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Calleigh found Ryan standing outside of one of the back doors. She wasn't quite sure what to say to him but she would figure it out when she was out there with him.
"Hi Ryan, do you mind if I join you?"
"No I don't mind. Look, I'm sorry for leaving your party, but it just brought some unpleasant memories that I really didn't want to remember".
Calleigh moved next to Ryan and put her hand on his, "I'm here to listen if you feel the need to talk about it".
"Thanks Calleigh, but I don't want to spoil your party. Tell you what, give me a few more minutes and then I'll come back and join you; OK?"
She patted his hand once again and said, "Sure Ryan, you take all the time you need".
Calleigh left Ryan leaning up against the wall and returned to the party. She was glad that no one asked her about Ryan because she had nothing to offer them as to why he left.
After the remaining presents were opened Frank was feeling in a jolly mood and grabbed Beth and Alexx for a round of Christmas songs. If Calleigh didn't know any better, she would have thought Frank had one too many glasses of punch.
Frank turned up the music and with the help of his two ladies sung 3 songs before it was decided to stop for more food. As the crowd was gathered around the table eating, talking and laughing, one lonely soul wandered in without being seen.
Ryan sat down at the tables in the back and watched his friends and co-workers as they enjoyed the festivities. He was grateful that someone had come up with this idea because they were able to forget about the blackout and have fun with the evening. He just wished he could enjoy it, but the memories of one particular Christmas was as fresh in his mind as the day it had happened. He didn't know if he would ever forget it, but he knew he owed it to his friends to tell them why he didn't like Christmas. He just didn't know how to started talking about it.
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Calleigh was standing next to Eric enjoying the food when she looked toward the door and stared at it as if expecting Ryan to choose that exact moment to come back in. Something out of the corner of her eye caused her to look over in the corner of the room and she spotted Ryan. She smiled as she walked over to him and took a seat next to him.
"Hey Ryan, can I get you something to eat?"
"No thanks Calleigh, but I appreciate the offer. So when do you think the power will come back on?"
Calleigh thought he might have been trying to get everyone to leave by his remark, but she chose to ignore her suspicions, "I don't know. Last time it took awhile, so we could be here until morning. Say I think you should come on over and join us. We were just about to listen to one of Franks stories, and at the rate he's going it's sure to be a good one".
"Yeah sure, sounds good".
Calleigh stood up and grabbed Ryan's hands to pull him up. Once he was standing she gently nudged him toward the rest of the group.
The group was now getting comfy on the two couches that were at the other end of the room. As Ryan walked up he saw that Alexx was patting the seat next to her as she looked straight at him. He walked over and sat down. He was a little surprised when she put her arm around him and squeezed his shoulder, but he was glad that she didn't ask him how he was doing. He felt a little awkward after leaving the room like he did, but no one seems to be reminding him of his earlier actions. This made it easier to be hanging out with everyone again.
Frank waited for everyone to get comfortable before beginning, "Well, I this has been fun. I want to say a special thank you to Calleigh and Beth for putting all of this together. I couldn't think of a better group of people to hang out with than you guys".
Beth looked at Frank and suddenly threw the one of her gifts at him, "Oh Frank, stop being so sappy. I thought you were going to tell us one of your stories".
Frank threw the ball back at Beth and continued, "Yes my story. Well this story takes us back to when I was a mere boy of 6. It was the first year for me and my brothers to spend Christmas at my grandmother's house, but I didn't want to go. I was afraid that Santa would never find us way out in the woods".
Before Frank could continue he was interrupted by Eric who had to chime in on something he had said. "So Frank, did you have to go over the bridge and through the woods to get to grandmothers house".
Frank just glared at Eric for a moment before saying, "Yes my grandmother lived out in the woods, but for your information there was no bridge. Now can I continue with my story Mr. Smarty?"
Eric smiled and laughed as he said, "Yeah Frank, please continue".
"Thank you, well let's see, where was I. Oh yes, I was so afraid that Santa would not find me so I came up with a plan to make sure he did. I made a big note and left it by our Christmas tree. The note said to follow the paper trail to find us. For 2 weeks I did nothing but write my name and my grandmothers address on bright red pieces of paper. So when the day came for us to drive out there I started leaving a trail. It started from the Christmas tree to the car and from there I preceded the throw the folded up papers out the window. It wasn't a long trip but luckily I had enough to make it most of the way so by the time we got to the house I was pretty confident that Santa would find us. My brothers thought I was nuts and said that the paper would most likely get blown away or buried by the snow, but all I did was tell them that as long as Santa found a few along the way it would remind him of where we were".
"So here we were at my grandmother's house and it was Christmas Eve. Our parents were helping prepare the meal and us kids were helping decorate the tree when the door bell rang. My brother Dave went to answer it and then yelled that it was for me. When I went to the door my mouth fell open; here standing in the doorway was Santa himself. I couldn't believe it, my plan had worked. It didn't even dawn on me that Santa had come early".
"My grandmother walked over and invited the man in for dinner. I couldn't believe my luck. I was so afraid that Christmas was ruined and now I was having dinner with the big man himself. While he watched us put ornaments on the tree the door bell rang and my brother went to answer the door and once again he called me to come and see who it was. I ran over and saw that it was Santa Clause. Well this was confusing to me since I had just left the guy in the other room. Grandma came over and invited him to stay for dinner as well. So for the rest of the evening a total of 5 Santa's showed up at my grandmother's house. I gotta tell you that I was more confused than ever. It was hard for a six year old to understand why there were so many Santa's, but we were all having so much fun that I forgot to ask".
"It was one of the most memorable Christmas's I have ever had. It turns out that those 5 Santa's knew my grandmother and had actually found the notes with her address on it. They decided to make my Christmas the best, but none of them realized that there would be 5 of them".
Eric was pretending to be touched by the story by wiping imaginary tears, "Oh Frank, that was such a beautiful story". He continued to wipe the tears away and pretended to blow his nose when a cookie suddenly landed on his lap. He looked at the culprit and found that it was Frank.
"Well Mr. Smarty, if you have a better story then I suggest you share it with us".
Eric put his finger up to his chin and thought a second before saying, "Ok Frank, I have a story I can share with everyone".
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Before Eric started his story Horatio looked in Ryan's direction again and saw that he looked a little uncomfortable. He had been keeping an eye on him during the story and saw that if anything the story made Ryan look worse. He wish he knew Ryan's story and hoped that he would use this time tonight to heal some old wounds and share his tale with everyone.
Horatio sat back and waited for Eric to start his story.
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Author's note: Well this story suddenly got harder than I thought it would be to write. I know exactly where the story is going, but coming up with interesting stories from everyone's past was something I didn't realize would be so hard. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to have the next one up soon.
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