Brooklyn, New York
It was a frigid Christmas Eve day in New York City, snow coated the streets as the sounds of the bustling city resonated through the air.
The city was rough but, it was beautiful right now as the Christmas decorations riddled the buildings.
Two friends walked down the sidewalk as they were having an indistinct conversation.
The taller one was a thirteen year old boy, he sported dreads with a tapered drop fade and the right half of his dreads were tied into a pony tail.
He was dark mocha in complexion and had dark brown eyes to match.
This was Geleel Barlett, or as the neighborhood generally called him, Cap.
The shorter individual was a fourteen year old female, she had beautiful brown curly hair which she kept in the form of a curly fro.
Her skin was a sweet caramel color, and she had light green eyes.
This was Gratuity Tucci, or as her friends called her, Tip.
"It's soooo cold." Geleel complained as he zipped his jacket up and put his hood on
"Oh come on Cap, stop complaining already, it's not so bad." Gratuity said as she chuckled at his antics.
"You're different Tip, I don't know how you enjoy the snow, I've been here for six years and I still hate it...I miss that Jamaica weather so bad." Geleel ranted as they trudged through the snow.
"I mean, I do miss Barbados' beautiful weather but come on, it's Christmas Eveeee, stop moping." She pleaded.
"I get being excited for Christmas Eve but, snow is just not fun, there's no reason for this white abomination to be this cold anyways." Geleel stated as he failed to noticing Gratuity stopping and looking at him with an arched brow.
She was going to show him just how fun the snow really was.
Gratuity then began gathering some snow into a snowball.
"Hey Cap..." She called out as he stopped and turned around.
"Hm? What happ-oof!" He exclaimed as she nailed him right in the face with the snowball.
Gratuity then covered her mouth with her hand as she began laughing hysterically.
Geleel wiped the snow off of his face as he glared at her.
"Oh yea, it's over for you." Geleel said darkly as he gathered a snowball of his own and began chasing Gratuity who ran away giggling the entire time.
He threw the snowball as it hit her smack in the back of the head, this resulted in a very fierce and fun filled snowball fight as they made their way home.
The Apartment
The two teens made their was to the apartment as they rang the buzzer.
They were now drenched in melted snow and covered in some that had yet to melt.
"I so won that." Gratuity said to Geleel with a smirk.
"Not even in ya wildest dreams Tip." Geleel fired back with a deadpan.
The door opens as they were met with the sight of the most wonderful woman in the world to them, Lucy Tucci.
Lucy had light brown skin much like her daughter, her eyes were brown in contrast to Gratuity's.
Her hair was straightened and let down to about her upper back.
The woman looked at the two teens as she was puzzled by their drenched jackets.
"Oh my..." She trailed off.
"Hi mom!" Gratuity shouted as she ran inside and puts her coat on the rack and disregarded her sneakers.
"Sup Ms. Tucci." Geleel said as he did the same thing Gratuity did.
"Hey sweethearts! Why are you guys so dirty?" She questioned them as she shut the door behind her.
"Let's just say, snow is not fun." Geleel said as Gratuity deadpanned at him and Lucy arched a brow at him.
"Okay...well you two get cleaned up and get ready for dinn-oh shoot! I just realized I didn't even cook since I went straight to sleep after setting up the last of the Christmas decorations, guys, I'm sorry-" Lucy is cutoff by Gratuity.
"Mom, it's okay, just sit down and relax." Gratuity said as she led her mother to the couch by her hands.
She then sits her down as Geleel brought her a blanket and brought it over to her.
"Yea, you've done so much for us already, and this place is so beautifully decorated already, we'll make dinner, you just chill here." Geleel said as they ran off to set dinner up.
A meow brought their attention to the floor as they noticed their cat, Pig, yes a cat named Pig.
"Hey Pig! You wanna help us cook?" Gratuity questioned as she picked the multicolored cat up.
He simply meowed in response as they ran to the kitchen with Pig.
Lucy smiled at them, she couldn't ask for any other kids.
Gratuity and Geleel both had a strong connection from since the day they met.
