Well hello! I think I remember your group from last year, if my eyes don’t deceive me. What was it you sang then? The First Noel?

Ah, and you’re still singing it this year. Well, you can’t be too picky I suppose. So then, joyous carolers, shall we swap story for song? I’m sure you’d appreciate the break from all the singing, goodness knows you must be tired now that the hour is so late.

Excellent! You just sit there and I’ll go ahead and turn on the fire, got to stay warm on these holiday evenings.

Now then, the yule logs lit. A warm glow and a cozy flame that’s my cue! Our story begins in a school guidance counselors office…

“So,” Mr Rutter asks, “you went to the mall for the first time since,” he catches himself, pausing as he eyes the girl sitting opposite him warily. Slowly, he adds, “Since Amanda’s death.”

Smiling reassuringly back at him, Hailey responds in affirmation. “Yeah, I was Christmas shopping.”

“How did it go?”

“The shopping?” Hailey asks before ticking things off her fingers as she continues, “Well I got Missy a pair of shoes, Bella a book, Theo a sweater I can wear, Erika a cat figurine, Ginny a beginners guide on making statues, and my parents a picture frame.”

“No,” Mr. Rutter says awkwardly, “I meant how the visit itself went, although I’m sure they’ll all enjoy their gifts immensely.”

“Oh,” Hailey replies, mildly surprised at the question. “Yeah, I mean I hope so, it’s way too late to return anything.”

“The mall?” Mr. Rutter asks, refocusing his errant subject.

“It was…” Hailey replies slowly, “interesting?”

“Why is that?”

“Well it started in the parking lot really.”

Cocking his head to the side and looking at her sympathetically, Mr. Rutter gently asks, “Did you have trouble going inside?”

“You could say that,” Hailey replies. “You see I ran into Jake in the parking lot…”

“Heya Hailey!”

“Hey Jake, what are you doing here?”

Grinning messily, Jake steps to the side and gestures toward his parked truck. “Theo an’ I are X-mas shoppin! I got Miss a necklace an’ a-”

He pauses, giving her a sly look. “Ya know, I ain’t gonna tell ya. It’s a surprise!”

“Okay!” Hailey replies with a giggle as she watches Jake make an exaggerated effort to step in front of the pile of gifts and bags in his car.

As he does, on the other side Theo pops up asking, “Hey do you think Hailey will like the r-”

Surprised to see Hailey standing there, he gasps out and ducks behind the car door for a second. Then, red faced, he shouts at Jake, “Hey man! Thanks for the warning!”

Hailey grins and stands on her tiptoes trying to see around the hood of the truck. “Anything for me in that pile, huh Jake?”

Looking up to the sky, Jake replies nonchalantly, “Noooo…”

“Rrrrriiiight,” Hailey replies archly. Then she turns around and shouts to Theo, “It’s safe! I’m looking away!”

“Good!” he exclaims in relief. “Holding all this stuff is tiring! Can you get the door for me Jake?”

“So it’s big then?” Hailey asks.

Grunting, Theo huffs and then turns her around while he says coyly, “Maybe. Maybe not. But all the stuff my Mom made me pickup certainly is.”

“Oh all right then,” Hailey responds. “I can see I’ll just have to wait and see, huh?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Theo nods assertively. Then his face breaks out into a wide smile as he asks, “So what are you getting me?”

“And that’s my cue!” Hailey quips back as she starts walking toward the mall.

Laughing the two boys hop into the car. Before he ducks into the passenger seat, Theo calls out, “Jake says Missy wants shoes! Just a hint!”

Refusing to turn around, Hailey raises her hand and gives him a thumb up. Her expression, however, turns sour.

“Shoes huh?” she mutters to herself.

“So you didn’t plan on buying your friend shoes, why not?” Mr. Rutter asks, pulling Hailey out of her story.

