Chapter 11: "Tonight! Mathias The Magnificent and The Great Escape!"
A/N: I'd like to apologize for any spelling errors, especially in the first eight chapters. I had no spell check for any of those chapters and I'm trying to go back in and correct my mistakes. Thank you!
P.S. I'm sorry for posting this in September! I know it's early for a chapter like this. But if it makes you feel better, I wrote it in July and listened to Christmas music to make it feel as real as possible.
*****ALSO**********: Whoever commented saying they were Danish and could help me out with accuracy, some contact info would be great! Like a Tumblr or kik or anything. That way I can ask you about the chapters before I publish. Thanks!
Mathias was so excited for winter break. It was two weeks of pure freedom. Plus there was Christmas, which was his absolute favorite holiday. Not just because of the gifts, either. It was just the overall feeling of it. The decorations, the joyful music, the scent of cinnamon and mothballs, the taste of eggnog, all of it. He was sad to see it go, but happy because it was finally Christmas Eve.
He almost loved Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day, which he figured was because of the whole Saint Nick thing. He hadn't believed in Santa since he was seven, but the idea stuck that there was something magical about Christmas Eve. It was a HUGE plus that his mother was actually there, too. She had promised to be here, and she was definitely one for breaking them.
But not this time. They were both sitting on the couch watching Home Alone and eating caramel corn and store-bought Christmas cookies. His mother turned to him and tapped his shoulder. "Go leave something out for Santa. But maybe something salty. Santa has probably had enough sweets." Mathias smirked and got out a bag of pretzels, tossing a handful onto a plate.
"What does Santa want to drink?"
She looked over at him and hummed. "Uh... the bottle of Sangria in the fridge." He took it out and put it next to the pretzels. He looked at the clock and yawned. It was really getting late. "Hey, I'm going to bed, mom. Presents in the morning?"
She nodded. "Wouldn't dream of missing it! I think Santa probably got you some cool stuff this year," she said with a smirk. "Goodnight, sweetie. Love you."
"Love you, too, mom," he said as he started up to his room. He collapsed on his bed, a content smile on his face as he drifted to sleep.
Mathias woke up at around 6:30 in the morning and ran downstairs, looking around anxiously. Nothing had changed from last night. He slowly frowned, checking under the tree and finding nothing but the tree skirt and some lint. There wasn't a stocking out, either. He looked over at the empty sangria bottle and the half empty plate of pretzels.
"Mom?"
He ran upstairs to his mothers room and flung the door open. The bed was unmade and empty. He ran to the bathroom, checking there, too. "Mom?" No reply. The house was completely silent. He ran back downstairs again and looked around. He saw a little note left on the front door this time.
Mathias,
Got called in. Presents in the closet. Not wrapped. In the boxes. Stocking stuffers in the grocery bags. Merry Xmas!
He stared at the note for a moment before crumbling it up and dropping it on the floor. He made his way upstairs once more and looked into her closet, seeing the boxes and the grocery bag, just like she said. He grabbed the first box. It was some sort of gaming console. He didn't even bother checking. A few games. A gift card. And a laptop.
He picked up the laptop. She had taken it out of the box already. He figured she had probably wanted to wrap it outside of the box to surprise him more when he opened it. He looked at the apple on the back of the screen and tucked the device under his arm. He knew it cost her a lot.
Cost her a lot of hard-earned money.
From her job.
He opened it and looked at the clean screen. The plastic wasn't even peeled off. He looked back at his reflection in the blank screen and in the background, he was alone. He shut it again and walked out.
With the layout of his house, Mathias had a balcony overlooking most of the first floor. He used to like to try to walk on the outside of the railing but nearly fell once, so he stopped. Now he was looking down at the wooden floor of the living room, laptop under his arm. He opened it once more and flung it over the side without hesitation. He heard the screen shatter and little sparkling shards of glass went everywhere.
He ran back into the room and grabbed the console, ripping the box open and taking out the heavy device. He tossed it over the side onto the laptop. He could feel a knot in his throat and he choked his tears down as he ran back into the room and grabbed the games, ripping each case open and snapping each game in half.
The only thing he didn't break was the gift card. He ran to his room and dressed frantically, his face scrunching up sometime between putting his pants and shirt on. Everything went blurry and he felt warm tears sliding down his cheeks. He wiped them off with the back of his hand, but they kept flowing and he kept shaking and he felt as though he couldn't breathe.
He just tried to get through dressing. He put on his winter clothes and shoved the gift card into his pocket. He ran downstairs and looked around at the empty couch with disdain. He glared with hatred too matured for his age and left for Lukas' house.
"Who's that, honey?"
Mr. Bondevik stared at Mathias for a moment before ushering him inside, looking at his wife curiously. "Mathias? For some odd reason?"
His mother stared with large eyes and pulled him into a hug. "Mathias, did you walk all the way here? Oh, honey. Mathias, we need to get you warmed up. Wh..? What's that?" She pointed to the bags in Mathias' hands. He shivered as he gave her a bag. Lukas walked in, a poptart in his hand. He nearly dropped it when he saw Mathias.
"What? Mathias, how.. ? Why?"
Mathias almost cried when he saw Lukas, but he forced a smile and took off his coat. "Things weren't so great over at my place."
His mother patted his back. "But your mother-"
"She's at work," he replied quickly, not wanting to talk about it. "I have something for you, Lukas," he said, handing him a bag. Lukas stared at the bag with wide eyes and took it. "Oh, I have one for you, too," he said with a smile as he handed a bag to Emil. They all stared at him, then at each other.
