Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me! I didn't make them and I'm not gaining any kind of profit from them. Merry Christmas, 2001.
Shards
By Dragon Trainer
It begins the night before Christmas aboard the Outlaw Star as the crew laid fast asleep, except maybe for one.
Jim Hawkings, the youngest member of the crew, was wide away as he lay in bed. In his hands he held the most precious object in his world, a single hand mirror. A mirror that represented a life he couldn't even remember as he press his fingers slowly along the smooth wooden rims just above the glass. This object, this hand mirror, had at one time belonged to his mother, and it was the only thing that he had left of her.
It was sad, but true. Jim didn't have pictures, memories, or even someone who remembered her. All he had of his mother was a small wooden hand mirror whose glass had been cracked a long time ago, before he realized its importance.
"Another year, mother," he spoke to it in a whisper. "One more year I have lived without you in my life." "Another year to add upon the others that bury your memory from me." He stroked the cracked glass as he looked up at the clock. Soon it would be time to get up and go to the main room, where him and Gene had set up the tree two days before, and open presents.
Jim knew that when this time came, he would once more have to sweep these feelings away, and bury them deep. For even though Gene was his friend and brother, he could never truly understand the pain that he felt. The pain that like a shard of glass had long ago buried it's way deep within his skin, in a place, where he himself had never had the courage to pull it out. No, he didn't want Gene's pity, or the pity of any one else. He would simply just hide the broken skin where the shard had pierced him, and hope that someday he will have the courage to pull the shard out himself and show it to the world.
Jim stroked the cracked surface of the mirror once more, and then he got out of bed. Time was growing short and he needed to hide these feelings again. Quickly without a sound, Jim replaced the shattered mirror back inside his backpack. The one and only thing he managed somehow to always keep safe.
"Goodnight, mother," Jim spoke to it as he zipped it up and then laid it back in its hiding place. "I know I said that if you got me an family I would never asked for anything again," the little boy started as he jumped back into to bed. "But I want one more thing from you for Christmas," he spoke in a yawn. "I want to, just once, see your face, and maybe gain the courage to remove the shard on my own." He then closed his eyes and went to sleep hoping to get a little rest before the day begins.
It was early Christmas morning, when a person drifted into his room as the door parted and closed without the swooshing sound that it usually made. Gently and with a care that no human could match the person settled down beside him on the edge of his bed.
"These time of the year must be really hard on you," a female voice spoke as she gently ran her fingers through his blonde hair. "I just wished that there was some way to make you life a bit easier." She then recalled her hand from his hair and bend down slowly and kissed him on the forehead, causing Jim to stir. The boy beside her opens his eyes a bit, so she places her hand on his head and smile. "Go back to sleep my little James," the voice whispers," everything is alright," and Jim just smiles up at her and then complies with her wishes. She then gently caressed his face before she rose from the bed. It was time for her to go, and so with the silence of her entrances she exited the room. Leaving behind her a single shard of pain that had been removed from the boy's soul and a memory that would always make Jim wonder if his wish had truly been answered or was it just his imagination.
