Must be Santa (COMPLETED)

43

Nick

Soft rays of sunshine coated the carpet of my room, signaling the next morning. "Good morning" I sigh, turning over to pull Wynter in my arms but all I felt was air?

"Hmmm? Wyn?" I snapped up, looking at the wrinkled bedding beside me. Empty?
She was gone.

I shot up from the covers, pulling them high to see make sure for myself.

"Wynter!
Wynter!!" I called her name twice. I wondered if she was in my bathroom? But she would have responded by now.

I bent under the sheets to find shorts to put on before walking over to Wynter's room.

"Wyn?" I knocked on her door before entering.
It was empty in there too.
Her clothes, her shoes, her suitcases.
Everything was gone.

I storm out the empty room in an attempt to obtain some information about her whereabouts.

"Have you seen princess Wynter?" I ask a servant who was carrying fresh bedding.

"She left master Claus" she bowed her head apologetically.

"Left?! What do you mean she left?"

"Exactly that Master Claus. She left before dawn with master Drew"

"Drew!" I yelled, running to his room to find him. He wasn't in there so I ran downstairs to the main room. The smell of fresh deer claws caress my nose. I knew to follow its trail to find Drew.

"Nick! Finally your up" Drew laughs. He was hunched over a tall plate of fresh claws.

"Where is she?"

"Wynter? Of she's gone" he shrugged, stuffing another piece of pastry into his mouth.

"What do you mean she's gone. Where did she go? Is she coming back?" I was impatient at his vagueness.

"She left. I took her back to earth this morning, for good" He said it so nonchalantly, as if there was no weight in his words.

I couldn't stand here, idle while Wynter was on earth. Why on earth would she leave the Pole without even so much of a goodbye?

"I'm going after her!" I ran to find the keys to my sleigh. Drew lifted his fingers, brandishing the metal keys he had been conveniently holding onto.

"Don't bro." He shrugged, returning to his plate of food.

"I have to Drew. She can't just leave...not like that."

Drew stood and grabbed my wrist, pushing a shiny diamond ring into my palm. "It's over Nick. Let her go. For your sake and hers."

I shook my head in denial, refusing to accept my sad reality. I understood why she left and why Drew took her so early in the morning.

We we're too different.
My father threatened to kill her.
My mom was competing with her.
Although she claimed she was happy here, I could see the sadness in her eyes.
Drew loved her like a sister but he cared more about her being alive than me being in love.

"I messed up" I sighed, grabbing the edge of the counter. I couldn't believe she had left. She could have said goodbye...

"Big time." Drew shrugged, popping the last piece of bread into his mouth before leaving. Just before he turned out the room, he paused, looking back to meet my eyes.

"Oh. She wouldn't tell me the location, but she said look under the pillows of the place you two first...you know." Drew lifted his hands and intertwined them, mimicking our night of passion before cringing.

The secret cabin in the woods!
I took my keys from the counter and ran to my car, speeding to the intimate cabin in the woods.

——-

I unlocked the door and stormed inside, running straight to pillows on the bed.
Nothing was here?!

But we didn't even sleep together in the bed. It was
"The fireplace" I whispered, snapping and running to the living room.

I see a bright pink envelope with the my name scribbled in the center.

Dear Nick

I hate you Nick Claus.
Or that's what I keep saying to myself. But I always laugh because cause I know it's a lie.
I don't hate you....even thoguh I have every reason to.

Please don't be mad at me.
Call me a coward, but I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye. I knew if we said our goodbyes face to face...I would never leave.

I needed to leave. You see, I was actually falling in love with you. I was..in love with you.
I thought I was crazy, falling in love with Santa Claus but ...Where joy should have followed, tears and sadness plagued my heart.

I'll never get tired of the mountains of the North.
The smell of hot deer claws.
Your moms obsession with gingerbread (The worst cookie flavor ever by the way!)
Rides on Jingles and seeing the Northern lights.
Your tender kisses...

It's so hard to write everything in a letter but what I'm trying to say is...This whole thing was a mistake.

I can't do this.
I can't keep pretending Nick.
I am a human and your a spirit.
I'm 23 and you're 2500.

I am going back home to earth where I belong.

I've got to move on and be who I am.
A ceo
A make up guru. 
A business woman.

Please don't come after me. Don't come to my door and try to win me back. Please...

I know you'll find someone who will be happy to take on the title of Mrs. Claus.

I just don't belong here, I hope you understand.

Goodbye Santa Claus.

Wynter

I couldn't help but feel sad. She was rejecting me?

No.
No way. I'm not taking it. I would go to earth and find her! I couldn't imagine a life without Wynter in it.

But she said it herself. "Please don't come after me"

So just like that it's over?

I took the letter and stuffed it in my pocket, looking to the empty fireplace.

I don't remember the last time I cried. Maybe when I was four or six?

I would never forget the day Wynter left the North Pole for good because for the first time in a long time, it was the day I sat at the edge of the rug and cried.