Little Tales

Chapter 15
Don't Stay Up

Chapter Description: There's a reason you don't stay up when the jolly guy in red arrives

Better watch out
Better not cry

Don't be up at the same he arrives

Humans have some interesting traditions, don't you think? Take this Christmas thing for example, there are a few celebrations happening at the same time yet it's Christmas that gets the most attention due to how profitable it is. Hanukkah and Yule, Yule being the original Pagan celebration, being pushed to the side for profits in a heavily capitalist society.

But that's not what this is about, this is about why you're usually told to try and not be awake when the jolly person in red arrives. Why should you be in bed at the time though? Well there's a reason for that.

~~

So many houses to choose from, so many places to rob and so few of them had any security cameras and alarms. An all you can rob buffet. Ho ho ho, merry thievemas.

Being sure to not look suspicious they eye up the properties while making it look like they're a normal cis gender heterosexual normative couple out for a romantic walk in the snow, a white Christmas being such a rare thing here but perfect for what they intended to do.

They mark down the houses that would be less of a hassle to steal from while noting the ones that would be too much trouble, those tended to have the more expensive things to steal but the alarms would have the police arriving quickly and they wanted to avoid that.

With their choices marked they head home to finalise their plans, it was going to be a busy night.

~~

The street was quiet and the snow was glistening in the light of the street lights, silence was all around them as they watched the last light in their first target house go out. They checked to see if there is any light in the living room, none, before heading to the back door. They had managed to steal a key and copy it before returning it to the owner, no point in raising suspicions with anything stolen too soon.

Their earlier scoping out of the property had shown that the back door only had the single lock so opening it was easy, they closed it quietly behind them once inside. Quietly they walk through into the living room where the brightly adorned Christmas tree twinkles away without the use of electric, the decorations catching the light of fire alarms and other electrical items emitting their own light.
Presents of various sizes are placed underneath it but they aren't interested in those, they're more interested in what isn't wrapped up.

“TV, blu ray player, consoles, any mobiles that are in here. Avoid going upstairs and since when did this place get a chimney? Thought this place used gas and electric” Sure enough there was a large and beautifully decorated fireplace which they were sure hadn't been there before while scoping out the street.

“Probably for some quaint decoration, well off people can be funny like that. Let's get nicking” The two thieves, a cis woman in her mid thirties and a cis man in his late thirties, start unplugging things and removing their targetted items from walls, shelves and fittings. They work as quietly and quickly as they can with few words said.

As they finish though they hear a click from the kitchen, the man heads through to see what made the clicking sound and finds that the door is locked.

“Did you lock the door? Weren't we supposed to keep it unlocked until we left?” He asks, he tries unlocking it but the key refuses to turn.

“No, left it unlocked. Why isn't it turning?” The woman replies.

“Don't know, I keep trying and it keeps sticking. We need to find another way out, what time is it?” The woman checks the time on her mobile before replying.

“Five to three in the morning, we need to be out of this street by seven before the sun rises. People will get suspicious if they see the van outside” Looking around for another way to leave that won't make any noise they are interrupted by what sounds like a twinkling sound, like bells of some kind, and a soft thud from the roof.

“What the hell is that?” The fireplace seems to widen in size on it's own as a deep 'Ho ho ho' can be heard from above, the twinkling sound increases in volume before someone steps out of the fireplace. A rather heavy set person with a luscious white beard looks around and sees the two thieves.

“Who the hell are you?” The woman asks though something deep inside her knows instantly, a younger part of her. Another person appears, much smaller, from the fireplace.

“This is Saint Nicolas, or Father Christmas or Santa if you prefer, your suppressed inner child knows who they are. And who may you be?” As the jolly person in red begins placing gifts beneath the tree, ignoring the two thieves, the other person takes out a tablet like device from a pocket before scanning the thieves.

“Ah, yes, you two have always been rather naughty. How sad to see how far you've fallen when you're robbing houses at Christmas. Have you ever heard about why you shouldn't be awake when he arrives? Some have permission to do so as the work they are doing is helping others but you are not helping others, you are stealing so I have permission to administer a punishment, one that is long overdue” The man and woman try to run or at least take the tablet from this new person but they find that they can't move from a combined sense of fear and childish wonder.

“What are you going to do us? This was the first house we were going to knock off, the back door locked itself before we could leave” The person looks at the stolen goods, taps their tablet and more of the smaller people arrive from the fireplace, they begin removing the stolen items and returning to them to where they were previously.

“You both need to learn from the consequences of your actions, unsuccessful though they were. I know of two couples who are yearning to have children of their own and I am quite sure that they will raise such children well. Reality can be easily adjusted, we are very skilled at that” The person taps on their tablet before smiling.

“Merry Christmas, young ones” They click their fingers and the two thieves begin to feel like they are shrinking, the house becoming bigger around them, their clothes taking on a younger looking appearance as thick nappies appear between their legs.
“You really shouldn't have been up when he arrived”

~~

The sun rises on Christmas Day and in two houses elsewhere in the country two babies, a baby girl and a baby boy, wake up to needing their nappies changed and to be fed. They don't know that it's Christmas as they are both too young to understand, they only know that they need to be helped. They don't remember their previous lives nor the actions they had been doing just hours before, they don't remember being adults, they don't remember each other. They barely even know that they're living beings, being less than a year old can mean that they only react by instinct and sensation.

They are only babies after all.

Another Christmas, another year.

Better be sure to be asleep when he arrives
For he's coming to town.