Thanksgiving Dinner

Alex sighed, watching the blur of trees out his window. Leaving the city behind, he and his aunts, uncles, and cousins were headed up north to spend Thanksgiving in an abbey that his great uncle had scored from an auction.

"Why couldn't we spend Thanksgiving at grandma's like usual?" Alex asked for the fourth time that day.

"I'm not explaining this again, Alex, your grandmother's house isn't big enough for the new additions to the extended family," Aunt Lucy explained, feeding the car more fuel as it struggled up a steep hill.

"Yeah but..."

"That's it, we've heard quite enough of your complaining, this discussion is over," Uncle Rodger said angrily.

Alex huffed but said nothing more.

His other relatives rode in other cars ahead of them, making an odd sort of convoy, a mix of family cars and delivery vans full with Thanksgiving dinner.

Eventually, they turned off the main road and onto a narrow dirt road. The car bumped along the narrow trek, following the convoy.

"They never said anything about the road being this bad," Rodger said irritably.

Lucy said nothing, concentrating on keeping the car under control as it traversed the uneven path.

Alex thought about his home town, where he'd grown up with his godparents. His mother and father died shortly after he was born, some sort of boat accident, Alex was never told the details. That's when his godparents took him in, sparing him from child social services.

To Alex's distaste, his godparents were never invited to family gatherings such as this one, sure they weren't blood-related but they'd raised him from birth and legally, they were his parents. But that's not how his family saw it, his father's side anyway. He never met his mother's side.

Alex sighed, his breath creating condensation on the window. He wished he was back home with his godparents, with his pets and video games, home.

The car hit a large pothole and Rodger cursed.

"Watch the car, hon."

"I'm trying! I don't see you doing anything useful!" Lucy snapped back.

"I read the map!"

They continued to argue back and forth, Alex sighed and popped in his earbuds, tuning into the limited mp3 files on his phone.

After what seemed like eons, the first glimpses of the abbey presented themselves. Alex's eyes were glued to the window, it was like something out of a fairy tale, gray stones and tiny windows with spires that seemed to touch the sky itself. Finally, the road curved around a boulder and abbey was brought into full view.

"Magnificent..." Alex explained in awe.

"It sure is something, isn't it, love?" Rodger said proudly.

Lucy nodded, equally as impressed as Alex.

The convoy settled in a dirt patch at the abbey's front steps.

"How's the turkey?" Rodger called as Lucy killed the engine.

"We'll have to see!" Called one of the delivery men.

The uniformed men climbed out of their vans and began unpacking the food and carrying the boxes into the abbey.

Alex hopped out of the car, shouldering his pack. Lucy handed him his duffel bag without a word and walked off.

Alex sighed and lugged his things through the doors.

Inside was as impressive as the outside of the abbey. Bare stone was everywhere, light poured through the windows and candles lit the rest. There were paintings on the walls, of kings and knights in shining armor. Paintings depicting a and from long ago, when beasts were as common as animals. Alex strode down the corridor, each painting becoming more and more memorizing. As he wandered, the voices of the delivery men and his family became fainter and fainter.