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Boxes of decorations littered the room, and he sat in a triangle of them designated for ornaments. He’d picked a smaller tree this year in a desperate attempt to not put every ornament of the tree. It obviously wasn’t working because most of the ornaments were weighing down the branches already. He plucked an olde ornament from a box and hummed along time the Christmas music. Methodically he tied an ornament hook to the flimsy ribbon it dangles from and stood to hang it on the tree. There was strong open branch right in the middle, at eye-line. He lifted and the bauble spun, his eyes catching the design for the first time. White snowflakes arranged like music notes on a staff, playing “Auld Lang Syne”.
This used to be his favorite ornament. It had been a gift from- from someone. Most likely. He’d retired it years and years ago. He hummed this new tune under his breath. The melody came easy and the words followed. But the lyrics shook something loose inside him, rattling him. The thin metal hook slipped from is grasp in this moment of surprise.
“Should old acquaintance be forgot,”
It fell like rain. It had been a gift from someone. Someone he loved.
”and never brought to mind?”
A friend? A loved one?
”Should old acquaintance be forgot,”
A daughter.
” and Auld Lang Syne.”
The ornament shattered as he fell to his knees. The thin glass pulverized beneath his knees.
“Symbol? I heard a crash, are you alright?” Mitch pokes his head into his room, but stopped short.
Symbol cradled the remains of the ornament in his hands, tears muddling the shards. His voice barely made it past his lips.
“I don’t remember their faces.”