A Miracle At Christmas

"Eden, what's wrong? What is it?"

"I just... just... I don't know Suzi, something's wrong. Something is going on and I don't know what it is."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know what I mean. I don't... I just have a horrible feeling that something terrible is about to happen and I'm scared."

"I'm sorry Eden," she said putting her arm around him, "it's my fault. I was so hard on you the other day, I didn't mean to make you lose hope."

"It isn't that Suzi. I don't know what it is. These last few days I've sat there looking at him and it's... different. He's different and I don't know what it is. I'm scared to death that he's lost himself and he's slipping away."

"Eden..."

"Please don't, Suzi, don't say it."

"I'm here Eden. Whatever happens I'm here for you."

He put his arm around her waist and squeezed her briefly before letting her go. "I know hun. I know. Come on let's get this tree back."

They finished cutting down the tree and carried it back to the car. As they were lugging it across the car park they heard a cry as if someone was hurt. Turning there was a flash of colour at the edge of the trees as someone ran out from the shadows beneath the branches. Two dark figures burst out behind them and bore them to the ground. The cry of a woman in pure terror rang out and, as one, Eden and Suzi dropped the tree and ran.

An old woman dressed in the colourful costume of a Romany was lying on the floor amid the scattered debris of what she had been carrying. Two young men were holding her down, laughing and mocking.

"Get off her you stupid aresholes."

The boys looked up and narrowed their eyes.

"Fuck off pretty boy. This doesn't concern you. Walk away right now or your girlfriend is going to be spending Christmas by your hospital bed."

Eden glared at him and said coldly. "It does concern me when two twats who should be cleaning toilets somewhere are throwing their weight around and harassing defenceless women. Although from the look of you I would imagine that old women are the only ones you could take on."

Both boys got to their feet and faced off with Eden while Suzi hurried to help the old woman to her feet and drew her away from what was inevitably about to turn into a fight. She put her arms around the narrow, shaking shoulders and held the shivering woman close.

Both of the boys were bigger and broader than Eden but he faced them squarely, looking completely relaxed. This seemed to put them on edge a little. Why was this boy not shaking in his shoes? Why was he not running from a confrontation where he was clearly outnumbered and outclassed? The answer was that he wasn't outclassed. The boys had more bulk but he had more skill... way more.

Both Eden and Summer had spent many years training in martial arts and Summer in particular had been all over the world as part of the British Karate team. Eden wasn't just confident... he KNEW he could take these two boys and there was something in the way he looked that made them feel a little of that and they were ill at ease.

"If you leave right now I'll let you go. I won't come after you and, provided nothing is broken or damaged beyond repair I won't call the authorities. It's your choice, your last chance."

The larger of the two assailants laughed and turned to speak to his mate then, with lightening speed, hoping to catch Eden unawares, he spun swinging his fist. Before he knew what was happening, Eden had grabbed his wrist and continued its trajectory while jamming his hand into the back of the boy's shoulder. The boy screamed and fell to his knees as the blow dislocated his shoulder. His friend stood for a moment, staring at Eden with a mixture of terror and respect and then turned to run.

"Wait!" Scuttling back a few steps the boy turned nervously. "I think you've forgotten something. You know the rules of the park... take your rubbish with you when you leave."

Helping his sobbing and wailing friend to his feet he helped him across the icy ground to a battered car which soon screamed out of the car park with a sound that made both Eden and Suzi turn pale.

Eden turned and fell to his knees, scrabbling in the snow for the brightly coloured scraps of paper that lay scattered all over the ground. As he picked them up he realised they were cards.

When he had picked up all he could see he stood and handed them to the woman who was still shivering in Suzi's arms.

"Are you alright?" Eden asked with concern. "Can we take you somewhere?"

The woman shook her head. "We are camped down by the lake," she said in a rich, accented voice, surprisingly strong considering her age and current predicament. "Please don't bother yourselves. I'm alright. It was a shock that's all."

"You are shivering and shocked. Let us at least take you into the car for a while to warm up."

"No, no don't bother yourself."

