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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoV1V39s04A
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4NM4h2z5R
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VOe4mTDuX
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTiMZEuQ2aR
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8ozElaiyq
“I wish you would bring me a handful of candies and my parents by the time I wake up tomorrow.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3UzuKJn2K
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9jANFvm38
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNLggOnZow
I walked through the hallway that connected my room and the hall. Upon pushing the door open, I said, “Nanny, what’s going on?”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrp3GlFgak
“Oh, we have a new face,” voiced someone.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26S6ctSHBq
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwSBlbzf12
“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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnudj4clMu
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nTcZMOXUn
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.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fB6QKUjoy
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lNUE4FOQo
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOn62uyrF8F
When I felt like throwing up, I heard another high-pitched voice, “Master, am I late?”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3P6XN8sQe
“Oh, Penny, finally! What took you so long? Where’s Ginny? And did you finish what I asked you to?”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R1QadnV3Q
“Oh, why, yes! Ginny is on his way. He said he would be coming in through the window.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGg9ufLy4KF
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBkRdKqaeF
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3SVZ7wXKi
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.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLW14BNHpuM
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.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEdPQkLkDp
“Don’t be so dumb, Penny.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYD7ZXMw1wa
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkLkkb4ItO
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokzWiHQwg5
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkA24HB9GtS
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Gdd8ofqXS
“Hold the boy, Ginny!” yelled Santa in his appalling tone.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9lrfWxT7M
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfmEzSYMim
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pQ4JO38lS
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnG0T9YIWMN
“We are at the end of our game, little boy. You lost,” he said as he banged open the door.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhrndJyDkc
“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.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ng3lIlGbW
I gulped. The man approached me closer and closer.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9Ob6ju5ui
“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.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0bVi6gmEM
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXr4SciwQYW
“I hope you’re smarter than your parents.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaB8BCWUmVk
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzODgALh0a
“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.”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9zWCT37ky
He put whatever he took in the sock I hung near the window.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7pQ24RhUk
“Sweet candies, and a whole lot of them. Didn’t you wish for that?”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCeiv2VWvn
He looked at me for an answer, and I nodded like the deuce to compensate for the eerie silence in the room.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lOSGpDTUk
“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?”289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DXyGa2bck
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4opvWgcgfI
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFGnl8ZNF6
That was the end of the mystery I could never solve.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaemIXIqMy0
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. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNlVhCK2g9
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1Lhkdf5Rp
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjQAfNQYdG
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7kFYj7J8q
“Do you want to distribute gifts with me till you grow old?”
289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVFglGrenq
