“Wow, you two must be from overseas! What is that? Hungarian? Swedish? Either you're well traveled or have come a long way for some small nowhere town’s parade. What organization are you three with? Oh shoot, hold on…” the woman pulled off to the side of the road just before another vehicle came screaming by with red and blue flashing lights.
The woman appeared genuinely surprised that despite her speeding that the other vehicle didn’t stop and continued its course to the town.
“Huh… was that Bell?” she mumbled to herself before getting back onto the road at her own quick pace, “We should be at the hospital soon. Hopefully we don’t actually get pulled over before then.”
Seeming to forget her earlier line of questioning the woman remained quiet until she drove up to the town’s festive overarching sign stating ‘Welcome to Flakeville’ in bold cursive lettering. Despite being festive in its design, it’s apparent that the sign is a permanent fixture for the town from the aged wood and crafted metal frame holding it up.
Chak looked around as they drove by the initial buildings. Nearly all were older but well kept structures constructed of wood and brick. She even started to notice that many must have been relatively newly constructed to resemble the older building around them.
On every street and every corner there were ‘Christmas’ themed bakeries, diners, gift shops, cafes, etc. Every Terran or human wore winter clothes, but to the Cali it felt like they were more selected for fashion than function, as everyone expressed an almost artificial… feeling about them.
“I’m not seeing any other species…” Chak noted to Shida, “And I’m not seeing any super familiar technology either. It all seems so… antique…?”
“You mean ancient…” Shida mumbled, before turning her attention towards their driver once more. “Your uh…your hospital will take care of this guy, right? I mean, I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he’s from around here either, so I hope that doesn’t cause any problems. We kinda need hi…uhm, I mean, I’m very worried about him and feel really bad about all this. There was this big accident and, well technically it was his fault, but still I’d feel bad just leaving him like this…”
She tried to play up her pitiful tone a bit to get her ‘innocence’ across. That usually worked on humans when they met her for the first time.
It would be bad if blondy here up and died before they got any answers out of him. She just hoped that their medical facilities weren’t as outdated as their cars appeared to be.
At least all this decoration explained why this place was so darn bright.
“Worried about an insurance thing?” The woman replied, “Well I doubt they’ll turn the poor guy away, he seems to be in pretty rough shape. Tell you what, I have a few business calls to make so I can walk you in and stay in the parking lot until this is all figured out.”
After a few more minutes the big truck turns into a small hospital’s lot and the woman parked it near the front.
Chak then helped Shida move the small man out of the truck and hurried to the front door. Which automatically parted for access.
“Oh, there’s something more familiar!” Chak chirped in an attempt to liven up the mood a bit.
The woman guided the two to the front desk to a posted nurse.
“Excuse me! This man needs immediate help! He’s from out of the country and was… uh… in a car accident, I think.” She explained for the others.
“Mary D. Light!? Is that you?” the nurse replied, seemingly to disregard the bleeding pointed-ear man. As she walked around the station to give the woman a big bear hug.
“Oh my, Josephine? Oh wow, I almost didn’t recognize you!” Mary replied stiffly, seeming to have some vague uncomfortableness from someone being so cheery.
“Look at you, so grown up! Can hardly believe that little girl I babysat is taller than me now!” the nurse chuckled before giving Mary another big enthusiastic hug.
“Right, right. I’m just here on business and- oh right, these people really need help!” Mary repeated.
Josephine tapped Mary’s nose coyly with a matching smile.
“Well we all need help from time to time, and it’s that special Christmas time where we can’t turn anybody away! No sir!” she said in an overly sagely tone.
Chak looked to Shida and whispered,
“Do… do your humans normally talk like this?”
“Not even close,” Shida gave back quietly. “What is wrong with…”
Then, at that moment, she noticed a group of humans in strange, flashy uniforms, that nonetheless at least looked official enough, that were seemingly on their way out as they happily chattered among themselves. Shooting an unsure look back at the seemingly intoxicated nurse, she then shook her head heavily and turned around.
“Hey!” she yelled over at the emerging group, making them look up, seemingly in absolute confusion that they were addressed at all. In fact, it almost looked like they hadn’t expected their presence to be acknowledged by the people at the desk. “We need some help here!”