"Oh, and Mr. Bondevik. Here's a card." He stared at the boy and took the card. When he opened it, a gift card to an instrument shop fell out. He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it and nodded slowly. "Thank you, Mr. Kohler," he said with an appreciative smile, though he knew that later he was going to have to return the gift to Mathias' mother. He'd have to return all of them except maybe whatever he'd given Lukas and Emil.
Mathias wasn't sure why he felt this way, but he really felt like he had something to prove to Lukas' dad. His mother opened up hers and pulled out a silver necklace, which she stared at with wide eyes. "Mathias, how..? This is too, too much," she said with a small smile. "I hope you aren't spending your own money or your mothers money."
He ignored her comment and looked at Emil, who was now holding a tiny electric helicopter and a stuffed puffin. Finally he looked at Lukas, who stood there in faint awe. He looked down at the bag and opened it slowly, pulling out a box of art pens. He read the label. Twenty art pens. He read the brand and he stared at Mathias again. "This is too much." He then felt that there was something else in the bag. He pulled out a book and read the cover. Aesops Fables.
He looked from the book to Mathias, smiling. "How did you... ? Mathias, I... Well, I did get you something. But I thought I would have to wait till school." He ran upstairs and came back down with a box. He felt embarrassed. It wasn't nearly as much as he had given him. Mathias opened it and laughed a little at the contents. Red hots and a book of jokes. Lukas spoke up a little. "Because you like stupid jokes," he said with a faint giggle. Mathias stared at the book with a growing smile and he could feel tears in his eyes again and he looked up at Lukas with so much adoration.
"Lukas, can I talk to you alone?" He asked, his voice sounding strained. Lukas put the things down and nodded, leading him up to his room and shutting the door behind him. "What is- " Before he could speak, Mathias had pulled him into an embrace. He blushed and patted his back awkwardly. "Mathias?"
The taller boy started to tremble as new tears found their way out of his eyes and onto his cheeks. Lukas could feel him shaking and he held him tighter, not knowing what else to do. "Lukas," he began, his voice sounding so different and broken, "Hey, I really care about you. I really, really do." He closed his eyes and breathed in raggedly. "I woke up alone. I've been alone all week. All. Week. I thought Christmas would be different," he said, laughing bitterly. "It doesn't change."
Lukas looked down and held him tighter, not knowing what to say besides, "I'm sorry." Mathias shook his head, though, and said, "Don't be sorry. It isn't your fault. Let's not talk about this anymore, okay?" He forced a smile and pulled away, tears wiped away, but face still red.
It was really weird to see Mathias cry. He seemed so happy for the most part. But it was true that everyone had their moments, including Mathias. "We won't talk about it." Lukas tried to think of something to make him feel better. "Do you like cookies? I made some."
Mathias let out a relieved chuckle. "You cooked them?"
"Baked them," he corrected with a small smile. Mathias nodded, smiling a little wider, and followed him downstairs.
Lukas' parents didn't ask more questions. They actually started cleaning up the house, which he thought was funny. He never had to clean up after Christmas. But he helped anyways, despite Lukas' mothers protests. When they were done, they just sat around eating candy, talking, and messing with new things they'd gotten.
It was nice at Lukas' house on Christmas. It was the perfect Christmas. It hard started out as such a bad Christmas, but now it was his best. He wanted this every single year. When he thought about having to celebrate with anyone else, he felt his heart sink.
Around two, the phone rang and Mathias just knew. And he was correct. It was his mom. Lukas' mother told her that he was, in fact, over here. She was probably angry, but he didn't really care. He had every right to be. He didn't want to go back to that house and he didn't want to go back to her. At least not right now. Not when he was having such a good Christmas.
"Mathias, your mom is going to be here soon," she said. He immediately felt his stomach drop and he looked at Lukas pleadingly, and Lukas wished there was something he could do. Mathias looked down and gathered his things.
When she finally arrived, Mathias was pale and couldn't even look up at her in the doorway. She was chatting with Lukas' mom. She sounded happy enough. He glanced at her. She was still in her scrubs and had faint bags under her eyes. He felt a little guilty and looked away again. She looked over at him. "Honey, I'm going to wait in the car. Hurry up," she said as she turned to leave.
He looked at Lukas and took a deep breath. "Thank you, Lukas," he said, pulling him into another hug. "You've made this such a good Christmas." Lukas frowned and hugged him back tightly, not wanting him to leave. But he had to go, and before he could say goodbye, he was gone.
"Do you know how much I paid for these? A lot."
Mathias glared at the floor. "No more than you usually pay."
She sighed and stood in front of him, her arms crossed. "So you just destroy them? You just destroy your gifts? I work hard for those gifts."
He stood up, snapping. "I don't care. I honestly don't. You work to get me nice things?" He laughed bitterly. "That's crap. I don't want another console. I have seven. I wanted you here. That's all I wanted. I didn't want a laptop. I wanted you, and you were gone by the time I got up. I mean, you couldn't even put the presents under the tree! You didn't even fill a stocking! You could have at least told me before you left and maybe given me the gifts then and we could have parted in person! But no, you go to your shitty job for me, so I can have more gifts that'll probably just rot under my bed!"
She didn't move. She didn't speak. She just stared at him. He took a deep breath and got up, walking slowly back to his room. "Merry Christmas," he mumbled as he laid down on his bed, staring at the Christmas lights on the house across the street. He covered up and continued to watch them, a faint smile on his face as he imagined Christmas with Lukas. He imagined him baking cookies and exchanging gifts and seeing his family. He imagined seeing him smile at the gifts and hugging him again and just... being around him. He made Christmas good.
He made everything good.
"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" ~Bob Hope