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    A Friend for Christmas
    A Friend for Christmas
    A Friend for Christmas
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    A Friend for Christmas

    By J P Walker

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    About this ebook

    A story from Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology

    A FRIEND FOR CHRISTMAS
    by J P WALKER

    Eve was always an outsider. So different from everyone else, she never made friends easily - until the day she met Anna, a totally mysterious girl who seemed almost too good to be true.
    A few times over the years they had found each other, and then Anna would disappear, leading Eve to conclude that she is an imaginary friend - a perfect girl she had created in her own mind to help ride the wave of difficult teens and other troubles in life.
    But what if Anna is real? Could they still be friends?
    On Christmas Eve they might just discover that the magic and love they've found can be held onto all year round.

    * * * * *

    ABOUT BOUGHS OF EVERGREEN

    Boughs of Evergreen is a two-volume collection of short stories celebrating the holiday season in all its diversity. Penned by authors from the UK, the USA, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, these are tales of the young and the not-so-young from many different walks of life.

    Themes of family, friendship and romance take readers on a journey through some of the major holidays, both past and present, including Thanksgiving, Advent, St. Lucia Day, Hanukkah, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, Yule, Christmas and New Year. In each we find at the very least hope, and often love, peace and happiness.

    Proceeds from sales of this anthology will be donated to The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization [USA] providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBeaten Track Publishing
    Release dateDec 1, 2014
    ISBN9781910635124
    A Friend for Christmas
    Author

    J P Walker

    Jem Roche-Walker was born in Norwich and moved to the North West in order to attend Edge Hill University, studying Social Work Studies. After studying she began working in rehabilitation for patients with acquired brain injuries and has spent the last 7 years writing her first novel, 'Knights of the Sun', published 2013 (Beaten Track). She lives in Burscough with her wife and baby girl and loves spending family time with them.

    Read more from J P Walker

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      Book preview

      A Friend for Christmas - J P Walker

      Boughs of Evergreen

      A Holiday Anthology

      A FRIEND FOR CHRISTMAS

      by

      J P Walker

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      Copyright 2014 J P Walker.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Cover Design by Decorous Anarchy

      * * * * *

      This novel is a work of fiction and the characters and events in it exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination.

      * * * * *

      Eve was always an outsider. So different from everyone else, she never made friends easily - until the day she met Anna, a totally mysterious girl who seemed almost too good to be true.

      A few times over the years they had found each other, and then Anna would disappear, leading Eve to conclude that she is an imaginary friend - a perfect girl she had created in her own mind to help ride the wave of difficult teens and other troubles in life.

      But what if Anna is real? Could they still be friends?

      On Christmas Eve they might just discover that the magic and love they've found can be held onto all year round.

      * * * * *

      Table of Contents

      First Meeting

      The Hut

      Second Time Around

      The Gift of Reality

      A Christmas Beginning

      About the Author

      Boughs of Evergreen – A Holiday Anthology

      * * * * *

      First Meeting

      My story begins, as many do, a long time ago. A good twenty-two years into the past, when I was just five years old and lost in, what seemed at the time, the biggest playground I had ever set foot in. It was my first day in a large primary school and I was holding my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle doll closely to my chest as if it were bullet-proof. My scuffed-up trainers that still had lights in the heels were slowly guiding me amidst the huge crowd of kids, running and shouting and playing in every direction I looked. I had a feeling then, in the pit of my stomach and working its way up through my chest and, I’m sure, into my eyes, that I couldn’t put a name to way back then. Now, however, I know it was loneliness.

      I was a very shy kid. I would much rather have sat at home under a tree in our large garden, reading a book—or making childish attempts at writing one—than outside with other children. I had no friends, other than Raphael in my arms, that is. In that playground, I was the only little girl not running or skipping with a band of other little girls, and, for the first time, it bothered me.

      As I continued to walk forward and be continuously bumped into and almost knocked to the floor, I moved with purpose, toward a group of girls sitting cross-legged on a patch of grass, with their dolls and what appeared to be a small tea set. I clutched Raphael even closer to me, tugging at the ends of the red bandana covering his eyes. As I approached, I saw them notice me and begin whispering to one another. I stood in front of the small group and smiled at them all, with their perfectly plaited hair, knee-high clean white socks and sparkly shoes. No one smiled in return. They looked at my short, scruffy blonde hair, my face, which probably had dirt smudges on it, my Batman T-shirt, shorts, and then down to my light-up trainers. They knew I was different, and obviously that meant I was not worthy to play with the plastic tea set.

      One girl got up. She was in my class, and I had already noticed on this first day how much influence she held over the others, who all stood and watched from behind her. Again, feeling that nervousness set in, I smiled and even offered a small wave to them. Again, it was not returned.

      While my arm was up, the girl in front, Natalie, grabbed Raphael from me, sniffed him and declared, He stinks! He smells like poo!

      Of course, the other girls laughed at me and pointed. Other kids saw what was going on, and soon a large group was pouting, and laughing, and began calling me ‘Poo Head’.

      I wanted to cry. I wanted to run away and hide from them all. But for some reason I stood and took it for a full two minutes, clenching my fists against my legs, and feeling my eyes narrow at Natalie. Something inside me snapped. I stepped forward and pushed her as hard as I could, with everything I had. She fell to the floor on her bum and let out a yelp.

      Immediately the laughter stopped, and there were gasps throughout the playground. I looked around at their faces and then stepped forward again, bent down and picked up Raphael. Quickly turning around, I stomped off, away from them all, knowing even then that I was never going to have any friends other than Raphael. So I hugged him tighter to me and went in search of a good hiding place. I could still hear the whispers of shock as I walked away. I kept my eyes down, concentrating on my shoes so I didn’t really know where I was going. But I found myself at the entrance of a small hut at the edge of the play ground, near to the road the school was on. I looked around. No one was watching me now, and there wasn’t anyone nearby, so I opened the door and stepped inside.

      It was small, cramped space, with small chairs stacked one on top of the other, and a few desks along the wall. The room was dusty, with cobwebs dangling from the ceiling, and it smelt of pencils and paint, but it had a few windows, so it wasn’t too dark. As I stepped further in, I could hear someone whispering—another little girl or boy. I saw someone with their back to me in the corner, hunched over and muttering very quietly. I felt scared, though only a little, because I was also very curious, and even in my meagre five years on this planet, my curiosity would win out my fear, every time.

      Hello? I called out as I stepped forward again.

      Whoever it was spun around quickly, and I saw it was a little girl. She had very long brown hair falling past her waist, and was wearing a dark shirt with a pattern on it. Her big brown eyes looked shocked that someone else would be here. She slowly walked toward me, and I saw in the corner behind her a blanket, a half-eaten sandwich and some books, one of which was left open on a page.

      She wasn’t looking at me in an angry way for intruding on what was obviously her private spot. in fact, she looked a little relieved and inquisitive. She was taller than me, and while my face was covered

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