Luckily, after they had gotten over their first shock at being discovered, despite not even making an attempt to hide their presence, it seemed that they at least weren’t taken by the same nonsense that had so tightly clutched the woman at the front desk, and therefore they hurried into action. Power-walking over towards them, the group of supposed doctors or medics or whatever quickly surrounded them. Wordlessly, Shida and Chak put the injured man down and took a step back, while the uniformed workers got to work on whatever they were doing.
“What can you tell me about him?” the supposed leader of the group asked after seeing that his team seemingly had things covered for the moment. “I need all the info you have.”
However Shida just shook her head.
“Sorry, no idea,” she said, almost instantly calming down from her earlier outburst. “I don’t know anything about the guy. He was in a pretty harsh crash…honestly, I’m surprised he’s still breathing at all. It’s a miracle, I guess.”
That last part was added without her consent.
The man didn’t look all too happy about what he heard, however there was little he could do about it.
“Alright,” he said turning to his team. “Don’t move him! We’ll need a stretcher and a neckbrace. Somebody call upstairs, we’re going to need a CAT-scan and X-rays right away…”
Shida stepped further back, not wanting to get caught up in the proceedings any more than she already had. This whole situation was fishy, and the less they had to do with it, the better.
While Shida was speaking to this individual, something compelled Chak to look away and back through the glass entry door. Standing in the middle of the parking lot was a solitary antlered animal, covered in still fresh cuts and gouges. It stared directly at Chak with a steady menacing aura, malcontent gleaming through the animal’s vengeful expression. The Cali swears that its nose began to glow a familiar intense red before a boxy vehicle with flashing lights drove by between them. Once the vehicle was gone, so was the animal.
Reaching up, Chak scratched the sides of her head with her lower arms, unsure if that occurrence was genuinely real or a complete stress-related fabrication of her confused mind.
-
“Sheriff, you have to believe me! I saw it with my own eyes! I almost died!” Bell pleaded as he walked down the station’s front steps with his superior.
“How much eggnog have you had today Bell? Be straight with me.” the Sheriff sighed as she wandered to her own vehicle.
“None! Ma’am I’m serious! Aliens took out Santa and are among us! We have to do something!” Bell begged, causing a few passersby to stop and stare from the ludicrous statement the officer made.
“Quiet down boy! Have you gone and lost your marbles!?” the sheriff hushed sharply.
“But Ma’am-”
“No buts’! It’s a week till the big day and we need this parade to be a success! The Mayor is on my behind to make sure that these new city hooligans don’t spoil our town’ good image! Flakeville needs the publicity to increase tourism, or we will become a ghost town! Is that what you want, Bell?”
“No, Ma’am. It’s just-”
“‘Just’ nothing! We don’t need any of this ‘alien’ business junking things up. Just… take the rest of the day off. Clear your head. I expect you back tomorrow with all this nonsensical nonsense behind you.” The Sheriff finished as she gave Bell a single pat on the shoulder before sinking into her cruiser.
Bell shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped away, fuming in anger -but you know, in the ‘sexy’ kind of way- as he walked off down the sidewalk.
“Lord… Give me a sign…” he whispered to himself.
He wandered through random streets, contemplating on what to do next, as he passed by a cafe he stopped to look at the painted artwork on the large display window. It was a depiction of Santa, a very jolly depiction at that. He was presenting a gift from under a painted Christmas tree right next to him. Above him words were depicted across in festive letters.
‘‘You’ are the magic of Christmas!’
Bell stood there for an undetermined amount of time, taking in something probably deep and profound from such a simple message. Conveniently turning his head, he noticed a familiar truck parked right in front of Flakeville hospital. Suddenly feeling incredibly emotional for a childhood friend he hadn’t seen in years he rushed across the street in a dead sprint, nearly being hit by a honking car. Giving a simple apologetic wave he kept on his way.
He slowed to a jog at the entrance before practically leaping to hide behind the wall. The aliens were here! And with Mary!?
He peeked in to observe, his hand braced on his firearm.
-
“I-I don’t know how to break this to you…” a vaguely dressed medical professional said as he approached the three women, “The man you brought in… his blood is… thirty percent hot chocolate… and his bones are literally made out of candy cane…”
Shida rolled her eyes.
