• tab At one point or another, both Susan and I dozed off. It wasn't until a banging on the door that our eyes burst open, and we scrambled up.
    tab "Is anyone in there?" There was no way to contain my joy, as I cried out with happy tears pouring from my eyes.
    tab "Yes! Two of us!"
    tab "We're going to get you out of there. Just sit tight, all right?"
    tab "Did you hear that?" I asked, turning to Susan with an uncontrollable grin on my face. "They're coming to get us!" Susan laughed, and ran up to me, giving me one of those large bear hugs I'd expect from Sarah, not her.
    tab A couple minutes went by. Then, the door slowly began to creak open, and eventually, behind it revealed a large, burly man dangling from the upper floor, with nothing but a flashlight and a loose hand, shaking in pain as I assume he opened the elevator door with it. He jumped into the elevator and set the flashlight down, reaching out for something in the shaft. He pulled down two harnesses, both attached to long ropes, and threw them to us.
    tab "Put these on." I did, as no one needed to tell me twice.
    tab "Now," he went on, grabbing our sides tightly. "I'm going to jump out, and they're going to pull all three of us up. Got it?" Just one glance at Susan told me how much she didn't want to do this. But I just looked at the man, and nodded,
    tab "Got it."
    tab "One three...two...one..." He heaved himself out of the elevator, us still in his grasp, as we were pulled up, all three of us, together.

    tab The night seemed to whiz by after that. As we walked down to the lobby, I explained to the rescuers what had happened in the elevator, and then I asked them what made it stop.
    tab "Large blizzard knocked out the power of half the city," he said. "Take a look yourself." I stared outside, nothing but clean, white snow, as far as I could see. And I swear, 90% of it wasn't there before.
    tab It truly was a winter wonderland.
    tab Sarah and I were driven back to my apartment by a snow truck, the only thing that could possible drive in the over one foot deep snow. There, I found Sarah and dozens of others were already waiting for me. I can't even begin to guess how many hugs I gave that night, but there was one hug I'll never forget.
    tab I turned to Sarah, with a merry smile on my face. But she wasn't smiling. My smile turned into a sentimental frown, as I asked her,
    tab "What's wrong?"
    tab "Jack," she whispered softly. "It's time to say good bye."
    tab "Good bye? Good b--" The second set of words got stuck in my throat, as waterfalls of tears began pouring down my face.
    tab And then, without a word, she left.
    tab Eventually, everyone did, until I was left to myself, alone at the steps of my apartment building. I stepped inside, walked up to my room, as usual, ignoring the pestering calls from David's curious self.
    tab I collapsed onto my bed, and almost immediately, went to sleep.

    tab I won't even bother to estminate how many times I pressed the sleep button until I finally got up, staring at my watch.
    tab "2:00 in the afternoon..." I muttered to myself in surprise. "Wow." After the daily routine of rebellious showers, I stumbled into the kitchen, where I saw David's jaws, quite visible, clamped shut,
    tab "I'm not going to say it..." He said proudly, glancing at his watch. "It's Christmas, after all." I smiled.
    tab "Thanks."
    tab "Oh," he suddenly said, pointing his finger up in the air as if he just remembered something. "This is for you. A girl walked up here and handed it to me." He gave it to me, and, not surprisingly, gave me a little "nudge, nudge" and a playful smile.
    tab It was an envelope. No name. Nothing. I opened it up, and first took out a letter.
    tab Dear Jack, it read. I'm sorry I left so suddenly last night. But for this past week, you've given me so much, that I wanted to get you something in return. Inside this envelope is a present, from me to you, that I obtained using all my rent money. I know you'll love it.
    tab Today, on Christmas, I'm going to find my dad, and apologize for everything. I know he'll love me again. It's Christmas, after all.
    tab For now, it's good bye. But I know we'll meet again some day. I promise.
    tab Always with you, Susan.     I hesitated for a moment, and folded the letter, putting it into my pocket. I could hardly believe it. I had changed a life. Made a complete 180 of Susan's life.
    tab I took a deep breath, and reached down in the envelope for the present. Out I pulled the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life.
    tab A sparkling, gold plated diamond ring. Nothing but happiness could've been seen on my face at that moment, as I whispered,
    tab "Merry Christmas, Susan." And it was. A very merry Christmas.