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Christmas, a time for celebration, joy, and near Oakleigh's birthday. The 22nd of December was one of those days when you panic that Christmas is so close, but also so far.

For Oakleigh's family, it meant her brother and his wife were coming over to stay until January. This Christmas however, was something else entirely. Her older brother, Logan, worked with dragons. Well, trained to work with dragons. He told the family about a month ago that he would be working with larger dragons, teenagers if you will.

He was living his dream. A nightmare was about to come towards all. An owl flew down from the open window, dropping a letter into her fathers lap. Across town, the same copied letter was dropped into the lap of Abigale Florence-Bell, Logan's wife. As they both opened the letter, lifting up the wax seal, they read the worst letter of their lives. Their eyes flickered towards the words. Condolences, accident, loss, dead. Logan, only 24, they day before his 25th birthday. Dead. Dorian couldn't believe it. Oakleigh had never seen her father cry. This was a moment where she did. He screamed for his wife, the woman with glasses running down the stairs. He handed her the letter. Her mother read the letter, tears brought to the woman's eyes. Oakleigh and her brother, Axel, were sitting in the living room, watching the moment. Her mother snapped her fingers, pointing to the stairs. "Rooms, now." She said in a raised voice. The siblings stood up quickly, running to the stairs. As normal kids do, they didn't head to their rooms.

They sat at the top of the stairs, listening to the conversation their parents had. Doh! Smart parents and their stupid silencing charm. Now they couldn't listen in. Oakleigh and her brother went to the hallway, sitting down in the door frame of their rooms. "What was that about?" She mumbled. "Dad cried."

The blond boy was always in tune with peoples emotions, it made him who he was. He stayed quiet, his head in his hands. He knew in his mind that Christmas wasn't going to be the same after tonight. Their parents called them back down. Sat the two children down on the couch and explained. Oakleigh processed it as a blur, everything being mixed and twisted. The room spun, she felt sick. Logan was dead. Her brother was dead. The one who raised her almost, the one who was there when she fell off her bike. Her best friend... Gone.

Axel was in full sobs at this point. Oakleigh stared at the wall, her emotions unreadable. Tears threatened to burst their duct dam, but they couldn't. The shock held them back in chains.

Her heart thumped against her ribcage. It's called a cage for a reason. It holds the monster we call a heart. Ligaments were chains and rope, holding it back from escaping its confines. The blood through the veins were the emotions of the beast, moving its influence to your limbs. She felt like she understood why the Warlock took his heart out. It was a beast. Hairy or not.

Christmas was a blur of wrapping paper and silence. Everyone hardly spoke a word. Oakleigh especially. The agony of his death wrapped around her as the coils of a snake, not ever letting her go. Suffocating, reaching her hand up through the water, hoping it was all a dream. However, the ache in her heart pulled her down deeper in the murky waters of lake ness, and she was lost.

The door to the heavens joy shut, and she was forever locked out, in her mind at least. Her birthday came quickly the next week, yet she sadly ate her cake. Funeral was soon after. It all just flew past her in a gust of wind. One moment she held a soil, dropping in into the dug hole. The next, she was right back at the Hogwarts Express, going back to her Eagle nest.

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Notes: Reducio Sorry for so depressing.

Date: Reducio Dec 22nd-???

Mentions: Reducio Solo

word count: 667/200