Seven years.

7

More than half a decade, less than a decade.

7

A fact that usually contains no great significance, no keen awareness, till the eve of Christmas,

a day in which people celebrate happiness, family and joy,

the same which the thirteen year old had also celebrated,

but the ones that followed were filled with a bitter memory of what could have been and what had been lost.

They say that bad luck runs out after 7 years, that the number 7 symbolizes luck,

so this shall be taken as a sign,

that the years that follow should and will be different.