"Come here Charlie!" I pulled Charlie behind me as I handed him a couple of cookies "Hot and fresh, let's find your dad! Knowing him Judy will be right behind with her cocoa" I smiled as Charlie ran ahead. He looked around in awe through the workshop as we looked for Bernard and the new Santa. "Snickerdoodle!" I heard from behind me. Looking at other younger elf I raised an eyebrow. "What's up?" I asked.
"We need help! We can't find Bernard and Comet is gassy again!" She exclaimed. "I'll find him just a second-" I said turning around. "Charlie?" I called out. "Charlie!" I yelled quickly running through the workshop trying to find him. "Charlie!" I called out again. Spinning around trying to look for him I stumbled back running into someone. "Hey watch it!" Scott said annoyed. I quickly moved away from Scott "Sorry Scott- I mean Santa" I said nervously. "Look Scott, As Santa you need to be Jolly, not yelling at them when they bump into you" Bernard commented. "Where's Charlie?" Bernard asked as I pointed forward conveniently to the human boy who ran over. "Dad you have to see this place!" Charlie exclaimed.
"You leave tomorrow morning, You have 11 months to get your affairs in order and your due back thanksgivings. Plus you'll have a little help from your right hand elf" Bernard said mentioning to me as I looked confused. "Hey woah! I never agreed to that! My job is to watch over Charlie every December! Not every day!" I said as Bernard clenched his hands.
"Then consider every month December, your new job is to watch over Charlie. And Scott!" Scott butted in shaking his head "I'm not coming here Thanksgiving?" He said dropping his foot on the floor as Bernard spoke through gritted teeth. "I'll ship the list to your house." Bernard stated as Scott looked confused. "What list!" Scott asked as I looked confused, Bernard and Charlie also looking the same. "Come on-.. The list? He's making a list.." Bernard started singing quietly. "Checking it twice!" Charlie shouted. "Gonna find out who's naughty or nice!" The other elves sang.
Bernard groaned cupping his face for a moment before he spoke again. "Look you put a 'P' next to the kids that are nice and 'C' next to the kids that are naughty" Bernard told Scott. "P and C?" Scott asked. "P for Present? C for Coal?" Charlie and I said. "Wait a minute! How do I know who's good and bad!" Scott asked quickly following behind Bernard, following closely I kept an eye on the two, Charlie not far behind. "You'll know!" Bernard stated. We stood on the steps as Scott spoke words no one should ever say. "What if I choose, not to believe it?" Scott asked pointing with the card. I put a hand over my my mouth in shock. "Don't even joke about a thing like that!" I said slapping Scott's arm. "Ow! What's so bad about it?" Scott asked in confusion.
"Then millions of children will be disappointed, children believe in Christmas in their hearts, you wouldn't want to be responsible for killing the sprit of Christmas would you?" Bernard asked practically guilt tripping Scott into the job.
"Judy will take you to your room, Give her the suit it needs to be cleaned!" Bernard shouted from the bottom floor, walking as he talked. "And fitted!" Scott added. "And get some sleep we've got a lot of things to do and only a year to do it!" He said before walking underneath the steps and out the door. I quickly ran down the steps to follow Bernard. "Bernard! Bernard!" I shouted as he quickly turned around. "What is it Snickerdoodle?" He asked as I sighed. "I don't want to watch over this family! It's so dysfunctional that it's going to fall apart the mere second something is out of place!" I exclaimed.
"Sounds like a nightmare. You can handle it." He said beginning to walk again. "No- Bernard listen to me! I'm not going!" I said stomping my foot as he stopped. Slowly turning around he walked up to me grabbing my shoulder with cold hands. Our faces inches apart I swear my ears were heating up, his dark chocolate eyes fixated on mine.
"I need you to do this, While Santa is out I will be here and I'll come to help if anything goes wrong but I need you to be my helping hand with this. Okay?" He asked me calmly as I sighed. "I mean I guess- but I'm not equipped for being out in the field for that long!" I said as he pulled away, his hand still on my shoulder. "You are now" Bernard said blowing some glitter in my face. Feeling woozy I leaned back and forth before falling into Bernard my vision going dark.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
📍Christmas Day
"Dad come on get up!" I heard Charlie shout as I quickly bolted up. Looking around I was in a small bed with red and green blankets, rubbing my eyes I stood up looking around. "I must be in Charlie's room" I said looking at the other bed. I looked outside the door to the steps. Quietly going down I looked into the main room to see Charlie playing with toys. "Woah! Snickers you're here!" Charlie said hugging me. "I love your candy cane pajamas" Charlie said, looking at my outfit I was wearing candy cane pajamas just like Charlie said. "Weird.." I said sitting down in a chair, pulling a blanket over myself I yawned as Scott came downstairs.
He seemed out of breath as he sat beside me, Charlie unwrapping presents all tutu a couple remained intact. "You okay dad?" Charlie asked. "Yeah you okay Scott?" I asked as he yelled practically jumping out of his seat. "I must still be dreaming" He said shaking his head. I stood up as Charlie ran to the door, following behind I opened the door to see Laura.
"Oh! Hello-" She said to me as I waved. "Who are you?" She asked as Charlie spoke first. "This is snickerdoodle, she's an elf from the North Pole!" Charlie said excitedly. Laura shook her head then looked at me.
"He's joking, My name is.. uh- Sandra and I'm from Iceland.. Yeah.." I said with a weak smile. "Well Sandra, if you don't mind me asking what are you doing here?" She asked as I rubbed my neck. "I'm an exchange student.. from the middle school?" I said nervously, she nodded then looked around. "Do you mind if I talk to my ex husband?" She asked as I shook my head letting her in.
"Scott do you mind if I talk with you?" She asked bitterly as I quickly went to help Charlie. "Come on let's get your stuff loaded into the car" I said helping Charlie take a couple things to the car.
Putting them into the trunk, Charlie waved to Neil who also seemed confused about my presence. Charlie got into the car as I walked back into the house to avoid the family feud that was about to happen.
Scott quickly ran inside trying to get answers. "What the hell is going on!" Scott asked as I looked at the unwrapped presents under the tree with my name on them. "You're the new Santa Claus and you get to check the list and bring kids joy" I said unwrapping the box carefully. "I'm gonna get a drink, you want anything? Vodka, Whiskey?" He asked as I looked up at him. "Hot cocoa is fine" I smiled as he rolled his eyes. "Of course that's what you want." Scott said walking off. Opening the box there was a little charm inside. A small little jingle bell attached to some ribbon. Pulling it out it looked like a handmade necklace. Attached to the red ribbon was a small note. I slipped it off the ribbon and began reading.
To Snickerdoodle, This bell comes from Donners harness, your favorite reindeer of course. It will keep you out of harm from the unnatural natures of the human world. Tread carefully and try keep the family from breaking. Bernard.
I wrapped the necklace around my neck and put the note in my pocket. 'Bernard is so weird' I said with a smile holding onto the bell my cheeks getting warm the more I thought about Bernard. 'Am I sick? Why am I so warm?' I asked putting my hands over my cheeks as I shrugged away the thought. My job was to help Scott and that's what I'm gonna do.
