/ It was Christmas eve and 18 year old Annie sat in the living room of her apartment. It was snowing softly outside and inside she had decorated her house with holly berries, tinsel , angels, bells , and the most beautifully decorated tree ever. But all those happy decorations didn't help the way Annie felt. It had been exactly two years since she'd run away from the Phillips. Her sixteenth Christmas always haunted her. Annie took a sip of her hot Cocoa, preparing for another Christmas alone, and reflected on that day...
Annie streched and opened her eyes to see a camera zooming up her nose and two sniggering boys behind it.
"Jack, Clu, go away I just woke up." She rolled over and hid under the covers.
"Ahh, c'mon Annie! It's the day before Christmas and we have to catch every second of your day on film!" Clu was practically bouncing off the walls.
Annie groaned and sat up, "Why me? Why not, uhh, Molly? Huh?"
"Because," Jack said excitedly, "For my Christmas Season Extra credit documentary my title will be "What a typical teenage girl does on Christmas Eve day!" Isn't that great!?!?!?!?!?"
So Jack and Clu followed Annie around all day except when she went to the bathroom (of course that goes without saying). Durring the day she made about sixteen christmas cards, wrote half of a song, skipped lunch (because of her diet), talked on the phone to Fi for about 7 hours (according to Jack and Clu who both fell asleep half way through the conversation, dropping the camera so all you could see was the bed sheet) and baked two dozen gingerbread cookies for the family. The day seemed to go pretty well untill she got away from the boys and went to the kitchen. She heard Molly and Irene talking in hushed, troubled tones.
"What's wrong, Molly?" Irene sat down across from her.
"It's Annie's parents. they- they died in a plane crash on their way home to see Annie. I don't know how I'm giong to tell-"
Annie was pulled back out of her past by the raido announcer: "Christmas is a time for family. No matter what happened durring the year you should always spend time with you friends and family on christmas!" and with that, the music to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas began to seep through the speakers of Annie's raido.
"Oh, Lordie Lord!" Annie sighed to herself. Though her face remained steadfast, anyone who bothered to look could see the pain in her eyes. Whith a fixed glare on the fire, she fell back into the past...
"I don't know how I'm going to tell Annie." Molly sat with her head in her hands. Both her and Irene let out quiet sobs.
Annie couldn't stand it anymore. She ran upstairs to her room and headed directly to her closet to pulled out her suit case.
Franticaly, she began dumping drawerfuls of clothes into it. Grabbing her coat and wallet she climed out the window and rode away on her bike. But befor she left she didn't forget to write them a note telling them not to worry and not to come looking for her and that she'd be back. And that was it. That was the last time she'd seen or heard from them. As she was writing it she half expected half wanted them to not listen, but they did. They must not have loved her that much or they would have followed her...but they didn't and that was their fault. That was their loss. Annie knew she could never come back, never. Not in a million years...and that's what made it hurt so bad.
For the past two years Annie has been working as a waitress in a small Italian Restaurant in Salt Lake City. she lived in the homeless shelter until she could afford to buy a small, cheap(ish) apartment on the outskirts of the city. She had driven herself to near insanity trying to figure out why no one loved her why she had no friends, and how much longer she was going to survive like this...alone.
To ease the pain, Annie quietly hummed along with Little Drops of Rain and once again fell back even further into the past...
"Little drops of rain..." Jack sang along with Judy Garland's Christmas hit as he twirled Annie across the living room. The Pillips had introduced to Annie her new favorite Christmas tradidton: dancing. She especially loved dancing with Jack. She was head over heels for him. Right from the very start. She knew he never believed a single outrageous word that came out of her mouth but he still hade faith in her, all the same.
As she blinked, all her visions went away, for now atleast. "I might as well do something constructive with all this spare time I have. My desk needs cleaning..." Annie thought as she poured her cold cocoa down the sink. She headed over to her desk drawer and dumped it out on the floor to sort it all out.
