With Hope for Christmas - short story.

Snowflake...

The house was empty at this time of the day. I realized that I spent the entire night in the "Letter" room because when I returned home the shiny sunlight almost blinded me. It was exactly 4 days until Christmas Day and usually at this time mom is at the bakery, probably already drowning in the number of her special gingerbread brownies that she made. I found the note on the fridge that both Noel and Faith are with mom, my brothers were at the workshop and both Noah and Joy took all of the kids either for the last day of school or to the nursery. As for my dad, that was the most tricky part. You see, right before Christmas and this trip that he has to make each year, finding dad was almost impossible. He had his secret spots all over the North Pole. I remember him saying that once someone takes over, the locations will magically pop in thy head. I'm not even surprised anymore. The problem was, that I had to find him and I had to do it now. First I used the snowboard, probably the fastest way, especially that for the past few days the snow was getting heavier and we were now surrounded by a huge amount of it everywhere in the village. The cabin in the woods was the first location I went to. Back in the day dad used it to recharge both his strength and his mind. Throughout the years, Simon created some sort of zen area right in the middle and it helped for a while but then mostly Faith occupied the space. She said it helps her calm herself after a tough day at work of listening to people's problems. Next, I checked the cave up in the mountains. I don't even know why because as soon as we invented the automated sleigh he hasn't used the help of the reindeers that often and also they did not appear there without any reason. Pretty complicated animals. After checking a few more locations I started getting hungry again, which is why it made a quick stop at the bakery. The view from inside made me laugh so hard I almost hit my head on the way in. Faith was by the counter stuffing her face with all the goodies while crying and lamenting about having the belly size of a pumpkin, Noel tried to take everything out of her reach, and she hasn't even hidden the annoyed-looking face. I let them know that I'm here and said sorry that I can't help but I needed to find mom.

"Mom! I need you" I shouted and after being guided downstairs, I found her in the pantry rummaging through the shelves.

"What is is Nick?" she asked, not even looking into the direction that I came in.

"Mom, I need to find dad, there's an emergency, I can't say anything else" I answered. I waited about 2 minutes for her to finally face me and when she did, she had an angry look on her face mixed with a little concerned expression.

"Son, you know that your dad needs time on his own so close to Christmas. And you should be in the workshop helping your brothers instead of looking for your father".

"I know mom, but this is important".

"Well then, I'm waiting. What could be so important that you want to disturb your father?" she asked me while tapping her foot to the ground. I decided that I will tell her just one thing, hoping that she will know anything about this and finally let me know where should I go next.

"It's about the Snowflake mom" - as soon as she heard me saying it, her facial expression changed completely. And to my surprise, the smile appeared.

"I see that your time has come my boy," she said to me, leaving me in utter shock. Then, she took a piece of paper out of the safe that was hidden behind one of the cupboards and handed it to me. She hasn't said anything else, just kissed my cheek and handed me a bag of brownies. As soon as I left the bakery, I took out the paper that mom handed me and I read these exact words:

"If you're reading me, then the time has finally come, this is what you have to do next. Find the sleigh and sit inside. When you're there, close your eyes, and say out loud the password that will appear in your mind".

Honestly, it sounded hilarious but, who am I kidding? It was obvious that I will do that. I arrived at the workshop but I came in through the back door because I knew that as soon as I will show my face to John or anyone else for that matter, they will give me some work and that was the furthest thing in my mind at that moment. I went downstairs to the basement, found the key to the garage, and opened it. The sleigh was there, magnificent was the only word I could think about. Through the years, Simon, T

Philip and Andrew worked on them, making them more modern. Like I mentioned before, they were automated. Magically but still. It does work because people believe in Santa, that part is true. It's like being fuelled with people's believes, smiles, happiness, and being merry. We do have some pet reindeers, like Rudolph, he's also real although he's my least favorite, not very cheery. Anyway, the sleigh was all red with some gold trims and green and silver cushions inside. There was also a compartment where were warm and fluffy blankets in case dad would get cold on the way and also a hidden stash of hot chocolate and brownies. As soon as I stepped inside the sleigh and sat down, I can't explain it but it was like, they knew I was there, I felt a chilled air filling up in the room but at the same time, I felt at ease. Then I closed my eyes and just tried to calm my mind, clear it, it was like dreaming because, soon I found myself falling, I haven't opened my eyes yet though, but then, just a few seconds later I saw the word-forming up in my mind. And I knew that the password was. I also felt that I only have to say it in my mind. And the word was "Snowflake". I couldn't understand why this word holds such huge importance to all this. As soon as I said it in my mind I felt warmth and then I opened my eyes. I found myself in some sort of park. There were people around me but they seem completely biased. They did not pay attention to me whatsoever. It felt almost like I would appear in someone else's subconscious. And then in the middle of the clearing, I saw my dad. He was holding the little boy by the hand. And the boy seemed familiar but I couldn't place him. I started walking in their direction. When I was getting close I started hearing sounds of birds chirping and the laugh of the kids playing and the voices of different people talking in a few different languages, they were all like whispers to me, only these two separate voices, one belonged to my father and the second one was the boy. I reached my hand and touched my dad's back and then I felt pain, like being struck by a lightning bolt. My thoughts were overwhelming, I landed on my knees, holding my head that was pounding. The voices were getting stronger and louder. It was like getting new memories without actually being a part of them. Then I heard and felt someone beside me.

