Chapter 1
Five years before Scott Calvin came….
Mrs. Cane scurried down the hallway to Santa's office. She clutched the folder that contained grades that only the gods could only master. She knew only one other elf had scores like this in elf school and his name was Bernard. She blew a lone strand of gray hair out of her face. Mrs. Cane turned left down the candy-caned hallway where she saw Santa's office at the end. She knew that he had to check the list….twice, but it was only August and he needed to see what was in the folder. She put in a little hop into her step as she ran down the hall. She reached the door with a great halt.
Mrs. Cane withdrew a sharp breath and knocked on the door. There was a great grunt from inside the room and someone getting up from a seat. Big, heavy steps came towards the door. The big door opened and a rosy-cheeked man stood there, dressed in a red short-sleeved shirt and pants with red suspenders. There was no denying that this was the Santa Clause. The big, burly man smiled.
"What can I do for you, Mrs. Cane?" he said in a gentle tone. He moved out of the doorway and gestured her to come in. She ducked under his arm and sat in one of the red plush armchairs.
"Is Bernard here?" she asked quaintly.
"Here!" a muffled voice came from under a large pile of papers. A hand shot out and grabbed onto the polished wooden desk. Bernard pulled himself out of the mess around Santa's desk. "Honestly, Santa, this should have been done weeks ago!"
Santa just grunted and folded his arms over his chest and turned his attention to Mrs. Cane. "What brings you to this neck of the village?"
"I have some news about a student I've been teaching. She has extraordinary talents in all my subjects and I think she's becoming to challenging for me," she handed him the folder that contained the scores.
Santa took the folder into his large hands and opened it. He looked at the first score on the top of the page and scrolled through the entire folder. His eyebrows rose as he took a look at the last score on the page, then he handed the folder to Bernard.
"I've never seen such scores since Bernard was in school," Mrs. Cane shook her head. "She's one talented girl."
"What's her name?" Santa asked calmly.
She looked at him with her cold, gray eyes. "Holly, Holly Mistletoe."
Bernard almost dropped the folder. He was looking at Holly Mistletoe's grades! No, it must be the wrong elf. He handed the folder back to Mrs. Cane. "Please tell me this isn't the Holly Mistletoe that works in the reindeer division."
She nodded, "I came here to see if Santa would offer her a job working with you since she needs more of a challenge."
"But she has those seizures! And the elves say that she's crazy! They say she never smiles!" Bernard exclaimed.
"Hmm, kind of like you," she mumbled to herself. "She's had a troubled past. She never used to be like that, all that nonsense started after her mother left," Mrs. Cane gave him her cold stare and he shrunk back.
She turned back to Santa, "As you can see, this elf is very well qualified for the job,"
Santa was stroking his beard, now, thinking. This elf seems to be very talented and has not gotten in any kind of trouble at all, he thought. He kept thinking it over and over in his mind until he came to a decision. He walked over to where Mrs. Cane was sitting.
"Where would Holly be now?" he looked down at the small elf.
"I imagine that she'd either be finishing up with Rudolph or at her grandmothers' restaurant," she replied.
Santa turned around and walked up to Bernard. "Bernard, I want you to find Holly and bring her back to my office,"
A panicked look flashed across Bernard's face. "But, Santa, you need help up her-"
Santa cut him off and pointed to the door, "Go."
Bernard reluctantly walked over to the door and opened it. He scowled and stalked out the door, slamming the door in the process. He didn't want to work with her. Nobody wanted to work with her. She had no friends. Holly Mistletoe was one elf nobody liked. She dressed like a human, for Pete's sake! He jogged down the stairs that led into the reindeer division. He reached the bottom and looked around. No elves. Good, he thought, I don't need them seeing me taking Holly to see Santa. Bernard walked towards the stall that had Rudolph across the top, written in red.
"People ask why don't smile," Holly told Rudolph. "They ask why I'm so weird. I just say that I'm different. I'm taller than everybody in my class. I'm always called on. The voices, they're getting worse by the day, sometimes I wonder if I should leave, " she took the reindeer brush and started to brush through the knots on his back.
"I can't see why they would be mean to you, Holly. As far as I'm concerned, you're the best person in the world. And please, don't leave me," Rudolph said and his nose light up.
"Thanks, buddy," she patted him. "I got into another fight with Tinsel, he told me I shouldn't be coming here after school, but I told him that nobody else would take care of you," she said.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I could manage," he laughed.
"No you couldn't. How could you brush your back?" she giggled.
Rudolph turned around and lightly kicked her leg with his hoof, "Was that a giggle I heard from you?"
"Maybe. Turn back around, I'm not done," she said.
He did and they were quiet for a long time. Until Holly started humming a tune and then started to sing.
"I was left to my own devices," she sang softly, "many days fell away with nothing to show. And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love. Great clouds roll over the hills, bringing darkness from above."
Something from outside Rudolph's stall made her jump. Rudolph's ears perked up and he peered over the door and Holly went to the door slowly. She looked over the door and saw Bernard lying on the floor, a bucket rolling away.