"Trash, empty envelope, letter from my boss - what's this?" Annie picked up a small blue piece of paper. "Have you seen this person?" Annie read sarcastically. Ever since she left, she had become cynical and well just plain rude. "Name: Annie Thaelen?!?!?
Annie streched and opened her eyes to see a camera zooming up her nose and two sniggering boys behind it.
"Jack, Clu, go away I just woke up." She rolled over and hid under the covers.
"Ahh, c'mon Annie! It's the day before Christmas and we have to catch every second of your day on film!" Clu was practically bouncing off the walls.
Annie groaned and sat up, "Why me? Why not, uhh, Molly? Huh?"
"Because," Jack said excitedly, "For my Christmas Season Extra credit documentary my title will be "What a typical teenage girl does on Christmas Eve day!" Isn't that great!?!?!?!?!?"
So Jack and Clu followed Annie around all day except when she went to the bathroom (of course that goes without saying). Durring the day she made about sixteen christmas cards, wrote half of a song, skipped lunch (because of her diet), talked on the phone to Fi for about 7 hours (according to Jack and Clu who both fell asleep half way through the conversation, dropping the camera so all you could see was the bed sheet) and baked two dozen gingerbread cookies for the family. The day seemed to go pretty well untill she got away from the boys and went to the kitchen. She heard Molly and Irene talking in hushed, troubled tones.
"What's wrong, Molly?" Irene sat down across from her.
"It's Annie's parents. they- they died in a plane crash on their way home to see Annie. I don't know how I'm giong to tell-"
Annie was pulled back out of her past by the raido announcer: "Christmas is a time for family. No matter what happened durring the year you should always spend time with you friends and family on christmas!" and with that, the music to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas began to seep through the speakers of Annie's raido.
"Oh, Lordie Lord!" Annie sighed to herself. Though her face remained steadfast, anyone who bothered to look could see the pain in her eyes. Whith a fixed glare on the fire, she fell back into the past...
"I don't know how I'm going to tell Annie." Molly sat with her head in her hands. Both her and Irene let out quiet sobs.
Annie couldn't stand it anymore. She ran upstairs to her room and headed directly to her closet to pulled out her suit case.
Franticaly, she began dumping drawerfuls of clothes into it. Grabbing her coat and wallet she climed out the window and rode away on her bike. But befor she left she didn't forget to write them a note telling them not to worry and not to come looking for her and that she'd be back. And that was it. That was the last time she'd seen or heard from them. As she was writing it she half expected half wanted them to not listen, but they did. They must not have loved her that much or they would have followed her...but they didn't and that was their fault. That was their loss. Annie knew she could never come back, never. Not in a million years...and that's what made it hurt so bad.
For the past two years Annie has been working as a waitress in a small Italian Restaurant in Salt Lake City. she lived in the homeless shelter until she could afford to buy a small, cheap(ish) apartment on the outskirts of the city. She had driven herself to near insanity trying to figure out why no one loved her why she had no friends, and how much longer she was going to survive like this...alone.
To ease the pain, Annie quietly hummed along with Little Drops of Rain and once again fell back even further into the past...
"Little drops of rain..." Jack sang along with Judy Garland's Christmas hit as he twirled Annie across the living room. The Pillips had introduced to Annie her new favorite Christmas tradidton: dancing. She especially loved dancing with Jack. She was head over heels for him. Right from the very start. She knew he never believed a single outrageous word that came out of her mouth but he still hade faith in her, all the same.
As she blinked, all her visions went away, for now atleast. "I might as well do something constructive with all this spare time I have. My desk needs cleaning..." Annie thought as she poured her cold cocoa down the sink. She headed over to her desk drawer and dumped it out on the floor to sort it all out.
"Trash, empty envelope, letter from my boss - what's this?" Annie picked up a small blue piece of paper. "Have you seen this person?" Annie read sarcastically. Ever since she left, she had become cynical and well just plain rude. "Name: Annie Thaelen?!?!?