"Thomas, give that back it's mine!" Sarah yelled out, chasing her big brother around the living room. Being careful to avoid knocking into the Christmas tree, she rounded the couch and reached out her hand to grab the back of his shirt. Grasping it between the tips of her fingers, she pulled as hard as she could and heard the sound of fabric tearing. Thomas stopped in his tracks and whirled around.
"Way to go, Sarah. You ripped my shirt. Mom is gonna be so mad at you!"
"I'll tell her you took my snowglobe," Sarah retorted, convinced that would justify her actions.
"You're still going to get in trouble," Thomas insisted. "If not with Mom, definitely with your elf." He pointed to the mantle where a tiny elf doll sat staring at them. Sarah gasped.
"Do you think he saw what I did?"
"Of course. You did it right in front of him."
"Now he is going to tell Santa I wasn't good and I won't get any presents," Sarah whined, feeling like she might cry.
"That's not all the elves do," Thomas said, walking over to the mantle and resting his elbow next to the elf.
"After Santa finds out how bad you were, he tells the elf what your punishment should be. Then at night when you're fast asleep, the elf sneaks into your room to punish you."
"That's not true," Sarah said, glaring at her big brother. "The elves are nice."
"Mom is nice too but she still punishes you," Thomas countered. Sarah opened her mouth to respond but she could not argue with her brother's logic.
"Well I don't believe you," she told him, folding her arms. Thomas shrugged.
"Whatever you say," he answered, handing Sarah the snowglobe she'd been so intent on getting back. "But you might want to sleep with one eye open tonight."
Thomas left the room and Sarah stood looking at her elf doll. Her brother was just telling lies to scare her. Still, she planned to lock her door that night when she went to bed just in case.
Sarah laid in bed staring up at the ceiling hearing Thomas's words echo in her head. She still didn't believe he was telling the truth and yet she could not relax enough to sleep. Closing her eyes, she could see her elf's tiny face smiling down at her from the mantle. Yes she had been a little mean to her brother but he had started it. She was sure the elf would understand.
Suddenly, she heard a soft voice whispering in her ear, "I know you were bad today, Sarah." Her eyes flew open and she tried to sit up but found she could not move. Looking around her room lit only by her tiny nightlight in the corner, she saw a tall figure at the foot of her bed dressed all in red. She squinted slightly, then her eyes widened.
"Snowflake, is that you?"
"It's Mister Snowflake to you, Missy," the figure said in a high pitched voice.
"You're real? Thomas was telling the truth?"
"Of course I'm real. I'm as real as the nose on your face," the elf said, gliding across the floor to sit next to Sarah on her bed. With one finger he bopped her nose and then giggled.
"Why can't I move my arms and legs?" the little girl asked, squirming around in her bed.
"Because you're tied up of course," Snowflake answered, pulling back the blankets so Sarah could see her predicament. Wrapped around her arms and legs were strings of Christmas lights, the bulbs softly glowing red, green and blue.
"How are the lights working?" Sarah asked. "They're not plugged in."
Snowflake looked at her and rolled his eyes.
"I am magic. Have you forgotten?" He walked across the room to Sarah's desk where her miniature Christmas tree sat and pulled off a shiny silver ball. He held it up to his face and carefully studied his reflection.
"Ugh, why does no one ever tell you when there's something in your teeth?" he sighed, using the tip of his finger to pull a piece of lettuce from his mouth. Once he was satisfied with his appearance he let the ornament fall from his hand and it shattered on the floor. Sarah gasped.
"Why did you do that?"
"Oh do you not like your things to be ruined?" Snowflake said, reaching the bed with a single hop and planting one of his tiny elf feet on the mattress.
"No I don't," Sarah answered. "Please don't break my things."
"You weren't too worried about Thomas's things when you ripped his shirt now were you?"
"He started it," Sarah snapped. "He stole my snowglobe and wouldn't give it back."
"Ah yes the snowglobe," Snowflake said, giving Sarah an evil looking grin and rubbing his hands together.
"Now just where might you keep it?" the elf asked, tiptoeing around the room in his little pointy elf shoes.
