☃︎❅✧˖°･::｡･::･ﾟ.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Our parents are out of the house once again. Sometimes I question why they exclude us from their activities, but this time I'm grateful for it. I'm still shaken up from the whole stolen reindeer situation. I used my morning to get away from Cole by taking a shower. The time I usually take to blow dry my hair was extra long as well. Eventually, I work myself to go and get some breakfast, even if he might be in the kitchen. My original plan was to go back to bed, but I'm no longer tired. My stomach rumbles at me angrily.

I checked the other rooms in the house for Cole. He's not in the few that I peeked in so he either went back to bed or he's in the kitchen. Why should I care, though? Maybe I do feel a little embarrassed because I overreacted at his present, but Cole should be the one who feels bad. He put us at possible risk for stealing reindeer. Who in their right mind would do that?

My footsteps patter quickly to the opening of the kitchen. My ears pick up nearby clanging and occasional swearing. Great. Cole must be in the kitchen. I'll just try to sneak in, grab a snack, and sneak out. Then I don't have to talk to him at all. My lungs fill with one final breath of air before creeping into the next room.

"I made you breakfast." Cole turns around right as I enter the kitchen. I would make a terrible spy since I was spotted immediately. My intentions soften when I realize what Cole just said. Did he make me breakfast? I guess that's nice, but I'm still mad at him.

"Thanks, nice. Uh- Is that burning?" Black smoke rises from one of the pans on the stove. The smell coming from it is awful. Cole jumps and starts to twist all of the knobs on the stove. He messes with the temperature of all the pans, making the situation worse. I round the kitchen island quickly. I grab the handle of the pan that's smoking and quickly bring it over the the sink. The water is then turned on and I'm engulfed in even more smoke.

Cole pants as he finally fixes his situation. I move the hair out of my face and straighten myself. Maybe I shouldn't accept Cole's food. This is a lesson I should have learned from those cookies we made together. Those were awful. It looks like his breakfast-cooking skills are no different.

"I think I'll just stick with a granola bar," I tell Cole. It hurts me to see his disappointed face when he scrapes the rest of his burnt food into the trash. I stare at him with my granola bar in my hand. He beat himself up just to make some food. I looked closer to see that the corner of his flannel shirt had been burnt off.

I slide down at the table with my food, deciding I won't go eat up in my room. Cole has grabbed himself an apple and is cutting it. I send out a prayer that he won't cut his hand while doing so.

"It's the thought that counts right?" I offer, trying to lighten the mood. "Thanks for trying."

Cole shrugs and pours himself a glass of orange juice. "I guess my only Christmas wish is to become a better chef," He quietly laughs.

"Should I steal Gordan Ramsey, so he can teach you how to cook?" I smile. For anyone else, this joke might have been made too soon. It might even be too soon for me. But Cole's smile widens and the lines by his eyes deepen.

"Thanks, but that guy scares me."

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A deep knock hammers on the front door. Cole and I look up from our breakfast. We exchanged confused looks while scooting our chairs back to go answer the door. My first guess is that the parents are back home, but it would be weird that they would knock. Cole suggests it's a mailman, but I tell him they don't usually knock either.

I follow behind Cole, curious about who is at the door. Cole looks through the peephole and immediately turns around and slams his back into the door. Panic is written all over his face. His eyes jump all over the place and back through the peephole. Once he's done confirming what he saw, he turns back to me. I plead to make him tell me who it is outside. My mind goes to all the murder mystery podcasts I've listened to. This is definitely how someone gets killed.

Cole's face is pale. He runs his hands through his hair out of stress. I try to move past him to look through the hole, but he blocks me from doing so. The person on the other side of the door knocks again, this time it's more aggressive. They can probably hear us talking in here.

"What is it?" I whisper yell at Cole who looks like he's seen a ghost.

"Santa Clause! Santa is here," Cole says out of panic.

My worried thoughts stop for a second. There's no way he just said Santa is at our door. And he's acting like a lunatic about it. I stutter trying to get my words out, but I'm just so confused.

"Cole! Santas are not real. He can't be outside." At this point, I think he's messing with me. If he is, I most definitely will hate him for the rest of my life. My stomach twists in anxiety and a cold shiver runs through my body. This is a horrible feeling.

"No, not that Santa," Cole looks into my eyes, scared. "The mall Santa. The mall Santa is who is here." Once those final words leave his mouth, my blood runs cold. I see why Cole's panicking now. I want to pace, but if I move any farther the mall Santa could see me through the windows. Oh, but he knows I'm already here. The mall Santa has probably seen the stolen reindeer in the yard too. I'm so going to jail. Cole knows it too, we both panic while debating what to do.

"Are you going to answer the door or not? I can hear you fools," The Santa outside the door yells. Cole and I meet each other's eyes. We're both in shocked silence. Neither of us wants to answer the door, but he isn't going anytime soon. Plus, our parents might be home, so we need to get rid of him quickly.

Cole lets me move past him this time. I try to gather my breath before my hand wraps around the door handle. This could go so badly. I swing the door open and see a man in a bright red Santa costume on my doorstep. The usual jolly Santa look is replaced by a grumpy attitude. My mind goes blank on what I should say to the old man. I could tell him to go away, then just run inside the house and hide. I feel Cole come up behind me. I hope that he has something good to say to the man.

