The 25 Days of Christmas

December 8 - Macy Lewis

As Macy squinted as she opened her eyes, with sunlight streaming through the windows of her room. The walls were a patchwork of blue, pink, and black. Macy sighed and thought back to the day that had happened. The last meaningful conversation she had had with her mother in two years.

--

Macy hadn't known anything about painting. Her mom had said she could repaint her room, and had promptly left the house. Macy had bought a can of pink paint a while ago, and had been trying to convince her mom to let her paint her blue room ever since. Once her mom had said yes, she wasted no time, haphazardly throwing the pink paint over the walls. Primer was for the weak.

About a half an hour later, Macy's mom had returned with a bucket of pitch black paint. As soon as she busted into Macy's room, her face fell.

"So you're really going through with this?" Her mom said.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Macy replied, continuing to paint the wall.

Her mom rubbed the bridge of her nose anxiously, mumbling, "This shouldn't be matter, this shouldn't matter–"

"It shouldn't matter!" Macy interjected, "You said I could paint my room, so I'm painting it pink. It's a paint color. Get over it."

"Why do you have to be like this?" Her mom said, "Why can't you just be normal? Why can't you just listen to music I don't approve of, get high with your friends, pretend you're depressed, and paint your room black like EVERY OTHER TEENAGER!!"

"It's a paint color!" Macy replied.

"I raised you to be so much more than this," her mom said dejectedly.

"You know what, fine," Macy said, "I'll use the black paint."

Her mom just stayed silent as Macy took the paint key and popped the lid off the can.

"You know what, I'll even 'pretend to be depressed'," Macy mocked, "And use the paint to showcase all of the depression in my life."

Macy lifted the paint can, and without skipping a beat, dumped the entire gallon can over her mother's head.

Her mom just stood there, frozen, not knowing how to react. She tried to blink the paint out of her eyes as more and more dropped from her body onto the now black hardwood floor.

"Look what you've done," her mom managed before silently walking to the bathroom. Macy heard the water to the bathtub being turned on, and eventually being turned off. Just then, Macy's dad got home from work.

"Honey!" He called, "You won't believe how bad my day was!"

"Try me," her mom called weakly from the bathroom. Her dad pounded up the stairs to see what Macy assumed was her paint covered mother in the bathtub.

"Oh my f- you know what, I can't deal with this right now," Macy's father said, seething with anger that he was desperately trying to control, "I just need to get out of a bit. Blow off some steam."

Her dad pounded back down the stairs and out the door. He turned on his truck and screeched out of the driveway. Macy, still paralyzed from before, listened to the silence that ensued, silence that was only broken by her mother moving in the water or her brother shuffling around in his room.

Ten minutes later, the phone rang, piercing the air.

"I'll get it!" Daniel shouted, running from his room to the phone. "Hello, Daniel Lewis speaking," he greeted in a polite tone, panting a little from running to the phone. But as he listened, the panting didn't stop. It became heavier and more labored, before he forced out an "okay" and hung up the phone. The sound of Daniel running up the stairs forced Macy out of her trance, and she met him by the bathroom door. Daniel was about to graduate high school, and was in over his head in the tough guy mentality. But at that moment, tears were streaming down his face like a faucet.

"What happened?" Macy asked.

"Dad got into an accident," Daniel choked, "Dead on arrival."

Macy looked over at her mom, who's tear stained face was suddenly refreshed with new tears, mingling with the pitch black water surrounding her. She didn't say anything to Macy. She never said anything to Macy since. But her eyes said everything.

"Look what you've done"

--

Macy's phone buzzing snapped her out of her flashback. Macy reached over to her nightstand and pulled her phone off, reading the text. It was from Jackson.

"You dawgs, so my mom is making me be social and get together with friends and well you guys are kinda the only friends I have so whatcha say wanna meet up?"

Before Macy could react, a reply came in from Matthias: "How about at that K-Mart on Goladang Road? It seems inconspicuous enough."

Jackson responded before Macy could even finish reading: "Sounds good dawg."

"Please stop saying dawg," Stephanie texted.

"Only if you come to the park," Jackson replied, "dawg"

"Fine, I'm on my way," Stephanie texted.

Macy's fingers hovered over the keyboard.

"I can come too," Macy painstaking typed, second guessing her entire existence before hitting send.

She held her breath.

"Alright! 3 for 3! What a champ💯💯" Jackson replied, and Macy let out her breath in relief, "And I'll stop that too Stephanie."

Macy got out of bed and plodded downstairs, going into the kitchen and seeing that her mom and Daniel had just finished breakfast. Without her, per usual.

"Can I have a ride to the K-Mart? I'm meeting some friends," Macy mumbled. Her mom remained silent.

"Yeah, come on," Daniel said, grabbing the car keys and starting out the door.

"Be careful Daniel!" Her mom called behind them as he walked Macy out to the car.

Once they got in, Daniel reached inside his pocket.

"I know it's not much," he said, pulling his hand out, "But I saved you a pancake."

Macy smiled and took the pancake from him, eating it as he driver her to the K-Mart. When they got there, Macy got out and walked into the store. Upon entering, Macy saw Matthias in his signature leather jacket, Stephanie in spaghetti straps and 6-inch heels, and Jackson wearing a "San Diego Invite" t-shirt. Jackson waved, Matthias nodded, and Stephanie cringed. And Macy smiled.

She could focus on how the last couple years of her life had been falling more and more apart. Or she could live in the moment and focus on the fact that she had a brother that would save her a pancake and friends that would meet at a moments notice in the sketchiest grocery store in town.

Living in that moment was a lot more fun.

--

May 21, 2019

So, there you go. A thousand word look into the mind of Macy Lewis. I mean, I don't know what else to say other than I like how it turned out and hopefully you do too.

Peace y'all,
AJ