“I told you, I don’t care! I don’t know the guy,” she gave back cynically and gestured a bit exaggeratedly with her arms as she ranted. “Just tell us whenever he wakes up so we can…uh…exchange insurances…or something…”
As she shook her head in exasperation, something caught her eye in the corner of her vision and she shot her head around towards the other end of the narrow hallway that lined the outsides of the hospital’s sickrooms. As she did she could see how someone -very obviously so- pulled his head back around the corner almost a full second after she had already looked right at him. Did…did he think she had not seen that? There were no footsteps hurrying away, so he wasn’t running. But he didn’t come out either.
Was he being serious?
Keeping the strange occurrence in the back of her mind, she turned back towards the man in a white labcoat, who wore a strange, round mirror on his forehead of which she was almost entirely convinced that it hadn’t been used since the medieval ages or something.
“We just need to talk to him once he can talk again,” she explained very slowly and very deliberately. “Everything else is entirely up to you. We are not otherwise associated with him. In fact, we probably shouldn’t even be in here, all things considered, and you certainly shouldn’t tell us any of his private details. I don’t want to get in trouble over this.”
“Well… I don’t want to sound crazy or anything… but…” the medical practitioner said as he leaned in looking left and right, “I think… he’s a real Christmas elf… We got him conscious after a nurse passed by the door with ginger cookies… he perked right up despite very serious injuries. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
Mary snorted, and laughed in a way that was either supposed to be mockery or simply poorly executed.
“An elf? Okay, whatever you say Doc. I knew this town took Chirstmas too far, but come on this is a hospital. You know, where actual science is done.” she stated in mild annoyance while she flicked the side of her long straightened hair.
Before this could all devolve into yet another Christmas discussion - there had been three in the past hour - Shida interjected quickly.
“So you’re saying he’s awake now?” she asked, pushing herself in front of the indignant woman. “Does that mean we can talk to him?”
“Technically only immediate family are allowed visitation…” the doc said with a slight shrug and oddly strained expression, “Buuut, heck. It’s Christmas. Go right on ahead, he’s in room D-25.” he granted as he stepped aside to point with a blank clipboard in his hand.
“I swear to everything that is holy,” Shida muttered under her breath only understandable to Chak. “If he would’ve suddenly started to worry about procedure I’d have-”
Suddenly, she turned at the renewed sound of footsteps behind her, turning just in time to see her friend from earlier hurry into another room that was further down the hall, and of which she was pretty sure that it was a broom closet.
“And what’s that jokestar up to?” she asked with a nod in the direction of the rather clumsily hidden man, that now made quite the ruckus as he apparently fought with some of the cleaning utensils in the tiny, dark room.
“New janitor maybe?” the doc guessed with a comedic shrug.
“Bell?” Mary said as she started to walk up to the closet.
After another jostle of equipment, the man sidestepped out trying to look super-causal about it by leaning up against the door. A wet mop’s head then plops down onto his shoulder, the sound of which felt ridiculously exaggerated.
“Oh, uh.. Mary. What’s up?” he said in a smooth tone.
“What are you doing here?” Mary asked, her eyes going back and forth between Bell’s face and the sloping mop.
“Uh, Officers go to hospitals all the time. Kinda part of the job, you know.” Bell replied, his gaze jumping from the woman to the two very clearly obviously alien beings standing casually in a hospital hallway.
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“Really? What part of the job involves the janitor closet?”
“Yeah uh, you know, outreach… cop charity program thing. Cleaning hospital floors and stuff…” he clearly lied, his eyes looking more and more to the aliens behind Mary.
Shida took a deep breath.
“D-25. Got it,” she announced loudly, and put a firm hand down onto Chak’s shoulder before pulling her along across the hall, just leaving…whatever this was…to play out on its own while they got the answers they so desperately needed out of their ‘Christmas-Elf’.
Noticing the aliens leaving, Bell attempted to casually pass by Mary, taking the mop with him.
“Yep, gotta go clean those floors!” he dismissed.
“What? You seemed really interested in talking to me earlier? What’s wrong? Intimidated by a successful woman who makes more than you?” Mary ‘teased’, though obviously perturbed by the lack of interest.
“No-no no! I just- I gotta-” Bell started to panic before pushing himself past as the aliens rounded a corner.
