"Y/n, Y/n wake up!" I heard someone whisper I moved to my other side thinking it was just a dream. "Y/n!" I felt a small figure jump onto me,
"Ow! Charlie what is it? It's- what time is it?"
"I heard a clatter"
"Charlie can I go back to sleep please? It's literally midnight."
"No come on! We got to wake up dad!" I groaned as he pushed me off my bed he grabbed my hand and somehow dragged me to dads room. "Stand up Y/n" I groaned and stood up I rested my body on my dads wall and closed my eyes. I was obviously still very tired, how can a eight year old have this much energy at midnight? Jeez I remember when I could stay up for two whole days with no sleep, but that all ended when I went into high school.
"Dad! Dad!" He grumbled and tried to fall back asleep like me "Dad!"
"W-what Charlie?"
"I heard a clatter?"
"A What?"
"There! A clatter!"
"Charlie, what are you talkin' about?"
"You know, 'it came a big noise.' It's coming from outside."
"Charlie, it's just the wind or somethin'."
"Okay, but seriously Charlie I'm tired let's just go back to bed" big pounding foot steps echoed on top of the roof, I shoot up off the wall "Somebody's on the roof." I said,
"Maybe it's Santa." Charlie suggested,
"Not now, Charlie. Y/n. I want you guys to sit here, and I want you to stay right there."
"Charlie, do you know how to call 911?" I rolled my eyes at my dads ludicrous question,
"Yeah, 911."
"Yeah. Great. Stay there." He ran out of the room I sat there for a second trying to fully wake up,
"Like I'm just going to stay here;"
"Come one Y/n!" Charlie practically screamed in my ear; I walked out of dads room I hastily put on a blue shirt and some jeans, I put on my coat and shoes so I won't be cold. I ran down stairs with Charlie, I opened the door the cold air hit my face making me not able to feel my nose. "You got him dad!" my eyes widened at the figure laying their motionless on the cold snow covered ground.
"Y/n. Charlie, stay where you are." Me and Charlie made our way down towards dad "Charlie, y/n would you listen to me? Stay up there!"
"It is Santa!"
"You killed him dad." I commented,
"Did not; and he's not Santa."
"Well, he was" Charlie said,
"He's got to have some I.D. on him I bet" he mumbled as he leaned down towards the figure "Fella, if you can hear me, I'm just lookin' for your identification. Once I figure out who ya are, I'll- uh I'll give you a lift back to the mall." He took a card out of the mans front coat pocket, I leaned down to read it with him "If something should happen to me, put on my suit. The reindeer will know what to do." He scoffed at the words "Yeah, right." He mumbled.
Me and Charlie backed away to look at the roof "Dad come look!" I signaled him to come look at the roof
"Whoa" Charlie said astonished, Dad made his way to us and looked on the roof;
"What the-" I stood there with my jaw dropped I think I still might be half asleep. Or even dreaming I hit my face a few times and pinched my arm to see if I was dreaming-- Nope this was definitely not a dream.
"Dad look, he's gone!" I looked over to where Charlie was and sure enough he was gone, it was like he evaporated or just disappeared out of nowhere.
"Whoa he's naked somewhere" I shook my head at our dad,
"I think we would have known if he had ran off, dad." I commented
"Are you gonna put on the suit, like the card said dad?" Charlie asked our dad,
"Yeah are you?" I added
"No, no" He shook his head at us
"Come on dad I wanna go" Charlie whined
"Yeah me too" I whined along with him
"Will you guys stop, were not goin' anywhere." He said sternly,
"You never wanna do what we want to do?"
"Will you be quiet and let me figure this out!" He paced the side of the yard mumbling to him self probably trying to figure out how to explain this to the cops. "Reindeer up on the roof. Santa suit layin' on the ground. Guy fell. Not my fault." He put his hands up in the air defensively "Now, reindeer on the roof. That is hard to explain."
"It's the ladder" Charlie whispered,
"It's the what?" I asked him, our dad turned around and hit his head on a ladder;
"Where the hell'd this ladder come from?" He said while rubbing his forehead Charlie walked towards it and started climbing.
"Look here, Dad. "The Rose Suchak Ladder Company."
"Huh?" He asked
"Oh my god dad" I rolled my eyes at him, he obviously has terrible memory "Out by the roof there's a Rose Suchak ladder. In the poem."
