever have!" Evan exclaimed happily referring to Jak as her best friend. Jak smiled at her. Evan smiled back. She then ruffled her own hair trying to get the snow out. A bit of it came out in puffs, but not all of it.
"Figures that we would get covered in snow, huh?" Jak commented.
"Yeah," Evan groaned looking up at where the snow had fallen off the awning onto them. Her eyes stretched a little wider as she saw a small plant dangling from the edge of the awning. It had evergreen, spiky leaves and a few white berries growing off it. It was mistletoe. Jak had also looked up and he looked just as surprised as Evan.
"Well," Evan said.
"Unexpected," Jak said. They all knew what mistletoe meant and when Jak and Evan looked back at each other, Evan was blushing heavily. "Um," Jak didn't know what to say.
Evan made a little sigh as if she was about to make a long, tiring speech and said, "Tradition's tradition." There was a hesitation, when Evan got it over with and leaned forward to kiss Jak. Their lips touched and, to their surprise, wasn't short and quick, but was long and romantic. They just felt an odd feeling in their stomachs that this was all right. They didn't want to stop. But, they did after a while. Evan wasn't blushing when they stopped, but it turned crimson when she looked into Jak's eyes. Jak was rubbing the back of his neck and looked away at the same time as Evan. That had felt like a dream, a dream that made them not want to wake-up. They both glanced at each other then looked away again.
"So, um," Evan started quietly. "I, uh, think I'm gonna, um… go to bed," Evan didn't know what she could say. Jak nodded a few times and put his hand down to his side.
"Yeah, me too," he replied shakily. They both walked side by side up to the second floor. Their rooms were the first ones in the hall and across from each other. Evan walked up to her room and turned to Jak.
"Good night," she said smiling a tiny bit.
"Night," Jak replied and they both walked into their rooms quietly. Evan quickly put on her Pajamas and lay down on her bed. She put her hands behind her head and starred at the ceiling. She was thinking of the kiss. She didn't feel regret, but rather happiness. She smiled slightly remembering the two other kisses she and Jak had shared. One time, when she had turned into her dark form for the first time and returned to her normal form after Jak had pulled away, and another when they were both on the shores of the desert just outside Spargas. She thought about it a long time when she realized that that was a lot of times for friends to kiss, if they should have been kissing at all. She remembered the obvious crush Keira had for Jak and Evan's smiled faded. She couldn't get in between them. She felt like she shouldn't, but something was always pulling her back. She also remembered how back in Sandover, Jak had had a crush on Keira too. But, now, Evan didn't know if he still did, and she wasn't going to take chances. She groaned and turned onto her side. Her eyes fluttered and she fell into a deep sleep.
--Author's note--
HI! Lunar the Dragon here! This little one-shot story is just what I thought it would be like if they all celebrated. I know, it's seriously late. And, it is so much like Evangeline to try and scare someone, even if it's a sacred night. I got the stories idea from a sleepover with one of my friends. I'm rating this teen because of Evan's story, just to be safe. Also, I think it is hilarious how Daxter is scared of everything! And I love the kiss. The two other kisses are in other fan fictions of mine. Please, R&R! Hope you liked!