Star's Last Christmas

Star, Robin and Lori were best friends for more than four years. Robin and Lori moved into the neighborhood when Robin was four and Lori was six years old. They were in the neighborhood six weeks when little five years old Star rang the door bell and asked Erica Davison if she could play in her girl's bedroom. This didn't surprise Erica; she was used to the neighborhood children coming to play in her daughter's bedroom. One day a mother rang the door bell and asked Erica if it was okay if she saw the famous bedroom; because her daughter always asked if she could come to play in Robin and Lori's bedroom. When the mother saw the room she exclaimed, oh, my goodness, it's like walking into a toy wonderland. "You have everything in here" she said "No wonder all the children love to play in this room." She was impressed with the little library area with all kinds of children books. The mother added, "I don't know how you manage to keep it so clean in here." The mother thanked Erica for letting her see the room. The mother said she was curious because she noticed that several neighborhood kids were usually inside playing and Erica's kids were outside. The truth was that Erica's kids were used to the room, they slept in it every night. It was no biggie to them. On this particular day, when Star rang the door bell, it was the beginning of a special friendship between the three girls.

Robin and Lori played in the room with Star and when they wanted to go outside to play, Star would go with them. Soon the girls were a trio. Lori and Star attended the same school. The next year Robin started kindergarten and all three girls attended the same school. The students thought Star, Lori and Robin were cousins. The three girls found it amusing and cute to let everybody believe they were cousins; they loved the idea of being cousins, it made them feel even closer. Star was only one year older than Robin, but she took it upon herself to be Robin's protector at school. She didn't let anyone bully her little shy friend.

The little trio was always at one house or the other. However, they spent most of the time at Robin and Lori's house. Star spent the night with the girls on several occasions. Star was like part of the family. Erica and her husband loved Star and they loved how the girls got alone. The girls had their little disagreements, but they always worked it out. They couldn't stay angry more than five minutes. Then they would say sorry to each others and were back to laughing and having fun. The Davison's had three young boys, ages ten, eleven, and thirteen. The boys loved Star and treated Star like she was one of their little sisters. They always said it seems like we have three sisters.

Star had one serious problem. If she saw policemen or police cars; she would freak out. If no adult were around to get Star, the boys would stop whatever they were doing and rush to her rescue. Nobody could figure out why little Star was so frightened of policemen. Her mother said they never had any bad experiences with policemen; they have never been to her house on any occasions. Star's overwhelming fears of policemen were a mystery to everyone. Even Star didn't know why she feared policemen. Star couldn't even watch police stories on TV. Everyone hoped it was something she would grow out of.

It's been four years since Star, Lori and Robin met. The girls were still best friends, they were closer than ever. Star, now, had a little two years old sister; the girls loved the new addition to Star's family. They spent a lot of time playing with the baby. The really sad thing was, even after four years had gone by; Star was still terrified of policemen. It got worst, if anything.

Christmas was approaching fast. It was time for decorating and shopping. Star, Lori and Robin were busy working on their Christmas list.. Star's mother said this Christmas; she was going to see to it that Star got everything on the list. It was very important to Carlie that she got everything on Star's list; Carlie said that she had always been so proud of her little girl and Star was so helpful with the two year old; she wanted to show Star how proud of her she was. Carlie lived from pay check to pay check; however, she managed to get everything that was on Star's Christmas list that year.

Erica started having occurring, and very disturbing dreams about the three girls. This worried Erica and she became very concerned, because dreams like this have happened to her before. And the dreams usually became a reality. These new dreams were very frightening for Erica. Erica would dream that the three girls were walking together and one of them would suddenly disappear. Erica tried to shake her fears, but she couldn't; the dreams were too disturbing.

Erica didn't want the girls walking to the store or anywhere alone. She didn't want them playing in the yard alone, she wanted them to wait until she could sit in the garage to watch them. Erica was trying to find a reason for the dreams. One day she asked Carlie's best friend if Carlie mentioned anything about moving. The lady replied, "No, she never mentioned anything like that to me".

Erica's dreams wouldn't stop. In her dreams, it was never clear which girl would disappear. But the same girl always disappeared; then Erica and Carlie would be all over the neighborhood, desperately, searching for the missing girl. Erica told herself, it's just a dream.

Two weeks have pasted and nothing happened. Erica said to herself, that she would just keep a close eye on the girls and she already told Carlie not to let the girls walk to the store or anywhere alone. Carlie thought it was a bit weired, but she agreed. Erica tried to keep her mind off the scary dreams and on Christmas. A wonderful thing happened. Erica's dreams suddenly stopped. Erica was so relieved and happy. She couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to any one of the girls.

Soon it was Christmas day. The girls had so much fun. Star told her mother that this was the best Christmas she ever had. Erica took lots of pictures of the girls and the boys. The girls played together all day Christmas and the day after Christmas, the trio planned to spend the night at Star's house on the day after Chridtmas. On December 26, after playing at Star's house for three hours, Lori called their mom and told her that she was coming home and she was bringing Robin with her. Erica went outside to watch out for the girls as they walked the half block home. Lori said mom "it spells really badly in Star's house, a weird gas smell, but, I don't know, it didn't really smell like gas, It's a sickening smell. I was feeling sick, so, I told Robin and Star to leave with me so they wouldn't get sick". Star stayed at home because she wanted to play with a special toy she got for Christmas. Besides she didn't smell anything. It seemed that Lori was the only one that smelled anything.

