Erin

  Late Morning

  As Erin rushed around her room, she cursed repeatedly, “Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!”

  “Language, Ttarai!” Her mother seemed incapable of not hearing her curse.

  “Sorry, Eomma!” Erin yelled down, then smiled as she found the hiding spot she set for one of the gifts. “There you are!”

  Erin zipped back to the middle of her room at super speed and sat down. Tongue sticking out, she used that same speed to wrap the gift. Frowning at the end result, she looked at the others, and wondered why every gift looked like it had been through a tornado. “I’m not that bad at wrapping, am I?”

  She inspected each gift again to be sure no part of the gift was showing, then carefully set them in a container to carry them downstairs.

  As Erin slipped out of her room and headed for the stairs, she was nearly bowled over by Noah, who was running away from his mother, holding a toy gun that fired foam darts. They fired a never-ending supply of foam darts courtesy of the upgrades Noah gave them, and somehow his mother found the energy to match her teenage son’s as they ran through the house all morning.

  Erin was initially frustrated when they almost ran into her, but found she couldn’t hold onto that anger. It was Christmas Day. There was fun and excitement everywhere in the house. She had her mom, and an adopted family of sorts. That brought a big smile to her face. “Family.”

  “Did you swear, Ttarai!? I thought I heard the f-word!” Eun-ha yelled from downstairs.

  “Yes mom, I uttered the most dangerous f-word of all: Family.” Erin chuckled and used her speed to run downstairs before anyone else could run into her.

  “Oh, that’s the…” Her mom started to yell, until Erin appeared a few feet away at the base of the tree, “...best f-word.”

  Erin Placed the gifts under the tree with the others, then interrupted her mom’s wrapping to give her a big hug, “Yes it is, Eomma.”

  Looking down at Erin’s wrapping, Eun-ha said, “You wrapped those gifts with super speed again, didn’t you?”

  “I…don’t know what you’re talking about.” Erin said, “Oh, I think I hear Mrs. McGibbons calling for help in the kitchen!” Before Eun-ha could call her daughter’s poorly hidden fib, Erin sped off into the kitchen.

  ***

  Noah

  Noah sat in his Lair Chair, as he liked to call it. As he did so, Noah directed bots to wrap the gifts he had created for his friends. While he did so, his eyes kept wondering to a screen in the bottom right of his display wall that he kept trying to avoid.

  “You want to know, don’t you?” Sky said, somewhat humorously.

  “No!” Noah almost sounded like a petulant child.

  “I calculate a 98.634% likelihood that you are not being honest.”

  “I calculate a 100% likelihood that your calculations are incorrect!”

  “I calculate a 1001% likelihood that you made that up.” Sky actually snickered this time.

  “I…what? You can’t have more than 100%!” Noah complained.

  “You can if you add to an existing pool of items.” Sky corrected him.

  “Pfft, for Christmas you’re getting a calculator.”

  “I am simply an advanced calculator.” The self-deprecation carried a hint of mirth.

  “I…don’t have a good argument for that. Oh look, the gifts are wrapped! Gotta go!” Noah grabbed the gifts, stuffed them in a box, and ran towards the tunnel that headed back towards Mrs. McGibbons’ basement.

  Checking the sensors and confirming no one was in the basement, Noah activated the switch to dissolve a section of the wall and slip out, before sealing the wall back up again. Sneaking up the stairs, something made easier since he assigned a bot one night to fix the squeaky steps, Noah carefully nudged the door open to see if the coast was clear.

  Seeing no one, Noah slipped out the door, not bothering to look behind the door where his mom stood. She didn’t say a word, and just shook her head in amusement with a big smile on her face.

  Noah walked into the living room, smiled at Eun-ha and started placing his gifts.

  “Oh my,” Eun-ha said, “Those gifts are wrapped to such precision. I wouldn’t expect that level of skill from a young man such as yourself.” There was a twinkle in her eye, and Noah paused for a moment, debating if the jig was up.

  “Yes, I have to agree with Mrs. Moon,” Came the voice of Noah’s mom, “You were never so precise with your wrapping in previous years.” She shared a knowing look with Eun-ha over Noah’s shoulder.

  “I…well…the System gave me a new ability called Precision Wrapping, and uhh…I’ve been leveling it up.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Eun-ha, Ms. Jackson, and the System AI all snickered at that. Noah just threw his hands in the air and said, “What’s that Mrs. McGibbons!? You need help in the kitchen!?” Before he ran off.

  ***

  Logan

  Logan pulled up in front of Mrs. McGibbons house in his fancy police SUV, Sydney in the front passenger seat. “I hope we’re not too early.”

  “Eun-ha said this was an all-day thing, stop being a chickenshit.” Sydney chastised him playfully.

  “Bah humbug, Deputy!” Logan laughed as he moved to the back to grab the gifts they brought.

  Sydney came around to help him and said, “I DARE you to say that inside the house.”

  “Are you kidding me? I know where Erin gets her scary side from.” Logan shuddered, and it wasn’t from the cold.

  As they approached the door, Eun-ha was there to open it for them and provide a smile and hugs. When she gave Logan a hug, Eun-ha whispered, “There will be no bah humbug in this house today!” He froze stiff for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgement so that she would release him.

