Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.
A/n: Welcome to my newest project. I've decided that I want to do something fun this December, so I'm going to do a series of very short vignettes; one per day. In a way this is similar to the project I did last December called "What's in a Name?" in that each vignette will cover a different character from Charmed. In this series each story will take place chronologically in December (the 1st, then the 2nd, the the 3rd and so on), but in different years. I chose the age of seventeen as the common thread. So, for instance, Patty's story will be in 1967, Prue's in 1987, Wyatt's in 2020, etc.
I hope you all enjoy this project. I'd love any feedback you'd like to give me. Thanks so much.
Katie
Tales of December
a story by Ryeloza
Patty: December 1, 1967
Patty stood outside of the attendance office and stared at the map that had been posted on the bulletin board. The caption above the jigsaw of fifty states read: "The Class of '68: Where Are They Going Next?" Even now, as early as December, push pins had been stuck into various states with lines leading to boxes with names of schools and students' neatly printed.
All around her, people jostled past, talking loudly over the resounding slams of lockers. Today this normality was nothing but a whisper in the background as Patty's eyes wandered the map. Already she could envision the map in May, covered in push pins. At least one, she was sure, would be in Philadelphia, marking her best friend Susan's future at Penn. Multiple ones would be stuck in San Francisco; one—maybe red or yellow or green—would mark San Francisco State University with a decently long list of students' accepted. On that day, Susan would turn to Patty and say, "Patty, why isn't your name on here?" and Patty would have no response.
For her entire life, SFSU had been the plan; her future. Her mother went to school there. Her father had taught there for over twenty years. The university was where they had met and fallen in love. Her past was there just as her future was certain to be.
And now there was nothing.
The day she'd told her mother she was filling out her application she had sat in her room for over an hour watching the words on the paper become blurrier and blurrier as her eyes filled with unshed tears. Memories of lunches on campus with her father, of visiting him in his office, of everything that was important to him swam through Patty's mind and her pen simply wouldn't go to the paper. Finally, she had buried the application at the bottom of her desk drawer and allowed herself a good, long cry.
The following day, she applied for a job at a bookstore fifteen minutes from her house. Come June, she'd be able to take on full-time hours there. Come June, she'd be able to do something practical and help her mother with the bills.
Come June, this stupid map wouldn't be there to mock everything she'd lost.