Mary sighed and stomped her foot.
“You really haven’t changed one bit, Jingle!” she snapped from behind him, causing him to turn around with a pointed finger.
“You promised to not use that name anymore! You know how much I was bullied!” he barked.
Mary shook her head, with sudden out of nowhere long streaks of tears under her eyes.
“Just keep walking,” Shida urged, as she noticed Chak turn slightly after hearing a sorrowful sob coming from behind them. Quickly, the feline had both hands on the Cali’s back and basically shoved her through the rest of the corridor, until they finally reached the room they had been advised towards.
“D-25,” she announced once more. “Do you want to do the honors, Rudolph?”
She randomly remembered that name from earlier, and decided to lighten the mood.
The Cali nodded, reaching for the door handle, but as she did so she froze for a moment,
“That’s… not my name right? That can’t be my name… No we… we just talked about… Right. Uhm.. right. Silly me.” with a shake of her horned head she opened the door to see their elf acquaintance halfway out an open window. He froze up, staring back at the two visitors, appearing to be a picture of perfect health, if not a bit roughed up.
“Oh no you don’t!” Shida announced and had basically crossed the entire room before she had even finished that short sentence. The elf shot up in surprise, and as Shida reached for him, he suddenly began to artificially glow, emitting a similar light to the one that had transformed them earlier. A smug look came across his face, however it was then immediately replaced by sheer terror, as Shida’s hand reached right through the cloud of misty light, claws extended, and grabbed him tightly by his collar.
“How-?” was all he managed to get out, before the feline yanked his tiny frame around and back into the room, throwing him to the floor and pinning him there with one arm. “You’re not getting off that easy. First you crash into us, then you do this to us and then you just wanna dip? Nah. We’re going to have a little talk first, friend-o.”
The elf pitifully struggled against Shida to no effect, his raw strength barely more than a chihuahua.
“Son of a nutcracker!” the elf wheezed as the air was forced out of his lungs, “And a holly jolly Christmas to you too!”
“How… did he even survive the crash?” the Cali can’t help but question aloud from the elf’s constitution.
“We elves aren't a sturdy bunch, but we are immortal! As long as there’s a Christmas spirit, we keep livin’ on! Heh-he!” the little man answered once his breath caught back up to him.
“Good,” Shida said, her grip tightening around his ridiculous costume. “Sounds like I can knock you around as much as I want without having to worry about you biting it!”
She lifted him up and tossed him onto the hospital bed, just so she wouldn’t have to constantly kneel.
“So, if you can still feel pain, I’d suggest you play along right away, so I don’t have to stress-test that assumption,” she firmly said, pressing down on the elf’s chest. “What the h-e-double hockey sticks did you do to us?”
“I didn’t do squat! You were the ones who opened Santa’s sack like how the Sugar Plum Fairy opens her chestnuts if you know what I’m say’n! Hehe-ah!” the elf responded in bitter laughter, “And since the sack contains the magic of Christmas, it chose the successor! That would be you, holly-for-brains!”
Shida shook the elf violently once, pressing the air out of his lungs again.
“Well too bad for your bag,” she hissed. “I’m not planning on succeeding anything here, so you better tell me how I take that back before I need something to vent my frustration at being dragged into this against my will.”
“L-listen,” the elf wheezed, “That’s what they all say, more-or-less. But no one is above the magic of Christmas, sooner or later, you will be more than happy to be the next Santa Claus… or Santa Claws in your case! Hehahaa! Get it? Claws? Because you're a- a… cat? Person? Wait, what are you even supposed to be? Both of you for that matter?” he replied, glancing between the two.
“Oh, I’m Ru- I’m… I’m Ru… no… I’m… Uhm…” the shorter of the two attempted to introduce, but she turned away and started tapping the sides of her head with her lower limbs.
Shida looked at her worriedly.
“Get it together, Chak!” she commanded, and something about her voice seemed to make the Cali immediately stand up in attention.
Meanwhile Shida lifted the elf off the bed again.
“And you,” she said, holding him up by his costume and glaring at him with her yellow eyes, the claws he found so funny just earlier beginning to dig into his tender flesh. “I’m really not in the mood, so you better-”
However at that moment, there were suddenly heavy footsteps hurrying towards the door, leaving her little time to react.
