Green and red lights danced through Santa’s workshop as the elves added final touches to the presents they were making. “We still need twenty iPads, four dolls, and an album,” Santa reminded the elves who were almost finished with their toys. The words “December 24th” glowed across a screen, reminding them all of the upcoming deadline while festive songs echoed from the radio. Santa sat in his sleigh as the reindeer skipped around, eating carrots. All of the elves knew that Santa was leaving in only an hour, so they worked extra hard to perfect the remaining few toys. Candy, one of the elves, was finishing the album. As soon as Candy closed the finished album, he rushed out the door to hand it over to Santa. However, Candy was met with an empty field where Santa’s sleigh and reindeer should have been.
“Santa!” Candy called out. “Santa!” The young elf’s voice echoed through the emptiness and didn’t return. Candy began to panic. He stared at the concrete floor of the workshop where the sleigh should be as he scurried back and forth, imagining one young child expecting an album, but being met with nothing underneath the Christmas tree.
As Candy was pacing around Santa’s workshop, he met the eyes of another elf who looked at Candy like he knew something Candy did not. The elf introduced himself as Gumdrop. “I see you have a gift that should be in Santa’s sleigh. He left already, didn’t he?” Gumdrop asked Candy.
“Yes, Santa left,” Candy muttered under his breath.
“I know a way to get you to Santa’s sleigh for only 1,000 candy canes.” Something in Gumdrop’s voice felt wrong to Candy, but he knew he needed to get to Santa’s sleigh even if it meant paying a sketchy elf a lot of candy canes. “I have a sled. It should work well enough to take you to Santa. Only one thousand candy canes for a functional sleigh? That’s a good deal, don’t you think.”
Candy eventually agreed to Gumdrop’s proposal and to Gumdrop’s sled-like contraption made from rusty metal scraps and old, leftover supplies from the workshop. Gumdrop showed Candy how the old sleigh worked, and Candy eventually took off towards Santa.
The speckled stars rushed across the sky in a panic as Candy flew through the night. Cities and forests and mountains seemed to zoom by beneath Candy while he steered the flying sled. While he fought the urge to fall asleep because of a lack of sleep for the past week from the stress of making presents, he jolted to attention when the sleigh shook violently. He saw a bird flying behind, slightly shaken, and instantly knew the bird had flown into the sleigh. Mere seconds later, Candy felt himself falling. The bird must have broken the sleigh, he thought as the sled rushed towards the ground rapidly. His rapid breathing quickened as the sleigh fell further. Candy braced himself for impact as he saw the desert floor nearing.
The sleigh crashed in sand, and shattered upon impact. Candy, who had jumped out just before the sled landed, remained unharmed in the soft sand. As soon as he looked at the pile of old scraps, he knew the sleigh was unfixable. Beige sand surrounded Candy on all sides. Candy knew from his geography classes that he was in the Kalahari desert, which would take months to escape if he simply walked, which would be impossible without any food or water. Candy sat in the sand and cried. He knew that he would never escape.
The stars seemed to glow green and red like Christmas lights, but Candy convinced himself he was only seeing things. However, when he glanced up again, he saw Santa’s sleigh. Without skipping a beat, he yelled Santa’s name, and by some miracle, Santa heard him. Santa flew down to the sand, and as soon as his sled touched the ground, he stepped out.
“Candy, what are you doing here?” Santa asked.
“I wanted to deliver this album to you,” Candy held out a wrapped album and looked down.
Santa patted Candy on the head, let out a jolly laugh, and took the album to put it with all of his other gifts. He let Candy ride his sleigh with him, and that night Candy was given the opportunity to see children’s faces light up with joy as they opened their presents. Finally, when the morning turned to afternoon, Santa and Candy went back to the workshop, and Candy came home with a memory that he would never forget.