"Come on. We're not going to run away with you, I promise." The woman looked up into Eden's face and there was something in the electric blue eyes that made him shiver. He realised that, despite her white hair, the woman was not as old as he had first thought.

"You're a good boy, both of you are kind to help a poor old woman in distress. But I would not impose on your kindness." She shuffled the cards in her hands. "My pack is incomplete. If you would help me to find the missing card then I would be happy to go on my way and let you go on yours."

Eyeing her doubtfully as she drew her colourful shawl closer around her shoulders they both started to root around in the snow trying to find the elusive card. They were cold and tired, their fingers growing numb and they had both begun to regret ever agreeing to search when Eden brushed a tree branch out of the way and saw something bright, nestled in the toots of the tree to which it belonged.

At first he thought to ignore it as it was impossible for the card to have found its way in there. However, the bright colour captured his attention and he was curious to see what it was even so.

When he picked it up he saw in surprise that it was the missing card. The back bore the same pattern of suns and moons. Curiously he turned it over as he withdrew from the tree and turned towards the woman.

It was a very beautiful picture, in pale etheric colours against a background of the night sky filled with stars. A naked woman stood with one foot in the water of a midnight blue river reflecting the diamond points of the stars above. She was half turned away, her glorious red hair cascading in deep waves over her shoulders and back, and had one hand raised high in the air holding a silver cup from which she was pouring water into another cup, which she held in her other hand.

He didn't have time to examine it too carefully but there was a strange moment, just as he handed the card over when he was not at all sure that the woman was a woman at all.

The woman took the card and glanced at it, then she smiled. Slotting the card back in amongst the others in her deck she slipped it into her pocket and then looked up at Eden who had to force himself not to take a step backwards. There was an intense expression in the piercing blue eyes that almost frightened him.

"An interesting card... The Star. It symbolises the eternal cycle; life and death... one pouring into the other seamlessly in the never ending spiral of rebirth. The river flows and our brief existences do nothing more than dip a toe into the timeless stream of life. And yet the stars transcend and sometimes, just sometimes it's possible to scoop their light right out of the stream to illuminate our lives just for a little while, giving us a miracle." Her voice had been distant and dreamy but then she seemed to pull herself together and smiled.

"The seasons are turning, as they always do, and the wheel comes full circle. It's been a long hard winter for you, Eden and you've shut yourself away from the signs that spring is budding all around you. But The Star brings hope for redemption and renewal. Summer will come again, sooner than you think."

Before he could say or do anything the woman raised herself on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips then in a whirl of coloured skirts and silver white hair she spun around and was gone. It was as if she had simply vanished and for a long, stunned moment Eden and Suzi simply started at each other in shock.

"Where did she go?"

"What did she mean?"

Eden shivered, a sick feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. There was something about that picture, as he'd glimpsed it when he handed it back that bothered him and her words were haunting. What had she been trying to tell him? Had she been trying to tell him anything at all? It was just the drama of the whole situation that was putting him on edge. She was just some old Romany, and they always spoke in riddles right? What did she know? What could she know?

"Eden... how did she know your name?"

"What?" he snapped, angry that she was voicing part of the fear that was gnawing at him.

"Your name. She said... "It's been a long, hard winter for you Eden..." How did she know your name is Eden."

"I... I don't... you must have said it, told her..."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't."

"You must have," he said firmly then strode across the car park channelling his fear into a formless anger.

The drove in silence: Eden angry and Suzi wary. At last she had to say something or burst. "Why are you so angry? What did she say...?"

"I'm not angry," he snapped.

"Eden..."

"Shut up Suzi, just shut up."

"Eden!"

He sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry Suzi it's just..."

Suzi was a very careful driver, even more so since Summer's accident but she braved taking one hand off the steering wheel to squeeze his arm.

"Eden, I know you. What the heck has got you so upset? Romanys are strange but there wasn't anything in what she said that was too freaky or scary. You weren't upset by the fight were you?"

Eden snorted. "As if. No, it wasn't that. It was just... just... Oh forget it, I'm just being stupid."

"You often are but something's really upset you Eden. I can't think of anything in what she said that might do that. I don't understand."

