This is the ninth of a series of short stories I am writing this December.
Click here to read the explanation of why I’m writing them.
Lina Buckley hid on their hands and knees behind the sofa in her house.
Her mother and father had both told her to not stay up to try to get a glimpse of Santa delivering presents, but Lina had ignored them.
“You really don’t want to catch Santa in the act”, her father said nervously, “he…uh…he prefers you get a good night’s sleep”.
“I know Dad”, Lina had protested, “I’ll stay in bed and be good. I don’t want to end up on the naughty list”.
A battle had raged in her eight-year-old mind for an hour.
“I really want to stay off the naughty list”, she had said to herself, and she was very cosy in bed; the house was so cold at night she scarcely wanted to get up to go to the bathroom.
“But, I need to thank Santa, make sure he eats his cookie, and make sure his reindeer get their carrot”, she finished.
Curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to sneak downstairs. This wasn’t the first time she had sneaked downstairs recently. Lina’s Grandma had baked some particularly delicious biscuits a week ago, and a midnight raiding party of one, aged eight, had liberated several of those biscuits from their tin. This time, Lina knew which steps creaked loudly, and which doors groaned when opened.
Lina had made it downstairs without alerting her mother and father.
It had been such a long wait that she had almost nodded off there, behind the sofa.
The sound of scratching had startled Lina awake, her eyes instantly on the fireplace on the other side of the room.
“He’s here!” she squealed internally, placing one hand over her mouth to make sure her elation stayed inside.
She didn’t want to scare Santa away.
The first thing Lina saw was a gloved hand reach around the top of the fireplace.
But what first appeared to be a gloved hand was joined by another, then two more on the left-hand side of the fireplace, and one more on the right.
A bright red hat slowly emerged in the middle of the fireplace.
“Santa doesn’t have that many hands”, Lina was confused, her brow furrowed.
The hat continued into the room, atop a furry head. Lina had seen a spider before, at the zoo. The creature that had just climbed down through the fireplace looked like a jumping spider, but was far larger than the ones she had seen; this spider was about the same height as her. The room was dim, but she could make out the light hairs all across the spider’s dark body, making it look fluffy. Two giant black eyes, and two smaller ones sat below the bright red Santa hat brimmed with white.
Lina watched the spider’s eyes flick around the room. They lingered on her for a second, not long enough for her to notice. If it was uncomfortable with the presence of the small girl hiding behind the sofa, it did not show it. Lina equally had not reeled back in fear because she was not scared. She found the unusually large spider cute, with its little Santa hat.
The spider turned to face the tree that stood next to the fireplace, it’s eight legs allowing it to pivot effortlessly on the spot. Lina watched it in awe as one of its legs reached back to grab a thin strand of silk from its spinneret. The spider then proceeded to begin spinning the silk.
In a process that took no more than ten seconds, the spider was holding a wrapped present; bright green wrapping paper and a red bow. Lina let a gasp slip in awe, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth.
“ℑ𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔒𝔎 𝔪𝔶 𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡”, Lina heard, not through her ears, but as if the words were thought for her.
“𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔤𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔶𝔢𝔞𝔯, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔲𝔰 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔞 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔱”, the thoughts said again.
Lina watched the spider as it watched her.
“Are you Santa?”, she asked slowly.
“𝔜𝔢𝔰, 𝔪𝔶 𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡” the thoughts, the spider, Santa said, “𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔟𝔢𝔡”.
“I’m sorry” the little girl responded, “I just wanted to make sure the reindeer got their carrot”.
Santa’s eyes probed the room, eventually falling on a little side table.
A glass of milk, a mince pie, and a single carrot sat there, untouched.
Santa walked over to the table, each of its legs making a soft sound against the carpet.
It sat for a second and picked up the carrot using one of its pedipalp.
“ℑ 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔤𝔦𝔣𝔱. 𝔗𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔨 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔏𝔦𝔫𝔞”.
Santa turned on its legs and began up the chimney.
“𝔖𝔩𝔢𝔢𝔭 𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔶 ℭ𝔥𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔪𝔞𝔰” the final thoughts came, and Santa was gone.
