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You've signed up for a Secret Santa this year, be it in a hobby group, school, work, or just in your circle of friends. You've received a name and a small index card's worth of information about their likes and dislikes, so it's time to go shopping for them! Or, maybe you're receiving your own present? Was this a good idea or just extra holiday stress?
Jason took a quick look at his older brother, who was looking at the various stores as they passed, before turning ahead again and sighing. His dorm floor had decided that it would be nice to do a Secret Santa for all of the students on the floor. He really didn't know the person who's name he had pulled, but at least they were able to provide a list of things that they had wanted, $20 or less, so it wouldn't be too expensive either, but Jason wished he had gotten them earlier off the internet instead of having to shop now.
Tom had volunteered to go with him, so at least he wasn't alone in this endeavor, but that didn't make it any more fun. The shopping center was crowded, it was cold, and he had to grab onto his brother a couple of times to keep from slipping before they had even gotten inside. At least Tom could guide them though considering he had been here longer and had already done his shopping before now, so Jason figured they should be out relatively quickly. He only hoped that the trading cards that this guy wanted were still there. At this point they could be gone and they would have wasted their Sunday trying to get them.
Taking a quick glance to look at his younger sibling, Tom was surprised to see such a frown on his face. It's not surprising though, we usually do all of our holiday shopping online. What is with stores around here not having online orders anyway? Tom thought to himself. Out loud he addressed his brother, "It's not too bad Jason. After this I think we'll just have to remember to get everything in June when it won't be so crowded." He gave a smile to his Jason, trying to reassure him a little. Though Tom was sure it wasn't just the crowds that were bothering his brother.
Ever since coming some of Tom's worst fears had come true, even if he hadn't expected anything like what they had gone through. There was the bat attack and from what Jason had told him, those weird scientifically engineered poinsettias had attacked too. Luckily his brother hadn’t directly run into any agents of the negaverse, but there was still a high possibility of that happening.
Jason looked once again at his brother, this time giving him a tired smile. “Yeah definitely. The sales now just aren’t worth it at this point. Or I’m going to order everything online instead of waiting till the last second. And I’m kind of tired of being attacked too. At least in that Gingerbread run nothing happened there. But I wish I had taken your advice more, though you never said anything about huge hoards of bats or evil plants possibly being a problem.” Jason replied, ending it with a bit of a giggle. He hadn’t really wanted to mention it to his brother, but it HAD been bothering him, all of these attacks and stuff. He just wished he could do more.
“Yeah, I wasn’t really expecting them either. Though since I’ve been here, I’ve had to learn a bit of self-defense myself. I would definitely recommend it for you too.” And that’s about all he could say. As much as he wanted to, Tom still couldn’t reveal anything to his brother, and that was eating him up inside. However, they had finally made it to where they needed to go and so the conversation took a different direction. They would talk more about this in private.
