Castaway [Peter Parker]

29 - Christmas

Christmas was here.

Jeremy, Hailey's father, woke everyone up.

"Come on, Hailey," Jeremy said, gently tapping her arm to wake up.

"Hm?" Hailey said, turning onto her back.

"Wake up, honey," he said. "It's Christmas."

It took Hailey a few moments to realize what was going on.

As soon as she did, she smiled.

At this point, Jeremy was standing by her door.

Hailey threw on a hoodie and went down to the living room.

Hailey's parents and sisters were downstairs. The only other person who was not downstairs was Chase, who was behind her.

They rushed downstairs to join their family. 

The first thing that the family did was opening presents. 

They took turns opening their gifts as Hailey's parents took pictures.

Jeremy had set up a camera, like he does every year to record their reactions as they open their gifts.

Jeremy wanted to be able to look back at the videos and be able to remember the holidays and all the trips the family together. 

Hailey always found it annoying but went with it because it made her father happy, but after what happened to Chase, she was grateful that her father decided to record and take pictures of everything.

The five years that Chase was gone, it got harder and harder to remember him. She was at the age where she would be able to remember, but it was hard to.

The only thing that she was able to remember was seeing Chase turn to dust. 

Watching her older brother essentially die by turning to dust was something that was hard to forget. That was the only thing that stuck with Hailey during those five years.

She heavily relied on the pictures and videos that Jeremy took in order to remember all the good memories. 

All Hailey wanted to do was forget that day, but it was hard when she had to relive it in her dreams.

After opening up gifts, they started making breakfast and setting the table.

The family stayed in the entire day. 

They spent the entire day, playing Christmas movies in the background.

Jeremy forced the family to play different types of games, like board games and charades.

By the end of the day, Hailey felt drained.

All she wanted to do was go up to her bedroom and relax.

Throughout the day, whenever Hailey had the opportunity, she would text her friends.

She thanked them for the gifts they got her after opening the gifts in the morning.

Hailey, Chase, and all of their friends decided to do Secret Santa and exchanged gifts on the last day of school. They made sure that Hailey and Chase wouldn't get to each other. 

Hailey and Chase were the first two to pick out the names. They made sure that their names weren't in the bowl so they had no way of getting each other.

Hailey got Liz and Chase got Ned.

Coincidentally, Liz got Hailey, which they joked up when they realized that they were each other's secret Santa.

Just as Hailey sat down at her desk, Liz called her.

"Hey," Hailey said.

"Hi," Liz said.

"What's up?"

"What are you and Chase doing tomorrow?" Liz asked.

"We're not sure yet," Hailey admitted.

"Alright, great, I've been calling and texting all of our friends," Liz said, "about going out for breakfast. What do you think?"

"Alright, I'll tell Chase," Hailey said.

Just as she stood up, Chase knocked and came in.

"Tell me what?" Chase asked.

"We're going to breakfast tomorrow morning, okay?" Liz said.

"Alright," Chase said. "Is MJ -"

"She's coming," Liz said.

Chase smiled. "Oh, good. I would've begged her to come if needed."

Hailey and Liz chuckled at his comment.

"So, are you going to ask her out, ever?" Hailey asked.

"Soon," Chase said. "I will soon. The past few months have been hectic."

Hailey nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I'll talk to you guys later," Liz said. "My mom is calling me for dinner."

"See you tomorrow," Hailey and Chase said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Liz said. "Bye."

Liz hung up the phone.

Hailey and her family had dinner a few minutes later before everyone was able to do whatever they wanted.

Hailey went to her bedroom and laid on her bed.

It was a good day. 

She thought about all the years her father spent recording videos and taking pictures of everything they did. 

There was a nagging thought in the back of her mind. 

In some of the pictures and videos that they have of Chase and his friends, before they became her friends as well, from before the Blip and after, there was one person whose face was always hidden.

Hailey couldn't help but feel like they knew him. They knew him. 

Why is his face always hidden?

Hailey couldn't help but feel like his face wasn't hidden before then suddenly, she forgot something important and his face was hidden.

Why was he connected to Peter Parker, the customer who always came for coffee at the bakery where Hailey worked? Did Peter Parker have some sort of connection to the person whose face is always hidden?