"In the poem?" I shook my head and headed up the ladder with Charlie
"Charlie and Y/n, come on down from there. Charlie and Y/n! Get down from there!" He called out for us but it was too late. We reached the roof and saw these magnificent reindeer all eight reindeer had green, red, and gold harnesses connected to each other and to the sleigh. "Whoa" I whispered;
"Dad, you gotta see this!" Charlie calls for him, I made my way to one of them and stroked it's snout it moved it's head closer to my hand. I smiled at it "What's your name, hm?" It huffed and pointed it's head to his side, I walked around and say the name tag "Comet. Huh nice to meet you comet."
"Don't touch anything!" I giggled and continued petting Comet;
"It's fine dad." I commented
"Yeah this is great!" I heard the ladder creak, I turned my head and saw our dad climbing up the ladder with Santa's suit.
"Y/n and Charlie! I told you guys to stay away from those things. They're reindeer; you don't know where they've been. They all look like they've got key lime disease." Comet grunted at dad "Easy, Rudolph." Comet gestured his head towards his name tag "Oh sorry Comet"
"Dad check out Santa's sleigh!"
"Whoa this is so cool" I commented; me and Charlie walked towards it and sat down,
"There's no such thing as Santa's sleigh."
"Sure there is-"
"You said you believed in Santa, right? Dad."
"I did? I do" Nice save dad. I rolled my eyes
" What about the reindeer? These are Santa's reindeer, aren't they?" Charlie asked
"I hope not. These are, uh, a gift. Probably from the cable company. We're getting the Disney Channel now. Merry Christmas." I shook my head I would love Disney Channel if this were the case.
"Come on get out of there guys." He tried to grab me and Charlies arm, but we leaned away;
"I don't wanna go" Charlie whined
"Me either" I added
"Listen, Y/n and Charlie. I'm not kidding. Let's go!" The reindeer started to ride off; with a fast jerk my dad was thrown to the back of the sleigh. I laughed as we rode off the roof, we were flying like actually flying. Charlie held onto the reins as they moved along. "Whooo hooo! Yeah, let's go!" I shouted over the winds,
"Come on dad climb up here" Charlie ushered him. We went onto the road next to a delivery van; dad finally climbed up and sat down next to me and Charlie.
"So uh if we goo straight on this road, we hit I-94?"He asked the driver who looked bewildered by what he saw. The reindeer sped up their pace making us jolt back into our seats. The reindeer took us to a random roof top a few minuets later. I take a look at my surroundings "Well, we made good time. Now what do we do?" Our dad asked,
"Get the bag of toys" Charlie said;
"And do what?"
"Go down the chimney" I said
"So you guys want me to take the toys down the chimney... into a strange house in my underwear?" He though we were crazy and I couldn't blame him.
"Well you gotta put on the suit first." Charlie said in a matter-of-a-factually way;
"You know what we're gonna do is we're gonna get outta here, because this whole thing is stupid."
"How come everything we want to do is stupid?" Charlie said in a dejectedly, I nod my head agreeing with him. I stare off into the trees with a sad look on my face our dad sighs knowing he made us sad. He walked to the back grabbing the Santa suit, and setting it down next to me. I looked up at him "Freezing my nubs off out here, and you want me to get into a Santa costume. This is great. A Santa costume. Oh, this thing. You never know where it's been. A thousand malls." He groaned as he slipped on the pants "Well, I hope you're happy, Comet. Hope you're happy. But most of all, I hope the guy that lives here is a tailor!" He said while tugging at his pants "Huh, Nice coat. Well, how do I look? Nice?" He had everything on except for the--
"Your forgot the sash" Charlie said Pointedly;
"Oh yeah right this completes the ensemble." He sat down and pulled on the black boots "All right got the boots and the Santa suit on. How do I know what to leave?"
"Maybe there's a list." Charlie suggested
"Oh silly me, of course there's a list." He grabbed the bag string bringing it to the front, it instantly inflated carried him out of the sleigh,
"Careful Dad!" I shouted in awe
"Whoa your flying!" Charlie said
"It's okay. I'm used to it. I lived through the 80's. Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I laughed at his joke; Me and Charlie watched as he disappeared down the chimney.
A few moments go by when I hear dogs barking and a alarm go off my head snaps to the chimney I saw our dad rising out of it "Whoa are you okay dad!?"
