Ashes for Christmas by Tiyamike Mwale

Cassie checked outside the door to see if they were gone, soon her friends would be lodging in. she checked again to be sure her parents were gone.
Her family was on vacation for Christmas at the pink sands resort. It was just the four of them, her parents, her little sister and herself.

‘What a perfect Christmas holiday’ she thought. She had even gotten in touch with her friends to tell her where she was and they could hardly believe it. The pink sands resort was one of the most expensive and luxurious holiday destinations in the country. She still couldn’t figure out how her parents had managed to come up with the money for the holiday but she didn’t bother herself with that instead she took in the breathtaking view and mused at what a thrilling Christmas it was going to be. She got even more excited at the fact that the friends she had made around the resort and her friends from back home were coming over for a get together she had planned.

She had planned to have it in her and her sister’s cabin but had decided that their parents’ cabin was better because it was much bigger than theirs. She felt a wave of annoyance when she remembered her sister. She wished that her parents had taken her little sister along with them because she didn’t want the hassle of babysitting; all she wanted to do was concentrate on her party. But as fate would have it she had to find a way to balance her party and her little sister.

She desperately looked at her watch and wondered why her friends hadn’t arrived yet, she was about to start panicking but to her delight they arrived a few minutes later. She cheerfully welcomed them and gestured them to come inside. All her friends had arrived and the party was beginning to warm up bit to her surprise she begun to notice that more guests kept arriving and she had no idea who they were. She brushed it off and thought that the more the people the better the party.

The people kept piling in and the cabin was getting full; the rooms were packed and the place was getting a bit rowdy. She couldn’t stand it; she went over to her friends whom she suspected to have invited all these people.
“Who are these people?” she asked them agitated. None of them answered.
Just then a girl she didn’t know staggered towards her and said.
“Cute guys and great beer”
“Beer!” Cassie said in shock and gave her friends a questioning but they just stared at her blankly.

Things were getting out of hand; she hadn’t planned for this nightmare; one that she would definitely get in trouble for and her so called friends did not seem concerned at all. To make matters worse someone switched off the lights and this sent volts of excitement among the crowd. As she walked across the room in dark she felt a cold menacing hand grab her by the waist; she turned around she identify the guy in the moonlight that was gushing through the windows; she saw a ruffled up guy with red eyes that showed no trace of any sanity.

“Let me go you freak!” she screamed as she pushed him only to have him land on the table causing the lit candles that were standing on its surface to fall over set the alcohol drenched carpet alight. Cassie stood there in shock as people went into a panic, trying to escape the fire. Just then her parents entered the cabin and they were taken aback by the chaos as people zoomed past them, but at least her father has the sense to quickly grab the fire extinguisher and put out the fire before it got out of control.

“I expect you will be dropping the check for the damages done here at the office madam” the manager of the resort said to Cassie’s mum. Her mum span around to face Cassie with fiery red eyes that bore great anger in what would have been disappointment had it been something lighter. She had no idea how she would begin to make up for this; she would probably pay for it for the rest of her life.