One Winter Night

Chapter 1

There are 4 different kinds of people on Christmas. First, there's the Christmas fanatic. That's the ones who live for this time of year. Who have a Christmas playlist on their phone and start playing it November 1st. The people who are trying to make Christmas in July an actual thing. That's the kind of person Noelle Perry was.

Ever since Noelle was little, her parents went completely overboard on Christmas. They were the ones with the house that has so many lights on it, you can see from outer space on Google Earth. Every year for as long as Noelle could remember, Christmas was what the year revolved around. Heck, it's what she's named after. The first Noel. She has Christmas running through her veins. But, when Noelle reached elementary school, most people thought she was too into Christmas. They thought she was weird and obsessive. Noelle was bullied for a long time by an older girl on her bus. It was so bad for her that pretty soon, she traded her colorful Christmas sweaters for grey, white, and black colored clothing and she took down all her decorations. But, she never let Christmas die away in her heart. When Noelle reached high school, everything changed. She and her parents had moved to a different state because of her father's job. So, she put back up her decorations and wore all her sweaters, and she never left home without that bright Christmas smile.

Then, there's the Jewish people who kind of liked this time of year, but weren't crazy about it. They weren't about to go change their religion choice for this one day of the year. That is who Casper Jackson is.

Casper never really heard about Santa Claus, or the North Pole, or anything really having to do with Christmas. His parents kept him pretty sheltered all throughout his childhood, but that all went kaput when he got to preschool. All the kids in his class had to write a letter to Santa Claus asking him what he wanted for Christmas instead of themselves. And when Casper found himself thoroughly confused about who this Santa was, he asked his parents when he got home that night. His parents, being the overprotective parents they were went to the school and had a conference with the teacher about different religions and why she shouldn't give kids an assignment that goes against what they believe in. Casper stopped talking about Christmas after that. Not only to his parents, but to everyone. He looked past the trees and light displays in the stores and ignored the Christmas movies on every single channel. He found comfort in video games and for the most part stayed glued to his phone.

Next, there's the Grinch. The people of the world who absolutely hate Christmas. They don't look forward to it, they hate it when it's here, and they're glad when it's over. That's basically who Joseph Wells was.

Joseph didn't always hate Christmas. Surprisingly, at a very young age, it was his favorite holiday. Until, his 8th Christmas. It was 14 days before his 8th Christmas. Him and his two younger siblings, Tiffany and Luke, were walking home from a long day at school. Just as they reach the halfway mark to their house, two older boys turned the corner closest to them. They started walking toward him. That day at school, Joseph's class had had a party, and they each made their own Santa hat. Joseph was still wearing his. The two boys, Tommy and Billy, spoke up.

"Oh, look at the little baby," Tommy shouted to Joseph. "He still believes in Santa Claus!"

"I hope he knows that Santa isn't real!" Billy yelled from under his large grey beanie.

"He is too real!" Joseph screamed back at them.

"You know what happens to babies who believe in Santa right? They get taught a lesson," Tommy and Billy started barreling toward him. Joseph yelled for Tiffany and Luke to run home and get help as he ran the other direction. Joseph ran the road which he previously traveled toward the bus stop. Unfortunately, Tommy and Billy were faster than 8 year old Joseph and caught up to him rather quickly. They pummeled him to the ground and continued to punch him until his nose bled and his tears froze to his face. His mom came running to the bus stop followed by Tiffany and Luke. The boys ran away from Joseph and he ran to his mother, crying and bruising. After a long afternoon, full of tears, ice packs, and hot chocolate, Joseph realized the truth about Santa Claus. His years of believing and happiness down the drain.

When Christmas rolled around, Joseph refused to get out of bed for hours. His siblings opened their gifts without him while he got more sleep than he needed. When his grandparents came over, his mom and dad decided to go out and get more hot chocolate mix. They left early in the afternoon, and never returned. Their car crashed into a lamppost due to an unexpected snow storm rolling through. When they were found, they were still alive, but barely. They were rushed to the hospital that night. His mom lost both of her legs, and his dad died the following week. Joseph became very distant and hardly talked to anyone. He now hated Christmas, for all the horrible memories that it brought back.

Lastly, there are the people who love Christmas because it is a celebration of love. They are in a committed relationship with someone who means the absolute world to them. They can only see the good in everything, they can't stop thinking about what to get their significant other for Christmas, blah blah blah *insert puke here*.. They're the person that everyone hates to invite to their Christmas parties because they have to bring their partner to absolutely everything. This life is lived by Virginia Albonoie.

Virginia had never been in love with anyone. She was like your average nerd, always with her nose in a book, straight A's, a perfect life. Well, almost. She wanted a boyfriend more than she could express. She wanted the feeling of being wanted. And, when she finally looked up from her book one day in a crowded coffee shop, that's when she found Felix. He was staring at her from across the small space with two tall hot chocolates in hand, like he was trying to work up the courage to talk to her. Virginia was instantly taken aback and fell head over heels for the 6 foot 4 dirty blonde with round glasses. They had been inseparable ever since they got together that one November afternoon. And while Virginia's friends had been clearly feeling neglected and annoyed, she didn't care. She was letting her lovesick show.

You would think that there would be no way that these 4 very different personalities could ever find a balance in this world. However, you never know what will happen when the biggest blizzard of the century traps this band of misfits inside of a crowded airport on Christmas Eve....