Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #21 December 2015 | Page 50

Grabbing his jacket and throwing his feet into
his fur-trimmed boots, Johnny ran out of his room,
then down his stairs. He was about to open the door to
his snow-filled front porch when he heard a noise that
sounded like something had plopped on the roof.
“Santa?” said Johnny, wide-eyed and smiling.
Pitter-patter sounds came next as Johnny
giggled with anticipation. He ran to the Christmas
tree and checked the gingerbread cookies he and his
mom had made. They were sitting on the coffee table
on a plate near the tree, and they still looked fresh and
yummy.
Good, thought Johnny with a nod of his head,
Santa will be hungry.
Deciding not to risk the cold outside, Johnny
sat down on the couch by the table with the cookies.
He then waited for his special guest and resisted
eating any of the cookies.
Everything went quiet again, which made him
question what was happening. He hoped Santa hadn’t
changed his mind.
Yawning again, Johnny was fighting sleep. As
he closed his eyes, he forced them back open. No! he
told himself. I can’t sleep. I’ll miss him!
His eyes seemed to have a mind of their own,
however, and they kept periodically closing. Trying to
focus on the shiny lights of the tree, Johnny thought
he saw something very odd in the corner of his eye.
He wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but for a moment,
he thought he saw a small elf.
Wait, he thought, that’s not an elf. Is that… no,
it can’t be. Is that Santa?
Slowly getting up from the couch, Johnny
rubbed his eyes and concentrated on the image. He
saw it better with its big grey eyes and light-pink
belly. It didn’t look like Santa that was for certain.
However, it didn’t look like a reindeer or an elf either.

Johnny couldn’t figure out what it was.
“What are you?” asked Johnny as he slowly
approached the creature.
The strange looking being didn’t move, save
its head, which tilted ever so slightly to the left. It
appeared to Johnny like it was trying to understand
what it was seeing as well.
Not sure what to do, Johnny slowly reached
toward the nearby table and grabbed a cookie.
“Here,” he said, handing the treat to the
creature by the tree. “My mom baked them, and
they’re really good. I was saving it for Santa, but you
must be one of his magical helpers, so you can have
one too.”
The grey-coloured being reached out its, thin,
elongated arm and carefully took the cookie into its
graceful hand. It then brought the cookie to its thinlipped mouth and sniffed with its two slits for nostrils.
Then, the creature looked like it smiled.
Just then, the lights of the tree flickered and
there was a thud on top of the roof.  
Johnny felt a rush of excitement as he looked
up at the ceiling.
“Is that Santa?” he asked the odd-looking
creature. However, when he turned back to look at the
mysterious being, it was gone.
“Wait,” said Johnny with a forlorn expression.
“Where did you go?”
There was no answer, but in seconds, the
lights flickered once again, and Johnny’s sense of time
became distorted. He felt sleepy and wobbly.
Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the tree and saw
something there that he hadn’t noticed before; it was a
present wrapped in red wrapping and a green bow. He
instantly wondered how he could have missed it.

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