"You have a nice voice," he said brushing himself off as he got up.
"What are you doing here?" she spat.
He looked up at the elf everybody said was nuts. From looking at her, he couldn't tell that she was crazy, apart from her hair and clothes. She was wearing a light blue short-sleeved t-shirt and skinny jeans with tears at the knees. Her hair had streaks of blue dye.
"Santa would like to see you," he said plainly.
Holly rolled her eyes, but put the brush back on the stand. "I'll be back, Rudolph."
He nodded. Holly unlatched his door and came out. She started to walk off towards the stairs without even acknowledging him.
"Hey!" he called after her.
She turned around, "Hurry up, then!"
Bernard ran after her as she started to run up the stairs.
Why would Santa want to see me? she thought, I didn't do anything bad, all I did was get into a fight with my older brother. Her brow was furrowed as she thought. Finally, Bernard caught up with her. He didn't even need to tell her where Santa's office was, even though she was staring at the ground.
She thought most of the way to the office. Bernard had a hard time keeping up with her because she wasn't stopping.
"Why does Santa want to see me?" Holly asked as they turned down the candy-caned hallway.
"I'll have him explain it," he sighed.
They reached the door and Bernard opened the door for her. She walked in and hung by the door.
"G-good afternoon, Mrs. Cane," she stuttered, staring at her teacher. Holly felt Mrs. Cane's eye's warm as they looked up at her.
"Ah, Holly! I was just telling Mr. Clause of your wonderful test scores! Please, have a seat!" her teacher explained very cheerfully.
Holly gulped and sat in the red plush armchair next to her teacher.
"Mrs. Cane? Am I in trouble for my scores?" Holly asked uneasily.
"Why, of course not. In fact you're going to be praised," her teacher clapped her hands together and pointed to Santa.
"I've seen your test scores, Holly," Santa's loud, but gentle voice said, "and they match a similar elf. So, Mrs. Cane brought up the idea of having you work with Bernard since her teaching is becoming less challenging for you."
Air got caught in her throat. Me? Working with Bernard? No, never in a million years! she thought. She looked up at Santa.
"So, what do ya say? Becoming the head elf's assistant?" he said happily.
"Ummm," she bit her lower lip. It would mean that I wouldn't have to see my brother for a long time and I definitely want that. And I won't have to work as a waitress! she thought, " Yes."
Santa clapped his hands together. Holly slowly looked up at Bernard. She met his eyes and he looked ticked. I'm sorry, her eyes said, but I had to do it. Somehow, he understood what her eyes said.
"Bernard! Why don't you show her the workshop!" Santa clasped a hard hand on Bernard's shoulder.
"Of course," he said through his teeth.
Holly got up and thanked Santa. She hurried to the door and opened it, not waiting for Bernard, but she did wait for him outside. She paced outside the door. What did I do? I'm dead meat when he gets out here!
You're dead meat anyway, something hissed inside her head. You've been dead meat even since I've been in your head. Something shot through her skull, bringing Holly to her knees.
"Get out!" she screamed, but it attacked more. A cold, burning sensation was going through her brain, as if someone was trying to freeze it.
Bernard heard the scream and burst out the door. He looked down at Holly, clutching her head.
"Please, get out! I can't it anymore!" she cried. She was rocking back and forth on her knees.
Bernard dropped to the floor and shook her. "Hey! Snap out of it!" he shook her harder. He shook and he shook, but she wouldn't come out of it. "I am so sorry I had do this," he said, but it was his only option right now. "It might hurt a little," he brushed the hair out of her face and smacked her across the face.
"Owww!" she yelped, holding her cheek. "Why did you do that! It hurt!"
He got up and helped her up. "I had too. You were screaming," a deep feeling of compassion formed in the pit of his stomach as he remembered what it looked like. He grimaced.
"You heard that?" she asked.
He smiled, "Yeah," he started to walk down the hall and she ran after him. "What was that about?"
"I don't know, I've always had this sinister voice inside my head that tries to hurt me," she said shakily, " it hears what I think. And I don't know how to stop it. It's just…. there."
"Well, it better stay away because I'm here," he smiled at her. Surprisingly, he didn't have to look down, they were the same height.
"Ooh, is someone Mr. Nice Guy?" she laughed.
He stopped, " You smiled," he pointed at her, "I heard you talking to Rudolph and you said you never smile."
She smiled again, "Maybe it's a new turn for me. No more being that depressed little elf!" she declared.
"Good because your face glows when you smile," he told her.
"Oh really?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," he said.
"Yours does too," she confessed.
She linked arms with him and put her head on his shoulder. He didn't push her off like her brother did. He just let her be. For some reason, it felt nice to have someone to talk to. Both of them knew that it was a new turn for both of them and that they would soon be inseparable.
A/N: What up! I'm back! i don't know how long I've been gone but it feels like forever. don't ask me why I haven't updated any of my other stories, I'm taking a break on those and doing a christmas story in spite of the holiday spirit. R&R will be lovely! Or just telling me that I'm awesome is fine. ;)
