Her Secret Santa was something else. Her Secret Santa was an institution inside the institution. Her Secret Santa has managed to hide for 18 years. Her Secret Santa was turning legally adult this year and this meant one thing; it was time for her to find them and finally find out who's been determined enough to follow her through all these years and make even her loneliest holidays tolerable with letting her know that someone still cared.
It's all started in kindergarten with a bunny; a bunny that she carried around in her bag under all circumstances because over the years that bunny, Arthur was his given name has become her lucky charm. Whenever Arthur was with her, she passed her exams, she got the job, she managed to find the one thing she was looking for months in the shop.
Over the years there were small things added to her Secret Santa collection; postcards, keychains, more stuffed animals, silly socks and the list went on. But never once she's managed to find out who was sending these things. If the whole stuff hasn't started when she was only 5 years old, she might even find it creepy. However, she'd been only 5 and judging by the writing on the cards, her Secret Santa has grown with her.
The weird thing was there was no one, not a single person she's kept in touch with for such a long time and it made it even more difficult to figure out who was thinking of her every year during holiday. To be honest, she didn't have a single clue who it could be.
She kept looking at the cards, trying to recognize the writing but all she could gather that the letters seemed to be coming from a man, not a woman.
"So how are we going to do this?" Her colleague and best friend, Candice jumped behind her, excited.
"We are not," she growled as she turned to her. "I told you, I'm doing this alone..."
"And I told you that I won't let you. What if it's Freddie Krueger?"
"Freddie Krueger is a fictional character and I hardly believe even if he was real, he'd give me adorable stuff instead of nightmares," she snorted and tried her best not to laugh, not wanting to encourage her friend for further discussion.
"Maybe that's the trap! First he gets you to be putty in his hands and then BANG." She jumped startled when Candice smacked her desk so hard that some papers went flying down. Some of their co-workers looked their way with raised eyebrows and disapproving expressions on their faces and she raised her hands in apology.
"Seriously, Candice!" She hissed.
"Seriously, I'm not letting you into the arm of the enemy that easily," her friend stated with a stubborn face and crossed her arms over her chest, giving her the look that meant the discussion was over.
"Alright, alright, gee... You can sit with me in the car." She rolled her eyes.
"That's the plan? Sit in the car?" Candice's eyes widened.
"Well, what were you thinking? Of course, that's the plan. They always comes at night so I'll be in the car and wait for them to approach my door or the letterbox."
"I'll bring McDonald's." Candice nodded and hopped off her desk.
"I'll get the pizza."
"Candy!"
"Chocolate!"
"Cake!"
"Are we going a bit too far? I mean we don't plan to live in the car..."
"But we might have to tackle Santa! Gonna need energy!" Candice grinned before she turned to leave for her desk at the other end of the office.
Her heart beat a little faster as she thought of what she was planning to do, finally finding out who's cared for her for so many years and why they remained anonymous for so long. But did she really want to know? As long as she didn't know who it was, she could think it was Prince Charming, a secret admirer. However, as soon as she found out, the magic would be gone and maybe it was one of her teachers or a neighbour or a social worker...
