“Hurry up! It’s been half an hour and we were supposed to leave 20 minutes ago!”

“I’ll be there in a minute!” I replied shouting through the bathroom door.

“You said that five minutes ago,” my cousin Melody shouted back at me with a tinge of poorly hidden anger and annoyance in her voice.

“ See I’m here” I said as I busted through the bathroom door. Christmas was always a crazy time in our house and this year was no different, it was just passed noon and we were already running late, like every Christmas melody and I had been staying with my cousin Jane for the past week while our parents were out of town.

“Really Emma? You are wearing that?” Melody asked as I brushed passed; knocking her into the railing and cringing as I head the loud GROAN come from the railing as if it was in pain. I headed down the stairs to get my shoes on to head out the door.

“Yeah, I am. Look, neither you nor Jane are going to stop me, and its not like she even cares anyways She borrows my stuff all the time.” I said pulling by left then right boot on as I headed to the door.

“ Actually she can, she is older you know? Melody retorted “if you will remember that is her top and jacket and she is in charge of us until our parents get back from the lake in a week, did you forget or something??”

“Yeah well by the time we get there she won’t be able to stop me and besides, I’m sure she doesn’t even care anyway.” I said as I remembered I had forgotten my necklace and turned around to go get it.

“Whatever have it your way.” She said stomping through the kitchen, her golden locks flying behind her, and getting in the car.

“Emma? Is that my top and jacket?” Jane asked past me on the stairs.

I didn’t reply and instead rushed up the stairs to get the golden necklace I had forgotten. Frustrated as I was, I really didn’t want to deal with her right now, I had taken twenty minutes getting my makeup Just Right only to realize it completely clashed with my outfit, and I had to start all over. I was wearing her cream colored Christmas sweater with a blazing red jacket which had taken me almost a half an hour of rummaging through her closet to find, it was no easy task considering her room was as much like a rat hole as a room could be.

“Maybe, what does it matter? It’s not like you even ever wear this” I replied as I got in to the car and turned to her, We were heading towards my cousin Alexander’s house, being the oldest of those who had stayed behind, he had taken it upon himself to host Christmas for us this year while our parents were away dealing with more, pressing matters.

“Look, I don’t care if you wear my stuff just ask first, ok? It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, I would just rather you of asked” Jane said

“I tried to tell her aunt Jane, but she didn’t listen, she even called me stupid” said Melody trying to hide the snideness in her voice. Being only two years younger than me, I did not have the authority to tell her what to do, though how she acted at times showed she was more immature than she seemed.

“Just ask next time ok?” Jane asked

“Whatever” I said rolling my eyes

“She is just upset because everyone stopped buying her Christmas presents this year, and now with everyone being gone, she is going to have to wait at least a week and a half to have a ‘proper’ Christmas. Give her some slack ok?

Jane is small enough, with a height of 5’2 and only weighing 130 pounds that her clothes fit me pretty well. As we pulled into Alexander’s Driveway, Jane turned to melody saying “Just, don’t spend the entire time down stairs pouting this year ok, I get your upset, but your not the only one, Bella is going through the same thing this year too.”

“Its just not fair!” shouted Melody “I mean why do you two get presents but I don’t, I don’t get it.”

“We have gone over this, you know everyone stops buying for the great nieces and nephews once they turn 11, it just gets to be to many, they only buy for the niece’s and nephews not great nieces and nephews. It’s just something you are going to have to get used to” Replied Jane

“And Besides” I said snickering “only the kids who don’t spend Christmas throwing a hissy fit for not getting presents anymore get anything in their stockings. I’ll be surprised if you even get coal.”

“What! I’m not getting anything in my stocking either?” Asked Melody with a look of surprise then anger on her face.  “But”… I cut her off

“No you baby I was just kidding, of course you will get things in your stocking. Idiot”

“Guys” Jane Warned “Stop” getting out of the car she said “Well are you coming or not? I don’t want to be late and miss lunch like last year.”

I felt the brisk cool air on my almond shaped face, like a refreshing breeze as I got out of the car and started up the stairs, contemplating whether or not as I should apologize. Enthralled as I was in my thoughts I didn’t realize I was at the door until I nearly ran into it.

“Wow, look whose the idiot now” snickered melody as she opened the door.

“Whatever, like you has never done it before?”

“Guy’s…” Jane warned as she walked through the doorway. “Please, try not to argue. You know how stressed everyone is what with him being in the hospital and all, can you please try not to cause problems today? One day, that’s all I ask”

Walking into the house we all felt the sense of warmth and family, but there was something else, foreboding?  No, more a sense of apprehensiveness that covered the otherwise joyous occasion in a blanket of doubt, shrouding everyone in a muck that was hard to shake off.

“Hurry up you idiot, they have already started without us” Melody said rushing down the hallway. Her hair flowing behind her, the light bouncing off in golden rays contrasting greatly with the red Christmas sweater she had adorned.

I ignored her, and as I sat on the couch I suddenly knew something was wrong, something was off with everyone’s expressions, I could hear “It’s a Wonderful Life” playing in the background but I wasn’t paying attention, no one was. All of our attention was turned toward the golden telephone sitting on the desk as it pealed out with a cry as if it were a new born babe, and rang its terrible ring…

          *   *   *

“I just can’t believe that he’s really gone, it just doesn’t seem real.”  Jane said, shaking her head in an attempt to rid the tears from her stark blue eyes that glimmered anytime the sunlight hit them.

“We are going to have to leave within a couple hours to make it there in time for the funeral, you realize that right?” Alexander Replied.

“I hadn’t thought of that, how are we going to make it? We don’t have airline tickets, and its not like we can just drive to California in a few hours.”

“I don’t see any other option, we will just have car pool I guess, and let them know we wont be able to make it there by tomorrow, maybe they can hold it off for us?”

“I hope so…”

We had just gotten the call from my aunt, letting us know that my grandpa, who had been in the hospital for the two weeks, after having a stroke, had passed away, and now we were making plans to leave in order to make it in time for the funeral, the problem was, we were in Illinois, and the hospital my grandfather was at was located in California, near sequoia national park. And so now we were faced with a conundrum, should we break our parents rules, and drive out to California in an attempt to make it, or should we stay, and deal with the repercussions of missing his funeral?

“Megan, will you go and call Christine, see if she can put off the funeral while we head out there?” asked Alexander

“Fine, I doubt she will agree to it though” Replied Megan, with a hint of annoyance in her voice as she left to go make the call.

“Just do it”

After sending all of the smaller kids down stairs, the ones who would just interfere with melody to watch them, we continued with our discussion, ironing out the details and travel plans, waiting mainly on Megan to return and give us the news. Whether it be for good or for poor, the discussion continued on in this matter for another half an hour, until the point where Megan returned and gave us the news.

“So, here is the deal” Said Megan, as she walked back in the room, a look of uneasiness on her face. “I just got off the phone with Christine, she said she will try and hold the funeral off as long as she can, but she doesn’t know how much longer she will be able to hold off after a couple of days… We are going to have to hurry”

Over the next hour we ironed out the final details of who would ride with whom, and all the details of our travel plans. And after much discussion, we decided to ride in three separate cars, with Jane, Alexander, and Morgan, Megan’s Twin Sister as the drivers.

Three hours later, we embarked on our journey, none of us knowing how it would end; we all felt the apprehension as if a cloud was surrounding us in fog. By the end of the journey, we knew nothing would be the same…

Motif: My Motif is the confrontation between the relatives in the story, and throughout the story, their aggravation with each other affects the story.