  Once their shoes and jackets were off, Sydney and Logan were made to put on ugly Christmas sweaters before they were permitted deeper into the house. Logan was ready to protest, until Erin poked her head out of the kitchen and he saw she had one on as well. Once that crisis of Winterly Wardrobe was resolved, he pulled one on without fuss.

  With Eun-ha returning to her seat on the couch, Logan and Sydney placed their gifts under the tree.

  Eun-ha didn’t hesitate to comment on their wrapping like the with the others, “Logan, you wrap gifts like Middletown’s most eligible bachelor.”

  “Umm…thank you?” Logan replied. Eun-ha smiled sweetly in return.

  “Sydney, I can see the military taught you to do many things in a regimented and uniform fashion.”

  Sydney’s reply was the same, “Umm…thank you?”

  “Now shoo, I need to finish wrapping. I’m sure I hear Mrs. McGibbons asking for help in the kitchen.” As they walked off, Eun-ha snickered, then counted down from five. At one she heard Mrs. McGibbons curse, yell at everyone to get out of the kitchen, and then start shoving them all out the kitchen door. She looked right at Eun-ha who was laughing at this point, squinted her eyes, shook a cooking implement, then returned to the kitchen.

  “Seems she…has everything under control.” Logan said, looking around at Sydney, Noah, and Erin.

  Eun-ha got her laughing fit under control, then pointed to the back door and gave everyone a friendly smile.

  “Umm…are we in trouble?” Sydney asked.

  Erin shook her head, “Nope, but we are somewhere we’re not supposed to be, so she’s telling us to head outside.”

  “In the snow?” Logan looked around questioningly.

  “Yup, hope you have better aim with snowballs than you do with your service weapon.” Sydney made the comment, but Erin and Noah joined in laughing.

  “Oh, challenge accepted!” All four rushed to get their boots and gloves, and then ran out the back door.

  ***

  Sydney

  Sydney was never one for the holiday spirit, but she had to admit that this group of…friends, yeah they really were friends, made the holidays feel a lot better.

  “Hey! No super powers!” Sydney yelled at Erin with a laugh as she started throwing snowballs really fast. She realized her mistake when Erin redirected a high speed barrage away from Logan and Noah, and straight at Sydney.

  Her attempts to protest further were drowned out as the snow bombarded her, getting some in her mouth. She would have been buried in the snow as well, if not for Logan and Noah tackling Erin to the ground and tossing snow on her. That brief respite was all Sydney needed. She debated joining in on piling Erin with snow, but she had a better idea.

  “BOYS VERSUS GIRLS!!!” Sydney yelled as she tossed Noah to the side, shoved Logan off, and offered a hand to help Erin up.

  Once Erin was on her feet and had wiped the snow clear, she smiled deviously at Sydney before they started hammering Logan and Noah with snowballs…without super speed this time.

  ***

  Mrs. McGibbons

  Sneaking a view out the window at the younger generations playing in the snow, all she could do was smile. Kids weren’t in the cards for Mary McGibbons and her late husband William, something that would forever be one of her greatest disappointments in life. So it was somewhat of a consolation prize to have this newfound family of sorts to spend the holidays with.

  Returning to the food, Mary continued her prep for a classic turkey dinner. Eun-ha had offered to help, but Mary said this was going to be her gift to everyone. A big dinner the likes of which she hadn’t cooked in quite some time. Eun-ha smiled in that understanding way, said to call if she needed anything, and went about her own tasks.

  Ms. Jackson regularly checked in, and Mary just smiled and said “Go relax, everything is fine in here.” As the newest addition to the household, Ms. Jackson was still trying to find her place, something Mary could understand.

  Basting the turkey before closing up the oven again, Mary smiled once more at the sounds of fun and excitement in the backyard. “Darn kids, you can play on my lawn if ya want.”

  ***

  Eun-ha

  As Eun-ha sat on the couch in the living room, wrapping a few last minute items, she smiled at the sound of laughter in the backyard. A small tear slipped down her cheek, not sadness though. Pure joy. Erin had friends, and even if it was an adopted family of sorts, it was still a family.

  Once she finished up with the last of the gifts, she prepared one last item. A small ornament she and Erin prepared every year for her late husband. She couldn’t help but think that if he were here, he would be outside playing in the snow with them instead of helping inside the house. Bit of a big kid, that one.

  As she finished up that task, Eun-ha poked her head into the kitchen, “I’m going to call the kids in to open presents.”

  “Sounds good,” Mrs. McGibbons said, “I’ll be there in a minute. Just gotta keep things from burning.”

  Eun-ha smiled, then headed to the backdoor. Poking her head out, she shivered at the slight chill, then yelled, “Time to open presents!” Three adults and a teenager threw their hands in the air and yelled, “PRESENTS!” before running for the door.

  As everyone made their way to the living room, Eun-ha said, “Before everyone gets comfortable, gather on or around the couch. No one left out, that means you too Mrs. McGibbons.”

  “System AI, when we’re ready we’ll yell Merry Christmas, can you take a picture?”

  Everyone piled on or around the couch. Mrs. McGibbons got the middle, because this was her home first and foremost. Eun-ha on one side with Erin on her lap at an angle, Ms. Jackson on the other side with her not-so-little boy on her lap, Logan and Sydney leaning their elbows on the back of the couch with their heads resting in their hands.

  Eun-ha gave the word, and all at once there was a yell…

  ??MERRY CHRISTMAS!!??