“Well,” Hailey pauses and struggles to say the rest for a bit before slowly continuing. “A.J., Amanda that is, we were going to buy shoes when, when,” helplessly, she looks up to Mr. Rutter.

Rescuing her, he finishes her sentence in a gentle voice, “When the attack happened, of course.”

Glancing to her feet, Hailey nods and sits in silence for a few seconds before continuing in a forced cheery tone, “But Missy knows that, probably. So she didn’t tell me she wanted shoes for Christmas and I felt terrible because I’d forgotten.”

“Forgotten?”

“A.J. and I were going shoe shopping for Missy, for her birthday. We would always buy her a pair of shoes together and wrap each shoe individually. It was a joke the first time.” A reminiscent smile on her face, Hailey continues, “She opened my gift first that first year. Missy couldn’t figure it out and was too polite to say anything so she just stood there awkwardly thanking me for getting her one shoe. She didn’t open A.J.’s gift until the end and by then we were both in tears laughing. Missy thought it was great, so we did it again next year and the year after that and so on until…”

“And how did you feel, when you realized that you’d forgotten?” Mr. Rutter asks.

“Terrible,” Hailey admits. “I felt like I let both of them down.”

“But you did say that you bought Missy a pair of shoes when you first walked in, would you like to tell me what changed your mind?”

“Sure, so there I was standing outside in the mall parking lot…”

Battling with herself, Hailey stares up at the sign that reads, “Liberty City Mall,” and sighs.

Then, slowly, deliberately, she starts walking through the main doors.

She steps into the main promenade and looks at an innocuous section of slightly newer stone tile. Of course, we know this tile is the exact spot where her hand first touched the dagger that houses Belinda’s spirit and Eldritch Maiden was born! But to the ordinary citizen this is just an unimportant piece of the mall. As such, the rest of the crowd continues to walk around her as she stares at the tiling.

As she stands for an indeterminate amount of time, Hailey’s mind wanders back to that day in the mall and the death of her best friend. Lost in her thoughts, she almost does not notice when a familiar face bumps into her.

“Uff da, sorry!” a girl with a Midwestern lilt says. “I didn’t see you there, so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hailey replies absentmindedly as she turns.

When she comes face to face with the woman, her eyes widen slightly in shock. “Erika?” she asks in surprise.

“Yes, do I know you?”

Quickly, Hailey realizes that Erika only knows her as Eldritch! Recovering rapidly, if not gracefully, she stammers out, “Um, law school, I think I saw you at the law school.”

“You’re a little young to be a lawyer,” Erika replies, assessing her.

“Yeah!” Hailey bites her lip nervously, “My, um, cousin was touring and I think we met you during some event. She uh, she was interested in working for superheroes and stuff?”

“Oh!” Erika replies, “That’s probably it. I was head of the Future Hero Mediation Group on campus. Sorry again about bumping into you, are you Christmas shopping?”

“Yeah,” an idea suddenly occurs to Hailey. “So, I’m trying to get a gift for one of my friends that’s also a lawyer and I could use a little help. Do you think she would like a nice legal pad?”

Shaking her head, Erika replies, “Probably not. Office supplies make for a boring gift. Do you know if she has any hobbies?”

“Ummmm,” Hailey vacillates. “I think she likes cats?”

“So do I!” Erika exclaims, “Want to come with me to pick out something? There’s this novelty store I really like that sells little figurines.”

“Okay,” Hailey agrees.

A few minutes of browsing later, Erika comes back with a delicate statuette.

“Here! How about this?”

“You like it?” Hailey asks.

“It’s part of a set,” Erika admits guiltily. “I got myself the other one. I couldn’t resist her cute little paws.”

Hailey smiles slyly and replies brightly, “Perfect! Thank you for the help!”

As the two girls pay and leave the store, they begin to go their separate ways. Seeing Erika leaving, Hailey says, “Hey! I hope someone gives you the other one.”

Erika smiles forlornly and says, “I don’t have a family. So not many people to buy me presents, but thank you for the sentiments.”

