1. The Christmas Tree
The sun softly filtered through small breaks in the densely clouded sky, small rays of light were cast across the rolling green landscape of the mountain range that the tree farm sat on top of. The snow that was piled high on the forest floor seemed to deaden most of the sound that the wind gently carried over the slopes, but the only noise that filled your ears was the crunching impact of boots in the snow and your heartbeat pounding in your head.
”C’mon, Anon! This way, this way!” Sonata eagerly shouted as she tugged at your gloved hand, pulling you through row after row of trees.
“Slow down, Sonata!” You replied as you struggled to keep her pace. “It’s hard to run with this thing!”
Sonata’s head shook from underneath the hood of her parka as she dragged you along. “Nuh uh! We gotta get there before someone else finds it! It’s, like, totally the perfect size!”
“Alright, I heard you the first time! Where’s the other two?”
“I asked ‘em to wait by the tree so no one would take it!”
As you sidestepped past another tree, you felt the needles graze across your exposed skin, tracing small lines into your flesh. The chainsaw in your hand weighed down on your shoulder, and the frantic pace you were being pulled at only served to exaggerate the strain.
Sonata on the other hand seemed to be brimming with youthful vigor. Her legs enthusiastically pumped through the fresh powder that otherwise offered some resistance to your weary leg muscles. She’d also opted to wear several more layers underneath her extra thick blue jacket that offered protection against the biting cold and the stinging branches. This meant you’d been pulled along by what appeared to be a large blueberry with legs through a maze of pine trees and piles of snow.
Suddenly your vision went green as you were thwacked in the face by a branch that Sonata didn’t notice. Your skin felt like you dove face first into an angry hive of wasps as the prickles dug into your skin before they left angry red scratches across your face that throbbed and burned.
“SONATA WAIT!” With what energy you could muster you wrenched your hand free from Sonata’s mitten, which in turn caused her to skid to a stop. Through your blurry vision you saw Sonata stop and look back at you with worry filled in her eyes.
“Sonata, just wait a minute, okay?” You panted out as you tried in vain to wipe the pain off your face with one gloved hand and carefully set the chainsaw down with the other. “I’m sure that-”
“But!-”
Her verbal flood was cut short as you held up a hand to stop her, still taking deep breaths to slow your heart rate. “I’m sure that Adagio and Aria are more than capable of scaring off anyone who wants the tree.”
Sonata fidgeted with her gloves and whimpered as she stared at the blanketed ground, anxiously bouncing in place.
“You can trust your sisters, right?” You asked as you placed your hand on her head, rubbing it over the fabric.
Sonata’s light blue eyes nervously darted around before they settled on you as she gave you a small nod.
“Alright. Now-” You rolled your shoulder and picked up the chainsaw with your other gloved hand to give your tired shoulder a rest. “Which way?”
Sonata slowly spun in a circle, scanning the area around her before she pointed to her right, a muffled “This way!” heard from behind the jacket before she ducked in between two trees. The resigned sigh that escaped your lips freezes in the air, leaving a heavy fog in front of your face that quickly dissipated. You shifted the chainsaw’s handle in your grip once more before you pushed yourself through the dense foliage. Sonata stood on the other side, bouncing in place as she waited for you.
“Wh-where is a-a-a-a-are th-tho-those los-losers.” You grumbled as further you withdrew into the layers of insulation you wrapped yourself in.
”I don’t kn-know, A-Aria. St-stop asking.” Adagio chattered back.
This is the worst.
Stupid Sonata. Stupid Anon. Stupid tree. Stupid Christmas.
You pulled your fingers from your gloves and balled them into tight fists once more. This day had already started out terrible when Sonata shook the two of you awake at four in the morning. If Anon hadn’t pulled Sonata out of your grip, there would have been a lot more to be worried about than some stupid tree.
Sonata left to find Anon 10 minutes ago, leaving you and Adagio to freeze in front of this dumb tree. She ‘just, like, HAD to have this one’. The other exact identical trees that bordered the farm weren’t the right ones. No, that would be too easy. Sonata had to make this experience as uncomfortable as possible.
You stomped your feet and flexed your toes in a desperate effort to get the feeling back in them, which only staved off the chill for a moment. Every part of your body was either cold or numb, and only two thoughts occupied your mind; one was being back home, warming up by the fire while watching foreign fight movies. The other involved various degrees of violence that would be enacted upon Anon if he didn’t show up soon.
“A-a-a-dagio.”
When Adagio says nothing you turn to look and see if she’s still alive. Her glare is fixed into a thousand yard stare that could burn through the thickest pile of snow.
“D-dagi.”
”What.”
“If the-they don’t c-come in 5 m-minutes, let’s j-just go t-t-to Anon’s truck.”
Adagio turned to look at you, only her eyes were visible between her hair and her scarf. ”D-do you even know wh-which way it i-is?” She mumbled impatiently.
“I-” You scanned the endless ocean of trees, trying to find something that looked familiar.
“I g-g-guess we’ll wait f-f-or those idiots…”
Adagio just nodded. Or at least it seems like she does.
You hoped they froze to death. If they did, maybe you could find their bodies and take Anons keys.
”This way, Anon!” Sonata exclaimed as she waved her arms and bounced up and down. “It’s right over here!”
“Yea, yea, I see you.” You duck under several branches as you follow the beckoning blueberry. “You’re sure it’s here?”
