Naughty Girl Is Coming Back To Town (A Short Story, Supposedly CWI Entry)

Last Christmas:

One night, Janice, the naughty girl, saw Santa near their maid’s court fireplace placing a red box with gold plates in its green ribbon. She felt so disappointed when he followed Santa making his way out of the chimney. Santa did not deliver anything to her room or under their Christmas tree. Because of rage, Janice stole Hannah’s, her young maid’s, gift.

Before team Santa went straight home to the North, he turned on his magical snow globe and checked the kids if they all received their gifts.

Santa saw Hannah’s sad and teary eyes finding nothing on her room on a Christmas Eve.

Santa clicked CCTV History and saw the naughty girl. From that point he clicked Replay just to clear things. Santa dropped the snow globe on the chariot couch and flew to the naughty girl.

He went to Janice’s house and saw her sleeping next to the murdered toy for the good girl.

Santa put Janice in a sleeping bag and traveled with her to the North.

Santa turned her into a Factory Maid as a punishment. Because of sudden fever, Santa forgot to introduce the naughty girl to the men of the North.

Everyday she would cry of missing her family and friends. Everyday she would shout at the North workers and even Santa. Everyday she would boast about her richness and being a fast-reader. Most of the time she let the other workers work for her.

The North workers dreaded her. She’s a visitor from the highlands to provide them food and clothes for the next years. That’s what she told them.

Santa’s fever never ran down. It was almost a year. Santa stayed at the North clinic for long while Janice played like a queen at the corridors. But, life goes on no matter what. Everything was already planned by Santa, leading an organized and happy working with no delays.

Naughty girl’s birthday came. Valentine ’s Day came. School days came. Christmas Season came:

Santa had not recovered yet. There will be no one to send the gifts to the kids.

Janice thought that this could be an opportunity to escape and finally go home.

“Excuse me, guys. Why don’t you just let me send these gifts to the children on the lands,” she quickly volunteered. “You know, I also have a cottony soft heart ..ensconced ..deep ..down.”

The workers looked at each other feeling relieved. They smiled, and started filing the gifts on the chariots.

Janice circled on the ice floor, dancing her heart out of excitement. She even held the arms of the workers she bumped in with and got them dancing, as well.

When she finally got tired and rested, one worker approached her, “It’s time. Bring these with you, Santa’s Nice List for the year and the map. There are millions and you are timed, darling.”

Janice rode on the leading chariot, looking straight to the glimmering path in the sky. “Be careful. Be alert. Be correct,” the workers shouted to her in chorus, slowly and clearly. With still eyes and outrageous expression she exclaimed, “I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?”

Straight ahead, the line of gifts went. Janice waved goodbye, but never looked back.

It was a long journey. She browsed Santa’s list to kill time. It has 4 columns: Name, Age, Address, and No. of gifts. She tried to find her name. There was her name, Sandra, but not Sandra Kape, it’s Sandra Tinapay. She was saddened. What made her feel worse is the name of their young maid on the list. Plus, parallel to it is the digit 2 on the last column. "Two for her? While none for me?! This is rude. Just plain rude,” she voiced together with a stamping of her feet. Because of irritation, she crumpled the list and put it back to her jacket pocket.

Her plan was to land somewhere near her house and was to never go back to the chariot line again. “I need to go somewhere. Wait for me here. If you got bored waiting, say after 20 minutes, go back to the North even without me,” she told Rudolf, the red-nosed reindeer. Rudolf let out an agreeing sound after a shy sneeze.

The naughty girl climbed down the cart and ran as fast as she could. She stopped after a meter distance and thought, “What about my remembrance? Haha!” She rushed back to pick a gift, when she felt something she had just slightly kicked. “Oh. Oh, fate… Gotcha! A snow globe! This is beautiful.”

She went back to her errand again and raised the snow globe for Rudolf to see, “Just forgot something! ‘Til next time!”

When she finally reached the point where she could no longer see the parking chariot, she felt free. She was so happy. She was singing her way home, swaying, swerving, and careless.

Her home was empty. “Their outdoors again. They didn’t even leave a track of the thought of missing their child!” Well, her family get used to her vanishing powers. Janice escapes most of time to meet with her friends.

She stepped inside her room and leaped to her soft and clean bed. She hugged all her pillows and stuffed toys. She remembered the snow globe she sneaked out. She shook it and watched the snow rumble and splatter revealing a ballerina atop of a chimney. She repeated her fancy a lot of times as if she was deeply hypnotized. When she came back to her senses, she rolled to the right of her bed holding the snow globe.

Because of that, she accidentally pressed the play button of the item. 

She was surprised to see a hologram of herself doing a crime she remembered to be a year ago. It replayed. She was annoyed trying to find the stop button. She couldn't believe how much frown she had brought to her young maid’s face. She scanned all the other videos from last year’s holy celebration. She saw how the gifts turned the children’s sad lips into brilliant smiles. She after some time, she found herself cried a tear. She grabbed the love and hope out of her maid’s tired hands. The same feeling she had throughout her last 2 years.

In all of a sudden, something meddled in her mind. If she failed doing Santa’s task for this day, then there was no doubt that recent history will repeat itself, it’s just that this time, all the kids would suffer the feelings her young maid felt, the feelings she felt when she didn't receive anything from Santa.

She looked at the cuckoo clock and slid down her bed, “I must hurry! I cannot let it happen again!” It was already 21 minutes and 3 seconds when she left the chariot.

She rode her bike for faster arrival to the place where he left the chariot. When she got there, exhausted, she called for the reindeers which were already on sky 30 feet high. She was not heard until her voice roughed to fade.

Photo courtesy: procleaning.com

Hopeless was her knees, hopeless as she was. She walked back home crying, tramping of failure.

She stopped and sat on their porch step. She bowed her head down over her lap, crying, thinking.

“What shall a stubborn do? Whaaaaat?! I hate myself,” she slipped her hands to her pockets finding for anything she could use to wipe her tears. She felt a crunch.

Then suddenly she remembered as she puts out the map and Santa’s list, “Oh, hell. Useful, this could be!” She wiped her face with the sheets and go inside her bedroom. She sat in front of the mirror and looked at herself. She opened the folded sheets on the dresser and read it.

“Aha!” she exclaimed of sudden thought! She did find a way to make up her voracity before.

She made unique gifts and letters to each and everyone she sees on Santa’s list. It seemed magical for she felt so alive, awake, and strong doing those. “I did it!” she exclaimed when she finished wrapping everything.

She is now ready to deliver those to the addresses. “I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?,” she confidently said.

After she finished sending gifts, she went straight to her maid’s room. She handed her a small gift and hugged her tight, “Sorry. I am so sorry for everything I did.”

“You are forgiven, miss,” replied her young maid with a big smile and tears rolling down her face.