"Sorry, we don't want any Girl Scout cookies, thanks!" Cole exclaims and pulls me by my elbow back into the house. Cole tries to shut the door, but Santa's large black boot is put in the way, stopping us from closing the door. He tells us in a low voice that he isn't here to sell anything.

"Why are you here then?" I ask. I think we all know why Santa has shown up on our door. If I act like I'm stupid, he might give up and just leave us alone. I pray that the reindeer has left our yard and that we will have no evidence. According to the man's face, though, he's not playing into my dumb act.

"Just here to talk. There are some things I want to sort out." The mall Santa looks between Cole and me. This is the part where we might be killed by a guy wearing a ridiculous Santa suit, but I invite him inside the house anyway.

Santa looks satisfied to hear this and follows me throughout the house. Cole rushes ahead to walk beside me. I try to look confident in what I'm doing, but I don't know what I'm doing.

"What are you doing?" Cole whispers in my ear, confused.

"I don't know what I'm doing."

I lead the guy into the kitchen. I like the idea of being able to run out the backdoor if things go south. I gesture to take a seat at the table and Santa sits down. He looks around warily. I take this chance to pull Cole aside.

"You need to distract Santa, I'll be right back," I instruct Cole quickly and try to go up the stairs. Cole stops me, he still looks panicked. He asks what he does with the Santa at the table. I think for a moment before spitting out the first thought that comes to mind. "Just give him cookies or something. He's Santa Clause, I'm sure he'll like that." Cole nods and this time I'm able to rush up the stairs.

I get to my bedroom and pull out my computer. As fast as I can, I look up a reindeer license from the internet. I pick one that looks convincing and chooses to print it. I don't double-check to see if I turned the computer off before sneaking into the office space to grab the printed sheet. Before going back to the kitchen, I put this paper in a drawer in the living room, a place where some other important documents are.

I go back into the kitchen to see Cole pouring Santa a glass of milk. He has also provided him with some cookies I asked. I announce that I'm back from the bathroom and I sit down across from Santa. I see Cole give a warning look from where he pours the milk. He then sits down next to me and we start to converse with the mall Santa.

"I believe you know why I'm here," Santa says. He doesn't even look at the milk and cookies, so he's not here to fool around. Cole and I say nothing so he continues. "Last night, our mall reindeer were stolen. We had gotten a report saying the reindeer we've traced back to this neighborhood."

My hands sweat under the table and I try not to swallow too hard. I already look nervous, it just can't be mistaken for suspicious. The Santa leans closer to us.

"And I couldn't help but notice the reindeer in this yard," He finishes. My heart drops. We're caught. I'm so going to jail.

For a moment I forgot about the paper I printed. I gather myself before talking to Santa. I glance at Cole and he gives me a nod of approval.

"Mr. Clause, sir. We have a license for the animals in our yard. Or at least my parents do. If you give me a moment, I'll go find it. The Santa doesn't look like he believes me but this is the only chance I have of getting us out of this situation.

I stand up and I shoot Cole an expression meaning to not take your eyes off the man. Who is now gulping down the glass of milk? He grunts to clear his throat. So disgusting. I can't believe we might go to jail by this guy.

"Do these cookies have peanut butter in them?" I hear Santa ask Cole harshly before I leave the room.

I go back and get my printed license. Also taking this moment to gather my thoughts and track my parents from Life360 to see where they are. From the looks of it, they're still far away and not heading home yet. This is a relief.

"Rose!" Cole shouts from the kitchen. "Get in here."

I rush back to the kitchen to see Santa running around the room. He holds his neck in a panic which seems to be swelling.

"What's happening?" I asked confused. The Santa is not okay."

Cole rummages through the drawers for something. Over his shoulder he shouts, "Santa had an allergic reaction to the peanuts in the cookies. Do you know where the pen is?"

I try to get the man some water to help him but he continues to barrel through the kitchen. The site is horrifying.

"I don't think we have one here," I cry out while Cole continues to go through the drawers. I try to calm down the man in pain, who now looks awful due to his reaction. He sticks his head under the fossil to try and wash out his throat. A moment later, he collapses.

A scream rips from my throat and Cole gets on his knees to shake the Santa awake. He doesn't stir and his chest isn't breathing.

"What do we do? Call 911. Is he still alive? What did we do?" Questions come and come. I don't know what to do in this situation. Tears stream down my eyes while I try and think of what to do.

"Santa is dead," Cole says quietly from the floor. He stares into the unknown while picking himself up from the floor. I choke on a sob.

"He can't be dead. He just can't," I cry. I move to where the man lays on the floor and I try to kneel next to him. Cole grabs me from behind and pulls me away from him. My wet face meets Cole's blank expression.

"We killed a man!" My own words make me sob even harder. Cole brings me to his chest in a hug. I don't even care.

☃︎❅✧˖°･::｡･::･ﾟ.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Way to go, you killed Santa Clause. I mean, could this Christmas get any worse? *evil laugh*

How ya doing? How ya like the story so far? Things are just getting started. (not really this is like the climax) (or is it?)