"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart,
But the very next day you gave it away.
This year, to save me some tears
I'll give it someone special."
"Ugh"
The wind nipped against her neck and her thin, long, pink, hair blew in the wind. Luka stuck out her tongue at the sound coming from the shop. Christmas music. So cheery. She hated it.
She pulled her grey hoodie tighter around her and stopped in her tracks on the sidewalk and looked up. Pure white flurries fell from the dark clouded sky.
Snow.
Luka rubbed her hands against her arms to try to warm herself up. Of course, wearing a thin cotton hoodie in the middle of December was not the best idea. As she walked along the streets of Brooklyn, her heart grew heavy. The lights from the many shops and the tall buildings illuminated the fog in the air making the world look hazy.
As the buildings grew smaller and the shops grew shabbier a sense of dread welled up in Luka. Her brown leather boots, which were two sizes to big, walked at a steady pace down the sidewalk until finally she reached a two story building.
It was made of dingy looking bricks and the doors and window shutters were made of brown rotting wood. There was a sign hanging above the door that said:
Mocha Fresh Coffee Cafe
An abandoned cafe.
Luka let out a breath and watched the fog billow from her mouth. She rubbed her hands together and nudged the door open with the tip of her boot. She winced as the door squeaked open.
The inside of the cafe was dark and there was a few tables and chairs. To the left was a counter and a shattered cake stand on it. The glass covered the dusty bar. The only illumination in the room was a soft light coming from a slightly ajar door behind the counter.
Luka stepped around the broken glass and made her way to the door trying to go as slow as possible.
She opened the door and saw a rickety set of stairs.
She could now hear the sounds of some midnight sitcom re-runs.
Luka climbed the stairs only using the pads of her feet. (Which was hard with her wearing boots, and all.)
When she finally reached the top of the staircase Luka saw the thing that she hated most.
Her family.
"LUKA! SWEEEEETIIIIEEEE, MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
Luka stopped in her tracks. In the tiny room that made the second floor there was very few pieces of furniture. A single mattress on the floor, a small T.V and antenna, also sitting on the floor. There was a table from downstairs that had empty McDonalds bags and unlit joints. The walls had green flowered wallpaper. (Which you could barely see anymore because it was peeling so bad. )
Her mother was wearing a pink bathrobe and her black, graying, hair was in tangles around her face. She was holding a nearly empty cheap bottle of wine in one hand and was reaching towards Luka with the other one.
Her mother stumbled and nearly hit the ground when Luka caught her.
"Mom, it's not Christmas yet." Luka grabbed the bottle from her and guided her back to the mattress.
" Yes, Luka, it is. Don't talk back. Janna doesn't talk back. "
Luka was confused for a second then looked at the TV screen to see the Christmas special of The Brady Bunch. Janna was one the daughters on the show.
Luka shook her head and sat her mom down on the bed and pushed gently on her chest so that she would lay down.
The bed was small and already occupied by her dad. Everyone called him Big Al. The dirt and greasy blanket was strewn over him and Luka pulled some off of him and placed it over her mom.
"Get some rest. It will be Christmas soon." Luka said and kissed her mom's forehead.
Luka stood there for a few minutes waiting for the steady sound of her mother's sleep. When she finally heard her moms normal breathing she reached into the pocket of her mothers bathrobe and grabbed a pocket knife. Just in case.
Luka crept down the stairs. Now. Where to go?
Ah. I'll go to Truce.
Truce was a club that played music and served drinks like any other club. The thing about Truce was that it served free drinks to anyone who the bartender deemed "hot". Guy or girl, it did not matter. If you were cute then you got a few drinks. Age was not a huge factor. Of course, a twelve year old would not qualify.
Luka exited the cafe and started to walk back the way that she had come. It was barely snowing now and it seemed that none of the snow had stuck to the ground.
Luka stopped in front of a closed Goodwill and looked at her reflection in the window.
Her long pink hair was in low ponytail that fell around her shoulders. It was only clean because she once the local gym closed at 7 she would sneak in and use their showers.
Her face was small and her cheeks were red from the cold. Her head was covered by the hood of her grey hoodie. Below that she had on a pair of ripped jeans with black leggings underneath and her brown boots.
Luka dusted off her pants and walked around the side of the building and down a grimy ally with dumpsters lining the sides. Until she found a brick wall with a hole bashed in it. Light, music and people flooded from it. Her heart leapt when she heard the music and she felt like dancing.
The people coming out varied in every way possible. Some came out with frosted tip hair and body glitter coating themselves. Other, mostly girls, wore slutty santa outfits and had on too much makeup. A few guys went in dressed up as their favorite show character. One was dressed like Ash Ketchum. Then, there were some, like her, who dressed casual.
There was a line of people leaning against the wall behind two posts with CAUTION tape in between. Some were laughing while some were making their ways to the back of the line while mumbling under their breath.
Probably rejected by Leon. Luka thought to herself.
Luka sucked in a breath and lifted her chin, so that she would look confident. Confidence always made you look better.
She walked up to the big guy with bleached hair and fake red eyelashes that sat on the stool beside the door. Leon. She smiled and pointed inside. Asking permission. Leo looked her up and down with critical eyes and finally, after what seemed like forever, nodded.
She smiled to herself and pulled off her hood and walked inside.
This was her real home. This is where she felt she belonged.