A DISASTER MADE IN RED AND WHITE

Chapter 2: Santa's Office

"Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!" I desperately screamed while sliding blindly and being filled with terror every second. Then tiny colourful lights started appearing from the side walls and being lit while I was passing. They had the shape of crystals and shined brightly, just enough to eliminate the absolute darkness. It seems that I was falling inside a mud tunnel?

My cries hadn't stopped, until I fell on a binding chair.

"What is this!?" I questioned panickily while trying to free myself.

Out of nowhere a bright blue screen connected to a single wire appeared in front of me and begun to approach dangerously.

"Aaah!!" I exclaimed in surprise "Get away from me!!!!"

My feet tried to kick it away, but it was in wane. It had already reached me. I closed my eyes in fear, hoping for not the worst to happen, as the screen came closer.

*Click* " Scanning, scanning..."

A metallic feminine voice was heard and a light surrounded me from head to toe.

"Identification complete" it continued "Welcome Elf No.1036. Santa Claus awaits you with the others in the next room"

I opened my eyes feeling bewildered. The binds on the chair became loose and I was left free to move again. The screen was green now, showing a check symbol with a smiling elf lady.

"Santa Claus awaits you with the others in the next room" it repeated while pointing at a door behind it.

When I came out of my initial shock after a moment, I noticed that the room which I was currently in was fully illuminated and looked like a laboratory. Not the laboratories I was used to, where they are filled with broken toy parts and the walls are mixed with different colours and scratches, old and new, due to mishaps during work.

This one was neat and organized. The desks were covered with metallic parts, mixed with wires and liquid capsules, folders stuffed with papers, weird equipment and some worn out boxes. There're also some pieces which looked like a robot's parts, such as a small half-made head. A few bookshelves were there too, but couldn't see what books or things they had. It appears that the binding chair was in the middle of the laboratory and above it was the tunnel leading to the surface. These observations had calmed me down a lot.

"What a mind-blowing experience... I hope that's not a requirement for every time I visit Boss Santa.. " I said to myself worryingly, while going towards the door.

The handle was pushed and the scene appeared before me. Boss Santa sitting and having his feet crossed on his desk, three elves standing near him, two of which had solemn looks with dirty clothes and one still had a flabbergasted expression on his face with messy hair... I can't say I blame them, since I wasn't in my best shape after this either.

When Santa heard the door opening, he turned to me and smiled. "Ah, No. 1036, you are here! What took you so long?" he said "Come, go sit with the others!".

He clicked his fingers and four chairs appeared from thin air. I silently went and sat next to the elf with messy hair. Santa got off his feet from the desk and this time he became the one standing up.

"My apologies for greeting you this way" he started "Melissa isn't always like this, believe me. But considering the situation we are in, I hope you understand".

Melissa? I guess our puzzled expressions were very noticeable, since Santa gave an embarrassed look saying "Ah, she's...the screen you saw at the entrance...but don't worry! I am working on making her less scary! Giving a full body, to be precise!"

his tone becoming joyful at the end and for a split second it seemed like his eyes beamed at the mention of Melissa having a body. Oh, now I get it. This new Santa was obsessed with technology from the beginning, so it's not weird for him to have a laboratory or...a robot (girl)friend.

"Hey, we live in a new era (and he pays me hella good), so who am I to judge?" I thought while internally supporting him and giving him a thumbs up.

*Cough* "Anyways..." he responded awkwardly while avoiding my gaze "Since we are all here, shall we begin?"

The atmosphere instantly turned serious. My body became tense from nervousness and I strengthened my back. I could see that the others felt something similar too. Santa wasn't smiling anymore, but was surrounded by a compelling aura.

He opened his mouth once again "No 260, No 112, No 578 and...No 1036"

That was the order of our sits and our unique numbers, which every elf has since birth.

"You four elves have been selected by me in order to find out and exterminate the cause of chaos running havoc in the human realm as we speak". As soon as he finished, another huge screen appeared behind him, showing the world map being covered with red dots. "What you see here is a visual representation of the places where kids around the world are committing naughty behaviours due to learning about the 7-day grace period" the map zoomed in on a spot near Alaska and Canada, where the dots were more "You see this specific place? That's when the phenomenon first started. Around the early morning, the day after Christmas, the kids began to make a mess, like it was planned".

Santa took the remote controller and pressed a button.

*Click*

Two huge lists of names categorized with black and white colours were projected next to the map. But the black names on the list seemed to overtake the white ones and there were some white ones which started to turn into a gray colour.

"As you know, this is the lists of good and naughty kids. Over the last couple of decades, the naughty kids unfortunately increased and the good ones became fewer, because people stopped giving importance to family or pure Christmas traditions. The companies took advantage of that and exploited our image, twisting it to their benefit" Santa pointed out while looking at the lists. "With being exposed to the "fake Santa Claus" propaganda, parents begun losing their faith in us all together and took it upon their own hands to deliver presents".

He clicked on the remote controller and the projector showed pictures of people putting on Santa costumes and pretending in front of kids or of consumables having Santa/elf designs.

"All these, combined with the toy companies going full out this time of the year and the people's ability to order things with one click, lead more and more kids to stop believing in Santa too. They think that since their parents will give them gifts regardless if they deserve it or not, there's no point in caring who has the means to do it" he explained.