Last Christmas by Lily Greene

temporarily blinded by the brightness. All they saw was white.
    “Snow!” Fergus exclaimed.
    It took Ella a few seconds to adjust and realize that the white before her wasn’t just the daylight appearing stronger because of the prior darkness of the room, it was snow laid thickly as far as the eyes could see.
    “Ah! Snow! Ohh it’s so beautiful!” she said happily. She observed the street in all its snowy glory; the Victorian town houses doused in a sprinkling of snow, the pavement covered in a layer a few inches deep and the children on their school run with snowballs in hand.
    Fergus held Ella from behind as they looked joyfully over the snowy scene in front of them.
    “Our wish might have worked Ell.”
    “It seems it has. I hope it stays until Christmas Day. Oh, but I hope everybody can still make it to the gallery tonight.”
    “I’m sure they will.”
    Ella got dressed while Fergus made a pot of coffee. When she came into the kitchen wearing her silky black dress from the night before, Fergus couldn’t help but smile.
    “Hello sexy,” he said, looking up from the coffee he was pouring into two small orange espresso cups.
    “Hi,” Ella replied with a smirk. The rich aroma of freshly ground Columbian coffee woke Ella up a little but it wasn’t strong enough to mask the lingering spices and stale acidic smell of the mulled wine.
    “I can still smell the mulled wine,” she said.
    “Mmm. Pungent! It’s a shame we didn’t drink any. Well not that much of a shame …”
    Ella blushed a little.
    “Want some?” he joked.
    “I musn’t. I’m on a wine-free breakfast diet at the moment,” she teased in reply. “But I must leave after this.” She gestured to the coffee. “I have a lot to sort at the gallery before this evening.”
    “Of course.” They sipped their coffee in the living room while Ella looked at Fergus’ photographs. The wall behind his sofa was lined with black and white prints she hadn’t had the opportunity to look at the night before. Most of his photos were filled with dust, dirt, destruction and despair. They were beautiful in their simplicity but harrowing at the same time. Ella noticed that his photos were taken from unique angles but they weren’t artificial in any way. He used a film camera and as such didn’t edit his photographs in an attempt to turn them into something they were not. No photoshop, no lies.
    Fergus watched Ella look at his walled collection and wondered what she thought of them. She had observed them in silence for a few minutes, which was beginning to unsettle him.
    “These are magnificent Fergus. You are so so talented. I love this one especially.”
    She pointed to a portrait of an old Iraqi man. He was slouching asleep on a chair at his post. His right hand was clasping the body of a large machine gun against his chest and his other arm had gone limp in his sleepy state. It had fallen away from his body sloping down to the dusty ground and his palm was facing upwards. Next to his open hand was a small bird pecking at the barren earth. It almost looked like the man was feeding this little creature while he was asleep.
    “I’m glad you like them,” Fergus said.
    “I do. I think they are all phenomenal. I’d love to see more of them when I have more time.”
    “Any time,” he said as they sipped the last of their coffee. Fergus returned the mugs to the kitchen while Ella fetched her coat from the hangers by the front door.
    “Good luck with all the preparations today. I’ll see you later.” Fergus leant in to kiss Ella and held her fast in his arms. Ella did not want this kiss to end, she wanted to relive last night and crawl back into bed with him but she knew today was not the day. She had to get back to her apartment to change and head straight to the gallery.
    She finally tore herself from his arms and said goodbye. She walked down the stairs leading to the ground floor and opened the main building door to the snow-covered street. She