Author's Note: I turn my attention from the happy neon world of Derby City, back to the cold barren fields of Mud Creek. People are a sum of their experiences. Lucy has had some bad ones. I didn't make this up, this really happened.

Chapter 13 December 25th 1994

Lucy was awake in her bed staring at the ceiling. Her radio alarm clock, a Christmas present from last year, glowed on her nightstand. It was 4:30 AM.

Her parents had warned her and her brother that Santa was having a tough year, just like they were. She wondered if Santa was out of work like her Dad? He had to go to the hospital a few months ago and get a surgery. He lost his job, and her Mom had started working and went back to school.

Lucy slid out of her bed. The floor under her foot felt different, more like stepping on the gym mats at school. She didn’t think that was right, but her Dad had come and stepped on the floor and said if it could hold his weight it could hold her.

She creeped to her bedroom door and opened it slowly. She thought she had heard some noises hours ago. She had a sneaking suspicion that Santa Claus wasn’t real, the idea of some guy going to every house and leaving toys for every girl and boy was starting to feel far-fetched, but she didn’t want to think about that. She wanted to think about what Santa had brought her, if anything.

She creeped down the hall and into the trailer’s small family room where the tree was. She counted eight presents under it and smiled. Her and her brother would have something to open at least. She heard her parents bedroom door from the opposite side of the trailer. She quickly dashed down the hall through her door, half closing it as she dashed through.

She jumped onto her bed, like she had done hundreds of times, but this time she didn’t bounce on the soft mattress, she kept falling. There was a loud crash, the sound of splintering wood and she was eye level with her dresser. The bed had fallen through the floor.

The door burst open and her Mom was looking down at her, “Oh my God, Lucy! Are you OK?” she said.

Lucy could smell the sour air from the space underneath the trailer and could see in the gap between the floor horrible darkness. It was Christmas morning, the most important day in the life of a child. She didn’t answer, she burst out in tears.

“Donnie get your ass over here!” her Mom yelled out.