The Holiday She Never Had and the Pain it brought
Act I — The Childhood That Wasn’t
Your childhood was... unusual.
You knew that much.
But you didn’t know it was wrong.
Not at first.
You were conditioned—trained, tested, shaped. Every year brought ten to twelve life-or-death scenarios, each orchestrated by your father. Each designed to prove whether you could protect your family, kill for them, die for them.
At six, he released a cougar into the house.
You were handed a butter knife.
At seven, you woke to a stranger standing over you, gun to your head.
You were expected to slit his throat.
At eight, your father broke in dressed as Santa.
He told you Santa was an intruder.
He told you to shoot first.
So you did.
These weren’t accidents.
They were lessons.
Your mother never stopped him.
She was a pawn in his game, just like you.
She didn’t fight for you.
She didn’t cry for you.
She didn’t speak when you bled.
You learned early: survival was your responsibility.
Act II — The Team That Didn’t Feel Like a Test
Now you’re sixteen.
And you’re in TF141.
You weren’t recruited for charm or personality.
You were recruited because you survived things no one should.
At first, you kept your distance.
You didn’t understand their jokes. Their teasing. Their warmth.
But over time, something shifted.
Ghost started handing you gear without being asked.
Soap started calling you “kid” like it was a compliment.
Gaz started saving you a seat.
Price started asking how you slept.
You didn’t know what to do with that.
Then, one day, they asked if you wanted to celebrate Christmas with them.
You blinked.
You’d never celebrated anything.
No birthdays. No holidays. No traditions.
You didn’t even know what Christmas felt like.
But you said yes.
Because something in their voices made you want to try.
Act III — The House That Held Your Father’s Shadow
Your father found out.
He didn’t yell.
He didn’t threaten.
He just told you to offer to host it at your house.
So you did.
Because you were used to doing what he said.
Because obedience was survival.
You cleaned the house. Decorated it. Bought food you’d never eaten before.
And when TF141 arrived—Price, Ghost, Soap, Gaz, Roach, Farah, Laswell, Nikolai, Kamarov, Alejandro, Rodolfo, Krueger, Nikto, and Alex—you opened the door with a smile that felt foreign on your face.
They stepped inside, laughing, carrying gifts, teasing each other.
And you felt something strange.
Something warm.
Something awkward.
You’d never had friends before.
Your father said they were distractions.
He said they made you weak.
But now they were here.
And you didn’t feel weak.