𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕡𝕪 ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

𝕊𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕒 ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕨𝕤

                                                                                   Santa Claws

                                                                                         By: Ida

          I woke up to the sound of something coming down the chimney. 'It must be Santa!' I thought. I pushed the covers off me and carefully slid off the bed so I wouldn't make any noise. I slowly opened my door and stepped out into the hallway. The cold floors woke me up from my half-awake half-asleep state. I padded down the hallway careful to not step on the creaky floorboards. When I got to the top of the stairs that led to our living room I stopped and listened. I heard some shuffling and grunting. I peered through the space in between the poles on the staircase. The room was dimly lit because the curtains were drawn and the lights on the Christmas tree weren't very bright. I could see a huge figure in the middle of the room. His back was turned to me, but I could tell it was Santa. The figure was wearing a fluffy red coat with white fur around the cuffs, red pants, a red hat with white pom-pom at the end and a brim of white fur, and black boots. I gingerly walked down the stairs and walked across the room to the figure. I was about to say "Santa!" but stopped when I saw that there weren't any presents under the tree and that milk and cookies went untouched. It was just standing there, do nothing. I tentatively took a few more steps so I was an arms-length away from it. I tapped its shoulder and asked, "Are you Santa?". The thing stood still and didn't move. "Hello?" I said. The thing still didn't respond so I walked in front of it. The thing's head was held low so I couldn't see its face. I lifted the its head and screamed. Its face was shriveled up and looked decomposed. Its mouth was shaped into an 'O' as if it has stopped saying ho-ho-ho midsentence. Suddenly, the thing pounced on me. I was knocked to the floor. It started creeping towards me. I backed up until my back hit the wall. It stalked towards me until I could feel its hot breath on my face. I tried to scream but all that came out was a suppressed "Help.". I was staring into its twinkling black eyes that showed happiness but not the good kind of happiness. It was the type of happiness when a murderer is about to kill its victim. It slowly backed away and put its hands up. Only then did I realize that it didn't have hands, but big gnarled claws. Then it brought its claws down and struck my face. My shaking hand reached up felt something warm. It was blood. There was a huge gash on the side of my face that was gushing blood, and it didn't seem like it was going to stop soon. My visions slowly started to fade. Then everything went black.

          "Ida! Wake up!". I slowly opened my eyes. My mom and dad were standing in my room looking concerned. "You were screaming in your sleep." My dad said. "Did I say anything?" I asked. They both shook their heads no. 'Weird, it must have just been a dream.' I thought. "Go to sleep so Santa comes." My mom said and left me in my room by myself. "I sure hope Santa doesn't come to our house." I said aloud. I looked at the clock on my bedside table to find that it was 12 o'clock. I still have 7 hours until it was time to wake up. I slowly fell asleep. In the middle of the night I woke up to use the bathroom. I left my room and went across the hall to the bathroom. I turned the lights on and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I looked into the mirror and froze. On my cheek there was a big gash. 'No! This can't be happening!'. I stumbled out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I opened the window to get some fresh air. I stuck my head out of the window and took a big breath of the cold winter air. I peered into the dark night. I saw movement on our neighbor's roof. I stared at that spot in hope of finding what moved. 'It was probably just some animal.' I thought. I was about to turn around and go back to bed when the thing that moved came back. I looked at the roof and at that exact moment the clouds drifted away from the moon and showed a big haunting figure with a moving sack thrown over his shoulder. Santa Claws.