Twenty year old Robyn Alexander returned home from college in early December. She had not been home since Christmas the year before. She decided to spend her summer vacation on the beaches of south Florida instead of home in the nothingness of south Wisconsin. Little did she know, the family had changed greatly since her last visit.
When Robyn last left, her parents could not have been more in love. Her sister Tina was living at home about ready to graduate high school. Her aunt and uncle were ready to move in the area to be near the rest of the family. Fast forward one year, the parents cannot stand each other anymore. Tina dropped out of college and started popping pills while living in the family's garage. Aunt Jamie and Uncle Hank were arrested for robbing a liquor store. The life that Robyn missed so much was still gone.
After two days home, she quickly picked up on the tension that spread throughout the household. Constant yelling between her mother and father, mother and sister, father and sister and even herself and her mother filled the days. In two days, Robyn had gone from loving her mother to hating her. From what she observed, her mother blamed her father for Tina's drug problems and even Jamie and Hank's arrests. In her mind, his firing from the law firm that had employed him for over twenty years led to the family's downfall.
On Saturday night, three days after arriving home, Robyn was watching TV in the living room when her father came in and sat down next to her.
"Hi honey." He said.
"Hi Dad." She gave him a hug. "How are you doing? Things are a lot different here than I remember."
"You can thank your mother for that. She blames everything on me and..." He looked at her and stopped himself from finishing the sentence.
"And what?" She asked.
"I'm sorry honey but...I hate your mother. I know it's wrong but I can't stand to be around her. I think this will probably be our last holiday as a family." He tried to contain his anger.
"It's okay Dad, I understand. Mom has been a real...a real bitch since I got here." The two shared a smile.
"I need to get away. I don't even feel like a man anymore. I haven't..." He again stopped.
"Dad, you can tell me anything." She grabbed his hand.
"I haven't had sex in two years."
Robyn was shocked; especially since even a year ago they seemed happy. It was weird to think that she had had sex more recently since her dad, and it had been since summer for her.
"Two years? Damn it, nobody should have to wait that long." She said. "I'm sorry to hear that dad, I wish there was something I could do."
"Don't worry honey, I'll be fine."
Her father got up and left the room, leaving his daughter alone with her thoughts. Robyn had felt bad for him but after hearing that story, she felt even worse. She finished watching her show before she went upstairs to her bedroom for the night. After changing into her pajamas, she sat cross-legged on her bed and stared at the gift she had bought for her parents.
Robyn had searched through the family's photo albums over the summer and found several pictures of all four of them together that she had cut and pasted into a large collage. Now with her family close to implosion, she cried at the sight of it.
"I need to get Dad something special for Christmas...something to get his hatred for Mom out of his mind." She thought to herself. She turned the lights off and went to bed.
She spent an hour lying there, trying to think about the perfect gift for her father. She had a few good ideas but one stuck out above the rest. She knew that it would be a risky gift and difficult to pull off but it was the only thing that could make him very happy. All she needed was to plan it out, something that would be done tomorrow.
Robyn awoke around eight o'clock Sunday morning, Christmas Eve, to loud shouting downstairs. She recognized both voices to be her parents. She tried to cover her ears but the last sentence came through clearly.
"Have a merry fucking Christmas asshole." Her mother yelled before running upstairs and slamming the bedroom door.
"It is a merry fucking Christmas." Robyn said as she stood up and put her glasses on.
She made her way downstairs and sat at the table, next to her father.
"Hell of a wakeup call." She said as she took a sip from a coffee cup.
"Sorry about that." He said before Tina walked into the kitchen from outside.
"Why is everyone yelling? I could hear you outside." She said as she grabbed a granola bar.
"Sorry honey." Their father said.
"Whatever. If you need me, I'll be passed out in the car. I just took a strong sleeping pill so I can sleep around you people." Tina walked back outside.
Robyn's father grabbed her hand. "I'm so proud of you for not turning out like that...or your mother. You are perfect Robyn." He hugged her.
"I love you Dad." She whispered. "I have a really special Christmas gift that I want to give you tonight. Meet me in the living room around nine o'clock tonight. Okay?"
"Deal."
Robyn got up and headed upstairs. After a quick shower, she slowly made her way downstairs while tying her long chestnut hair in a ponytail. She looked around and saw that the coast was clear and headed outside to the garage. When she opened it up, she found her sister sleeping in the car with the windows down. She poked at her to make sure that she was knocked out, even slapping her pretty hard but Tina did not budge.
"Those pills must be really strong." Robyn thought.
She looked around the garage and opened up a toolbox filled with her sister's "medicine". She poked through the sea of orange pill bottles until she found what she was looking for. She took two of Tina's sleeping pills and slipped them in her jeans pocket. She read the warnings to make sure she knew how many were too many.
"Do not exceed three pills in a twenty-four hour period." She read.
Robyn closed the toolbox and made her way out of the garage and back into the house. She spent the rest of the day plotting out how the night would go. After she ate dinner with her father, she cleaned the dishes while he watched TV. It was now eight o'clock in the evening, an hour before she was to give the gift to her father.
The whole day, her mother had stayed locked in the master bedroom. Robyn decided that it would be a good idea to make her some tea (at least that is what she told her father). She made the tea and added a special ingredient. Earlier in the day, she had mashed the two sleeping pills into a fine powder which she poured into the cup.
"Sleep tight Mommy." She thought while she stirred the drug into the drink. Robyn carried the drink up to the master bedroom and knocked. "Mom, I brought you up some tea."
Her mother opened the door and let her daughter in. Robyn handed her the cup and sat down on the bed. Her mother quickly drank it down; having not drank anything all day.
"I'm sorry if this weekend hasn't been the greatest." She told Robyn.
"It's okay Mom, I don't blame anyone. It's just one of those things, right?" She smiled.
"I guess so." The effects of the drugs were quickly setting in the woman. "Wow, I'm really tired."
"I'll go and let you get some sleep. See you tomorrow Mom."
Before Robyn could exit the room, she heard her mother begin to snore. She walked back over to her and sat on the bed once again.
"Sleep tight." She kissed her forehead and headed downstairs to the living room.
Robyn walked in and saw her father watching a football game. She sat next to him and pulled out her cell phone. She held it in front of his face as it clicked over from 8:59 to 9:00.
"Ready for your gift?" She asked him. He nodded. "Okay then, close your eyes and follow me."