Erica noticed that Lori was having trouble with her breathing. Lori was asthmatic, so Erica had Lori use her asthma inhaler. Erica asked Robin if she felt sick. Robin said no, she felt fine. Erica called Carlie on the phone. She told her that Lori spelled something in her house that brought on an asthma attack. Erica asked if Carlie smelled gas or anything. Carlie said, nobody else smelled anything or felt sick. She said not even people coming in from outside smelled anything. Lori was the only one complaining of a bad smell. Lori had been hospitalized five times in her young life for pneumonia or the flu complicated by asthma; so maybe she was overly sensitive to Carlie's live Christmas tree. Because of Lori and her oldest son's severe asthma, Erica never got a live Christmas tree.

Erica walked down to Carlie's house; she didn't smell anything when she went inside. So she decided that maybe the live Christmas tree in Carlie's house caused Lori's asthma attack.
Because Lori got sick, spending the night with Star was cancelled. Robin would never spend the night without Lori, that's just how she was. She needed her big sister with her. The next morning, December 27, Erica had to go to the mall to exchange a present. Robin wanted to play with Star, only, Lori still wasn't feeling well. So Erica called Carlie to let her know that Robin was on the way down. No one answered the phone. Erica called back twenty minutes later; still no answer. That was strange; Carlie was expecting the girls this morning. Maybe she was sleeping in late. Erica told Robin that she could visit Star as soon as she got back from the mall. Erica's niece stayed with the children while Erica went to the mall.

When Erica returned from the mall and was driving into her drive way, she noticed police cars, fire trucks ambulancesand and news reporters near Star's house. She couldn't tell if they were at Star's house or next door. Poor Star, Erica thought, she must be petrified. All those police cars near her house.. Erica got out off her car and walked to the side walk to see how close the police cars were to Star's house. Tom, a neighborhood kid ran up to her. Erica said I'm worried about Star; she must be terrified, all those police cars and policemen.

Twelve years old Tom didn't hold back, he just let it out.
"Star is dead!"
"Tom, don't play around like that, it's not very nice. You never think before you speak. I keep telling you not to play around so much."
"I won't play like that, Star is dead. All of your kids are at her house."
Erica knew little Star couldn't be dead. She hurried down street to Star's house. Tom followed her. Four policemen, one fire truck and the media were still there. Three ambulances were taking off with their sirens on. The reporters were packing up their camera and other belongings. They were getting ready to leave.

Lori and Robin were so sad, Lori said "mom they think Star is dead."
Erica hugged her little girls.
"They don't really know. I'll find out what's going on."
"Tom, just banged on the door and yelled Star is dead," Robin cried.
"Mom Star can't be dead," Lori sobbed.
"Is Star in one of the ambulance", Erica asked
"No", Lori was crying "Her uncle took her in a car. He said she couldn't wait for the ambulance. He took her to the hospital that's two blocks away. Mom she was so stiff and she wasn't moving. Her uncle was crying so hard".
Both Lori and Robin were now crying uncontrollable tears. Erica's three sons could not hold back the tears that flowed freely down their faces.

Lori cried, "Mom, Star can't die. I have to see her again. She can't die".
Erica told the girls that she had to get them away from this scene. She promised she would find out what happened. So Erica took the girls and boys home. Her niece would take care of them while she went back to Star's house to get more information.
"Why did all those policemen have to come"? Robin sobbed "She was afraid of them. She didn't want them there".
"Honey, they had to be there", Erica answered

Erica went back to Star's house, she needed to know what happened. She needed someone to tell her that little Star was not dead. The police officer said, all the information they had was one person died, it wasn't clear who had died. They knew there was one DOA and the rest of the family was hospitalized in critical conditions. Carlie's best friend said we know it's Star. Her uncle took her to the hospital right away in the car. She couldn't wait for the ambulance. She was stiff as a board, everybody else had some life. We knew she was already dead when they brought her out.
"Who found them"? Erica asked
"Carlie's brother. When he didn't get an answer from the front door, he went in back and looked through the window. He saw Carlie and her boyfriend Sam lying on the Kitchen floor. He and three other men kicked in the door."
"What happened to them"? Erica asked.

Carbon Dioxide poisoning, the fireman, that was standing near by answered. We found the little baby roaming around the room in a daze. Everyone else was unconscious. Erica explained to him that her daughter smelled it the day before and it made her sick. The fireman said nobody can smell carbon dioxide.
"My daughter smelled it", Erica replied "I can't explain it, but she did. She warned all of us but we didn't listen".
"Lady, I don't know what your daughter smelled, but Carbon Dioxide is colorless and odorless. That's what makes it so deadly.

Erica returned home, she turned on the TV. It was all over the news. The anchor person announced, the family's conditions were upgraded from critical to serious and they were expected to have a full recovery. She went on to say, we can now release the name of the one victim that died. All Erica could think was please, don't let it be Star, The anchor person continued, the name of deceased is nine year old Star Johnson.

Precious little Star gone forever. Tears flowed from Erica's eyes and down her face. Then she heard the painful sobbing from her two daughters who was standing in back of her. She suddenly remembered her terrifying dreams. One of the girls disappeared. Erica turned around, bent down and gathered both girls in her arms, together they cried.