Beneath the Sharps & Flats

♫Chapter 28- Little Elf Faces are Creepy and Haunt Your Dreams♫

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Vi, get up!"

            I groan and attempt at batting away the thing that's shaking my whole bed.

            "Let me sleep," I think I mumble into my pillow.

            "Santa came! Get up!" Suddenly, something lands on top of me and all of the breath is knocked out from my chest. I shove the Luke off of me and fore myself to sit straight up so I can assess the situation. I sigh and groan when I realize that the "thing" that was just on top of me was Luke and know he's on the floor on the verge of crying.

            I rub my eyes and yawn largely, my muscles aching as I throw my comforter off of me and step into the cool morning air. Tremors travel through my veins as my body adjusts to the cold temperature around me.

            "I'm sorry little dude, are you okay," I ask him, crouching down to his level to smooth his uncombed morning hair back from his face. A pang of guilt enters my chest as his watery hazel eyes pierce mine.

            "Yeah," he sniffles, "I kinda walked right into that one, or more like jumped."

            I laugh and cup his cheek before helping him up off of the ground, "You're right. You should know better than to poke a sleeping bear, Loo."

            Luke scowls and bats my hands away stubbornly, "I'm a big boy now, I don't need you to call me that or help me."

            "'Big boys' don't say that they are 'big boys' aloud, Luke." I turn my head as Gabe hobbles into my room, appearing as if he had just rolled out of bed as well, "Also, they don't rely on Santa's little creepy helper elves to stay an extra day when they should be back at the North Pole."

            Luke crosses his arms over his chest, "I just thought they would want a day off."

            I shoot a warning look to Gabe, but he doesn't catch it due to the fact that he's currently glaring Luke down.

            "Well you know what I'm thinking," he asks Luke, narrowing his eyes, "I'm thinking that their little creepy doll faces, peeking out from behind corners and hanging right above your head, with their little creepy ghost blue eyes following you around the room as you walk, is ... creepy!"

            "Gabe," I hiss incredulously, effectively making his gaze snap to mine for a mere second before he sighs and turns back to a clearly offended Luke.

            I glare at Gabe until he slackens and mumbles an apology to Luke.

            Luke nods curtly, his stare still hardened from Gabe's outburst, "I forgive you, but I'm not sure Santa, Chloe, and Charlie do. You better apologize to them when you actually mean it or you'll get coal in your stocking." He storms out of the room, but not before glancing back at me and gesturing for me to follow him quickly.

            I force a tired smile and reassure him, "I'll be right down, just give us a second."

            After Luke leaves, I whip myself around to face Gabe, a scowl etched onto my face, "What the hell were you thinking? I get it, the little elf faces are creepy and they haunt your dreams, but we have to pretend until Luke figures it out all on his own. And he better not have any help from you because Dad and I will kick your ass all the way to the moon."

            He sighs and rolls his eyes, "I stopped believing around the end of second grade. He's halfway through fourth grade! What's taking him so long?"