Xmas Break

by J.E. Rowney

Clara’s perfect Christmas was unravelling faster than cheap ribbon,

Another secret to add to the growing pile, like presents under a tree that no one dared unwrap.

She looked like a Christmas angel who’d fallen to earth, all elegance lost to necessity.

all of it crumbling like gingerbread left out overnight.

This isn’t some thriller novel where the heroine investigates strange noises in a dark house during a snowstorm.

Before all their facades cracked and their perfect holiday shattered like dropped ornaments.