25th December

It was warm and cuddly when Vince woke up. He felt the bodies of the girls around him and their fur that was caressing against his fur every time they moved. Vince took a deep breath with his eyes closed and noticed a faint scent of heat. It was not enough to get his member, which retracted overnight, out again. Because the scent of heat was not overwhelming anymore he could smell the scent of the other girls. The scent was warm and calmed his heart down. He was so used to the smell of Mia, Tracy and Lilly that the feeling of a 'home' filled his whole body. He did not pick up the scent of Stacy and suspected that she already left the bed. Vince did not open his eyes or move. He felt happy and did not want this moment to go away. It should last forever and pushing away any other thought. Vince just wanted to stay here at this place and at this time.

"Good Morning!" the moment was over in a split of a second. Vince could not say how long he had marveled in this moment but like a cold shower the voice of Stacy pulled him out of it. The warmth of the bodies around him, which now started to move and roll around, still was present but the peace of the moment fled like the darkness before the morning sun. "Good Morning." He replied sleeping and opened his eyes when he felt the kiss of Stacy on his forehead. "Time to get up, you four. Vince needs to get ready. We have to leave in an hour." The girls sounded as tired and reluctant as he was. The turned around to face Vince and he got kisses from all angles around him before a cold breeze made all of them shudder when Tracy pulled the blanket from them. "To the shower! All of you!" she commanded and with grumbling and while rubbing their eyes the four kids started to get up. "And don't take too long. I want Vince to get something to eat before we leave." The shower was short but all the girls cramped themselves into the room and insisted in cleaning Vince. Their paws felt nice and soft when they applied the soap and lathered him up. The breakfast was a feast with a mix of left overs of the day before, cocoa and the usual food. In the middle of the breakfast Sarah, Miles and Alia joined them. Miles seemed to have gotten over his sulking for not being able to sleep with them the night before and chatted with Vince and the girls like he always did.

Tugged tight into his new coat and between Lilly and Mia he soon sat in the bus of Brad. All Purringtons and Softpaws wanted to see him off and Brad got out the bus to bring them to the city. Vince enjoyed this last moments with all of them together. He forced himself not to think about what awaited him at home but to just enjoy every second as long as it lasted. For him the time raced and the drive to the city was far too short. All of them hugged him, kissed his cheeks, muzzle or forehead, ruffled his head or just patted his shoulder or back. And then...

...like this morning the moment was gone, like waking up from a wonderful dream. The warmth of his coat was the only thing that still lingered like the last thoughts of this enchanted dream. The bus that he boarded turned around a corner and the little waving figures in the distance were cut from his vision. Vince slowly turned back to the front and cuddled himself into the coat. He pulled out his MP3 player and popped the headphones in his ears. The music he had liked before seemed to hard and heartless but he still let it rush through his head while closing his eyes and blocking up everything around. The music and the warmth of the coat were his walls to protect him from reality. In his mind he still saw all of them: Stacy and Sarah, Tracy, Lilly, Mia, Miles, Alia and Brad. Their white spotted coat in front of the snow castle the built. He forgot to make a picture with a camera of them but in his mind he had pictures that he was sure he would burn into his brain forever. He remembered everything of these few weeks. It started with a shock but turned into the most wonderful dream he ever had. Not only all the new games in the snow he learned from the children and their happy time together but also the new adult games he learned from Stacy and Sarah, that he played with the other kids and the most enchanting Christmas he had in his life.

"Are you getting off or what?" Vince darted up and out of his dreams. He must have fallen asleep and in front of him was the bus driver and a look outside told Vince that they were at the final destination: The bus stop where he was supposed to meet his parents. The bus driver got impatient and Vince grabbed his bag and rushed out of the bus. His happy time in Snow Valley was now over. The bus went away and Vince waited. He began to sweat but he did not take off the warm coat. Even though people were starting to talk about him because he was wearing a winter coat at 15 degree he still kept it on. He did not want to let go of this dream yet. The coat had a faint scent of all the people he learned to love and that were close to his heart.

