The Christmas Crusade [NaNoWriMo 2015]

❄ Chapter Ten ❄

          Moose really hated this job.

          She was at the library, finally being able to read again, when Elliot burst in, letting in the cold. So many people were mad and they followed him all the way to Moose who was just trying to grab some books, damn it!

          "What is wrong with you?" she hissed, glaring. He pulled his scarf down away from his mouth and took a deep breath. "That didn't answer my question, Kringle." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door.

          She yanked it back and slowly grabbed her books, taking her sweet time in checking them out. She did all this while staring right into his very core, hoping he got the message. He sighed and tapped his foot, trying to get her to hurry up.

          After a few thousand years, she was knotting her scarf and treading out into the snow. Like an idiot because she was sick and didn't need to go outside. Not today. Or any day. What the hell, Elliot?

          She followed him out to the parking lot where Babs and Marcus were waiting in Marcus' car. How did they even make it through the snow? Okay, Marcus has his weird black market "friends" who probably gave him tech that'd get him murdered by the CIA but whatever.

          "Where are we going?" Moose demanded, climbing inside. Elliot climbed in on the other side, stretching and sighing, dropping her books on the ground. Like an asshole.

          "We're getting the pony," Babs said, "Because we still need to plan out our breaking and entering and our kidnapping. And finish painting and setting up the other stuff, but whatever."

          Moose sighed and closed her eyes. Stupid job. Stupid snow. Stupid Christmas and Babs and Marcus and Elliot. Stupid Elliot. Stupid Elliot with his stupid smile and his stupid feelings. His stupid caring feelings and his stupid speech and his stupid, stupid face. Stupid Christmas. Stupid lady who ruined Christmas all those years ago.

          They drove until they reached the outskirts of town where the snow had somehow not reached. Seriously, there was a very obvious line where the snow stopped. Moose looked behind them; snow. She looked in front; not snow. This was like one of those weird cartoon TV shows that she most certainly does not watch. Stupid TV shows.

          "So...why are we in creepsville?" She asked, climbing out of the car. What the hell, it wasn't even cold outside.

          "That was a really cliche and lame name, you're losing your touch," Babs said, leading them towards the entrance.

          "It's cold and I'm sick, so excuse me for being lame." Moose kicked the fence, then shrieked, reeling back. "What the fucking hell, it's like metal, what the fuck!"

          Elliot tapped the fence. "I dunno, sounds like wood to me."

          She glared at him. "Fuck off, Kringle."

          The four walked inside the gate and towards the house. Moose, bitter and frustrated, stuck close to Marcus who didn't pay her much attention and mostly wanted to leave. She could relate to that perfectly.

          They walked inside, Babs heading straight for a door with a cow head mounted above it. Moose couldn't even be sure if she could call that cliche because what the actual fuck?

          "Hey," Elliot said, nudging her, "Can you believe this is almost over?"

          Moose frowned; what's he talking about. "This visit? Because I hate to break it to you, but we literally just got here."