“You never know,” Hailey answers with a quixotic smile, “you might get lucky!”

Then, with a shared laugh, the two girls part ways as they continue to shop.

“So this chance encounter helped you get over your anxiety then?” Mr. Rutter asks.

“Chance,” Hailey says slowly. “I wonder about that sometimes. Meeting Erika at the mall was almost like destiny.”

“Well, whatever you want to call it, this meeting clearly helped you feel better about the mall.”

“It did,” Hailey agrees.

“Did you have any further issues then?” Mr. Rutter asks.

“I was coming out of the bookstore after buying Bella a book on demons when it happened…”

Hailey pauses, stepping out of the store. Glancing to the left, her eyes wander dangerously close to a sign advertising shoes. Breathing in and out slowly a few times she firmly starts walking the other direction, circling around the edges of the promenade. The sound of an insistent voice breaks her out of her somber mood, however.

“What do you mean you have a transaction limit of a hundred thousand dollars? How am I supposed to complete my purchases if you can’t even handle some minor transaction?”

Rolling her eyes, Hailey walks into the store and says, “Hey Ginny.”

“Hello Hailey,” her friend replies. “Can you believe the nerve of this saleswoman? Their insurance won’t let them hold more than fifty thousand in cash! I told the woman I left my credit cards in the Lamborghini and I drove the Ferrari today, obviously all I have is my pocket change.”

“Obviously,” Hailey replies sarcastically.

“Well the nerve of these people!” Ginny replies in a huff. “You know what! Give me that phone!” With an imperious motion, Ginny grabs the phone from the woman behind the counter and says, “I don’t care what their limit is! It’s higher now because I’m approving it!” She pauses, listening for a few seconds. As she does, she snaps her fingers and begins to whisper furiously to her chauffer. Then she interrupts the person on the other end of the phone, “What did you say the company was? I don’t care about the name, what’s the stock ticker symbol? PGR? Well I own your company now and I say the limit is whatever I want it to be.”

Handing the phone back to the stunned saleswoman she turns to Hailey and smiles brightly. “Sorry about that. You wouldn’t believe the nerve of some of these people! Who doesn’t accept cash?”

“Who indeed?” Hailey wonders aloud as she shakes her head in disbelief. “How is your day going?”

“Not bad,” Ginny answers, checking her nails as the saleswoman begins shoveling the diamond jewelry into her bag. Turning around she says to the woman, “Careful! I don’t want my friend to see her gift before Christmas.”

Rolling her eyes, Hailey says, “Oh I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t think I’d know which one it was anyway.”

“Really?” Ginny replies, “I thought it was obvious.” Her eyes flicker over to a gold pendant in the shape of a tiny dagger adorned with arcane symbols.

Hailey, oblivious to the movement simply pats her friend on the shoulder and says, “I’m sure, whichever one it is, I’ll enjoy it quite a bit.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Ginny pouts and says, “You’d better! Now shoo! This is taking much longer than I expected and I still need to sort things out with the car dealership. They keep telling me they don’t have the manpower to ship all the staff a new car by Christmas day and that is simply intolerable.”

“Uh, okay?” Hailey blinks a few times as Ginny marches past her on a mission.

Just like that, the mercurial girl is gone leaving a half-empty jewelry store, a bemused clerk, and Hailey. Shooting a sympathetic glance at the woman, Hailey simply shrugs and walks into the store next door, a pottery barn.

“Hello,” she says to the clerk. “Do you sell any guides on statue crafting? Something for beginners?”

“We do,” replies the man, rummaging behind the counter for a few seconds before pulling out a box. “It comes in a kit that explains how to make your first statue. A fantastic gift if I say so.”

“Sounds great!” Hailey says before adding, “And do you carry picture frames?”

“That we do,” the man nods, “if you have a particular photo in mind I can set it up here in-store before you go.”

