Christmas Memories ( A Dice Changer Story)

It was Christmas time, and Jack was running late—he was never late. Yet here he was weaving through traffic, making sure he wasn't going over the speed limit too much because the last thing he needed was to be delayed even further. When he got to the game store he stormed into the building and to his horror several people were already there. People wore nerdy Christmas sweaters, they wore funny-looking elf hats. Some had Christmas-based t-shirts with puns on them. Jack took a deep breath. This was the game store's Christmas Party for the workers and Jack was late. He was told to bring either cookies or cupcakes only to forget about an hour before the party was supposed to start so he barrelled down to the nearest bakery and got several boxes. However, he wasn't expecting long lines and the remnants of 5'O'Clock traffic, which made him late by 10 minutes.

When Jack finally calmed down he went through the store to find the manager (whose an actual angel.) and tried to apologize to him. Only to find him talking to a couple of people. "I'm sorry sir, I lost track of time and almost forgot about the cookies so I went to the" Jack then stopped mid-sentence when the angel simply held up a finger "You made it that's all that matters. Especially since this would be your first Christmas without your family." said the angel. The statement hit Jack like a truck. He didn't realize how long it had been since the cult led by his dad was defeated and his mother was long gone before that. He had gotten used to celebrating with one parent but celebrating such a joyous holiday like Christmas without his dad or the rest of the cult members dampened his mood. Jack began to reflect on the past years even on his first memories of Christmas.

The first big memory was a brief time when it was just him and his parents they lived in a tiny apartment a block away from the church his dad was pastoring and they were having a candle-lit dinner, the wind blew and the air was chilly. The heater was blasting hot air into the room. Then his family sat at a table and had a nice warm soup on the couch and did a Christmas movie marathon until they fell asleep.

The second memory was the Christmas after Jack's mother died. Jack's dad was emotionally distant but he made a nice warm soup. Jack and his dad sat on opposite sides of the table and in the middle of the table was a portrait of Jack's mother smiling. That image was burned into Jack's mind from that day on. That simple picture made Jack realize he needed to be as strong as he could because he didn't want what happened to her to happen to anyone else.

The third memory was the first Christmas with the cult. They were in the den of one of the members and everyone drank, talked, and ate together. At some point, Jack's dad clinked his glass with a fork and raised a toast to all their work and how the cult was growing. He ended by saying "The upcoming year will be the brightest we will shine. I can feel it." everyone then cheered and resumed what they had done before.

The last memory was the image of his dad lying on the ground in the rubble caused by the failed ritual. He remembered looking up and seeing how there was a hole from the second floor all the way to the final ceiling of the building. He then remembered seeing an elf shiny with a divine aura radiating off of his body and armor. His eyes were dimly lit yellow lights. He then saw a half-orc warrior stagger over to the elf. "Did we win? Is he dead?"

Jack snapped back to reality as the music and noise of talking filled his ears. "You ok?" asked the angel. "I'm fine," answered Jack. "No, you're not. Something's swirling in your head. I'd like to know what it is." said the angel. "It was just a couple of memories. Nothing important," said Jack knowing it was a complete lie. "You do realize you're trying to lie to an angel right?" asked the angel. "Yeah, I know, I didn't really think that through," said Jack as he looked at the crowd of people enjoying themselves. Several of them were fellow cult members others were part of the Dice Changers and some were simply just nerds who worked at a game store to them nothing was interesting about this place. Nothing at all. "Oh, don't be so doom and gloom. You are with true believers and people you can count on. You have the community you've been yearning for, ever since your dad's cult disbanded. Heck, you've even brought people from that dark place into this marvelous light. Be proud of who you are and what you have done not just for this place, for the people, and for our God. Now go eat some cookies, drink some hot chocolate, and play some games. Alright." said the angel in a very joyous encouraging mood. "Alight," said Jack. A bit hesitant but then made his way into the crowd.

A couple of Christmases later, Jack and the angel were decorating once again, only this time Arron and Mia came in first. They brought several board games and laid them out on several tables for people to play. Then several of the same faces as well as some new ones came. Then came Nick who staggered into the game store but looked relieved like a burden was lifted from him. "You okay?" asked Jack. "Yeah, the demon can't enter this place like the church so I'm glad I get to experience some peace for once," said Nick almost like he was tired from being the demon's prison. "Well we got snacks, and Arron brought board games. So just relax, we and the angel are finishing up and we'll be there soon," said Jack. "Thanks, I will try to enjoy myself," responded Nick. That night was filled with laughs, cries, music, snacks, and smiles. However, it would be the last Christmas Jack would live to see.