Free Rebecca Besser by The Magic of Christmas Page A

the sleigh. We’re exhausted, but there will be
Christmas for the children.”
Santa sighed. “Yes, for the children.”
Hammond caught the melancholy in Santa’s
tone. “We’ll figure something out, sir. Maybe things will be better
by the time you return.”
Santa shook his head and rubbed his
forehead. The pictures he had just examined flashed through his
mind. Pictures from inside the hospital, were the walls had been
drenched with blood. The red liquid had been everywhere, dripping
off the ceiling and candy cane railing, puddled on the floor. It
looked like a sadistic butcher shop. The worst thing was no one was
there. Bones and severed limbs had littered the halls and rooms,
but no living or moving thing was left. Everyone was missing. The
only indication that the missing elves had been able to walk away
was the trail of bloody foot prints in the snow, leading into the
woods.
“The sleigh will be ready in an hour,”
Hammond said and left, closing the door behind him.
~
The reindeer munched contentedly on the hay
that was laid out in front of them while they waited for Santa. The
sleigh sat behind them, loaded down with merrily wrapped packages.
The joyful colors of red and green added a festive and exciting
accent to the otherwise drab, brown shed.
Prancer was just bending down for another
mouth full of hay when he saw a movement to his left. He froze as
he sniffed the air. It smelled like an elf, but it didn’t. Looking
at the strange creature, Prancer let out a warning bleat.
The other reindeer looked up at Prancer’s
warning of danger, stepping back and forth, they tried to break
free of their harness’.
The creature ignored the animals and
instead headed for the sleigh. The little pale elf sniffed at the
velvet interior and must have liked the scent, because she climbed
in and burrowed underneath the packages.
    Prancer snorted and looked
at his team mates. He cocked his head as if to ask,
‘ What was that thing ?’ The others snorted and tossed their heads.
~
Santa’s solemn face stared back at him as
he pulled his shiny, black leather belt tight over his paunch,
securing his red velvet coat.
“This is it, old boy,” Santa said to his
reflection. “Time to deliver all the Christmas cheer.”
He was still staring at his reflection, as
if he could find all the answers in his mirrored self, when Hammond
came in.
“It’s time, sir,” he reported to Santa.
“The sleigh is loaded, the reindeer are ready, and it’s time for
Christmas Magic!”
Santa inwardly winced at the false cheer in
Hammond’s voice.
“Christmas Magic, indeed,” Santa mumbled,
turning and putting on his hat. “Let’s get this over with.”
Hammond looked close to tears as he watched
Santa walk out of the room. He may be a three-hundred-year-old elf,
and had cried maybe two times in his adult elf years, but this was
the saddest thing he had ever seen. Santa was depressed about
Christmas, and nothing could be done to pull him out of it.
Moving to the window, Hammond watched Santa
board the sleigh that had been pulled outside. The snowflakes
danced, the reindeer pranced, and the thirty elves who weren’t sick
tried to cheer. They fell flat and looked dead on their feet.
    Santa cracked his magic
whip, the silver and gold strands glinting in the gas street
lights, and with a half-hearted, ‘ Ho! Ho!
Ho! ’ , they were
off.
Hammond watched them take off. It was
perfect as always. At least some things stay the same, he thought
with a sad smile, watching Santa until he couldn’t be seen any
longer. When he looked back at the village, his eyes fell on the
condemned hospital. He shuddered. Despite the new snowfall, the
blood on the ground in front of the main doors was still visible,
now showing pink instead of bright red.
Turning from the window, Hammond set about
straightening the few items Santa had used while getting dressed.
He was placing the last item, a silver comb, on the dressing table
when he heard the first scream.
Rushing