Without much of a choice, she tossed the elf back onto the bed heavily, hissing,
“Play along!” imperiously in the process. To her surprise the reaction of the Elf was very similar to the one Chak had earlier, and it looked like he immediately listened up at her command.
Without much time to process that, Shida stepped up to the bed and gently sat down on its side, calming her expression with a quick breath, just before the door sprang open, with her looking up at it in pretend-surprise.
Bell practically bursted in, however was soon pulled back by several security guards.
“There they are! Aliens! Look! Just look at them! Aliens here to eat our brains and boil our blood!” he shouted as he was pulled further back, “First it was Santa! And it’s us next!”
The doc from earlier slipped on by, with his clipboard in hand. He looks down at it and checks under a blank piece of paper to another.
“Apologies. It seems that our honorable Officer Bell is suffering from some sort of mental break. I know the kids these days like to dress up like animals and such, believe my nephew called them ‘Fuzzies’? Anyway, could I ask you please remove the makeup and costumes? The sooner we calm Bell down the less risk he has of hurting anyone.” he requested.
“I… don’t… Uhm…” Chak muttered, trying to understand what he’s getting at exactly, “I’d rather not undress in front of so many people, sir.”
“At least remove that deer-goat-Rudolph headpiece you got there. Probably hard to see out of that huh? I’d know, my brother was the high school football mascot, Go Flakes!” the doc persisted with a chuckle.
Shida tilted her head and looked at the man suspiciously.
“You’re joking, right?” she said sarcastically, before demonstratively reaching up and pulling the ridiculous hat from her head, shaking her wild hair free for a second and then wriggling with her ears almost suggestively. “There, costume removed!”
Then, she reached over to the nightstand next to the hospital bed and picked up a napkin that laid on top of it, using it to briefly rub across her face.
“And I was never one for make-up. It gets way too itchy,” she explained, before holding up the now slightly crumpled but very much still clean white item. “See?”
The doc looked at it with a raised eyebrow and let out a nervous chuckle.
“Alright… I understand wanting to remain in character for the sake of Christmas wonder… But I must press the seriousness of the situation. Officer Bell is-” he stated before Chak interrupted,
“Sir. We’ve been very patient, and don’t understand what you are trying to imply. Be clear with me, have you ever heard of a Cali?” she gestured to herself, then to Shida “Or a Myiat?”
“Are those… uhh… from some hip cartoon or something? How do you get those little arms to move like that?”
“No. Have you at least heard of Central Galactic? Or of the Galactic Community?” Chak immediately countered.
“I don’t… watch much television…” the doc said, now a bit hesitant. Somehow accepting the existence of a Christmas elf, yet consistently struggled with an equally ludicrous concept right in front of him.
Shida sighed extensively.
“Heaven almighty, I knew some humans grow up pretty sheltered, but this is ridiculous,” she said and stood up from the bedside, her tail beginning to sway through the air while she stood at her full height, her ears turning towards the doctor. “We’re not pretending or playing a role for Christmas. I don’t even know what Christmas is to be honest. That…Bell? Bell-guy is right, we’re not from this planet. Not here to boil any blood though, we just crashed and are looking for the next option to get away from here again. Right after we fixed whatever caused…this to happen”
In her explanation, she pointed vaguely at Chak’s red nose and also pulled at her own costume, that appeared to be sort-of stuck to her.
“Your elf here was just about to spill the beans on how we do that when you guys barged in. I was going to keep this on the down-low, but it seems like everyone in this darn place has lost their marbles.”
“The cat is tell’n the truth. She blew Santa and me right out of sky and everything.” the elf commented before reacting to the look Shida gave him, “What!? You said play along! The name’s Doodleberrie Spicebum by the way, thanks for ask’n.”
The doc’s eyes expanded into saucers as his face went pale.
“I told you! I told you! I found their UFO! I saw their plans! Before its self-destruct tried to take me out!” Bell shouted as the security guards loosened their grip.
Chak tilted her head to Shida.
“The pod didn’t have a self-destruct feature… that would certainly be a bit counter-productive considering it’s-” she tried to explain before human screams of terror roared out as the staff and security fled for their lives.
