I originally wrote this short story for an anthology that released a couple of years ago.

I can’t honestly say where the idea for it came from. As I recall it started with the image of a young woman pulling into the driveway of the house where she grew up and noticing how gloomy and uninviting it looked. The place is rather ramshackle and neglected. And though it’s just a few days before Christmas, no decorations light or soften it. Lindsay doesn’t want to be there.

Since at that point I had no idea why she was there, and why she didn’t want to be but had come anyway, I had to start asking myself those questions.

This is the way I generally work. A story starts with an idea or a couple of images converging in my head and I look for what’s behind them.

It wasn’t hard to combine the gloomy house with why she didn’t want to be there. Her upbringing there had been less than happy. I began to fill out the details of that… Cold, unfeeling foster parents who were in it mostly for the money and didn’t approve of unnecessary expenses or celebrations.

So why had she come? Probably because someone had asked her. Who might that have been? It had to be someone she cared about and who cared for her while they were growing up. Someone she felt she couldn’t deny. A foster sibling, most likely.

Why was Josh, her foster brother, there, though, and why did he want Lindsay to join him? You’ll see. And why was Lindsay even more horrified when she learned Josh had brought along his best friend? Is there any way to salvage a merry Christmas from this mess?

You’ll have to read the story to find out!

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