"Whoa! How'd you do that? What'd it feel like, Dad?"
"It felt like America's Most Wanted. Now, pull me in, quick. We gotta get outta here." Me and Charlie grabbed hold of his leg and pulled him into the sleigh. "Thanks, we gotta get home. How do you start this thing" He snapped the reins, the reindeer took off then landed on the next roof over. Our dad sighed "This. Is going to be a very long night."
"Do it again dad! Pleaseeeee." Me and Charlie said in unison;
"I can't, that things empty." Comet grunted at our dad "There's nothin' in the bag." Comet started growling at him. "Even if there was, d-didn't you notice there's no chimney? Where there's no chimney, there's no fireplace.... Are you growling at me?" Comet shook his head yes; I laughed at our dad. "Look, Comet, like I said, there is nothing left--" He grabbed the bag and noticed it was now filled again "That's so weird, 'cause I know when I did- that- No, no, no, no, no! Hey! Hold it! There's no chimney here. Can you hear me? No chimney, all right?"
"Lookin' good, Dad." Charlie commented
"You have got to be kidding! Come on! Look at the size of this thing." Me and Charlie watched as he got sucked into the tiny pipe I looked at Charlie completely astonished. This was officially the best night ever!
"How do you get in without a fireplace?" Charlie asked
"I don't know. One just kind of appeared."
"Awesome!" I giggled and rested my head on top of Charlies. I watched as we flew by different buildings.
A few hours later we were flying through the sky me and Charlie were in the back of the sleigh playing with a puppy. "Y/n! Charlie! Look at these clouds over here. Aren't they pret- Y/n!?Charlie!?" Me and Charlie giggled as the puppy licked our faces. I looked up and saw our dad relived we didn't fall out the sleigh.
I soon fell asleep against our dads arm; Charlie was resting on my lap sound asleep too. I awoke with a sudden movement of dads arm "All right. Mornin', fellas. Mornin', sport." He wrapped his arm around me and Charlies shoulders. "We're done, Comet. Ho-ho-ho. Back to the house! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. When I wake up, I'm gettin' a CAT scan!" He said through the air, I rubbed my eyes to wake up.
The reindeer lead the sleigh to a snowy landscape; I had no idea where we where. "Is this okay dad?" Charlie asked,
"No, it's not okay! Hey, does this look like home to you guys?" The reindeer looked at each other before detaching themselves and running off into the snow. "No, no, no, no, no! Hey, hey, hey! Where you goin'? Come back here! Aww!" I saw a little boy appear out of nowhere and walk towards a pile of snow. He grinned at us before pulling up something "Hey, hey! Hey, buddy! You, sir! Hey! Can you hear me?" A Red and white pole arose from the ground as the top opened it revealed a clear looking orb. "What's that?"
"I think it's the North Pole" Me and Charlie said in unison;
"That's the North Pole." I slightly nod my head and look back to the kid, he was pushing buttons on a little pad that came out of the pole. "What are you doing?" our dad yelled. There was a sudden vibration I looked around and noticed we were slowly lowering into the snow. Or that's what I thought.
I looked around and saw a bunch of kids watching the sleigh descend. "Whoa" I whispered everyone was little; about Charlies height even. Whispers filled the room I caught some like "It's the new Santa Clause" and "Whoaaa." Me and Charlies eyes were looking around at everything our dad on the other hand looked mortified.
The sleigh stopped with a clank, everyone wen't back to work after they admired us for a second. "Where are all the grown ups?" Dad asked confused,
"This is amazing dad" Charlie said; I took a closer look at the people and realized they had the same ears as me. The same rosy, glittery cheeks as me. A big smile arose on my face "They look like me" I whispered astonished.
"You guys stay here" Dad kind of sounded like he was warning us, but we sometimes didn't listen. Our dad got out of the sleigh "Hey hey kid who's in charge here?" He asked someone;
"You are. And I'm not a kid. I've pointy shoes that are older than you." The kid turned to walk away "I'm an elf." The kid-- elf stated. So does this mean I- I'm an elf? Whoa.
Our dad turned to find someone else "Uh, you guys, or you girls-- Who gives the orders? Who's your boss?"
"You are." The girl said
"No, no, no. Uh- W-Who's the head elf?"
