The Sisters: The Curse of Gabriel's Gardens

The Christmas Mystery

"Oh, the weather outside is shitty, but the fire is hella pretty;

And since my wi-fi is slow, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

Alexis laughed. Diane's freestyle parodies of famous Christmas songs was an integral part of decorating the Christmas tree in the Warren sisters' home. Diane did it since Alexis could remember; when they were little girls, she was always quietly singing Jingle bells, Batman smells so Reverend Warren couldn't hear her, then the girls would burst into giggling.

"Last Christmas, I gave you... nothing since I am broke as hell," Alexis sang and Diane started to laugh, just like she did twelve years ago.

Despite the strictly atheist nature of the whole city, Christmas could be celebrated. But all that was left of it was an empty shell of shallowness and unrestrained spending. All spiritual values of the holiday were gone, even the idea of peaceful Christmas spent with the family and friends was abolished. Christmas in Gabriel's Gardens meant huge sales, Santas in supermarkets offering the best deals, never-ending queues and children screaming for the latest toys cunningly released around December.

Alexis always felt the melancholy when watching old movies with Christmas portrayed as a day of family and love. Today's idea of Christmas was to spend thousands of dollars on useless, overpriced things and tons of food, then eat and drink until you drop and show love to your relatives by buying them as much things as possible. This idea of consumerist, shallow Christmas disgusted Alexis to the maximum.

Fortunately, Reverend Warren showed them the true nature of the holiday before they could be spoiled by the cheap gloss of the standard Christmas in Gabriel's Gardens. Reverend wasn't a rich man, so their Christmases were usually humble. That, however, didn't mean they were completely without presents - the holy man was always able to save some money to buy a few books for Alexis and some nice clothing for Diane.

Warren always placed the Christmas tree in front of his pulpit in his underground church. The rice lights always beautifully illuminated the underground premise and created unforgettable atmosphere. Warren wasn't very fond of Santa Clause, taking him as a symbol of consumerist American Christmas. Instead, he told the little girls stories about baby Jesus; the idea of him being the central character of Christmas was already present in several European countries and Warren liked the idea very much.

After the sisters accepted the idea of baby Jesus, Diane briefly started to behave aggressively towards any Santas she met; she had to abolish this behavior soon after.

Even though the girls moved out, they still came to have a Christmas dinner with their father every year. But instead of a huge pine tree in front of the pulpit, there was only a small plastic tree in Warren's living room. It always made Alexis sad for some reason, as if the tiny tree was a symbol of the gap between the girls and the holy man after they moved to their own flat.

"Last year, I celebrated Christmas as a girl for the last time," Alexis sighed. "This is my first year in the role of a taken woman. First year as an adult, Dee."

"So I can finally get legally plastered for Christmas!" Diane cheered. "Just kidding," she added after seeing his sister's judgmental look. "A hangover is a thing I really don't want to experience again."

Alexis felt obligated to change the subject; Diane's darker days were still a sensitive matter and none of the girls wanted to remind themselves about it. "I have to get something big for Annie," she said. "Just recently, I found out that I missed her birthday when I... well, after the fight with Kyle. And now I feel terrible for it."