Chapter 1
"The end."
"What?! Aww, c'mon! It can't have ended like that!" I shouted, throwing my arms in the air.
The yetis and the elves grunted and babbled in agreement. The man sitting on the chair in front of us threw back his head and heartily laughed.
Well, that was pretty typical of ol' Nicholas St. North. He loved keeping everyone in suspense with his amazing tales. Anyway, what can get better than listening to stories being told by Santa Claus, right?
"Well, that IS the end actually. I've no idea what happened after that... Why don't you make your own ending, then?" North said, chuckling.
"Hey, that's not a bad idea, actually," I said, getting off the table. I lightly perched on my staff.
"How about you tell us your own ending?" North said with a gleam in his baby-blue eyes.
I grinned. "Aaahhh... You'll have to wait 'till tomorrow," I said, mimicking North's thick Russian accent. He threw back his head and let out a jolly laugh again.
"Alright, then. Fair enough. Okay! Who would like to see my latest toy design?!" he boomed.
Everyone in the room cheered. I half-smiled and tucked my cold, pale hands into the front pocket of my frosted blue hoodie.
"Care to join us, Jack?" North asked, smiling.
"Don't mind if I do," I said and jumped off my staff.
They gathered in the next room, which was wider than the one we were in just now, and got ready for North's briefing.
It was a yellow duck that could paddle itself in the water when wound up. They immediately set off to work after North's given instructions. I walked around and watched them work, though the yetis were doing most of the job, and I managed to 'help out' where I could.
Then, something peculiar happened.
I felt strange.
My eyelids felt heavy and my limbs started to feel sore. Everything in motion looked blurry and all floaty as if I was floating in an endless void of nothing.
I glanced over at North.
Man, he looked horrible. All of a sudden, he looked really old. I rubbed my stiff eyelids against the heel of my palms and looked at North again, my eyes all teary.
"Uh, North? What's happening?" He didn't say anything. He just stood there, mouth gaping and eyelids drooping. As every second passed, I felt worse. I felt tired. I felt as if I was three hundred years old.
The next thing I knew, everything went black.