She'd admit, it was hard raising them both alone, she lost her husband when Gratuity was only eight months old, but she still did her best to raise her into a fine young lady.
Many people wouldn't take in another kid after something like that but...Geleel was so good to her daughter, it was only right.
When his parents unfortunately passed away in that car accident, Lucy was devastated, but no one was hurt more than Geleel himself.
She couldn't just leave him alone, so she did what she had to do.
"Such a sweet boy." Lucy said as she reminisced on the story of Gratuity and Geleel became friends.
Flashback
It was a chilly Fall day, as Paul Robeson elementary school was in its recess hour.
A seven year old Geleel walked around the yard as he frowned deeply at the ground.
He hated this time of day, he had no friends, moving from Jamaica to New York made it extra hard to fit in.
Kids were extra mean when it came to people who were different.
Suddenly a loud sniffle draws Geleel out of his thoughts as his head snapped towards it.
He noticed a girl sitting under the slide with tears practically raining from her eyes.
Geleel was conflicted, he was shy when it came to approaching people, but she just...looked like she was in so much pain, he had to help her.
Before he knew it, he found hismelf walking over to her.
"Hey, you good?" Geleel questioned her as her head snapped towards him.
Her brown curls bounced due to how fast she whipped her head up.
The girl looked up at the boy in front of her with a deer in the headlights expression, was he talking to her? There was no way but, who else could it be?
She then wiped the tears from her eyes and faced him again.
"Y-Yea! What's it to you?" She questioned him.
"Hey, I just saw you cryin and wanted to help, what's wrong?" The question stunned her, he sounded like he actually...cared.
"I...I can't make any friends, and I hate it, I want to go home." She admitted as Geleel frowned slightly at this.
Looks like he wasn't the only one struggling to fit in.
Geleel had to do something, and he only knew one way to help.
"Well uh, how about this, what's your name?" He questioned her.
"Gratuity...Gratuity Tucci, but my mom calls me Tip." Gratuity responded as Geleel gave her a light smile.
He'd have to admit, Gratuity was a pretty name.
"Well Tip, my name's Geleel Barlett, my pops calls me Cap...and I'm your friend now." Geleel declared as Gratuity's eyes widened.
This was kid was seriously weirding her out, but it was in a good way somehow.
"Are you sure?" She questioned him.
"Definitely, where you from Tip?" Geleel asked her as he sat down beside her.
"I'm from Barbados, it's hard to adjust when you're from the Caribbean and living in New York." Gratuity explained.
"Hey! I'm from Jamaica, we're both Caribbean, I knew I made the right choice in walking over here." Geleel declared.
"Why do you say that?" Gratuity asked.
"Because, I would never have met my new best friend." Geleel said as he smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Gratuity's face lit up, Geleel was so upfront, it was nice actually.
"Sorry for being so straightforwa-woah!" Geleel is distracted from his apology as Gratuity hugged him tightly.
"Thank you..." She said quietly as he returned the hug after a bit.
"You're welcome Tip, now come on." Geleel said he grabbed her hand and began leading her towards the swings.
"We're gonna play on the swings, I'll push you first don't worry." Geleel explained.
"Alright, I like to go really high though." Gratuity declared as they made it to the swings and she sat down.
"Alright, I got this." Geleel said as he began pushing her.
They laughed and played for the rest of the recess time.
From that day forth, Geleel and Gratuity were never separated, they were a package deal, if you saw one, the other was surely to be two feet away.
Present
Lucy smiled fondly at the memory, it was almost the perfect story, almost.
Unfortunately, only half a year later would be at the car crash travesty that took Geleel's parents from the world, which is why Lucy took him in.
She was devastated when she watched the news that morning and saw their names appear on that casualties list from the crash.
No one was more crushed than Geleel, he lost the people he held the most dearly.
The only thing he had to remember them by is the portrait he had of them on a pendant that they put on a silver chain for him, he never took it off.
Lucy had to take him in after the tragedy, she owed it to him and his parents who had become her friends, Geleel didn't deserve to be alone.
