It had worked out perfectly. A snowy night. The house was dead silent. No alarms were off. Nick snabbed a few crystal vases off the shelf. He looked around. Still dead silence. He looked at the christmas tree, examining it. He sighed, taking one of the photos hanging from the tree. A young boy. He hadn't seen his son in over 20 years, not since he was only that age. Oh, where the times had taken him...
"Santa?" He turned around, the eyes in his mask widening. He felt shock leach onto the air. It was the boy, no older than four. Then, Nick remembered what day it was. He cursed under his breath. But he also frowned. His beard...the boy thought he was Santa.
"Why are you holding Mommy's vase?" The boy whispered, his bright eyes gleaming in the dark. Nick put his hand over his face, and set the vase down. "Santa was just admiring it." He started to put back other items, so that the story seemed more realistic. He had barely started his heist, anyway.
The boy stepped closer to him, smiling. "You don't look fat. Have you not eaten the cookies?" Nick sat down. "Ho, ho. Santa hasn't gotten the chance yet." He smiled. The boy sat on his lap. Nick was okay with it. He had to act like one of those mall Santas, after all. It reminded him of his own son, sitting on his lap. It was a different feeling, but the same exact feeling of completeness. He felt, for a second, that the missing piece of his heart was filled.
"How has your christmas been?" The boy asked. Nick put on a fake smile. "Ho, yes, my christmas has been splendid. I've been missing my family, though." His Santa impression wasn't perfect, but it did just the trick. "Why? Has your wife been mean?" Santa nodded his head no. "Mrs. Claus has been great, but I miss my children a lot." His eyes got watery, but he didn't try to wipe them off.
"Aww. I hope you see them soon, Santa." The boy's blue eyes looked into his. His brown hair was a mop on his head, bobbing as he turned it with excitement. "Do you have my present?" Nick nodded. "Tell me!" The boy whispered excitedly. "Yes. I wrote the note: to..."
"Benjamin. It's okay, you have a billion names to remember." Nick smiled and nodded again. "To Benjamin:-" Nick quickly looked around, trying to guess what Benjamin wanted. "A-"
"Whisper it. That's what makes the magic work!" Benjamin exclaimed. Nick looked at Benjamin's pajamas. Dinosaurs. "You got a bunch of dinosaur toys." Whispered Nick. Benjamin's eyes widened in excitement. "Which type?"
"T-rex and Brontosaurus." Nick responded. "Yippee!" Benjamin whispered. Benjamin got up. "Don't look in there yet. It ruins the magic. Go there tomorrow morning." Nick advised. Benjamin nodded, curling back up onto Nick's lap. He looked into his eyes. The fear inside Nick had started to dissipait, replaced with the only pure joy he had gotten in a while.
"How's the north pole? How cold is it?" Benjamin asked. Nick chuckled. "Very cold. It almost makes my nose fall off!" Nick booped Benjamin's nose. Benjamin giggled. Benjamin and Nick went back and forth, asking a bunch of questions, from the elves, to the reindeer. Nick responded, still maintaining his Santa voice.
"What's your favorite Christmas memory?" Benjamin asked. He yawned. Nick smiled, a sweet yet painful memory in his mind. "When I was done delivering presents, my family and I would sit by the christmas tree and sing a few christmas carols. My son would be sitting on my lap just the way you would right now." He looked away, wiping a tear away, and turned to look at Benjamin. "What's yours?"
"Daddy would pretend to be the grinch. He would run around and scare us." Benjamin giggled. "But he didn't do that this year. He's sick. He's in the hospital. Mommy says he'll be okay. She said that her christmas gift would be getting Daddy home tomorrow so we can be together again. I want him back, too."
"Gee, kid..." Nick shivered. "The world can be a terrible place. Y'know, some people think that I look crazy because of my beard." He tried to bring the conversation back to a lighter place.
Benjamin still didn't smile. "You don't look crazy. You look friendly." Nick smiled. "Friendly." He repeated Benjamin's word. It was certainly better than being told that he looked like a homeless man. "You certainly can't be the grinch!"
Nick let out a soft laugh. "Do you want to sing Christmas carols together?" Benjamin nodded.
"This one's called 'Jingle bells'. It's my favorite." Nick started. "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way..."
"Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open slay!" Benjamin finished. And together, they sang, forgetting the trouble that was behind them. They stopped being strangers. They became friends. Nick had felt a family he hadn't had for years. All his regrets started to subside. Benjamin yawned again. "I'm tired." Nick stopped singing. "You can keep singing, though." His voice was quieter.
"Do you want me to take you to your bed?" Nick asked. Benjamin nodded no. "I'll just fall asleep here." Nick grinned.
"Alrighty. Ho, ho, Benjamin. Merry Christmas. Sleep tight and you'll get double the presents!" Benjamin giggled. "Thanks, Santa." Nick waited until he was sure that Benjamin was asleep, and he left the room the way he came in. He took off his mask, the bitter cold touching his nose and the rest of his body. He leaped out into the sidewalk, staring at his feet as he walked. The crunch sound in the air filled the silence.
But after going down the block, he bumped into someone. "Sorry." The man smiled. "It's okay, I'm in no rush. I'm going home to see family. They're worried sick about me." Nick looked up. "Oh. Why was that?"
"I'm coming home from the hospital. I want to surprise my family for christmas day. I certainly have a lot of blessings to count. I can't wait to see the looks on my wife and kids." He grinned. "What about you?"
Nick chuckled. "I have less blessings to count. No family to go back to. But I've been making it through. I actually had a good day today. Hopefully I can treat myself tomorrow." The man smiled. "That's good. Hey, do you think I should come back like this? I'm still kind of debating it and all. I worry that my kids will be upset. I haven't seen them in a week, but I probably should've. I don't know if they want a surprise, or-or if they want to be with me on the way home from the hospital. I'm doing better, but I'm certainly not 100%."
Nick looked at the man. He had the same eyes as his son. "I'm sure they're excited as hell to see there father. Just remember to savor the moments with them." The man smiled, sighing blissfully. "I'll make sure. Merry christmas." Nick smiled back. "Merry christmas." Nick responded, and he took a few more steps deep into the night.
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