The Corrupted One (a Choose-Your-Own-Path Christmas RotG Fanfiction)

2.4

You take the present from the lady.

"Thank you," you say, to be polite.

"Your welcome!" she says back, smiling. You and your brother walk off with your mom.

"Meet us at the food court at six," she then tells you, and they walk away, leaving you to shop for Christmas presents on your own. Before you do that, however, you open your present. Inside it is a strange object. It's a gold coin about half the size of your palm, and the side that's currently facing up has the picture of a four-leaf clover engraved into it. You turn it over and discover that there's the same picture on that side as well. You laugh to yourself. Did the staff of this mall get confused and put a St. Patrick's Day item in your gift instead of a Christmas one? It would still be a curious item, though. The coin is heavy, as if it's made out of gold.

You pocket the coin and throw away the box in the nearest trash can, and then you get to your shopping.

***

"Did you find a present for everyone you wanted to buy a present for?" your mom asks you.

"No," you tell her, "I barely found anything." It's true. You didn't have much success at all. You wanted to buy this one shirt for a cousin, but you didn't find the right size. Then, you saw a necklace that you wanted to buy for an aunt, but it was way too expensive. You couldn't find anything you wanted to buy for anyone else, either.

"Oh well, there's always the Internet," you mom says. "You still have enough time to order a few things before Christmas." You nod as you begin to think about what you want to eat.

***

You walk through the door and into your home.

"Can I open my present now?" b/n asks your mom as they also enter.

"Yes, sweetie," she agrees. She takes the present that "Mrs. Claus" gave him out of one of her shopping bags and gives it to him. "Here you go." He opens it up and pulls out a gold coin that looks just like yours. Your mom makes a confused face.

"What is that?" she asks and takes it from him. She turns it in her hands, seeming to inspect it. "Looks like Mrs. Claus was confused. Christmas is coming up, not St. Patrick's Day! And I think- I'm not sure- but this is heavy, like real gold." B/n looks very excited at this.

"I'm rich!" he exclaims and takes the coin back from your mom.

"I've got one, too," you tell them and pull yours out of your pocket. Your mom looks even more confused.

"Cool!" b/n says. "We're both rich!" He runs off towards his bedroom, and, once he is out of your sight, you hear a crash. "Ow!" your brother shouts. "Who put that toy there?"

***

"So, they gave you those instead of candy canes or something else like that?" your dad questions you as you tell him about your and your brother's coins, him having come home from work.

"I guess so," you respond.

"Let me see that again," he says, and you hand your coin over. He carefully inspects both sides of it. "Even if they had planned to hand these out for St. Patrick's Day and accidentally did it for Christmas, why would they make them out of real gold? It must have been pretty expensive."

"So it really is real gold?" you ask.

"Seems like it to me," your dad answers.

***

"Y/n, wake up!" your mom says urgently, shaking you. You can tell immediately that something is wrong. You look at the digital clock next to your bed. It's 1:36 in the morning.