"It's not... not just..." He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "You're going to think I'm insane."

"I know you're insane Eden, haven't I told you that often enough?"

"Yes, you have but this..."

"Come on Eden... 'fess up. What's going on in that crazy head of yours?"

Eden took a deep breath and had to force himself to speak, as if saying it out loud somehow made it real... but he couldn't keep it inside any longer.

"It was just... that card... when I handed it back to her; for a moment it looked... it's crazy but it looked... it looked like Summer."

"It was a woman Eden, even I could see that."

"I know but... was it? It looked like a woman because it had long hair and I thought it was at first but as she took it out of my hand... I don't know. And then she said... she said that... that Summer is coming and..."

"Oh Eden don't... please don't. It's all in your mind baby. The picture wasn't Summer. Even if it wasn't a woman it wasn't Summer. And she was talking about a season Eden... Winter, Spring, Summer."

"I know. Part of me knows... but it's... I don't know it's as if it's shaken something loose. For the past few days things have been feeling strange and... not right. Nothing's been... right. It's as if Summer's drifting away from me and I was scared and now... now it's..." He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what I'm talking about Suzi. I just feel... strange."

"I understand that hun, just don't dwell on it; don't get your hopes up."

"My hopes have never been down." He looked up and smiled. "It's going to be alright."

Fortunately the hospital staff was well used to Eden by now and no one turned a hair when he and Suzi manhandled the tree through the door and along the corridors. Once they got it into Summer's room Eden abandoned it and wandered over to the bed.

Nothing had changed, except that something had. Nothing was different about Summer, who slept on in marble perfection, oblivious; it was something inside Eden and he was afraid of what it might be and what it portended.

Would he still be here next year; would either of them? For the first time the possibility that he wouldn't was strong in him and he was scared because he didn't know why.

He jumped, startled, at the gentle touch on his arm and turned his head to encounter Suzi's concerned eyes.

"Are you thinking about what that woman said again?"

"No... maybe." Was he? Is that all it was? "I don't know, Suzi. Something's changed and I don't know what it is. It's scaring me."

"Changed? What do you mean changed?"

"I don't know. I just don't know and that's what's so scary."

Suzi smiled. "You're just spooked, that's all. The whole thing was really odd. It scared the pants off me too."

"Yeah, that's all." He reached forward and touched Summer's hand, then turned purposefully. "Come on, let's get the tree up and decorated."

For once the reverential silence that usually cloaked the room was lifted and light banter and laughter filled the space, as two friends played, setting up the tree. Nurses passing outside smiled when they heard the laughter. They all knew Summer and they all knew and admired the strong, quiet boy who rarely strayed far from him.

When the tree was decorated to Suzi's satisfaction, Eden became sober again as he carefully unpacked the presents and placed them underneath. They were dusty now, the paper torn in places, but he would not consider either opening them or re wrapping them. They were exactly as they had been when they had first been wrapped and Eden's fingers lingered over the ones that were from Summer; tracing his writing on the labels; smiling at the silly little messages he'd written. Tears brimmed in his eyes and rolled unnoticed down his cheeks.

"Eden," Suzi said in a while, interrupting his thoughts. He was still on his knees in front of the tree, reliving Christmases past. "I'm sorry to interrupt you hun, but I have to go. Will you be okay here on your own?"

"I'm not on my own, Suzi," he said softly with a faint smile. She hugged him and took his face between her hands.

"Eden, it's going to be okay. Whatever happens I promise it's going to be okay. I'm here for you."

"Thanks, Suzi. I know that and I'm grateful."

When she had gone he took up his usual seat and stared at Summer. It was early evening and the nurses would bring a meal soon. Of course, it wasn't for Summer it was for him. He pretty much always ate here. Today he wasn't hungry because when he looked into Summer's sleeping face it was different and the fact that he didn't know why or how made him feel sick.

When the nurse came she commented on how he wasn't his usual self but he just smiled and shrugged.

