I shuffled amongst the thronged alley. Crowds of children, their parents, their friends, and couples walked past me. The air was decorated with waves of laughter on this Christmas Eve.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0z0roG5ZV
It was late in the night, probably just three more hours for midnight, for the most awaited time of the year but the cosplayers did their job impeccably. Fairies, trees, gingerbread men, reindeer, candies, Santa, elves, you name it, got most of the children in giggles.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0mRTv674y
However, I must say, when I see all those kids laughing at Santa’s jokes, I feel envy creeping up from the bottom of my heart. Maybe my jealousy has something to do with when I was a small boy expecting Santa’s gift in a sock.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPG05nnKKjR
But it’s too late to think about it, isn’t it? It was all just a vivid illusion anyway. I leaned on the wall, gazing at the crescent moon that seemed to pull me into the incident twenty-five years ago. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIAdtuAru9
It was the same increscent moon that I watched before going to bed. Slightly pale, less than half, and stood high above the sky, fascinating me. After spending a considerable amount of time sky-gazing, I made sure to hang my biggest sock so Santa would have no difficulty filling it up with loads of candies.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQhWdaIk3y
“I wish you would bring me a handful of candies and my parents by the time I wake up tomorrow.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbGziYgd2j
I wished before switching off the lights and cuddling with my teddy bear. My parents were always overseas, looking after their business, and my nanny took care of me. They came around twice in the year, for my summer vacation and Christmas. I longed for them to stay with me, feed me, sleep with me and help me with my homework. But that was meant to remain as a wish. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lwgpt2saF
Somewhere around that midnight, I was startled. It was a rustle followed by a loud thud. I tossed around in my bed, trying to go back to sleep. More bangs and thuds followed, disrupting my sleep when I finally decided to go and check what was happening in the drawing room, where I presumed the noise was coming from.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQP4ylw2jc
I walked through the hallway that connected my room and the hall. Upon pushing the door open, I said, “Nanny, what’s going on?”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUqZuLs9BJ
“Oh, we have a new face,” voiced someone.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMK5xBf588
I squeezed and squinted my eyes to see clearly, the figure that stood at the hall near the fireplace. I pushed the door open even wider to reveal a plump, stout form–definitely not my nanny’s.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gX8uUKkeY
“Hey kid, why are you loitering around at midnight? You should be sleeping right now,” he said as he smiled at me affectionately, except it didn’t reach me the way he would have wanted it to. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2wZjIRSw4
I gave out an ear-ripping shrill squeal. He couldn’t have been Santa. Santa wouldn’t have sanguine taints on his beard and a claret fluid dripping down his mouth. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rDhd7VsFS
He advanced to me, the next step faster than the last, hiding behind his back an axe I knew he held, as he told me, “Oh, too bad you’ve got such a voice. I might have to tie you up to the ceiling if you don’t stay hushed.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhasIV4KY9
Tears were waiting on eyes to gush down imminently. At the corner of my eyes, I made out a silhouette of someone lying down. I told myself it wasn’t my nanny, though I knew I was being incredulous. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTEKXzkWWN9
My five-year-old body began trembling, my legs frozen, and I barely felt my hand at the sides. My eyes fixed on my nanny, who was in the midst of a puddle of blood.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4oTdaAB0Lw
When I felt like throwing up, I heard another high-pitched voice, “Master, am I late?”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡku18cf7m5X
“Oh, Penny, finally! What took you so long? Where’s Ginny? And did you finish what I asked you to?”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWt1GGJzMNm
“Oh, why, yes! Ginny is on his way. He said he would be coming in through the window.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRduwWOT2O
I didn’t understand what they said then, but it’s so strange how I could remember the exact words uttered. I peeked behind the humongous man in Santa’s costume to find a dwarf creature. It emerged out of the fireplace through the chimney.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3UdrZ2Lyj
It was so tiny, though it had huge pointed ears. Its tunic reached to its knees, and the ends tapered. It wore a pointed cap with a white fur ball at the tip of it and spoke with a piercing voice.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hWIhxbihu
My mouth was agape, scrutinising this creature I had just seen, both horrified and absorbed. My amazement was soon interrupted by the scary fat man’s voice, “Oh, I think this is the child.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuX7z92SlG
The elf I had peeked to see now appeared in front of me. I looked down at it, seeing how its face turned into a disgusting shrivelled one, and its piercing hoarse voice echoed around the room, “Do I tie or throw him out? Command me, Master.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIf1xyERVg