The woman was then brought out of her thoughts as a familiar smell invaded her sinuses.
It was Curry Chicken, Lucy's favorite dish.
"Food's almost ready mom!" Gratuity shouted.
"It already smells great!" Lucy shouted back.
After a few minutes Geleel came into the living room and ushered Lucy into the kitchen.
She gasped at the sight before her, three plates of Curry Chicken were set out on the table.
The three then sat down and prepared to eat dinner.
Geleel and Gratuity sat expectantly as they waited for Lucy to try their food.
She brought a spoon full of food to her mouth as she blew on it then put it into her mouth.
Her eyes widened at the taste, it was like Heaven on Earth.
"Tip...Cap, you guys may have a future in the culinary department, this is amazing!" She shouted as they both beamed.
"Yes!" Gratuity shouted as she highfived Geleel.
"I love Christmas Eve." Geleel said as they began laughing and enjoying dinner.
This Christmas Eve was absolutely beautiful.
Later on Gratuity and Geleel now laid in bed as they had their sleepwear on.
Lucy stood in front of them as she kissed each of their foreheads.
"Goodnight sweethearts, and Geleel you're gonna apologize to that Pom Pom Pappernacky girl after Winter break is over." Lucy scolded him.
"Come onnnn, I wouldn't have accidentally threw a milk carton at her if she didn't step on Tip's shoe and laugh about it." Geleel said as the two kids began laughing.
"That was too funny." Gratuity said as the laughter intensified.
"Geleel." Lucy scolded him once more as the laugher ceased.
"Alright fine fine, I will." Geleel said as he winked at Gratuity.
"Good, love you guys." Lucy said as she turned the light off and headed to her room.
"Love you too!" They both shouted back.
"Today was so fun." Gratuity said to Geleel.
"Yea, even with the snow I still enjoyed today." Geleel said as Gratuity chuckled.
She then let out a yawn. "Alright I'm gonna sleep now, can't believe Christmas is tomorrow, goodnight Cap, love you." She said as she let herself succumb to sleep.
"Love you too Gratuity." Geleel said as he then kissed his pendant.
'Love you mom and dad.' He mentally stated as he soon found himself falling asleep as well.
Later in that night Gratuity was shifting and turning in her bed.
Her face scrunched up. "No...no." She seemed to be having a nightmare as she tossed and turned.
The girl then jumped out of her sleep with a gasp as she breathed raggedly.
Gratuity then turned the lamp next to her bed on after her breathing had calmed down slightly.
She looked over at Geleel who was sleeping soundly, she didn't want to bother him but she needed him right now.
"Cap...Cap please wake up." She said as she shook him gently.
Geleel woke up huskily as he looked at her with half lidded eyes.
"Tip what's...wrong." He said as he noticed her eyes had tears welling up.
"Can I...can I please sleep with you tonight?" She asked him as he stared at her incredulously.
Lucy got them both separate beds when they were around twelve, she didn't want anything to confuse them since their bodies were changing, though she knew both kids had slight crushes on eachother, she'd wait for them to realize it normally.
They both understood this when they were in health class and taught about male and female puberty.
Geleel didn't care about all that right now, Gratuity was in distress.
"Ofcourse you can Tip, come here." Geleel said as raised his arm up invitingly.
Gratuity placed herself into his arms as he hugged her to his body.
She then turned the light off as they laid in the darkness.
"You wanna talk about what happened now Tip?" Geleel questioned as he could still feel how tense her body was.
"I...I had a horrible dream, that you...you were in that car with your parents during that crash and you died too, Cap please...don't ever leave me I don't know what I wou-" Gratuity is cutoff.
"Shh, calm down Tip, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I will never leave you alone, it was just a dream, I promise you, I will always be by your side, forever." Geleel said as he played with her curls.
"T-Thank you Cap, I love you so much, you always know what to say to calm me down." She said as she moved her body closer to his.
"Can you...can you hold me tighter?" Gratuity asked, both teens were happy it was dark in the room, both of their faces were beet red.