When she had laid out the food she did her usual checks of Summer, her fingers flying over the keypad with practiced ease. The only time she ever touched Summer was to ensure that the IV lines were still sited correctly and not becoming infected. She didn't do that today, instead she spent some time staring at the screens and then, without a word to Eden, hurried out

Eden didn't really notice as he was too busy brooding and trying to find the appetite to eat. The food was well presented and appetising but held no interest at all. He set it aside and drew Summer's hand into his. It felt cold which surprised him as he was used to Summer being kept at a consistent temperature.

The fact alarmed him a little and he looked up at the screens. As usual they meant absolutely nothing to him. Was there something different today? Was there? And why had the nurse run out so fast? His heart was racing and he struggled to calm it, feeling almost foolish. There was absolutely nothing to cause him to panic like this. Just because Summer's hand was cold and the nurse was busy. He was spooking over nothing.

Taking a deep breath Eden tried to steady himself but try as he might he could not stop his heart's frantic thumping and he leaped out of his skin when the door practically burst open and a doctor strode in. He hadn't seen a doctor for some time. He didn't come often, at least not when Summer was stable. Why was he here now? What was going on?"

Before he knew it the nurse had steered him to his feet and out of the room. He'd had no time to argue or question and it was only when the door closed behind him that he came to life and tried to get back in again. The door wouldn't budge. Panicking he hammered on it but no one came.

He was too lost in the incredible suffocating fear to hear the footsteps running down the corridor. The first he knew that anyone was there was when arms were thrown around him and he was enveloped.

"What is it Eden? What's happening?"

"I don't know," he cried in complete panic. "They threw me out and I don't know why. Why did they lock the door? Why won't they let me in?"

"Hush now, Eden. I'm sure there is a good reason."

"But what if something's really wrong? What if he...?"

"This is not the time for 'what if's'," Summer's father said severely while his mother tightened her embrace and Eden found himself pressed against an ample bosom. It was however Mr Worthington's tone that got through to him. From someone who never raised his voice it was as good as a shout and completely out of character.

"I'm sorry," Eden mumbled. "I just... I feel..."

"Calm down Eden," Mr Worthington said more gently, sensing the edge of hysteria he had heard in Eden's voice subsiding.

"I knew something was wrong," Eden said in a less panic stricken voice as Mrs Worthington let him go, "but I didn't know what it was. It was just a feeling, something indefinable. And then... and then his hand was cold."

"I'm sure it's alright."

"But if it's alright why did they throw me out?"

No one had an answer to that and all three spent a tense 10 minutes lost in their own fears.

When at last the door opened everyone's eyes snapped to it, their hearts pounding.

"The doctor would like to speak to you," the nurse said kindly. They tried desperately to read her body language. She was smiling, but what did that mean? What she trying to calm them, to prepare for bad news?

They practically pushed her aside as they stampeded into the room. The doctor was standing at the side of the bed, tapping at the keyboard and occasionally looking up at the screens.

"I'm glad that you're all here," he said. "It couldn't have been better timing. Now you can all hear the news together."

"What news?" Eden broke in, his heart in his mouth.

The doctor smiled at him with a look that was both reassuring and annoyed. "If you let me speak then I'll be able to tell you."

"I'm sorry. I'm so tense, I... Oh. Please just..."

"I understand," the doctor said and patted him on the arm encouragingly. Then, taking a deep breath he continued. "As you know, for the past few years Summer's condition has been entirely unchanging. Apart from the occasional problem he has been absolutely stable, although he has shown no signs of recovery. A short while ago things changed quite dramatically and he has become very unstable indeed."

Three faces blanched and the eyes which regarded him so intensely were wide and frightened.

"Please, bear with me," the doctor said, waving a hand as if to dismiss their concern. 'Easy for him,' Eden thought. "At first we were very concerned but after further examination it appears that he..."

Eden didn't hear the rest of the words because he had been utterly distracted by a sound that, deep in his heart, he had thought he would never hear again. Summer sighed deeply and gave a little moan, turning his head on the pillow.

Shocked, to the core of his being Eden eagerly slipped his hand into Summer's, which was warm again. He couldn't help the little cry that flew from his lips when the fingers that had been so still and lifeless for so long, curled around his.