The Spirit of Krampus--Illustrated by Kate Danley

Author:Kate Danley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Krampus, Christmas, Dystopian, coming of age, folklore, holiday, holiday story, holiday spirit
Publisher: Katherine Danley
Published: 2014-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

FOUR

It seemed like hours later, and at the same time an instant, when they finally reached a flat, cold expanse of glaciers and snow. There was a white barber shop pole with red stripes, almost like the one that Herbie had in front of his house, except this one was larger and stood at the mouth of a giant cave.

The reindeer landed and walked forward, her hooves crunching the ground with each step. As she passed the cave's entrance, a curtain of ice closed behind them, and a wall of ice opened in front.

The full moon shone through the frozen roof and dimly lit the room before them. It looked like it might have once been a workshop of sorts, a place where toys were made, but now the brightly colored playthings lay on the ground, smashed and destroyed, and there was no sign of the workers.

The reindeer stopped by a large lever built into the wall. Skip leaned over, grabbed the brass handle, and pulled it down. A deep hum filled the room and, one-by-one, the lights overhead flickered and came to life.

The destruction was terrible. There were holes in the walls where heavy things had been thrown, every conveyor belt had been ripped off its rollers, workstations had been tipped over and all the chairs were broken into splinters.

"What happened?" asked Skip.

He got off the reindeer and began walking carefully through the wreckage. The reindeer followed behind.

"There must have been a battle," he said as he looked a doll whose head had been crushed. His voice echoed through the building.

"Hello?" Skip called. "Santa?"

There was no response. The reindeer gazed off towards a separate room.

The double doors had been torn off their hinges and the maw of the arched entry stood waiting. Skip made his way around the bits of plastic, metal, and glass and went in.

It was a stable, each stall busted apart from the inside. Skip turned to the reindeer and asked, “Did you have to break out?”

The reindeer nodded her head. Skip pointed to the name plates over each of the nine stalls. “Which one were you?”

The reindeer delicately picked her way over to one of the center stalls.

“Dasher?” asked Skip. “Are you Dasher?”

Once again, the reindeer nodded.

Skip walked over and placed his hand upon the reindeer’s nose. “It is nice to meet you, Dasher.”

Dasher let out a chuff of warm air and nudged his shoulder. Skip continued on through room after wrecked room - candy rooms, chocolate rooms, toy rooms and playgrounds - until he found himself in a large storage area. There were open filing cabinets from floor to ceiling in every direction he turned. On one side of the aisle, the empty drawers said “Nice.” Upon the drawers on the other side, they all said “Naughty.” Burned pages covered the room, the contents now nothing more than flaky, black shards.

“This was where Santa kept the naughty and nice list?” asked Skip, running his hand along the drawers. “How did it all catch on fire?”

Dasher gave him a look, as if asking him to think deeper.

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