"Ofcourse Gratuity, goodnight." Geleel said as he held her slightly tighter
Christmas Morning
It was Christmas morning...probably the most special morning of the year.
Especially in New York City, it was the perfect city for Christmas.
Millions of kids would be ripping presents apart right about now.
Geleel Barlett and Gratuity Tucci however, were still sleeping.
"These are gonna be so good!" Lucy's voice rang throughout the apartment.
The two kids began stirring as they heard her shout.
Gratuity was the first to recognize what day it was as her eyes shot open.
"It's Christmas!" She yelled as she jumped up from the bed, almost knocking Geleel over in the process.
He then groaned as he fluttered his eyes a bit.
"Oh come on ya grinch, get up!" Gratuity shouted as she pulled him up by his arms as he stood drowsily.
"Let's goooo." She said as she pulled him towards the living room.
"Good morning mom! Merry Christmas!" Gratuity shouted.
"Hey kids! Merry Christmas!" Lucy called to them.
"Merry Christmas." Geleel grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.
"Don't mind him mom, he's a bit grumpy." Gratuity said as Lucy chuckled at them.
Pig then ran into the kitchen as he ran over to Lucy.
"What? You want some of the cookies don't you?" She deducted.
"Cookies? Who said cookies?" Geleel shouted as his eyes immediately widened, he was up now alright.
"Ohhhh so now you're awake huh?" Gratuity questioned him as he deadpanned at her.
Lucy chuckled at their small banter.
Geleel then walked over to her as he reached for a cookie only for her to lightly smack his hand.
"Uh-uh! You guys didn't even take showers yet, no cookies until AFTER you're clean." Lucy reprimanded him.
Geleel grumbled something as he turned and went to the bathroom.
"What was that?" Lucy questioned him.
"I said I love you Ms. Tucci." Geleel said as he flashed her a smile.
"Mhm." She said with a deadpan.
Gratuity laughed at them. "I can't wait for us to exchange presents!" Gratuity shouted as she ran to the bathroom.
Yea she'd have to wait for Geleel to be done but, she was so excited that she didn't even realize she had stood there for 25 minutes until he was done.
After getting cleaned up the kids then made their way to the living room.
"Okay now I can finally get me a cookie." Geleel said as he reached for the plate of Christmas cookies only for Lucy to move it much to his dismay.
"Noooo, we have to do presents first, you know this." Lucy reminded him.
He was a bit upset but he was happy again as he realized he could finally give them their presents.
"Yayyy!" Gratuity shouted as they sat down and gathered the gifts.
"Okay Geleel, since you're sooo eager to attack the cookies, how about you go first." Lucy suggested as Geleel smiled sheepishly.
"Alright, this one is actually for you Ms. Tucci, you've been so good to me all these years...after they..." Geleel trailed off as Lucy and Gratuity frowned, they knew what he was talking about.
Geleel chose to skip over that part, he didn't want to dampen the mood on Christmas.
"Anyways, I really don't know how to put it any other way but, I love you Ms. Tucci...more than words could ever explain." Geleel said as he handed her a pink rectangular box.
Lucy grabbed the box as she opened the present, what she saw inside caused herself and Gratuity to gasp loudly.
It was a yellow bead necklace with "Lucy Tucci," engraved in the beads.
They were Bajan beads too, and he knew yellow was her favorite color.
"It's so pretty..." Gratuity said in awe.
"Cap I...I don't know what to say, it's beautiful." She said she put the necklace on.
"It looks great on you Ms. Tucci." Geleel complimented her as she smiled fondly at him.
Lucy then drew him in for a firm hug as he quickly returned it.
"Thank you so much, you're such a good kid." Lucy said as they separated.
"Okay Tip, this one's for you." Geleel said as he presented a green heart-shaped box to Gratuity.
The girl took the box as she shook it trying to see what it was.
Gratuity then opened the box as what she saw made her gasp sharply.
There were two bead bracelets in the box.
One was green with "Geleel" engraved into the beads, the other was blue with "Gratuity" engraved into the beads.
Gratuity didn't know what to say, she covered her mouth in utter shock.