"It's on the shelf by my window," Sarah told him. Snowflake giggled and hopped across the room to the shelf. He reached up and grasped the snowglobe in his hands pulling it down to get a better look. Under the glass of the globe was a tiny cottage with a frozen pond out front where a little girl skated. Snowflake shook the globe and a tiny blizzard of fake snow fell over the skating child.
"What a pretty little toy," Snowflake mused in his high pitched voice,his eyes wide. He turned to Sarah and giggled again.
"Oops," he said evilly, tipping his hands and releasing his fingers so the snowglobe fell to the floor and broke apart much like the silver ball. He laughed maniacally, clapping his little hands together and dancing around in a circle. Sarah gaped and burst into tears as glass and fake snow covered the floor of her bedroom. The skating girl was flung to the corner of the room and the cottage lay smashed beneath the broken pieces.
"Why did you do that?" she asked Snowflake, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Oh you poor little thing," the elf soothed, pulling a sheet of wrapping paper from his pants pocket and dabbing Sarah's eyes with it.
"I would have said sorry to Thomas. You didn't have to break my snowglobe," she snarled, pulling against the strings of lights that still restrained her. Snowflake leaned over the bed so his face was right in front of Sarah's.
"Then you wouldn't really have been sorry would you?" he hissed, his red lips curling into an evil smile. Sarah glared at him.
"Don't be mad at me, Sarah," he said sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling a candy cane from his pocket. He put the end in his mouth and sucked on it. "You're the one who was being bad."
"Thomas deserved it!"
"Oh now Sarah that's no way to talk. Don't you love your big brother?"
"I love my snowglobe," Sarah huffed.
Snowflake froze with the candy cane in his mouth and his eyes got wide.
"Of course you do!" he exclaimed, popping up off the bed. "You love it so much you should never have to be separated from it."
Snowflake put the candy cane back in his mouth and sucked on the end till it formed a sharp point. Holding it over the spot on the floor where the globe had shattered he twirled it around and around. Sarah watched in amazement as the broken pieces of glass and pretend snow rose into the air and slowly came together until her globe had been reassembled. It landed gently in Snowflake's outstretched hand.
"It's beautiful, Snowflake," Sarah exclaimed, grinning happily. She tilted her head. "But where is the little girl skating on the pond?"
Snowflake gave her an evil smile that sent chills down her spine.
"Why, she's right there," he answered, pointing to her with the tip of his candy cane.
It began to swirl again and then suddenly in a flash, Sarah found herself in a coat and ice skates standing on a frozen pond.
"What's going on? Where am I?" she cried. She tried to move her feet but they were stuck in one place. Looking down she noticed the blades of her skates were firmly planted in the ice.
"Snowflake? What's happening? Where are you?" she cried. But there was no answer. Looking behind her she saw a tiny cottage exactly like the one in her snowglobe. Snow lay on the ground but there was none in the air. It was still and silent. Sarah felt the blood drain from her face. It couldn't be.
"Help!" she cried. "Somebody help me. Snowflake! Thomas! Please help me!" Sarah struggled to move her skates but they would not budge.
"I'm so sorry, I'll do anything. I'll get Thomas a new shirt. Ten new shirts. Can you hear me Snowflake? Snowflake!"
"Sarah, wake up!" said a loud voice. Sarah sat up in an instant, gasping for air. She looked around quickly and saw Thomas next to her. She was sitting in her bed, sunshine coming in through the window.
"Thomas what happened?" she wanted to know.
"You were tossing and turning and yelling for your elf doll," he answered. "Were you having a bad dream?"
Sarah breathed deeply and fell back against her pillows. "You have no idea."
"Well you better get a move on. You overslept and Mom wants us to be at grandma's in an hour to make cookies," he told her. Sarah nodded and slipped out of bed as Thomas left the room.
A few minutes later she walked down the stairs and noticed Snowflake sitting in the hallway on a bench. He was always in a new place every morning. She paused and stared at his smiling face half expecting him to start talking. Sarah laughed to herself and shrugged. It was all just a dream, she thought as she hopped down the last two steps and turned down the hall.
As she passed the elf sitting on the bench, she almost swore she heard a tiny voice say, "I know you were bad yesterday, Sarah."
