Ella dragged herself to the hearth. A frosty form rose from the icy rug, reached for her mum. ‚I said sorry, so many times and still you deny me,‘ it rasped. But its glittering eyes splintered in horror as Ella tipped the scuttle of pine cones onto the fire and the flames roared. #5ActFestiveStory

‚We‘re snowed in,‘ Ella said.
‚Curses.Take my hand and grab that star.‘
As Ella touched the ornament, the room vanished. A forest in its stead, a fir tree where the chimney once stood.
‚Made it,‘ mum smirked.
But Ella froze. Two black boots protruded from the tree‘s lower branches. #5ActFestiveStory

‚Exactly as it says,‘ her mother said. ‚Sonny‘.
Ella snatched the card back. Snow had made the lettering run. Noone was sorry at all. Who the hell was Sonny? Ella shook her head tracing a finger across the image of a boy on Santa‘s knee.
‚He‘s the child Santa stole from me‘
#5ActFestiveStory

Nan peered at the handwriting in the dying light of the fire. Impossible. She swallowed hard, turned the card over. A faded sepia image of a soldier swam up at her. Tears sprang. Bert hadn’t written since that first letter from the Western front. Twelve years ago. #5ActFestiveStory