text: I sit in my room staring out the window and cursing the snow. Damn holidays... I thought as I saw the people outside carolling at my neighbour's house. Sometimes I wonder how they put up with their noise and cheer. Can’t I just be left alone! I got up from my bed and depressingly made my way to the kitchen where my roommates left some groceries before they left to go spend holidays at their parents house across town. Great, at least I don’t have to put up with that annoying Christmas music blasting in my ears at the store. I sigh and begin making myself dinner. It wasn’t anything fancy. I wasn’t the best cook so I just made myself a stir fry and called it a day... That was until I heard those blasted carolers knocking on my door. I can’t believe people actually knock here. Can’t they see that I don’t care about their damn holidays! I muttered as I flicked the lights off and pretended not to be home. Then I trudged my way back to my dimly lit bedroom and sat at my desk. At least I could watch youtube or play a game or something... Maybe I could finish those month old assignments too. It was a hard choice of what to do though so I just sat there in the dark eating my food. Christmas has always been a depressing time of year for me. I never knew why, I just hated it. Maybe it was resentment of all the joy and happiness that others got around the holidays while I just got miserable. All my friends called me weird, the only family I had never invited me to join them during the holidays either. Then I remembered it, an incident that happened when I was around five or six. Damnit, what happened there again? I cursed as I tried to remember. It was the reason I hated Christmas, the reason I hated the holidays. The mall Santa! I remember now. I thought as I took a bite of my stir fry. It had been a long time ago, I was at the mall with my grandmother, the woman who raised me. We had gone to the mall to visit Santa and go shopping. After we had gotten everything and left for a car, Santa followed us. Santa did it. Santa ended the most wonderful woman I knew right in front of an innocent child, shot her dead, shot her twice, twice in the head. That’s why I hated the holidays so much. That’s why- I was snapped out of my thoughts from the sound of glass breaking downstairs. Shit- what was that?! Did someone throw ice at my window? Maybe an intruder? Why am I just sitting here? I got up from my chair and grabbed the katana that rested in the anime corner of my room and walked down stairs. I didn’t own a gun, never believed in it. So the katana was all I had to defend myself even though it was dull. When I got down the stairs, I cursed myself for being that person in a horror movie. But I continued. I searched the entire house until I found the cause of the noise. It was a glass vase that fell over... and a puppy? I put my katana down and picked the tiny thing up. It was so small and cute, so innocent and loveable. I couldn't help but smile at this innocent creature in my hands. I didn’t know how it got in the house, or why it was in the house. All of that was irrelevant at the moment as I carried the little fluff ball into the washroom and carefully picked the glass out of its fur. The puppy was adorable. I decided to keep it and name it Arthur. It was a peculiar name for a dog. But it fit him. I guessed that Arthur was a black lab by the colour of his coat. His eyes were blue like a husky though. Maybe a mixed breed? I thought as I washed Arthur up and dried him with a towel. That's when I remembered the broken vase. My roommates were going to kill me for breaking it. I decided that their vase didn’t matter too much considering that Arthur was here now, so I set Arthur down in my room and cleaned up the glass. I also put my katana back where it was supposed to be in the corner of my room. Then I spent all night playing with my new friend. It was the first bit of joy I felt during the holidays in years. I never knew how much a dog could affect a person. But now that I have Arthur, I feel better and I don’t know why or how. For the next week, Arthur and I spent the holidays watching crappy romance movies on Netflix, sleeping, or stuffing our mouths with the food in the house. This isn’t actually that bad... I guess I should probably try to enjoy the holidays a bit. even if my recent memories have been rather dim around this time of year. I thought as I walked around the house cleaning up after Arthur. It was probably the happiest I’ve been in months though. Arthur really made an impact on my life that I never thought was possible. When my roommates did get back, a quiet girl and her kind twin brother, they didn’t actually kill me when they found out the vase broke... Though, I think it was because of Arthur. The girl, named Delilah, was in love with Arthur the second she saw the little fluff ball. Her brother, Damian, also loved Arthur. Everyone loved this little fluff ball and welcomed Arthur as an official member of the household. For the next couple of years, me and Arthur accompanied Delilah and Damian to their parents house for the holidays. It wasn’t actually as bad as I first thought. Arthur ended up growing to be a really big dog, but also a really good boy. He stayed by my side a majority of the time. I remember Damian once calling him ‘ mama's boy ’ or something silly like that. I didn’t mind it though. Every year on Christmas day, I thanked God for giving me Arthur. My little boy. My Arthur.