Santa-napped

Santa-napped  (E) A December 2016 entry for What a character contest #2105630 by Chris Breva

"Who's there", Santa asked, feeling slightly uneasy as a shadowy figure lurked in his quarters. "Is that you Mama?"

The figure didn't say a word. Instead it approached his bed and stood over him. "I don't know who you are", Santa said "but you aren't suppose to..."

His words trailed off as a rag was forced over his nose and he succumbed to the chloroform. The kidnapper managed to slip away unnoticed, taking Santa from his North Pole home.

When Santa came to he looked around at his surroundings. He quickly surmised that he was in a cage that even his magic couldn't unlock. He was also bound with garland, which to him was as strong as the toughest steel. "Where am I", he demanded.

"Your safe for now", the kidnapper answered.

"Grinch" Santa growled. "I should have known you were behind this! You've been trying to stop Christmas for as long as I can remember. Well kidnapping me isn't going to stop Christmas. My helpers will see to it that every good little boy in the world gets the things they want on Christmas whether I am there or not!"

"I don't think they will" Grinch replied. "I've seen the way that bunch of bumbling fools acts without you there. They wouldn't be able to dress themselves without your help."

"We'll see about that" Santa answered. "Don't you think that I've already considered the possibility that I may be incapacitated in some way and that I've made contingency plans? You can't stop Christmas! Now if you let me go perhaps I can be persuaded to ask the Council of Magical Beings to have mercy on you this time. If not, my staff will rescue me and you'll be in big trouble."

"I have no concern with the Council", Grinch replied. "Their rulings mean nothing to me anyway. Besides, nobody knows where you are or what became of you. I'm only keeping you safe while I decide how to dispose of you."

Mrs. Claus meanwhile went into Santa's sleeping quarters to take him a hot bowl of chicken soup. She knew he had been feeling a bit weary of late and hoped the soup would perk him up a little. When she found he wasn't there however she at first thought he had gone to check on the progress of the elves. After all it was only three days until he would make his annual trip and he would want to be sure everything was on schedule. So she was going to dismiss his absence as normal until she saw his boots sitting beside his bed. She knew Santa well enough to know that he wouldn't even go to the bathroom without his boots on. Something was drastically wrong.

"Alert the ELF rescue squad" Mrs. Claus told Jasmine, her helper elf. "Something drastic has happened to Santa. I'm sure of it. He's not here and his boots are still here. Santa doesn't go anyplace without his boots because his feet are much too tender."

The ELF Rescue squad arrived in moments and began scouring the room for signs of what may have become of Santa. One of the elves looked under Santa's bed and found the chloroform soaked rag. "It's chloroform", he told Mrs. Claus and his partners. "It looks like Santa has been Santa-napped. Now we must figure out who did it and how to rescue Santa. Roderique activate the homing beacon Santa had implanted in his tooth but set it on silent. We don't want the Santa-napper to hear it. Sergio begin a database search of all of Santa's known enemies. Maybe we can eliminate the suspects that way."

"Santa has no enemies", Mrs. Claus stated. "Everybody loves him."

"We all have some enemies ma'am" Elf Rescue Squad leader Hernando stated. "Maybe Santa doesn't have many but I'm sure even he has made somebody angry. Now we just have to figure out who he has made angry and why they would kidnap him."

"The why part is easy", Ferdinand the elf said. "The obvious reason anybody would kidnap Santa is to stop Christmas."

"Who would want to stop Christmas" Hernando asked, "and why would they want to do so?"

"Grinch", they all replied in unison..

"Yes" said Hernando, "He's been trying to stop Christmas for years! Where was his last known location? I know Santa had a team assigned to watch him closely but he's as slick as a greased pig. He could easily have kidnapped Santa."

"The last time we knew he was still located on Grinch Mountain" Ferdinand replied. "With your permission I volunteer to lead a team to go there and if Santa's there rescue him."

"Permission granted", Hernando stated. "When you arrive scan the mountain and see how many magical creatures are there. The Grinch himself is a magical creature. If there are two magical beings there however the second is likely Santa Claus. Use your invisibility powers to become invisible and rescue Santa. Grinch can't penetrate your invisibility powers. He'll never know what happened. If he did Santa-nap Santa Claus arrest him as well. Bring him back here to be tried by the Council of Magical Beings.

Ferdinand arrived at Grinch Mountain with a team of elves a few minutes later. he retrieved the scanner and set it to search. Sure enough deep within the mountain he read the presence of two magical beings. One had the known characteristics of Grinch and the other was undoubtedly Santa Claus. "Yes" Ferdinand told his team, "Santa is definitely here. From what I can read on the scanner he's being held in an some kind of cage that magic won't penetrate. He's also tied with garland which renders him helpless. Turn on your invisibility gear. Grinch won't be able to see you. Our orders are to rescue Santa and arrest Grinch. Alfred you take point."

Within a few seconds the elves had traveled through hundreds of tons of dirt and stone to find themselves standing in the lair of the meanest and most horrible Christmas character of all time: Grinch! Without a sound Ferdinand walked over to Santa's cell and slipped through the bars. His size made the bars easy to pass through. Once inside he untied the garland restraining Santa. Alfred during the meantime unlocked the cell. They both knew that even if Santa was untied his magic would be useless in the locked cell. Once the door was unlocked however, Santa could use his magic freely.

Two other elves who were also invisible came up behind Grinch. Without hesitation they quickly subdued him by placing a pair of love cuffs on his wrists. Love overcame all barriers. As soon as the love cuffs were placed on Grinch's scrawny wrists however an amazing thing happened. The stone cold, ice cold heart in Grinch's chest began to melt away and was replaced with a loving heart.

"What have I done", Grinch cried. "I nearly stopped Christmas! Oh how could I have ever been so evil? Santa can you ever forgive me? If you will I will make it up to you. In fact, if you will allow me to do so I would like to ride along with you as you deliver the toys this year. Oh to see the smiles on the faces of children!"

1220 words