Chapter 1

My name is Edwin. Edwin Douglas to be exact, but everybody calls me Eddie. Much like my name I'm a rather ordinary guy leading an ordinary life, or at least I did until that Christmas four years ago. I was 19 then, and it wasn't really Christmas but what happened afterwards that changed everything.

I woke up that Saturday at three o'clock. I don't normally sleep that late, but it was the first day after finals ended, and I decided to reward myself for making it through the first semester at college. My roommate, John, was still asleep as well. I didn't blame him for sleeping in because he had been up for thirty hours the day before cramming for all three of his finals.

I brushed the sleep sand from my eyes and put on my glasses. I realized that my Far Side desk calendar still read Nov. 21.

"Let's see," I thought to myself, "What day is it?"

I flipped through all the days until I came to the only Saturday that made sense, December 19.

"Wait a sec, that means there is only," quickly counting on my hands (my brain was too fried to do anything else), "six days until Christmas!'

My brain immediately kicked into overdrive as I tried to remember if I had presents for anyone stashed already.

"Mom, check. Dad, check. Grandma and Grandpa #1, check. Grandpa #2, dead. Grandma 2, check. Aunts and Uncles, doesn't matter they won't expect anything. 5 cousins..."

"Uh oh."

I threw on my jacket and headed for the jungle known as Spring Mall. Anyone who has put off their Christmas shopping until the weekend before knows what a jungle malls can be.

I had only been mall hopping for five minutes before seeing two fights. One was over a Tickle Me Elmo, the other between two women over the last Furby.

Three of my cousins were easy to shop for. Give three boys, ages 7, 8, and 9, Nerf guns and you wouldn't see them for hours, at least until they lost all the darts. The two girls were a bit more difficult. Janey, the baby of the family at six, wasn't too bad. I found her a pair of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

Angie was a different story though. She was sixteen and a junior in high school--a doll wasn't going to do the trick. I knew Angie pretty well though, we were the two oldest of the kids in my family, and we were together a lot until high school. I knew that she liked Asian stuff. She went gaga over anything that was of Chinese or Japanese motif. The mall had the one requisite 'import' store with all the cheap looking baubles and trinkets, but I had actually seen some interesting stuff there before.

Fighting my way through the crushing mall crowd, I discovered that 'Asian Imports, ' was the only store that hadn't been picked over, and still had a decent selection. It only took me about fifteen minutes of looking before I finally found something I thought Angie would really like. Tucked in the corner behind the chime balls was a small wooden jewelry box with the image of a bonsai tree carved in the lid. I grabbed it and headed to the cash register, handing the box to the elderly woman at the counter.

"That'll be twenty one dollars and thirty two cents." The woman said.

"Twenty two bucks. For that little thing?"

"That's right, take it or leave it."

"Ok, I guess I'll take it," I sighed as I reached into my wallet and searched.

'Lets see, receipt, receipt, receipt, 6 month old condom (Hey, I was busy enough with 18 credits, so stop smiling) and no cash. Well, at least I have my MasterCard.'

I slid my card across the counter and was imagining how happy Angie would be when a tap on my shoulder dragged me from my daydream.

"Sir? Sir!"

"Huh, what? Oh, where do you need me to sign," I said, as I looked for a pen.

"Sir, your card has been declined," she said, with an evil smirk on her face.

I was crestfallen. I couldn't manage any words so I just silently took my card, and shuffled out of the store. I headed back to my dorm room and searched around for loose change, but it was no use. I was completely broke, and my next payday wasn't for almost two weeks.

I spent the next five days trying to come up with something, but it was no use. It wasn't until the day before Christmas that I finally came up with an idea. I was doing some last minute wrapping for my parents when I stumbled upon an unused Christmas card. Now I just had to find something to put into it. I sat down on my bed and flipped on my small bedside radio (I had left my good stereo on campus).

The radio must have been stuck on a top 40 station because that really freaking annoying song, "Genie in bottle," was playing. I was about to change the station when inspiration hit. I grabbed the card and quickly scribbled in it. "From your own personal genie, good for one wish." I know it's incredibly cheesy but it was the best thing that I could come up with the day before Christmas.

The next day, Angie arrived with her mom and dad around four o'clock. She hadn't changed much since I last saw her. She stood about 5'4", at least that was the closest I could figure. I guessed she didn't have a large chest, but I really couldn't tell because she always wore baggy shirts and sweaters that left everything to the imagination. That, with her slim build combined with our family's Scotch-Irish red hair, gave her an elfin, almost boyish, look.

"Hey college boy," she said as she gave me hug.

"Hey runt, how ya been."

"Life sucks and then you die."

"School's been that bad lately?" I asked.

"You have no idea how much my life sucks right now."

"Why, it's not like you're a bad student or anything."

"No, it's not that, I'm doing fine in all my classes. It's just that..."

I had an idea what was bothering her. Angie was very smart and always did well in school, but that talent didn't seem to translate to boys.

"So who are you in love with this semester?" I asked.

She turned bright red and wouldn't look at me.

"It changes weekly," my aunt said dryly as she came up behind us.

"Mom!"

"Well it's true, isn't it? Last week it was Bobby Smith, the week before that it was Ronnie what's-his-name, you know, the football player. This week it was..."

My aunt never got the chance to answer as Angie screamed something at her at went to hide in the bathroom.

"You're merciless," I mockingly scolded my aunt, "Why is it that all parents feel that it is their duty to embarrass their kids?"

"It's in our blood," she said with a smile.

I went to the bathroom and turned the knob. It was locked.

"Hey runt," I teased, "you know you can't stay in there forever."

"I can try."

She sounded like she did when she 7 years old, and I wouldn't let her play with my friends and me.

"I know you can't possibly be comfortable in there. Tell you what; if you come out I'll let you hide out in my room until it's time for dinner. I've only got a small radio up there, but it's better than listening to the Christmas carol parodies my dad is going to play downstairs."

I heard the lock pop and the door opened a little bit so that Angie could peek out. Her eyes were red and puffy and I could see that she had been crying.