Hailey reaches into her purse and pulls out a glossy picture of two people in wedding attire. “I do,” she says, handing the man the photo.

“Wedding photo huh?” he asks, “this is your parents I take it?”

Smiling, Hailey responds, “Well I’m in it too.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she says, pointing to her mother’s stomach. “I’m about a month and a half old at this point, according to my mom. She was worried I would show during the wedding but everything worked out in the end.”

“That it did,” answers the clerk as he takes her over to the frames. “See any you like?”

“This one,” Hailey says after a minute of contemplation. She points to a simple frame with metal wiring in the shape of hearts at each corner.

“Good choice,” the man says as he delicately slides the photo in and return to the register.

“Thanks,” Hailey responds as she pays.

Walking out of the store, she glances in the direction of the shoe shop and whispers, “One gift left.”

With a deliberate pace, Hailey begins walking toward the store where it all began. Putting one foot in front of the other, she makes her way carefully across the second level of the mall. Past the jewelry store with the shell-shocked clerk. Past the escalator leading down to the fresh stone of the promenade below. Past knick-knacks and novelty goods and porcelain cats sitting in various poses on store windows. Finally, Hailey stops walking and looks up. In front of her is a nondescript storefront that exclaims, “Shoes!” in bright lettering.

Stepping inside, Hailey hears the tinkle of a little bell above her as the door swings. Swallowing, she turns to the woman in her uniform standing inside and asks in a trembling voice, “D-do you have flats?”

“Yeah,” answers the bored woman. “We’re a shoe store. For women. We got flats for sure. You want me to take you back there?”

Hailey pales slightly and steels herself. “Yes,” she says in a voice that projects confidence, even if it wavers. “Take me to the section with flats. Please.”

“Sure, like, whatever. Just follow me, yeah?”

Not waiting for a reply, the woman begins walking. Hurrying to keep up with her, Hailey hardly notices as she passes through the store. Abruptly, she finds herself in the back.

Waving her hand, the woman says, “Yeah so, like, just pick whatever you want.”

“Just like that?” Hailey wonders aloud.

“Just like that?” Mr. Rutter asks. “You went into the store where your friend died and bought shoes?”

“Yeah, whatever, just like that,” the clerk replies.

“Just like that,” Hailey answers Mr. Rutter confidently.

“Yep,” the woman says, popping the p. “That’s how shoe stores work. You just tell me what you want and I go get it. Just like that. Are you ever gonna order or whatever?”

“Sometimes,” Hailey says to Mr. Rutter, “it’s worse in your head than it ever could be in reality. I thought I would never go back into that store. I thought I would see her and relive that day. I put it off the entire time I was in the mall too, burying myself in shopping for other people. But the enemy is only as unbeatable as you allow them to be, and sometimes victory means just doing what scares you, irrespective of the cost.”

Mr. Rutter leans back and closes his notepad. “Well, I won’t say you’re out of the woods entirely, but this is a really good sign.” Giving her a warm smile, he adds lightly, “I’m happy for you my dear. This is truly a positive moment.”

Hailey grins and says, “Well there is one thing I left out…”

“Oh?” Mr. Rutter asks in slight alarm, “what?”

Her smirk widening, Hailey reaches behind her and pulls out a glass apple. “I felt so good about the shoes that I couldn’t help myself, I got a few other gifts for my favorite teachers too! Merry Christmas Mr. Rutter!”

Ha-HA-Ha! You were expecting dashing deeds and dangerous villains weren’t you? Well those stories have a time and place I’m certain but in my house, joyous caroler, I prefer something a bit more upbeat on Christmas night. Now then, you were planning on singing something?

And so another Christmas comes to a close! The night is long and the winter chill ever-present but don’t let that stop you, there’s a whole row of houses on the block all waiting with warm drink and merry company to stir your heart through the night. So sing on, and let the winter pass you by leaving only warm tidings in it’s wake!