“Don’t be so dumb, Penny.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Hqslu14Ak
The Santa Claus snickered at my trembling body, his mouth still dripping blood. I screamed again, slammed the door shut and charged to my room. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviRiwbv1MB
Just as I was around the corridor, the man opened the door with a loud thud and roared with laughter, “So that’s what we’re going to play, you little brat? I better don’t catch you.” The elf ran along his side.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojNqVOMCLh
I wanted to yelp, but my throat was sore and knotted with fear. I fidgeted and twisted the doorknob in all directions to open it. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzG48DON0pV
The Santa marched with his petrifying smirk as I glanced at him–hoping it would be the last time I did–before opening my room door.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCW9Sbvpnm
“Hold the boy, Ginny!” yelled Santa in his appalling tone.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp1uRei8LR
I looked down at my feet, and there I saw an elf, just like the one near the blood-covered Santa besides it had a snigger plastered inertly on its face.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJ2zZrsESY
I intended to flee or so I thought it would be easy to do so. However, his small hands came in contact with my feet and–thud–I lost my balance and fell on my stomach.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5Pcw3HXvY
I heard the man in red and white snicker louder, and the elf who tripped me down giggled watching me crawl to get to the end of the room.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkflYBlezkT
“We are at the end of our game, little boy. You lost,” he said as he banged open the door.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJdRKyvDHl
“So what do we do now since you’ve lost? You should have played bravely or chosen wisely not to mess with me. You deserve a punishment, but I’m good, so I’ll give you another chance to choose.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwViiXqHuP
I gulped. The man approached me closer and closer.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdAyYtlQgg
“Listen to what I have to say carefully. I saw your parents just before coming here. They turned down my invitation, so I had no way but to feed them to my reindeer to make them of any use for me.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxBjYeJKna
He walked past, his eyes over the monocle still on mine. The stench of the blood trickling down his face, and the way his pure white and crimson red clothes were veiled with patches of barn red made me light-headed.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Hhrp6cXfx
“I hope you’re smarter than your parents.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMYJztCsPp
I had a million questions in my mind, but my brain neither processed anything nor my mouth asked any of it. He put his hand in the pocket of his pants and a crackling sound was made as he pulled out something.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuamspcOhK
“Before my invitation, why don’t I give you my Christmas present? After all, I’m the Santa, and I have to distribute the gifts.”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKWTMkavBr
He put whatever he took in the sock I hung near the window.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9o5GLtqaq2
“Sweet candies, and a whole lot of them. Didn’t you wish for that?”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2jcZeR7GS
He looked at me for an answer, and I nodded like the deuce to compensate for the eerie silence in the room.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSzST3ml6N
“Okay, so now, after I invite you, you can either accept and live or refuse to die at the hands of this beauteous axe, understood?”256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYzGLOArnq
After I gave him my answer, he yielded his axe up in the air with both his hands, and said, “Merry Christmas,” and brought it down with much force to my face.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLTA5m9J6k
I remember waking up to the ceiling the next day. I was told my parents were no more due to a car crash. They further added my nanny had run away from home–the letter they proclaimed she had written and stuck on the kitchen counter was a runaway note–even though I tried to explain about Santa Claus and his elves the previous night.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRrxVRn7Iw
That was the end of the mystery I could never solve.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBTh9kcMIm
I peeled my eyes off the moon and glanced at the Tissot in my wrist when I decided it was time for me to return home. I looked up, and ahead of me was a boy talking with one of the cosplayers. 256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC2S1MFtgU
He was distraught after each second and finally screamed to run away. The cosplayer, wearing Santa’s let out a cackle and marched the way the little boy ran.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHaTXsrJVc
He was a familiar face. A monocle, white beard, a snicker at his resting face, stout but a little aged, and the black metal that glimmered at his back, all reminded me of that one person.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUpV20O7XL
He spotted me across the road, and the eye contact we shared was a language to decode. I’m sure nobody knew. He threw a smile in my direction, and I knew I was returning home late that night.256Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPkuxgzEIQ
“Do you want to distribute gifts with me till you grow old?”
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