Saving Christmas | Teen Ink

Saving Christmas

February 22, 2018
By Anonymous

I’m sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast with my parents. My mom is cleaning dishes, while my dad is drinking his coffee and reading the morning paper. I hear my dad gasp as he take the paper to my mom, showing her something.
“Oh god no! He can't do that, can he?” Mom says with tears in her eyes.
“He can do whatever he wants Hun. He is the King. There is nothing we can do about it, besides obey his rules.” Dad says shaking his head
“But what about the children! What about all the present that we have already gotten? Christmas is in a few days, and now it is ruined!” Mom cried out
“I guess we'll just have to take the toys back, and hope they will give us a refund. If not, I guess we just have to get rid of them.” Dad suggest
“Mom, Dad… what is going on? Why do you need to get rid of the toys before Christmas? Can't I just open them on Christmas morning like always?” I ask
“Honey, Christmas isn’t coming this year… it umm…” Mom says stumbling words
“It no longer excites… the King has passed a law saying, there will be no more Christmas or toys...” Dad says cutting off Mom
“What!! How does one man get rid of a whole holiday! How does one man get rid of all the toys!” I yell
“I’m sorry honey, but Christmas is not coming this year… or ever again. There is nothing we can do about it,” Dad says calmly, “We have to get rid of all the toys in the house. I’m sorry.”
“I am not getting rid of all my toys because some mean man said I need too! I will not let this happen!”
“I'm sorry, but there is nothing you or I can do about it. You have to get rid of your toys. There are people coming tomorrow to collect all toys. Nothing will stop them. They have to do what they are told to do.” Dad says calmly
“They are not taking my toys away from me, and they are not taking Christmas away from me! I won't allow it!”
“There is nothing you can do! Just drop it!” Dad says harshly
“Watch me!” I yell before storming to my room.
I walk upstairs to my room, slamming the door shut. I have to hid all of my toys. I can't let them take that away from me and the other children of the town. After the mean people come to take away all of the toys I will deliver toys to everyone! I will show the King that there will always be toys around. I just need to get a lot of toys… and place to hid them.
After thinking for about an hour, I walk downstairs and head for the front door. Before I’m able to make it all the way out, I feel a hand on my shoulder stopping me.
“Where do you think you're going young lady?” Mom asks
“I'm just going outside to play. I’m bored staying inside.”
“Well you better put on some thicker clothes. It's getting cold out there now, and who knows when it's going to start snowing. Your luck, you will get trapped in a snowstorm, and you will end up looking like Frosty the Snowman.”
“Fine, I'll bundle up more. Don't worry, I’ll make the best snowman ever. Not even Frosty can compete.”
“Alright go on. I won't hold you up anymore.”
Once my mom walks away, I run out the door and head for the woods. The woods around my house are as dark and scary as the night. Anyone could get lost in them, if they aren't careful. Thankfully I know these woods like no one else.
As I walk through the wood alone, the trees lean together, blocking out any light. The wind whips through the trees, making the leaves shutter and shake. The farther I walk, the darker it gets. It should be easy to find somewhere here to hide the toys. I walk around a little more until I come across a wall of rock.
I walk up to the wall and look up. The rock wall is as tall as a skyscraper! I step back to look at the wall, when something catches my attention. Its an indentation in the wall. I walk over to what I thought was just an indentation, to find a cave. This will make the perfect place to hid the toys! I crawl into the cave to check it out, making sure no animals are in it. To my luck, it is abandoned. I crawl back out of the cave, take in my surroundings, then start running.
I race to my house, running faster than a race horse. I have to hurry if I want to take all of my toys to the cave. When I get into my house I race upstairs to gather all of my toys. As I gather my toys I realize I have more toys then there are stars in the night sky. I decide I'm going to have to make more than one trip, but I can't let my parent figure out what I'm doing.
I look around my room, when my eyes land on my window. I know how I am going to get my toys out of the house. I race downstairs and into the kitchen. I rip apart the kitchen until I find what I'm looking for. Garbage bags! I grab a handful of bags, and race back up to my room.
