I didn’t think Santa was real. That being the case, I wasn’t expecting to hear hoof noises and jingling bells on the roof.
Eyes wide open, I sat up in my bed. In all my eight-year-old wisdom, I figured the noise was probably actually a neighborhood cat or something, so I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear a soft but cheerful “Ho ho ho!” from the living room a few seconds later.
Scarcely daring to breathe, I quietly slid out of bed and tip-toed to my bedroom door, which was most of the way closed but open far enough to let the warm hues of our Christmas tree’s colored lights into the room. When I looked into the hallway, I definitely wasn’t expecting to see long, black tentacles.
Terrified, I backed up to my bed, watching the door intently in fear that it might open further. I put my hand on the mattress to boost myself back into bed as noiselessly as I could. I thought I had gotten away with being out of bed during a Santa visit—if that’s what this was—until my head hit the pillow and I heard a crinkling.
A peppermint-smelling piece of paper had been placed on it during the minute I had been out of bed. Four words were written on the sheet: “Only naughty children peek.” Before the terrible message could fully sink in, a tentacle wrapped itself around my mou—
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Credits to: Ytterbium70
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