After a long cold day, out on the streets, my can is empty. My mother is getting worse every day. This morning, she was as pale as a ghost, and her heart rate was beating once every two seconds. I think tonight’s the night when she will see the light, and take the trail up to heaven. It’s Christmas Eve, and out of everybody in New York City, no one was willing to give some money to a little nine year old boy, trying to save his mother from dying.
Now, I’m walking through Central Park, finding my way to the bench my mother and I live on. I’m wet from the snow falling on me all day, and I think I’m going to get frost bite. I’m about to give up on life, and seriously considering jumping in the lake next to our bench, wanting to freeze and drown to death.
I hear a ringing noise, and at first, I think it’s my ears. But as it gets louder, I realize it’s not. It’s the sound of those silver bells, the ones who are supposed to cheer up everybody during Christmastime. But not me. I don’t want anything that has to do with Christmas right now. But still, they get louder. And I realize they’re getting closer to me. I start to run. I was scared, honestly. Even though I knew it was just bells, I knew whoever had them was coming after me. I was going too fast to see in front of me, and without noticing where I was running, I ran right past our bench and into the lake. I look at my mother one last time, knowing that very soon, I’ll meet her in heaven. My mind goes blank and my eyes start to hurt, from keeping them open underwater. I’m running out of breath, and my eyes start to hurt even more. Then I see a big red blob, above the water. I start to think my eyes are bleeding, but then a hand reaches down and pulls me up out of the water.
My eyes were still blurry from the water. I rubbed, and opened them again, and it took them a little bit to adjust. There was still a big red blob there, but being closer, I could make out the shape of a person. When my vision fully comes back, the guy is very fat, he’s wearing a big red suit and a red stocking cap, and he has a white beard. He hands me a present and walks into the woods. I hear a “Ho ho ho!” and see a sleigh being pulled by deer launch into the sky. I open the present and find a big wad of cash. I count it, and it’s just enough to save my mother before Christmas morning.