"You are."
"Hey! Who's causin' all the trouble around here?" I looked at where the source of the voice came from. I saw a boy-- elf he has black dreads coming out of his deep green hat. He obviously had soft rosy, glittery cheeks and pointy ears. He was handsome for sure.
"He is"
"She is." The both said pointing their fingers at each other;
"Excuse me. Are we on a coffee break?" The elf said pointedly
"We don't drink coffee."
"Then I guess the break is over! Back to work. Thanks."
"Take it easy on her, will ya? Who are you?" Dad asked the elf;
"I'm Bernard. Nice to meet ya, Santa." He said; he walked past him and our dad followed;
"I'm not Santa! I've had a rough night. There's been dogs barkin', guns goin' off. Look, my back's killin' me. Have you ever tried to shove a sea kayak down a chimney? I'm tired of this small talk." I look at Charlie who seemed to have gotten out, I mentally cursed myself for letting him out of my sight. I hopped out trying to look around for him without being suspicious. I finally saw his green bomber jacket walking out towards a hall; I ran as fast as I could to him. "Charles! I thought I lost ya" I leaned down and gave him a tight hug.
"I'm fine Y/n- Y/n- Let go I can't breath." I let go and gave him a apologetic look,
"Whoops"
"Come on dads down this hall" I nod my head as Charlie takes my hand and leads me down the hall. I saw two figures I recognized as dad and the elf from earlier. Bernard sighed "Can I get you a drink?" He offered
"No, I don't want a drink." My dad said
"I'm thirsty and hungry too." Charlie said as we walked up to them;
"Y/n, Charlie, I thought I told you guys to stay in the sleigh."
"Who's this?" Bernard asked
"This- This is my son, Charlie and my Daughter Y/n. I'm sorry. Y/n and Charlie, this is B- Be- Ba-"
"Bernard." He reminded our dad,
"Bernard." Dad repeated;
"Hi, Bernard." Charlie said
"Hiya, sport." He said while shaking Charlies hand.
"Hey, Dad, he called me "sport" just like you."
"Wonderful." Our dad said not giving a care in the world;
"Hey, you know what. I got somethin' for you. Okay, now hold out your hand, all right?" He took a beautiful snow globe out of his pocket and handed it to Charlie "Now, be very careful. This is very old, just like me... Shake it up, Charlie." I smiled at the pair god- he was great with kids, that was so cute.
"Wow" Charlie whispered; he shook the globe I watched as the fake snow fell gently down onto the features. The sleigh we rode on rode past the globe; I smiled down at Charlie and ruffled his hair. "Y/nnn" I giggled at his reaction;
"Why don't you, uh, hold onto it for me for a while. It might come in handy."
"Thanks. Thanks a lot. I promise I'll take real good care of it."
"Make sure you do."
"I will. Hey, Dad, look!" He ran over to dad showing him the globe, Bernard sighed; I looked at him giving him a small smile in which he returned.
"Huh oh Fabulous ball." Dad said
"Hey, Barabbas."
"Bernard!" He corrected our dad sternly;
"Bernard. Can we take a direct flight back to reality, or do we have to change planes in Denver?"
"Uh, Larry, take Charlie here and get him some chow." Charlie wandered off with the elf,
"No, Larry, don't do that. Charlie!" Dad called out for him
"He'll be okay." Bernard reassured him "Follow me. You'll want to get out of those clothes." I looked at my dad and followed Bernard,
"Y/n!" He caught up to us "Ugh look, Barnaby, I just wanna go home. Look, I am not Santa Claus! Ahh!" We walked into the work shop; my eyes lit up at everything. This. Was. Amazing!
"Did you or did you not read the card?" Bernard stopped by a empty desk;
"Yeah, I read the card."
"Then you're the new Santa. In putting on the hat and jacket you accepted the contract."
"What contract?"
"The card in the Santa suit. You said you read it, right? So when you put on the suit, you fell subject to the Santa Clause. Here." He handed him a big cookie
"The Santa Claus? Oh, you mean the guy that fell off my roof?"
"No, no, no, not Santa Claus, the person. Santa Clause, the clause."
