Two Elves

Chapter One

One doll house coming right up!

Did you wrap up Mason's bike yet?

What color of socks did Ella want?

Chaos. Total chaos and it's not even noon yet. Time meant little up here but I seem to be the only one aware of it. What else is left to do? Wrap gifts.

Wrap more.

And a little more.

It's December 15th and the Christmas factory is a total mess, everyone trying to meet up with the deadline, and then there's me. Slowly wrapping up Mason's bike, making sure it's black when he specifically asked for blue.

I just love kids.

I could feel Anna before I heard her, "Charlie, I can't find Rory's letter and she's next on my list, what do I do?". I pretended not to hear Anna, Rory was probably a three year old with privileged parents, too many pencils and lots of free time to ask anything from Santa Claus, and of course the big guy is in his office while we get to do all the work while he flies in his cool sleigh and smiles without a care in the world.

He could use some exercise, I'm sure Damien is tired of amending his costume.

"Charlie!"

With a sigh, I slowly turned around to face Anna.
"Check your pockets Anna, you keep everything in there, it practically weighs a ton. How do you do that by the way? You can hold five things in one hand too!"

"Hush, it's a girl thing, and don't distract me. I already checked my pockets and it isn't there Charlie". Stomping her foot on the ground like a child, Anna wiped her forehead, a sheen of sweet glistening and dripping down her cheek, a sign she's stressed and anxious so I decided to take her complaint serious.

"Look again Anna, it's in there" I turned around, tossing Mason's bike aside and picking up the next letter.

Who the hell wants cheese for Christmas? I hate kids.

"Found it!" Anna screamed loud enough to turn a few heads. Pressing a kiss on my left cheek, she proceeded to add, "you're the best Charlie".

I'm not, Anna is just too good to think otherwise.

Anna giggled, reading Rory's letter and skipping away to wrap up her gift.

I could feel my ears glow, dropping the cheese like it's on fire, I glanced around and watched everyone else hurriedly wrap up their last presents and moved to the meeting hall. It was an elf thing, our ears glowed at the slightest thing. Happy? Glow. Sad? Glow.

We have a meeting? Well don't just stand there, glow.

I hated being an elf. Shoving my right hand in my pockets I hurriedly brought out a beanie and tugged it on, earning the stares of a few people in the room. The ones that enjoyed this, it's no secret I didn't. I didn't have friends because of it, didn't want any. Anna is a handful.

"Great job everyone". The big guy said.

"Now we have just two weeks to wrap this up and get it all out to the owners, think about the smiles on the faces of the kids and know you're doing something beautiful, creating a new memory for someone that will last forever, making something beautiful, granting a wish. I'm so proud to have such a great team, let's all get some rest and circle back tomorrow. Have a great night."

I was already out the door before the speech ended, what does he know about all of that? Who wrapped up the gifts? Who fed the reindeers? What does he do other than take all the praise while we did all the work behind the scenes? Why does he get to be the one that went to the human world and delivered the gifts?

It's so much worse because I'm a color red, two more colors to go before I get to maybe see the world. What if I'm dead then? Do I just get to wrap gifts all my life? What even is my life? Is it even mine? I never wanted this. I hate being an elf.

I want to be human

I smiled a little at the thought of the faces of every other elf if they could read my thoughts. Then my smile slowly dies down when I thought of my mother.
I looked exactly like her, while that made her look beautiful, I felt it made my features too soft for a seventeen years old. My brown hairs and brown eyes were pretty basic, and my five foot nine is not every boy's dream height. But for an elf I was pretty tall, for a human, I don't think I could even get a girlfriend.

Sigh.

I don't want to do something beautiful or different, I want to worry about not doing my homework, or if my crush doesn't like me back. I want to eat terrible cafeteria food and complain about nothing and everything, and have two best friends with different personalities and somehow we all just get along.

I don't want this life, I want to be human. I want to be the arrogant cocky seventeen years old with good looks and a leather jacket. For once, I want to live for me, not for a three year old that wants cheese for Christmas.

I bet he's lactose intolerant.

Stopping by my room and picking up my sketchbook and pencils, I walked all the way to my favorite spot. A balcony overlooking the clouds and a thousand stars in the sky. Someone down there probably thinks it's a great view up here, but it's just stars, nothing special. I flipped to an empty page and sketched out the cafeteria scene I thought about earlier, I bet it's better in real life.

Closing my sketchbook, I looked at the clouds one last time and headed to my room. Falling headfirst on the bed and sleeping shortly after.

Leaving my sketchbook behind, changing my world forever.

Stay with me guys!