Having had his firearm confiscated by security, Bell grabbed the mop from the floor and charged at the door.
Before he could get in, Chak slammed it shut and flicked the simple mechanical lock on the handle. From the other side the door shuttered upon collison and the handle violently jostled.
“We should go!” the Cali chirped, completely shocked from the humans’ reactions. She bolted around to the still partially open window and forced it the rest of the way open.
“Yeah, probably,” Shida concurred and didn’t hesitate before grabbing the elf off of the bed again, carrying over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes as she also dashed to the window. Looking down out of it, the drop wasn’t too bad, so she swung herself over the threshold and braced for impact. However, as she fell, that strange glow once again erupted all around her, and after just a moment, she suddenly landed on her feet, light as a feather, not feeling any impact at all.
“The heck’s going on with that?” she mumbled, but then quickly shook her head and turned back to Chak, yelling upwards, “Need me to catch you?”
“Uhm.. I think I should be fine. I’m wearing my power suit under this still… I’ll just-” as Chak left the window to drop, she didn’t. More of those accursed sparkles cascaded out of her hooves causing her to run straight ahead through the open air for a good ten panicked mystical steps before vertigo and fearful numbness took over.
Falling forward the poor princess started to spiral down towards the concrete at inconsistent speeds. Right before she slammed into the ground she slowed to a gentle descent identically to Shida. Though her pose was far less graceful as she landed on all six limbs.
“Uhhhhh…. Uhhhmmuhh..!?” she uttered, supremely confused as her Cali brain was never intended to have a ‘flight’ patch installed.
She is then hoisted up by her hood into a standing position and pressed to move forward by Shida.
Running in more of a stiff skip, Chak pointed at a particular vehicle in the lot, The massive truck they came in on, where a crying Mary sat at the wheel.
“Santa! Th-that may be faster than running!” The Cali proposed with uncertainty, “Or we can try to run and hide on hoof!?”
“Are you serious?” Shida asked, put off by the suggestion, before suddenly realizing something else. “Wait, what did you just call me?”
However, before there could be a reply, she was suddenly cut of by brightly flashing blue and red lights that reflected off the buildings on the other side of the street, with wailing sirens getting louder and louder by the moment.
“Oh-kay, screw it,” she mumbled and skittered across the ground for a second as she turned to run in the direction of the car instead. For a second, she thought about what to say. Remembering earlier reactions, she decided that it was time to act like a liar.
“We gotta get out of here!” she yelled as she yanked the car-door open, causing the crying woman to look up in surprise. “Something’s happened. Everyone’s screaming. The hospital’s being evacuated. I’m pretty sure we should get gone before things escalate!”
Then, without asking, she jumped into the car, throwing the elf back onto the back-seat while waving for Chak to get in as well.
Diving on in the vehicle, Chak got down and low to hide from the view through the windows.
“Wh-what? Is Bell okay?” Mary asked.
“Yes! Please just go!” Chak snapped in a tone unbecoming of her.
“O-kay… yeah… okay…” Mary replied not wanting to resist, turning her key the truck roared to life. Without another word, Mary drove out of the lot and partially down the road just as a fleet of flashing cars pulled in.
“Looks serious…” Mary uttered as she looked in the rear view past her hiding passengers, though her eyes quickly fell to the upright sitting elf.
“Hey. Doodleberrie Spicebum, nice to meet’cha sweetheart. Friends call me Doodle.” he introduced with a waggle of his brows.
“You shut your face!” Shida hissed backwards, and as if closed by an invisible zipper, the elf’s mouth suddenly shut tightly.
“Hm? Hmnmnmnm! Hm!” The elf protested in hums before crossing his arms in a juvenile pout.
“Uhh… glad to see you’ve recovered so quickly… Is there anywhere I can drop you off at? If you like, I can take you to my folks’ place? Or maybe the hotel for the out-of-town parade volunteers?” Mary offered.
“Maybe whichever place has somewhere safe and quiet?” Chak whispered.
“Well… my folks have a party basement… No one will be using it till Christmas so I guess we can go there. Warning you though, my folks are a bit excessive with the Christmas stuff. Like when I was a kid my mom made me wear the tackiest of sweaters.” the driver sighed as she wiped her face with her sleeves.
