"Sinister Santa" by Sophie ´Photosoph´ Matthews

'Twas the night before Christmas... ...when all through the house...
...Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

The house was silent in the darkness. The owls outside had finished their calls, and the maids and butler had long since finished off several bottles from the cellar and headed off home, laughing hysterically. If only Duke Senior, master of the house, had known why...

...The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
...In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Duke junior hadn't liked to talk much of Santa lately. Maybe he'd lost the childhood fascination with the Christmas holiday... or maybe his last visit to a small Santa town at the local mall had put him off somehow...

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...
...While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads...

The ten year old boy didn't know why he did it, but he pulled the blankets a little further towards him.
The satin sheets slid over his shoulders with a hiss.

...And mamma in her 'kerchief... ...and I in my cap...
...Had just settled down for a long winter's nap.

There was no possibility that his parents were feeling the same anxious apprehensions. Sleeping in separate bedrooms, with earplugs jammed in hard, they were dead to the world. It didn't help that someone had bribed the good old sand man to put extra sleepy-dust in their eyes...

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter...
...I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter...

Something was wrong, he knew it. A quick look at the glowing clock told him it was 11:59 pm. A click echoed around the room. It was now 12:00.
Almost simultaneously, something outside attracted his attention. Quickly he peeled his bedsheet away and rose silently from his bed. Both feet slipped into soft woollen slippers.

...Away to the window I flew like a flash...
...Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

He was on the verge of panicking now. Normally, he was a resonable child. But the irrational, irritating fear was picking away at his peace of mind. Turning the lock and gripping the side of the window, he slid it to the side. Cold night-time air pierced his lungs. He peered out, breath forming trails of wisping white.
All below was still and silent.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow...
...Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below...

There is NOTHING there. He thought to himself firmly. I can see clear across to the bridge and there is no one here.
But only then did he begin to hear a sign of what he felt. A quiet, musical jingling... merry and sweet...

...When... ...what to my wondering eyes should appear...
...But a miniature sleigh.. ...and eight tiny reindeer.

He knew it. He was here.
For a moment his breath ceased, and his heart skipped a beat.
But... no one EVER sees Santa Claus... he thought.

With a little old driver... ...so lively and quick...
...I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick...

It was impossible; but he knew it was happening. Never had he thought much of the fairy-tale... he'd just believed it blindly since childhood. But... there were the reindeer... and the sleigh... and the bright, red, fat man...
The fear inside him grew stronger. Still, he couldn't understand why he was afraid...

...More rapid than eagles his coursers they came...
And he whistled... ...and shouted... ...and called them by name...

"You hear it. Don't you?"
With a sudden turn of speed Duke didn't know he had, he whirled around.
In the darkness it was hard to see anything clearly. But he still managed to see a strange Christmas hat, pointy ears and glittering blue eyes.
"Who... who are you?" he choked out.
The little man's head turned up to look at him. "Mardi, an elf."
Junior took a step back, unable to speak.
"You hear it, don't you?" Mardi repeated, and began to sing quietly, eerily, along with the almost unhearable
tune:

"Now, DASHER!... ...Now, DANCER!... ...Now, PRANCER and VIXEN!...
...On, COMET!... ...On CUPID!... ...On, DONDER and BLITZEN!"...

The elf ended his singing as the music paused for a second.
"It's getting louder." he said. "So Nick's getting closer." he cocked his head and looked out the window. "But you can't hide... as that song goes: 'he knows when you are sleeping... he sees when you're awake'... or something like that."
"But- what do I do? What's going on?" Duke was able to say.
"You already know what's going on," the elf whispered. "...You're getting the coal."
The two words struck his heart like blazing embers.

...To the top of the porch!... ...To the top of the wall!...
...Now dash away!... ...Dash away!... ...Dash away all!"

Duke grabbed the elf by his scarf and pulled him close.
"What do I do?"
"Survive the night." he freed himself from the boy's grip. "And you'll be free for a year."
Duke paused in thought. "...Then... it doesn't end? Every christmas... he comes BACK?!"
Mardi began to walk backwards. "Until you're thirteen. Three more years for you... he leaves the adults alone."
"What did I DO to deserve this?"
"You were a bad little boy. Don't ask me how, but you can't take it back now. I think you annoyed him... and now he's coming for you." he pulled open the door. "Look... I just came to repay a debt. Give you a warning. But there's no way you can keep me here. If he finds me, I'll be as dead as you are."
"Wait-" Duke yelled, but he was already gone.

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly...
...When they meet with an obstacle... ...mount to the sky...

Duke ran to the master bedroom and shook his father by his shoulders.
"Father! Father! Wake up!" he whimpered. But his father fell limply through his arms and lay on the pillow, dead to the world.
Fleeing the room, he tried his mother. It was no use. She was just as soundly asleep.
A sound on the roof caught his attention. Fearfully he looked up, and ran in blind panic.
He was all alone.

...So up to the house-top the coursers they flew...
...With the sleigh full of toys... ...and St. Nicholas too.