"Son, let it go through you, you need to relax". That was my father's voice, he hold my hands in his and I started to calm down, slowly at first, but it did help, my thoughts were becoming clearer and then I remembered. I remembered it all.

Flashback. 14 years ago...

"Daddy, can I help you?"

"Son, you're here again? What did mom say?"

"She doesn't know, Noel is covering for me".

"Alright Peter, come, sit on my lap"

"Dad, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm 11".

"You'll always be a kid for me. I still remember how you always wanted to sit on my lap especially when we were reading the letters".

"Yeah I know pop, but I'm a big boy now, still want to help you though. So, what do you have there? Is that the letter from Hope? "

"Indeed, do you want to read it?"

And so we did, it was the letter that Hope wrote about her parents being in a coma after their accident. Another car hit on them on the highway when they were going back home after their first Christmas present shopping. It was 1 month before Christmas. When I read it, it was the first time when I shared a tear. Hope was just a little girl, younger than me and her parents were dying. I turned to my dad and said.

"I want to help her, can't we just help her?"

"We can't do much son, perhaps this is how it's supposed to be".

"But she's only 8, and her sister, Joy, she's my age. What will happen if they will lose their parents?"

"Well, if they don't have anyone else, they will go to a temporary home. But don't worry son, they will be ok".

Back to the present time...

Was that just a memory that I magically received again? It was beyond me, looks like I knew about Hope all this time but someone made me forget and it was making me angry. I was unable to form any words though because another jolt of energy pierced through me and another flashback appeared in my memories.

Flashback, 13 years ago...

"Dad, I found it!"

"Go on then son, what does it say"

"Oh no, her parents, they died"

At that statement, I saw how dad put me into his hug, it was so warm I felt like it would be happening to me right that moment. The whispers were faint but I was still able to hear him saying "continue my son, what will happen to them now?".

"She's writing that they don't have any close family so they were taken to temporary custody. They met new friends and the lady who takes care of the kids is nice. She also doesn't want anything for Christmas only so she and Joy could get adopted together".

"I could help with that" my dad answered.

"How?"

"Well, I know these great people in New York, they can't have their kids and they always wanted a big family, I might have to make a stop when I will be going on my trip this year".

"Omg, really? So, the girls will be ok?".

"Yes Peter, they will be ok".

That same day when I went back to my room, I kept thinking about Hope. She seemed like a nice girl, full of life, and yet she already experienced so much. I couldn't imagine all this pain. Losing her parents and ending up in a temporary home. I wanted to show her that she has a guardian angel here in the North Pole. And that's when I got the idea. But first I needed Noah's help.

"So, you can't tell me why, but you still need my help?"

"Please Noah"

"Fine! But you owe me" he said while sticking his tongue out. For the next week's, months even I was putting my plan in motion. But in the end, I needed the help of practically everyone in my family. After I created the sketch, and because Simon was still too young to operate the machines. It was John who created the shape from this icy diamond that we were able to find that one day when we found the frozen lake, it was mine and Noah's secret spot. Then - Philip and Andrew created the smallest microchips and they installed them,

and they looked like tiny pearls on each "arm" of this star. Finally, Matthew and Noel designed this tracker that was situated in the middle like a heart. When the process finished I run to dad. I found him again in the letter room, reading through the old letters.

"Dad! Dad! I finished it!" I shouted showing him what we created. It was a tiny shaped object, some sort of the star, but it wasn't one, because it had much more triangles, each for each person who help create it. We wanted it to be something personal. At first, it was much bigger but when Faith saw it, she said to us "Why don't make it into a necklace charm? That way, if it's for a girl - she said giving me a wink - there is a big chance that she will never take it off off her". She had a point. John took it into the shrinking room and made it small enough to put it on the silver string. Dad looked at it closely, then smiled and said.

