A new take on a familiar holiday classic. Ned Matthews is a college student haunted by his last boyfriend's infidelity. Ned would rather wallow in self-pity than spend Christmas with Bobby Cratchett, the boy next door and Ned's old high school crush, despite the fact the two of them are the only students left on campus for the holiday.<br><br>Amid memories of Christmases past and the emptiness of the present evening, Ned realizes he isn't the only one alone this wintry night. Can Bobby somehow break through Ned's defenses to show him Christmas is better spent with someone you've always wanted to love?

This Christmas

Me,Ned thinks. You were looking at me. You know I’m


here, wherever here is, and somehow you see me.Maybe he wants


The thought is staggering, but maybe Bobby’s


dreamed himinto being and not the other way around?


When Ned wakes again, it’s to a darkness so


complete, so black, he has to blink to assure himself his eyes are


open. Even the numbers on the VCR’s clock have gone out,


extinguished like a candle in the wind. There is nothing to see and


nothing to hear except the distant storm. Ice strikes the windows


like sand. Common everyday sounds Ned normally never notices—the


whirr of the fridge, the heat when it clicks on, the almost


subconscious hum of electricity—they’ve all disappeared. When Ned


shifts on the couch, he feels cold air seep into the warm pockets


of body heat trapped beneath the blanket. No power, no heat…a


A sudden, heavy knock at the kitchen door


kicks his heart into a rapid beat. Ned throws back the blanket,


Chapter 8