I gather all of my toys, and make four piles of toys in the middle of the room. One pile is for stuffed animals that make noise, and one pile is for just regular stuffed animals. I make one pile for hard toys that make noises, and one pile for just hard silent hard toys. I shove each pile of toys into a different bag, that way I know what I have to be careful with. As I’m in the middle of filling the last bag, my mom walks into my room.
“Honey, what are you doing?” she asks
“I figured your right. There is nothing I can do to save my toys so I'm going to throw them away tonight. That way the men don't need to destroy the house looking for them.”
“Oh. Would you like me to help you?”
“No, it's fine I’ve got it.”
“But those bags look heavy. Let me carry them downstairs for you.” she insists
“No, don't worry about it.”
“Fine. I’ll let you go.”
I wait until I hear my mom talking to my dad downstairs, before I start throwing the bags  out the window. I only throw out the quiet toys, then I drag the other toys down the steps and out the front door. I walk back into the house for a few minutes so my parents don't go outside and realize the toys are not there.
After about half an hour, I tell my parents I’m going outside to play. As soon as I close the front door, I grab the bags of toys, and put them onto my red wagon. I run to the back of the house, dragging the waggon behind me, to get the rest of the bags. I throw on as many bags as I can, having to leave a few behind. I run through the woods trying to not drop any toys. Thankfully I make it to the cave in a short time. After I shove the bags of toys into the cave, I run back to my house to get the rest of the bags. I throw the bags onto the waggon, and drag it through the woods to the cave. I shove the last of the bags into the cave, leaving the waggon there. I take my time to walk home, since I’m out of breath from running around.
I get to my house after what seems like forever, and see that there are bags lining the street from each house. I walk over to a bag closest to me and look inside. The only thing in the bag is toys! I check each bag a notice most of the bags are just toys.
Everyone must be getting rid of the toys tonight so there is no problems tomorrow. I count the bags of toys as I walk up and down the block. There are is at least a bag at every house. Some houses have more bags and some have none. If I take a bag from each house, I'll have about ten more bags of toys to use.
I run back to the cave to get my waggon, carrying one bag of toys to the cave with me. Why make the trip empty handed? That would be almost as dumb as trying to dig a large hole with no shovel. It's pointless and takes too much time. I get to the cave, and shove the bag of toys into it. I squeeze into the hole, to move the bags to the back of the cave. I’m going to need as much room as I can, if I want to hide a million bags of toys. After I move the bags to the back of the cave, I run to get some bags from the side of the road. I manage to get three bags onto the waggon, and drag them to the cave. I shove the bags into the cave, and run back to the road to get more.
It takes me a few trips but I finally have the last of the bags. As I shove the last bag into the cave, I see how full the cave is now. I feel like a squirrel hiding nuts for the winter. I put the waggon into the cave and decide to call it a night. I walk back to my house and go inside. My mom is waiting by the door, and she looks redder than a tomato.
“Where have you been all day young lady?” she scolds me
“I’ve been outside playing in the woods.”
“I have been looking for you for an hour now. Dinner is done, and now yours cold.”
“Alright. Sorry mom. The time got away from me...”
“It’s fine. Go eat your dinner then go get cleaned up for bed.”
“Alright.”
I walk into the kitchen, and make myself a small plate of dinner. I heat up my dinner and realize how hungry I really am. I eat my dinner, faster then a mad dog eating. Once I finish dinner, I go upstairs to take a shower. I take a nice steaming hot shower, then head into my room. After drying off, I throw on my pajamas, and lay in bed. Before I know it I fall into a deep sleep.
* * *
I jolt awake to a loud crash.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
I sit on my bed confused for a moment, when all a sudden my bedroom door flings open. Two men burst into my room with a bag in their hands. They open my closet, pulling things out of it. They pull things out of my drawers, throwing my clothes onto the floor, and they even check under my bed. Once they rip my room apart, they storm out empty handed, and into the next room of the house.
I sit on my bed confused and scared. I have no clue about what just happened. I wait until I hear the front door slam shut before I crawl out of my bed. As I leave my room, I stop in my tracks seeing  that the house is a mess. Every door in the house is wide open. Every drawer in the house is also open with its contents on the floor. Some of the rooms in the house even have furniture overturned. The house looks like a tornado ripped through it, destroying everything in its path.
