Chapter Forty Nine: Santa's Inconvenient Vacation Leave

"I will honor Christmas in my heart,

and try to keep it all the year.

I will live in the Past, the Present

and the Future. The Spirits of all Three

shall strive within me. I will not

shut out the lessons that they teach."

-- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

As Father Christmas was busy journeying from mirror to mirror, travelling around the world prematurely as if it was Christmas Eve already, Santa Claus, on the other hand, is now needing to use his monthly vacation leave in two days time. While the prospect of Father Christmas returning in time for him to exercise that purpose seems improbable, Santa Claus has no other recourse but to push through with the original schedule as planned before the full moon for the month arrives.

This means that The North Pole will be left on its own while the two leaders of the Christmas Corporation are busy heeding the call of duty.

Santa Claus is now in his room within the beautiful House of Christmas Dwelling, a uniquely designed building in the heart of The Village, reading through pages and pages of paper works behind his massive desk, when suddenly he came across about the reports on the incidents at Williamshire. It stated an event where a "strange sound" was heard coming from the border that has brought the Little Drummer Boys enough cause to raise the alarm. The report claimed that "it was as if" the Gremlins were asking permission to escape from their prison and leave Wiliiamshire.

He immediately sense the presence of danger. While Santa Claus does not normally trust his intuition, there was an uncomfortable feeling that suddenly rushed inside him upon finishing consuming the report. Could it be that the Gremlins are trying to tell him something in codes and cryptic messaging?

The report eventually downplayed the incident because no other event was noted after that, which should have been a sigh of relief and a cue to move on. But Santa Claus still experiences a certain feeling of extreme anxiety that he could not quite place in spite of the assurances made. There is something wrong or danger that he feels to be present that his senses could not identify.

Santa Claus must certainly leave or risk himself being involuntarily transformed into a Werewolf in the presence of the Elves, a tragic revelation that will only aggravate the situation. 

There is no other recourse of action, it seems.

So, who could be in charge while he was away? It extremely worries him that the Christmas of the Past is now lingering in their midst, and ready to announce its arrival without the ceremonious obligation for them to personally feel its explicit presence. Like everything else that happens in life, it might come like a thief in the night.

Father Christmas must be informed of his worries before it is too late. But for now, he must go far away from The Village in two days time, away from the Magic of Christmas and the Spirit of the Yuletide Season, as he spends time becoming a hideous monster that children across the globe would most certainly fear, if ever they saw him in that state.

He has no other choice but to accept his cruel fate. He had knowingly abandoned the challenges of the Prudence Wars as a Sinister Agent before, and this is the penalty of death that he deserved.

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The Chapter is sponsored by Adidas.