“Yea! Watch!” Sonata pulled the jacket down from her face and cupped her hands to her mouth. ”ARIA! WHERE ARE YOU??”
For a moment, no sound carried over the still, frigid air. You looked at Sonata expectantly, who’s eyes wandered the cloudy sky as she rocked back and forth on her heels.
Suddenly, like a not so distant echo, a voice dripping with anger cut through the quiet. ”G-GET OVER HERE, Y-YOU L-LOSERS!!!”
Sonata looked at you, smirking. ”I’m sure.”
Shrugging in response, you stepped forward to pull aside a younger tree, allowing Sonata to sidestep her way through. After you released the tree it quickly snapped back into its original orientation, and you marched up to Sonatas' side.
“SOMETIME TODAY YOU TWO.”
You cringe at the vehement tone that slowly grew louder. “Aria doesn’t sound too happy.”
“Nope!” Sonata chirped as she bounced through the rows of trees.
“And you’re not worried?”
The girl shook her head, her ponytail brushing across the trees next to her and sending puffs of snow into the air.
“And why’s that?”
“Because I remember where you parked.” She turned to give you a wink.
You open your mouth to retort, only to realize that you too, forgot where you parked. Sonata was smart enough to use the alluring promise of returning to your trucks’ heated seats to curb Aria’s potential wrath. “Fair enough.”
After a minute of following the disgruntled cries of the purple grump, Sonata pulled aside another set of branches, revealing a very dissatisfied Aria glaring at the two of you. If looks could kill you would have been dead quicker than you would have finished this thought.
Aria stared daggers at the both of you, as she exhaled into her gloved hands. Adagio stood behind her, arms folded tightly across her body, her nose a brilliant shade of red that contrasted against her skin color.
”Hey girls!” Sonata wrapped the two in a tight hug, pulling them close into her layers. ”Thanks for watching the tree girls! You’re the bestest!”
”What to-took you t-two so long.” Aria coldly snapped.
”I can’t feel my feet.” Adagio mumbled
As the three continued to embrace, you stepped forward to examine the tree that Sonata had been so proud of.
The tree stood at almost twice your height, the tip of it proudly reaching towards the sky. Circling around the tree doesn’t reveal any blank sides or dead branches. “This is a pretty good one, Sonata. Looks like I don’t need to cut off too much to fit it in the house as well.” You say as you continued to inspect the festive candidate. You pushed aside some of the branches to peer inside, satisfied when you see no dead needles or animals.
“A really good find.” You muttered to yourself.
”Terrific.” You suddenly felt as if your arm was about to be wrenched from it's socket, and you looked down to see Aria’s hands wrapped around the handle of the chainsaw,. ”Now h-hurry this u-up so we can go home!!” She shouted as she gave the tool another tug.
You pulled the handle out of Aria’s grip and stepped back. “Easy there, Grumpus Maximus. Do you even know how to use this thing?”
Aria glared back at you, flexing the fingers of her gloves. ”No-” She slowly stepped towards you, a mischievous gleam catching in her eye. “-But I c-can certainly learn, can’t I?” She said with an unsettling amount of excitement.
Sensing your impending doom, you threw up your free hand in front of you and created space between you and potential dismemberment. “Easy, Easy! I’ll get to it. Damn.” You muttered.
You circled the tree once more as you tried to zero in on a good spot to start cutting. Satisfied with the spot you planted yourself at, you snapped off a few branches to clear a spot and pressed down on the chainsaws primer button.
You fortunately had the foresight to root around in your garage to find this old thing before coming all the way up here. The chains showed some signs of wear and rust, but you figured it would do the job. The fact that the farm charged fifty bucks to rent one for an hour was beyond ridiculous.
“Alright, girls. Stand back, I don’t want this falling on you.”
”Okie!”
”Whatever.”
Stabilizing yourself, you tightened your grip on the cord handle and gave it a good jerk. The machine sputtered a few times before coughing out and staying silent. You sighed as you ripped at the cord once more, only to be rewarded with another series of sputters and murmurs before it fell quiet again.
“Hurry up, Anon, we-we’re freezing h-here.”
"If we aren't heading back to your car soon, I'm stealing your keys and leaving you here."
You rolled your eyes. "I'm working on it, ok? So would you two just...chill out?" The second the words left your mouth, you tightly shut your lips to prevent the laughter that would have followed them out. You looked over your shoulder to gauge reactions only to be met with stares as icy as the ground you all stood on.
"N-no one will find you if we b-b-bury you out here." Aria growled through chattering teeth.
You sigh in defeat, your comedic efforts once again going unappreciated. "Please, just have some patience, alright? This thing is as old as hell and requires a little...finesse."
You shifted your grip on the handle and cord and took a deep breath before tugging the cord with enough force it felt like you wrenched your shoulder. You bite your lip in anticipation as the motor sputtered several times, but a wide grin spread across your face as it let out a throaty belch and roared to life.
A whoop of excitement over your victory and turned to see if the girls shared your enthusiasm, but only Sonata reciprocated any degree of excitement, bouncing up and down in place and squeaking in delight. The other two were hunched over and shivering violently, faces frozen in the same scowl they had since they had woken up.
"C'mon you two, enjoy this moment!" You shouted over the din of the motor. "This is a great experience to have! Being in nature an-"
"CUT IT DOWN ALREADY." The two shouted in unison.
"Alright alright!. Sheesh." You shook your head before donning your googles and setting to your work.