Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
I’ve been sitting on the couch drinking my coffee for the last twenty minutes.
I threw the note away. I’m not sure if that was a good idea or not, but I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore.
I’m just telling myself it was Liam. While I’m not thrilled about that idea, it beats the hell out of the alternative.
A stranger’s cum on my lips? Fucking GROSS.
It’s Christmas Eve, and I decide to pick myself up and do what I set out to do today, which is to decorate.
I head down to the basement and grab whatever Christmas decorations I can find, brushing off cobwebs and dust as I go.
It’s not much, but there are some stockings, staircase decor, some Christmas-themed gnomes, knick-knacks, and some Christmas lights, both for decor and for the tree we would chop down.
Digging a bit further, I also find the tree I remember having as a kid when the weather was too bad to chop one down.
I haul everything upstairs, sorting through broken items as I pull things out one by one.
I get the staircase decorated with lights and garland, replace some of the kitchen decor with Christmas-themed items, hang the stockings, and string some of the lights around the counter and along the walls, using thumb tacks and tape to keep them up.
Lastly, there is the tree. I pull each piece from the box one by one, and when it’s out of the box completely, I plug the lights in to test that they still work.
The flocked fake tree comes with its own lights, but they're all burnt out, none of them illuminating when plugged in. Well, crap. I could just wrap this tree with the other lights, but what fun would that be? I could run out and chop one myself. The weather seems fine right now, and I think the fresh air would do me some good. Yeah, I think that’s exactly what I’ll do.
I run upstairs, changing into warmer clothes and grabbing my scarf, gloves, and hat.
I grab my coat and snow boots from by the door and throw those down, bundling up so much I feel like the Michelin Man.
I make a quick run down to the basement, finding and grabbing the axe my father kept down here.
Then, I grab some rope to fasten around the base, making it easier to drag back home.
With the axe thrown over one shoulder and rope shoved into my pocket, I head out into the frigid air, locking the door behind me and feeling like a complete badass. I can do this. Fuck men, right?
With that thought, I make my way toward the woods, hoping that this isn’t a stupid idea.