The tree was glittering with lights. Her stocking was hung on the mantle. A crackling fire danced in the fireplace. A CD full of Christmas tunes filled the room with holiday cheer. To anyone looking in the window, it would've appeared as if the occupant was in a festive mood. That is, unless they knew the occupant.
Tess sat in front of her computer, alone again on Christmas Eve and talking to others who were suffering from the same problem. Far away from family and few friends aside from those found online every night, she had no real reason to celebrate. From the sound of the general depression found among those online, she wasn't alone. It was a comforting feeling, a happy thought amid all the loneliness caused by her isolation.
When her messenger program popped up, telling her that Wes was online, she smiled. She'd been hoping to catch him and seeing him answer her prayers was a treat she hadn't counted on seeing. She didn't have to wait long before he sent her a message, and the greeting brought an even wider smile to her face.
'How are you this evening? Enjoying the snow?' She smiled and shook her head at the screen, her fingers hovering over the keys. He knew she lived too far South for snow. However, here he was, answering her Christmas wish and sweeping her into that world where anything was possible. That included snow in South Georgia.
'I am fine, but I would love the snow more if we were outside making snow angels instead of cooped up inside this stuffy apartment." His answer to that was a smiley winking at her and she laughed in delight again.
'By all means, let's go make some snow angels.' Followed close thereafter with a link to a picture he'd found of a couple in the snow making snow angels, looking at each other and laughing. She opened her browser and found a picture of a couple having a snowball fight in an open field. She copied the link into the messenger window and waited on his reply.
It only took him a moment, and came in the form of another link. She clicked it, her laughter filling the room and momentarily drowning out the cheery tunes from her stereo. It was a picture snapped just as a man stuffed a snowball down the back of a woman's shirt.
'You're going to pay for that, mister!' She typed out and began an all out assault, describing the large handfuls of snow she was dumping down his shirt, his pants, anywhere she could reach. He responded in kind and before long, their virtual selves were so drenched there wasn't a stitch of clothing on them that wasn't dripping.