Merry Christmas~

“Here you go kid,” I said handing the young orphan boy my jacket. It was 10 degree’s out and there was no way that I was going to let a young kid freeze to death on Christmas. Today was supposed to be a magical holiday, but for me, it has only ever been filled with pain.

My parents got divorced on Christmas, I was abandoned on Christmas, and now as of today, I found my girlfriend cheating on me, on Christmas. At least I could help someone have a happy Christmas.

I continued to wander around throughout the cold night, with nowhere to go. I didn’t want to go home since I knew that she would be there, and I didn’t want to see her right now. She hurt me just like everyone does.

I finally came across a park where an older couple wearing all red were sitting together on a bench. I was about to leave, knowing that my mere presence would disturb them when I heard a loud scream!

“Eeeeeekkkk!!!!”

“Shut up you old crone!” a man holding a knife yelled at her. “Old man give me all your money or I’ll kill your wife!!!”

“Careful, there is no need for violence,” the old man said back to him in a calm manner.

“Shut up!” the man holding a knife yelled at him, pushing the blade closer to the old woman’s throat.

Without thinking I ran over to them and tried grabbing the knife away from the man.

“What the hell!? Who the fuck are you!?” the man holding a knife yelled at me as the old woman managed to get away from him.

“Stop! There’s no reason to hurt people!” I yelled at him, struggling to keep him from attacking the old couple.

“Left go of me!” the man holding a knife yelled at me, but I refused to let him hurt anyone.

“I said let go!!” he yelled as I felt something sharp pierce my gut. He had a second knife and he stabbed me with it. “You should have just minded your own business! This is all your fault!” he yelled before running away.

“Ack-ack!” I coughed up a bit of blood as I fell to the ground. Was this it? Was I finally going to be free of this terrible life?

“Sweetie hang in there!” the old woman yelled, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was no use, he stabbed me too deeply. “Nick! What do we do!?”

“I’m calling the… they will be able to… we need… to…. North….”

I started to lose consciousness as the old man talked. I smiled at them, knowing that I was glad to have at least someone to care about me before died. It was time for that I… go to sleep~.

…….

“Ugh~. What happened?” I asked myself, waking up in a giant bed. The last thing I remember was dying so why… why am I still alive? And why do I feel so light right now?

“Huh? What’s this?” I asked seeing that my hair was much longer now and that it was pure white now. How long was I asleep? Did my hair turn white from shock?

CLATTER!

“Sweet gingerbread! You’re awake~!!!”

I looked over and saw a small tan-skinned girl no older than 10 years old, wearing a green and red dress in front of me.

“Hi…um…where am I?” I asked her, but without any answer at all she ran out of the room! “W-wait where are you going!?” I yelled, noticing that my voice was oddly high-pitched for something reason, but that didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered was figuring out where I was.

I jumped out of be and to my surprise I was wearing one of those old-fashioned nightgowns. I wanted to question this, but first I had to find that girl. Luckily for some reason, my body felt fine despite being asleep for so long.

I ran out of the room chasing after the girl. As I did I saw numerous kids, wearing similarly themed clothes as to what she was wearing. Not only that but I saw several dozens of them making toys! What the hell was this place, some child labor factory!?

As I ran past them they all started to whisper to one another. I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t have the time to care.

“Wait!” I yelled, finally catching up to the girl, and to my surprise, she was standing before the same old man and woman that I saw before. Though for some reason they were way taller than me now and I was even shorter than the girl standing next to them! Though what was even creepier than that was that they were dressed as Santa and Misses Claus!

“Nick look, she’s awake~,” the old woman said, looking at me with a gentle expression across her face.

“Ohohohoho~. Well it would seem that she is~!!” the old man said laughing like Santa, making me even more concerned…but wait, did they call me she?

“It’s alright sweety, there is no need to be scared~,” the older woman said to me. “Come along with me so we can get you changed and then you can have a nice warm glass of milk and plate of warm cookies~,” she said to me holding out her hand. Oddly enough I felt no malice from her and took her hand.

She soon led me to a changing room where I was finally able to see my reflection and to my shock, I was now a cute 8-year-old little girl with long white hair! I stood there in shock as I was changed into a cute little Santa dress. I couldn’t say a word to express my disbelief.

“There, now don’t you look adorable~,” she said taking my hand again. “Now come along, there is much that we have to discuss~,” she said leading me to the next room where the old man was waiting for us.

The old lady helped me up to the couch before handing me a warm glass of milk and some cookies~. I started eating the cookie and drinking their milk as they were able to help calm my nerves.

“Thank goodness you’re a good child or this may have been hard~,” the old man said to me. “Firstly I would like to say thank you for saving my wife and secondly I’m sorry that you lost your life,” he said hanging his head.

“…But I’m still here?” I said back to them, confused by what he meant. I mean I wasn’t a guy for some reason, but I was still clearly alive.

“Sweetie, this may be tough to hear, but you need to hear it~,” the old woman said, placing her hand on top of my own. “You died that night, one year ago. In order to save you we used our Christmas magic to create you a new body, though it is nowhere near what yours was as you can see. Christmas magic is about granting wishes, not forcing one’s desires”

“…So I’m stuck like this. And does that mean that you two are Santa and Misses Claus?” I asked them. I know I should be freaking out, but oddly enough I was calm.”

“That’s right sweetie~,” Misses Claus said to me.

“I know that I have no right to say this, but I feel terrible for what happened to you,” Santa said to me. “And that’s not just for last year, but every year. Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy but sadly I can’t help everyone like I used to. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to have a family. Misses Claus and I will never be able to have kids of our own, but when it comes to you, you’re the closest person that we have to be our family. Would you do us the honor and be adopted into our family this Christmas as our granddaughter~?”

“A…family~.” I never thought that I could have a family after everything I’ve been through. Perhaps I should give this a chance~.

“Yes sweetie, our family,” Misses Claus said back to me. “But you don’t have to force yourself if you do not want to~.”

“I…I accept…please take care of me~,” I said to them, willing to give this a shot.

“Thank you so much~!!!” the two of them yelled, hugging me in a warm embrace.

This Christmas was the best one I ever had; I wonder what next year will be like. I guess I’ll just have to wait and find out~.