A Christmas Gift Not Given

A semi-Christmas ghost story

A Christmas Gift Not Given


The winter wind bit as she, along with the lifeless gray trees of this desolate graveyard, stood staring at the cold stone before her with wisps of tears lingering in her eyes. The name chiseled into its surface reminded her of a life now gone and all promises it held. It brought forth a longing within her and the remembrance of heartache.
Her mind wandered back to that night to what seemed many years ago. The Christmas Eve party where her loneliness began and, like the name on the stone, etched itself into her soul with such clarity of sadness that each day seemed drained of the will to live.
She shouldn’t have been so harsh with him on the drive back from the party but he had promised he wouldn’t drink too much that night and he did it anyway. He had gotten drunk, like so many times before, and she had had enough. His drinking had become problematic. He wasn’t a mean drunk but he did stupid things in that condition and she was always ashamed of him for making a fool of himself and embarrassing her. She loved him like no other but sometimes...sometimes she felt she wanted to strangle him when he was like that.
The drive home from the party wasn’t a good time for her to start chastising him but she couldn’t help herself. The weather wasn’t kind that evening. It had been sleeting somewhat leaving the roads a slushy to icy mess and the wind was blowing a fair amount. He was in no condition to drive home from the party that night so she had. She should have kept her anger to herself and focused her attention on the road. In the mist of her scolding him for his behavior while he tried sheepishly to look apologetic, she had taken her eyes off the road for what seemed like a split second but, in reality, became an eternity.
The car had hit a patch of ice and suddenly swerved. She tried to correct the shift in the car but over-corrected and found herself sliding into the opposing lane. The truck traveling in that lane suddenly found itself impacting into the side of their vehicle and thus propelling her and the husband she loved dearly, but was angry with, into a future they would no longer share.
That Christmas Eve had changed her whole world. She wished she could tell him how sorry she was for that tragic mistake. She would do anything to be able to hear him give a return gift of forgiveness as well. Just one simple moment to hold him again and feel his warmth. All that remained though was the cold.
She turned from the tombstone, as she’d done each Christmas Eve since the accident, and found him standing there staring through her again like each Christmas Eve before. His eyes full of tears and his lips trembling. He had grown older and his scars from the crash had healed over time unlike his heart. He stared at the carved stone and whispered to himself the name on its surface; her name.
She reached out longingly to hold and comfort him but all he felt was the bite of the winter wind.

Legion
19DEC20