Vince looked at the clock across the street. He already waited for an hour and none of his parents had showed up. He checked his wallet and there was not enough money for a taxi. He tried to call his parents but they did not pick up the phone. The cell phone of his mother was turned off and the phone of his father just answered with the voice mail. With a sigh Vince peeled out of the warm coat and changed to his jacket. He put the coat into his bag and threw it over his shoulder. He knew that he was in for a long walk. They lived in the outer edge of the city on the other side and it was around ten miles to there. Vince popped in the music again and started to walk. His feet moved mechanically but his thought traveled back to Snow Valley. He came by a lot of Christmas trees and colorful decorated houses. Lights were everywhere and the traders on the street greeted him with "Merry Christmas". A bit of this dream had followed him here. He was sure that this had been in the city in the past years but he never paid attention to it. Now he watched the lights, the trees, the candies and everything with different eyes. At a choir of six who was singing carol the bells he stopped and popped his headphones out of the ears to listen to them. When he closed his eyes he could see Stacy, Tracy, Lilly, Sarah, Mia, Miles, Alia and Brad in his mind. They all loved and smiled in the warm living room of the Softpaws and the tree was full of light and joy. The song ended and Vince joined the few other pedestrians who applauded. He popped his headphones in again and continued his journey. After an hour he had the central behind him and got to the outer parts of the city. The sun was already beginning to set and the streets got empty. Here, where there were no trade streets and wide decorations, it was like the darkness consumed all the joy and froze the heart. The last furs entered the houses and soon he was all alone just meeting a few people walking back from getting cigarettes or beer and quickly returning into their house. No one really took note from him and the sky got darker with every minute. It took him around another hour until he finally reached his home. He could see that there was light on in the house so his parents seemed to be home. The other houses around also had bright windows and he could see that their neighbors had dinner with their two children. All houses around looked asleep and peaceful.

The peace stopped when he opened the door with his keys. He heard his parents in a fight screaming at each other. It was nothing new for him. They did this occasionally but coming from the nice and warm home in Snow Valley and the peaceful world outside he felt stressed.

"I am home." He called and entered the living room. Both his parents stopped their shouting to look at him like he was an alien.

"You are late." Scolded his mother and Vince looked at her surprised. "I thought you would arrive 2 hours ago." His father joined in.

"Yes!" Vince suddenly got angry and started to shout. "And YOU were supposed to get me from the bus station, right?" he stomped out of the room and threw the door shut with a loud bang. His parents started to scream again and Vince was not sure if they were calling after him or at each other. If he was honest he did not care. He knew his parents and this just reminded him why he did not like them at all. When he went to the kitchen he noticed that they had dinner without him already. He got himself a bit from the fridge and then moved upstairs into his room. It was just like he left it in a total chaos. He threw the bag in the corner and just pulled out the coat and put it on the bed. After he connected the charger of his mobile phone he lay down on the coat and sighed from the tough of the present that was the most important for him now. He dialed the number of uncle.

"Hello aunt Milly?" his aunt had taken the call. "I just wanted to let you know that I am home now." - "Now?" Milly asked surprised. "Was the bus delayed?" - "No, my fu... sorry, my stupid parents did not show up and I had to walk all the way home." - "What?" his uncle had listened to him because aunt Milly just put the phone on speaker. "You can't be serious. I told them twice to get you from the bus station." - "Well, nothing new that they are totally useless." Vince said with an angry voice. "Are you feeling better?" Vince tried to change the topic and his aunt and uncle sensed that he did not want to talk about his parents. "Yes, thank you for asking. We feel a lot of better. Give it two weeks and we will be fit enough to visit you." His uncle promised. "That would be cool." Vince replied. "There is so much I want to tell you from my holidays." - "How was it in this... where was it again?" - "Snow Valley? It was wonderful. The best Christmas I ever had." Vince noticed how his mood changed for the better just by thinking about Snow Valley. The conversation went to more happy topics than his parents afterwards and he disconnected half an hour later with a smile on his face. He took in the scent of the coat. For him it smelled just like his friends that were now in a warm house covered in snow far away. He looked for the number of Stacy in his contacts and rang her up to let them know he arrived safe.

They talked two more hours before Vince finally put his mobile phone away and stretched before taking a shower and putting on his pajamas. When he got ready to sleep he still heard his parents fighting. He closed the door to muffle the noises as he knew that they would just scream at him when he asked them to be more quite. He knew already how they were and he was sure they would stop fighting soon enough. One more week until New Year and a few weeks until school break would be over. When he closed his eyes and went off to sleep he went through all the events of his holidays at Snow Valley in his head. His Christmas Vacation was now over and he was sure that the next weeks would not be as fun with his stupid parents.