It had taken some doing, multiple overtime shifts and more saving than she enjoyed, but as Malie surveyed the shiny new drumkit sitting in her second bedroom, she had to admit that it had been worth it. Some little patch of her soul felt better having some actual drums around. Even better was the side effect of all that intentional saving. It had allowed her to move from her very tiny studio apartment into this much larger one. And this one was more like a little standalone cottage than a typical apartment complex. So no one would be disturbed by her drumming as long as she didn’t go crazy.

“Merry Christmas to me,” she murmured, exiting the room and heading for the living room to flop into the magnificence that was the huge sectional sofa. As she laid there, she wondered at her life. She still felt so guilty for how it had fallen out. She’d never meant to hurt her parents and it made the hurt worse when she would stop and realize that she was happy in her life. But forcing herself to be sad and penitent all the time wouldn’t be the right choice either. All she could do was keep telling herself that she was keeping them safe. And she was allowed to be happy and enjoy her record store job and her classes and home.

Because, seriously? How lucky was she that she had been able to get a scholarship and some grants in order to go back to school to work on a degree in folklore? Her boss had grumbled, but been super accommodating with her schedule. And when she had breaks from school, she picked up as many shifts as possible. Between that and some of the classes being online, Malie felt like she could totally manage to get her second degree faster than she’d gotten the first. And once she had that, she could work on her Masters and maybe even a PhD. Was there even such a thing as a PhD for Folklore? She wasn’t sure, but if not… Well. She’d be the first.

It was about time that her love of the old stories came in useful, she thought as she stretched out and chuckled. In her head, she could already see the shape various research papers could take. And, thanks to her heritage, she had a wealth of stories to fall back on. Yeah, in spite of some things, life was pretty good. She could see a future now and it shone so bright it almost scared her…

As she glanced over the back of the couch and out the window, she saw that snow had started to gently fall. Well, she had no decorations (yet!) and no tree up, but it looked like she was going to have a white Christmas. She’d decorate next year, she promised herself. And, if circumstances allowed, she’d go all out for it. For now, she was warm and content in her dreams, just sitting and watching the snowfall in the dim light.

Word Count = 510