A special night of the year

A rustling sound woke me up. It came from downstairs in the living room. Silent and carefully, I swung my legs to the side of the bed and stood up when they touched the floor. While my feet took me to my bedroom door, the sound continued downstairs. I became more and more curious and felt like running down the stairs, but I did not want to wake up the whole house. Instead, I bit my lip and tip toed down the stairs.

When my feet were firmly placed on the downstairs floor, I could feel a chill creeping up my legs. It came from the living room ahead.

I pushed down the handle gently and opened the door.

My heart started beating faster in my chest while my gaze landed on the one making the mysterious noise.

By the Christmas tree, a black haired woman in a long red dress stood. My arms came up and started covering my mouth when I realized who it was.

“Hep, hep. hep, who has been a good fan this year?”

She smiled sweetly and I could feel how the blood left my body and started coloring my cheeks.

The woman leaned down and grabbed a large bag that was placed by her side. She rummaged through it for a while, but finally she pulled out a small envelope.

“Here you go”

My hands were shaking badly and I could barely grab the present she handed out to me. The envelope had my name on it.

I looked over to the woman again, who had already started to climb out of the open window. Her glittering dress and red gloves left the windowsill and vanished into the cold winter night. I stood amazed and speechless for a while, but I regained my senses and remembered the present in my hand.

I sat down on the living room couch and slowly started opening the envelope. There were only three sentences, written in the sweetest handwriting I had ever seen.

“I really love you all for doing this here with me! Respect and know you are all SPECIAL!

Enjoy your day and be kind to one another ;=)”

A single tear trickled down my cheek while I read the words over and over again.

I could hear the woman’s soft humming in the back of my head while the sun started to rise.