"What?" I shook my head at him,
"Look, you're-- you're a businessman, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. A clause, as in the last line of a contract." They stood there looking at each other for a solid second--
"You got the card?" Bernard asked,
"Oh!" He look the card out of his pocket and handed it to Bernard;
"Okay, look. The Santa Clause: "In putting on this suit and entering the sleigh... the wearer waives any and all rights to any previous identity, real or implied, and fully accepts the duties and responsibilities of Santa Claus... in perpetuity until such time that wearer becomes unable to do so... by either accident or design." Dad looked utterly bewildered by what he had just read, he examined the card he snatched out of Bernard's hand.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you put on the suit, you're the big guy."
"That's ridiculous. I didn't put on the suit just to-"
"Try to understand this!" Bernard shouted all the elf's looked our way; a bunch of "Oooo's" echoed through out the space.
"Let me explain something to you, okay? Toys have to be delivered. I'm not gonna do it. It's not my job. I'm just an elf. It's Santa's job, but Santa fell off a roof, your roof. You read the card, you put on the suit. That clearly falls under the Santa Clause, So now you're Santa, okay?"
"A question."
"What?" Bernard asked irritated
"When can I get outta here?"
"Dad, you gotta see this place." Charlie said as he came out of nowhere;
"You leave tomorrow morning. You have months to get your affairs in order, and you're due back here Thanksgiving."
"I'm not comin' back here on Thanksgiving."
"I'll ship the list to your house." Bernard said through gritted teeth;
"What list?" I rolled my eyes at our dad, like come on is he really that stupid?
"Come on, now. The list." He lowered his voice to a whisper not wanting the other elf's to hear "He's makin' a list"
"Checkin' it twice" Charlie said louder;
"Gonna find out who's naughty or nice" everyone chimed in,
"Look, you put a "P" next to the kids who are nice and a "C" next to the naughty ones."
"Wait "P" and "C"?"
"Yeah. "P" for present, "C" for coal, right, Bernard?" I asked
"Right." He smiled at me
"Wait a minute. How do I know who's good and bad?"
"You'll know."
"What if I don't want to do this?"
"Don't even kid about a thing like that."
"Why not? What if I don't buy into this Santa Clause thing? What if I choose not to believe it?" The room went dead silent everyone was giving dad the death stare.
"Then there would be millions of disappointed children around the world. You see, children hold the spirit of Christmas within their hearts. You wouldn't want to be responsible for killing the spirit of Christmas, now, would you... Santa?" I stared down at the floor "Y/n if you'll come with me I'll show you to your room. Judy will take you to your room. Get out of the suit. It needs to be cleaned." He shouted as we walked out.
"Y/n! No! Come back!"
"She'll be fine! You need to get some sleep. We've got a lot of work to do and only a year in which to do it." I followed Bernard out of the factory and down the long halls. We stopped when we got to a big bronze door with big purple, blue, red, and green dots on it. Bernard opened the door and motioned me to go in; I walked in letting the sights engulf me. "Wow" I whispered there was a giant bed on the right side of the room and on the left were tons of toys, a couch, and even a mini kitchen. This was all amazing.
"Y/n" I turned around to meet Bernard "You have a wonderful gift you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well if you hadn't noticed your an elf like the rest of us. I would like to offer you a position here at the Pole. If you'd like?"
"My dad's never gonna accept he's Santa."
"He will just... give it time. Think about the offer I the meanwhile after all you do have a whole year." I giggled at him,
"I do don't I? That's crazy."
"Here I want to give this to you" He pulled a snow globe out of his bag it was decorated beautifully with snowflakes all around the base. "You can shake it up and I'll be there. If you ever need someone to talk to O-or-" I smiled at the globe,
"I love it Bernard. Thank you." I gave him a warm hug he surprisingly returned it by wrapping his arms around my waist.
I let go of him giving him a happy smile "You also have Christmas magic" he said;
"Wait hold on what?"
"You won't be able to use it until your dads Santa transformation is complete or near end though."
"That's okay."
"I should go I'll uh- have a good night"
"Good night Bernard"
"Night Y/n" He walked out of the room closing the door behind him I walked towards the bed setting my new globe down on the nightstand. I walked to one of the doors and opened it-- nope not the closet. I opened another on and saw baby blue silk pants and a button up night shirt. I slip them on and go to bed.
I fell asleep thinking about what adventures lie ahead for the family. I slipped into a deep sleep hoping to wake up still in the North Pole, but that wasn't the case.