Shida wondered for a second. This was a strange offer. Suspicious at the best of time, and they were far from those. Then again, this whole place was utterly insane so…while she usually would’ve never agreed to this…a private house was much less likely to be searched than any public place known for people seeking shelter there, so…how to make this believable.
“Well, after everything that’s happened today,” she said, and tried her best to match her voice to the sappy tone that she had heard all throughout the day, while she demonstratively leaned back in her carseat. “This Santa’s in the mood for a little Christmas-spirit. So I say, why not right? Hohoho!”
Chak gave Shida the widest blank of a stare that ever stared blankly.
“Yes I agree… that. Oh-oh-oh…” she replied as she sat up straight as well.
“Hm, hm, hm!” Doodle hummed sarcastically.
-
The Sheriff stood next to Bell as they played back the hospital’s grainy security footage. They waited until both aliens' faces turned partially towards one of the cameras.
“There!” Bell shouted, jabbing a finger to the screen. The footage paused as the two fuzzy creatures were in a prime place, “Enhance!”
The security guard looked down at his keyboard and tapped random keys in succession. After a final authoritative tap, the image sharpened around the figures to an incredibly high definition resolution.
“Dear God…” the Sheriff uttered in disbelief, “You were right this whole time… Aliens…”
“Not only that Sir, but the head doctor guy confirmed that the patient brought in was a real Christmas Elf, who corroborated the fact that these aliens eliminated Santa! Blasted him right out of the sky!” Bell explained as he crossed his arms.
“Can’t argue with that…” the Sheriff nodded, “But we can’t let all this cause a panic. The upcoming Christmas parade is still too darn important to put into jeopardy. So we’ll update all units on the situation to keep an eye out for anyone who doesn't look human. Apprehend if possible, take out when necessary.”
“Sir.” Bell saluted.
“Let’s show these Alien invaders that you don’t mess with Christmas…”
-
“And here we are!” Mary announced, as she drove past an automated gate to a massive estate house. Every square foot of the property is adorned with Christmas decorations galore. From inflated snowmen, to light-up reindeer, everything one could imagine.
The truck pulled up and parked right next to several other vehicles that drank petrol like desert soil.
“Oh… my business partner is already here… yay…” Mary said as she glanced at a sporty car, her ‘yay’ sounding very forced to be happy.
“I hope they don’t mind guests,” Shida mumbled and pressed her head against the car’s window for a second as she observed the thousands of tiny lights that were scattered all across the property. Yep, certainly not a more inconspicuous hiding-place in sight…
With a bit of a sigh, she turned her head towards Doodle.
“You can talk again, but for all our sake, behave,” she ordered, and the gasp of air that the elf took as his mouth was unsealed was audible. At least this part of the deal, she could get used to. “Now tell me, anything I can do to make Chak less…that?”
She nodded in the direction of her companion, who had seemingly grown more and more…absent over the course of the car-ride, when Shida had actually expected her to at least get nervous or something.
“She’s called me Santa like three times now…it’s creepy,” she added on, as it didn’t seem like the elf was understanding what she was getting at right away. “I mean, if the ‘sack chose me’ and all that, what exactly is going on with her then?”
At first, she had obviously tried to keep all of this crazy stuff under wraps while around Mary, but…it had become increasingly obvious that the woman was either totally disconnected from the world or…maybe deaf…either way, she never seemed to really react to any of the magic and extraterrestrial craziness going on all around her.
“Well boss, every Santa needs reindeer! And since the lot of ‘em were ground up for leftover meatloaf I suppose the sack settled on your friend here. No worries though, magic reindeer are smarter than your average deer! Like, they can talk and stuff. But through the magic of Christmas they are feverishly loyal to Santa no matter what! So their freewill is a little-bittle-wittle reigned in. Kinda messed up if you think about it, so I don’t! So… I don’t know? Order her to act as she normally does? That surely won’t cause problems as the magic takes further hold on her identity! Heheaha!” Doodle said with a shrug.
“So… you guys have like a whole act to perform during the parade or something? Must be tiring to rehearse nonstop like this… but I was never a theater kid, so what do I know?” Mary said before stepping out of her truck.
“Yeah, we can tell.” Doodle mumbled in a giggle once she closed the door behind her.