I find my parents downstairs, staring out the window. I walk over to the window to see what they are looking at. Outside the window, I see a mess. There is a giant pile of toys in the middle of the road. I guess it is from the houses that didn't get rid of their toys. There are men standing around the toys making sure no one can get near them, and there are still men breaking in doors left and right. Almost every house on the block has a broken door, and every house has people standing within the doorway or outside.
After the men come out of the last house, they throw the toys that they collected onto the pile. They walk around for the pile, pouring something around the toys, and splashing them in a liquid. All of a sudden they back away from the pile, and one of them pulls out a box of matches. He lites match and throws it onto the pile. The pile of toys goes up in flames. The flames dance around, dancing between the toys.
I walk outside to get a closer look at the fire. As I got closer, I can hear the toys hiss as they bubble up and burn. I watch the faces of dolls melt off, leaving nothing behind as the flames dance on. As I walk a little closer, I can smell a horrid stench. The stench is so strong it causes my eyes to water up. It is smells worse than a decaying body, that has been left in the Texas sun for weeks. I can't bare the smell anymore, I run back into my house.
As the fire starts to get smaller, a man with a microphone starts to talk. “This is the end of the toys. There are no more toys left in this town. We have burned them all with no mercy. There shall be no more toys in this town ever again. Anyone who shall bring a toy, will be punished. Now continue your day, and remember, no more toys. Good day,” with that the guy walks to a car then drives off. Other men stay out at the burning pile of toys all night long, making sure there is no remainders of any kind of toy. Finally around 2am, I hear the men get into their cars and drive away.
I lay in bed for about an hour thinking about how I'm going to deliver the toys and when. After finally coming up with a plan, I get comfortable and fall back to sleep. I sleep in that day, hopping the day goes by fast. Thankfully it does. Honestly, the day is a blur since the only thing on my mind is tonight.
As night comes closer, I tell my parents that I'm going to bed early. I wait until I hear my parents go to bed about an hour or two later, then I make my move. I look out the window, and notice that it is snowing. Finally the first snowfall of the season! Christmas Eve just became better. Now the only thing left for Christmas is to deliver the toys.
I bundle up into extra thick clothing, knowing that I'm going to be outside for awhile. I sneak out, crawling through my window. I leave it cracked just enough so I can get back in later. I run through the woods to the cave, pulling out the toys. I dig through the toys until I come across a sled. This should work. I think to myself.
I fill the sled and the waggon up with toys, making sure to grab all of the toys I can. I want to try to make this a one trip delivery. I move fast so I can get the toys deliver. House by house, I leave a toy. I leave one toy for every kid in the house. I make sure to skip over my house, since I don't know if I will have enough toys to give to everyone.
It takes me a few hours, but I finally get done delivering the toys. I hit every house in the town, making sure not to miss any. For the houses that I'm not sure if there are kids or not, I leave a toy anyway. I want to make sure everyone gets something. I make my way back to my house with just one toy in my hand. I crawl through my window, shaking non stop. Im freezing but, my job is done. I’ve delivered the toys to all the kids in town and I saved Christmas.
I close my window, locking it tight, then I make my way downstairs. I leave the last toy under the tree in plain sight, then go back to my room. I strip out of my clothing, and put on extra warm stuff. I crawl into bed, hoping to get some sleep.
I wake up a few hours later to my parents talking downstairs. I look out my window and see the ground covered in snow, covering my tracks from last night. Its as if I never left. After laying in bed for a minute or two, I finally get up and walk sluggishly downstairs. As I make  my way downstairs, I hear my parents taking. They sound shocked…
“Good morning,” I say stepping  into the room
“Oh honey. You are awake…” Mom asks me
“Yeah why wouldn’t I be?” I say confused
“No reason,” she says hiding something behind her back
“What do you have in your hands?”
“Nothing…”
“Really?” I ask taking the toy out from behind her back.
“I found it under the Christmas tree, and it looks like the rest of the neighbors had too.”
“Really?” I ask running over to the window.
Outside I see kids playing in the streets with their new toys. Every kid has a smile on their face and a toy in their hand. I look back to my parents then back out the window, smiling myself. I did this. I made Christmas come true this year. I saved Christmas.



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