Hey ho, apologies it's been about three gazillion years since I've uploaded anything, but life gets in the way. I was just looking through some old documents on my laptop and found this unfinished story I started writing about two years ago, so I decided it couldn't go to waste and quickly finished it off. Enjoy! xx
When Zosia March was little Christmas was the most exciting time of year in her family. At the very start of December the happy trio would venture out to find the biggest and best tree to be the centrepiece of their family Christmas. They would spend a whole day decorating the house, and of course Zosia got the very special job of putting the star on top of the tree. The countdown to the big day was almost more exciting than the actual event, with Anya's homemade advent calendar holding an exciting treat every day.
Then the 25th would arrive, in the early days when Zosia was very little they were almost guaranteed a white Christmas. She would leap out of bed and look out the window, then run all the way into to her parents room, giggling as she leaped about on the bed to wake them up. Within minutes she was dressed, wrapped up in woollen hats and scarves, her wellington clad feet jumping up and down by the door. Every year the three would put all their efforts together to make the biggest and best possible snowman, before it all descended into chaos as father and daughter began hurling lumps of snow at each other. At this point Anya would sneak off back inside and come back to the door ten minutes later to tell her family she had made hot cocoa, which they would sit round the fire and drink before opening presents together.
Dinner was always incredible, an English twist on the traditional Polish spread every year, courtesy of Babcia's (grandma) recipes. Zupa Gryzbowa for starters, which would always be followed by pulling crackers and a dramatic reading of the terrible jokes found inside. Then, with brightly coloured paper crowns donned they would tuck into a main course, a traditional English dinner with the addition of pierogi (polish dumplings). Finally, with just enough room down the side for pudding, the trio would enjoy Kutia (Christmas wheat berry pudding) with custard. Then, ten minutes later Guy and Zosia would always find room for a few of Anya's Polish Kolyaczki cookies.
After dinner, every year without fail they would all then sit in front of the tv and watch Top of the Pops, to which Zosia would always insist they all sang along to. Then Guy would dig out the Monopoly set and Anya would grin at him knowing exactly what would happen. Zosia would always be winning because she could barter like a king and Guy couldn't resist her chocolate brown eyes. Then he would get jealous and get Anya to tickle her while he tried to sneakily steal her hotels.
Finally, at the end of a perfect Christmas day Guy would carry a very sleepy, very full little girl upstairs to bed, where Anya would tuck her in tight under the covers. Then the pair would read her a story of her choice, with special voices and all, before kissing her goodnight and saying goodbye to Christmas for another year.
Laughter and cheer echoed around the streets of Holby that Christmas day, the sound of children and adults alike opening gifts and spending time with loved ones filled the air with a magical spirit. Meanwhile, Zosia March lay under her duvet, staring at the murky white ceiling in a solitary dull room in Holby City Hospital's very own psychiatric unit, hearing nothing but the occasional shuffle of nurses' and doctors' shoes down the hallways. Not long after she woke up there was a light knocking on the door and a female voice calling her name cheerily.
"Go away!" Zosia grumbled, rolling over in bed and burying her face in the covers.
"Come on Zosia, it's Christmas!" the nurse exclaimed as she pushed the door open and moved forward into the room adding, "and you've got visitors…" Slowly Zosia rolled back over in bed, moving her head slightly so the duvet lay over her nose, exposing just her dark brown eyes.
"who?" she queried, running through the possible list of people who'd want to come and see her on Christmas day. The nurse tapped the side of her nose lightly as she turned to walk away and said,
"You'll just have to get up and come and see for yourself."
Guy, Arthur and Dom all sat nervously in the visitors area of the ward, surrounded nothing but silence except for the consistent tapping of Guy's foot against the threadbare grey carpet. Dom quietly broke the silence with the question they were all wishing they knew the answer to.
"Do you think she'll agree to see us?" There was a long pause between the trio before Arthur, of all people, replied with,
"Well, Zosia will do what Zosia will do." At this, Guy Self laughed, for the first time in a long while.
"I think you've just summed my daughter up in a sentence Dr Digby." With a smile on his face Guy sat back in his seat of the blue sofa as he began to recall…
It was 1995 and Zosia was just eight years old when she was skipping along hand in hand with her father on their way to the park on one of his rare days off. As they approached the park she set her eyes on a rather high horizontal bar which left a very cunning rather devious look on her face.
"Daddyyyyy" she sang sweetly, "I want to do a flip off that bar!" Zosia then announced excitedly. Guy looked forward to where his daughter was pointing and inhaled sharply,
"Not today Zoshie, maybe when you're a little bigger" he told her, hoping it would put a stop to her plans, however just left her pouting much like a toddler. Unfortunately as they got into the park and Guy advised his daughter to go and play on the swings, his mobile phone began to screech a loud polyphonic tune in his pocket. He pulled it out and realised it was the hospital he was currently head of the neuro ward of, and he should probably answer it. "Go and play on the climbing frame for a minute Zosh, I've just got to take this call" he told his daughter, causing her to pout and sulk even more as he turned around and walked out of the gate to answer the call. The next thing he heard from the dark haired eight year old was a screech and he turned around just in time to see her hit the floor below the metal bar with a thud.
"She broke her arm in three places that day but she was still pretty proud of her acrobatics" Guy said with a smile as he finished his anecdote.
"Y'know, somehow that doesn't surprise me all that much about our Zosh" Dom chuckled, causing the three to grin at each other.
Zosia pulled her arms into the sleeves of a thick grey cardigan before closing her suitcase, which she had refused to unpack because 'she wouldn't be staying here long', and standing up to gaze at her reflection in the full length mirror in front of her. With a sigh she smoothed her hands down her clothes and pulled her hair into a neat pony tail before moving over to the door and turning the worn down metal handle.
"Ah! There you are" the nurse from earlier exclaimed, "I was beginning to think you'd gone back to bed." Zosia blinked at the cheery blonde haired woman but said nothing in reply. "Come on then, they're waiting for you in here." The nurse added, gesturing towards the door at the end of the corridor, leading to the visitors' room.
The three men held their breath as they heard the turn and clunk of the door handle and broad smiles flooded across their faces as she walked gingerly into the room. She gave them a small smile as she lifted her head up and took note of the faces staring back at her before she said quietly,
"I'm not going to self-combust you know, you can speak" causing them all to laugh and Dom leapt towards her embracing her in a bone crushing hug as he added,
"It's really good to see you Zosh." Which she replied to with another beautiful smile.
"So" Guy interjected, "you up for a game of Monopoly?" to which Zosia replied,
"sure, but Dom and Arthur, you should know that if he makes you tickle me I will make you do the washing up for the whole of next year." And the father and daughter erupted in fits of laughter while Dom and Arthur looked on confused and slightly afraid of what a game of Monopoly with the Selfs could entail.