Let it snow - PART 1 OF 4

The First Noel

I woke up inside a truck surrounded by bags of all sizes filled with drugs by all kinds. A stranger with piercings and tattoos was watching over me. When he noticed that I opened my eyes he shouted ‘Hey, guys! He’s alive!’, then looking at me with the warmest eyes he said ‘Merry Christmas, son!’.

No… no… Sorry! Don’t be scared. It’s alright now. Arteus. And these are Gyz and Elvira.

- Damon.

Nice to meet you, son! Gyz, bring young Damon here a cup of tea, please. Just rest, Damon. You must be tired. Let me tell you about us and then when you feel better you can tell us your story.

Gyz and I, we’ve known each other since forever. We were always those two kids that no one wanted to play with, so we were always on our own. His parents died of an overdose when he was little - yeah, I know, it’s ironic that we’re ‘providing’ for people like them now - and he grew up with his extremely old aunt. And me, my parents didn’t have time to think about a child so they kind of dropped me off at one of their friends and never came back to me. Morgana never had much, but she’s always doing her best to help me and us.

As soon as the kids from school found out about us they started bullying. Kids aren’t nice. We had to learn to protect ourselves so Morgana taught us what she knew - bits of karate, some deadly chemistry and lots of psychology. We couldn’t use any of that in school. Bullies don’t have any code of honour so if you’re a boy and you’re ‘too close’ to another boy you’ll get your ass kicked. Anyway, we dropped out when we were 14. I got my first piercing and Gyz got a tattoo. The School Board and parents freaked out. Huge scandal. People threatened Gyz’s aunt every day until her heart just failed under all that pressure and she died… He moved in with us. It took us a few years to actually understand what was going on between us. And then to understand that nothing was ‘wrong’.

It was Christmas when Morgana bought us our first guns. And a puppy. I miss that old mutt. Ragi, over there, is not a bad dog either, but no dog is like your first dog. Christmas was always a big deal for us all. Gyz’s aunt was super Christian and she always made us go to church. It was relaxing. People singing carols, exchanging gifts. We kept going almost every year even after the old lady died. That year, we took the dog to church too. However, no one had the courage to say anything when they saw us. They knew we were the three freaks that showed up every Christmas. The pup was extremely quiet so by the end of the night he was part of the family.

This is the fourth time Morgana will be going to church alone tonight. We have a big shipment to make until the 26th or else we lose every deal we have with these guys. They’re the only ‘clients’ we can’t say no to. They have this self-funded programme through which they research basically how to take drugs and be safe. We have no idea where they got the money for all of this, but we don’t really care. If Gyz’s parents would have found support like this, instead of the torture they call rehab and prison time, they would probably still be alive.

Anyway.

Elvira joined the family 6 years ago. It was almost Christmas then. Morgana stumbled upon an article about teenagers in orphanages and convinced us to offer at least one kid a better life. Not that it took too much convincing. You know… it’s sad that a couple of drug dealers can offer someone a better life than government-funded facilities. I’ll go see what Gyz is doing with your tea. I’ll be right back.

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