"They're sooooo cute." Lucy gawked.
"I made the green one for you and the blue one for me, they both have our names on it respectively, that way even if we somehow aren't together we'd still be close." Geleel said as he put the blue bracelet on.
He then took Gratuity's hand as he put the green bracelet on hers.
"I love it so much, Cap, thank you!" She shouted as she hugged him.
"You guys have to let me get a picture of them." Lucy declared as picked up her phone.
Gratuity and Geleel both grinned brightly at the camera as they showed the bracelets to the camera.
Lucy snapped the picture as she looked at it, this was way too perfect.
"Okay! My turn!" Gratuity shouted as she offered a purple rectangular present to Geleel.
He took the box as he wasted no time in opening it.
Geleel took it out as he noticed it was a book, a journal, something he'd actually wanted for a while now.
The book was blue in color, and the cover had a picture of the family on it.
"You remembered me saying I wanted this all year, wow Tip I-" Geleel was cutoff as she slammed into him with a hug.
"Don't mention it Geleel, you deserve it after being so good to me all these years." Gratuity declared as Geleel returned the hug and smiled.
This day was going so perfect, nothing could ruin it, or so he thought.
Pig then ran into the living room as he jumped onto Gratuity's head.
"Hey Pig." Geleel said with a chuckle as he pet the cat who purred in response.
"Okay mom, this one's for you-" Tip is cutoff as the building began shaking as they all went on edge.
"What the-" Lucy cut herself off.
"What's happening?" Geleel shouted.
Pig meowed warily as he clutched Gratuity's hair.
Suddenly they levitated off the ground as they all shouted again.
The things around them began levitating as well.
"Kids! Kids!" Lucy shouted as she tried to reach out for them.
"Mom!" Gratuity shouted as she reached out for Lucy.
"Tip!" Geleel shouted as he grabbed a hold of her midsection since she was closer.
"What's going on?" Gratuity called out to her mom.
"I don't know, just stay calm-" Lucy cuts herself off as a hole appears in the roof above Geleel and Gratuity.
She didn't have time to react as a hole appeared in the wall behind her.
"No!" Geleel shouted as he noticed a blue beam appear behind Lucy as she was seemingly being sucked into it.
"It'll be okay!" She tried to reassure them.
Suddenly a blue beam appeared over Pig and the kids as well as they tried to shield their eyes.
What happened next was all a blur, they suddenly fell to the floor alongside everything else that was floating.
Both kids groaned as they sat up and looked around the room in disbelief, did that really just happen.
They then look at where Lucy once was...she was gone, just gone.
"No..no...no!" Gratuity shouted as she looked at the hole her in the wall that her mom was sucked through.
Geleel couldn't believe it either, did that really just happen.
He was brought out of his thoughts as he noticed Gratuity besides him sobbing heavily.
So he did the only thing he could do, he hugged her to his chest.
"Tip...I'm sorry...I..." Geleel trailed off as he tried to find the words.
What could he say? Whatever just happened clearly wasn't natural, they couldn't do anything, the best option was to give up- no, Lucy did way too much for them for them to simply give up.
"Tip, Tip look at me." Geleel said as he raised her head up.
"I know you're scared, trust me, I am too, but we're not gonna find her by sitting here and crying, look, I told you I'd be your side forerver, and that means when you need me most, come on." Geleel said as he raised his hand with the bracelet on it to her.
She touched his hand with her own as she looked at him determinedly.
"Thank you, but what are we gonna do?" She questioned him as he wiped his tear.
"First, we need a plan, second, we have to figure out what the hell even just happened, but for now, let's set make sure we have ways to defend ourselves and the apartment." Geleel said as they stood up.
Pig meows as they noticed him stir awake, poor thing must've been knocked out when they fell.
"Come here Pig." Gratuity said as she picked him up and followed Geleel who had gone to look for things that would help them defend themselves.
She didn't know how they'd figure this out, but she was with Geleel, and she felt safe around him, she trusted him with her life.
'Don't worry mom, we'll save you.' She mentally declared.
Chapter Fin