"It's not finished yet son" - I looked at him with a confused expression and then he took it from my hand and said - "you need to take it to the place you found the resource from and put it out into the sunlight and while you doing it, say out loud the name of the person that this thing is for and just observe what is going to happen, you might be surprised at the result". He made me curious with that last part so I did what he told me to do. The next day I went out and arrived at the lake area, it was perfectly frozen, with no water spots anywhere. What was strange though, was that the sun was giving its sunlight only to one spot right in the middle of the lake. The view itself looked straight from some fairytale. I put on my ice skates and slid forward until I was right in the middle. The sun was making me so warm, that feeling inside of me was melting away all the cold that I thought I was experiencing. I took the necklace out of my pocket and placed it in the palm of my right hand. It was shiny and cute, just like Hope was, I chuckled a little bit at myself because it was the first time I thought about a girl as cute. When I looked up I had to use my left hand to cover my eyes a little bit as the sun was starting to give me a headache. I opened my right hand letting the sunshine through this charm and then I softly said her name. What happened next was unbelievable. Before my eyes this star, this lucky charm started to change its shape. And a few seconds later I didn't have a star in my hand. It was a snowflake. Beautiful and so tiny. It was still on the silver string but this time it looked almost like being made out of ice. And the snowflake itself was see-through, still had these little microchips and tracker in the middle. It wasn't as much as being able to track her but it was designed so if anytime she will be in trouble or just needed help then the right people will be informed. Don't ask me how they would, because my siblings just had that kind of magic already. And I didn't yet. When I thought that this was the end of it, I felt a chilly air forming some sort of swirl around me, and in several seconds, the necklace was, poof, gone. And yet, I had a feeling that it appeared where it was supposed to.

End of the flashback...

This was becoming too much. I am finding out that it was me who made the snowflake and now I had even more questions than I had at the beginning. I needed to get to the bottom of this. When I opened my eyes I realized I'm back at the garage and that that is sitting beside me. He had a calm demeanor, too calm for my liking. When I was about to say something, he did it first.

"I know you probably have a lot of questions son"

"You think? What the hell happened there? What does it all mean?!"

"Calm down! Nicholas, you were always the chosen one, you were supposed to become the next Santa Claus, but when I saw this spark in your eyes that appeared when you were reading this little girl's letters and how you reacted to them, I knew it then, that your destiny changed and I got scared. Because even though I love all my kids the same, you just have this magic inside of you, the same goodness that I do, so you would be the perfect Santa and I did something stupid because of it. I made you forget. And I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me someday".

I kinda forgave him already at that point, I wasn't able to stay mad at him. Not even close. But something was still unclear. If he did make me forget Hope, how was it that she appeared in the Snow Globe? Was my destiny that strong that it messed with my dad's magic? I put my arms around my dad's neck and whispered to him.

"It's already forgiven. But now I need your help, or rather permission - he looked at me with curiosity - I need to go with you to New York on Christmas Day".

"I thought you will never ask, my son, it seems we need to prepare".

Flashback, 13 years ago:

Central Park, New York City - 1 month till Christmas Day

Hope's POV

It was a very beautiful day, both me and Joy we spent a lot of time in the park, it was fairly close to our new house. These amazing people came on New Year's Eve

to our temporary home. I heard them saying that on Christmas they had a guest, a friend, who told them that they should come here because some kids waiting to be adopted. At that time, except for me and Joy, there were also 3 other kids left behind. No one ever took more than two at once but then auntie Gloria came upstairs to get us and she said that we all getting a new home. All of us were old enough to choose if we want to call them mom and dad or aunt and uncle. And they weren't mad at me that I chose the second option. They understood. They had a big 6 bedroom house situated close to central park. This is where me and my siblings played whenever we went outside. It was especially beautiful in the wintertime. I don't know why but I had a feeling inside of me that the letters that I was sent to Santa had some impact on what was happening. It gave me a fuzzy feeling inside. While I was playing with other kids, in one moment I was tackled by a big fluffy dog. I didn't mind. Joy told me later that it was Samoyed, he looked like a polar bear all white with big blue eyes. When I managed to wriggle out of his paws he sat down and looked me straight in the eyes and then he nodded his head like he wanted to tell me something. I swear what happened next was all sorts of magical. I reached my hand up to touch his fur but he came close to me almost the way he would want to hug me, so I did hug him. It all happened so quickly, I saw his owner running in our direction from the distance so I already felt sad because he will be taken away from me soon and then he touched my hand with his nose, it was wet. And then he looked at me again, and again nodded his head, but this time he was looking at my hand, which made me look at it too. And right there in front of my eyes, the most beautiful snowflake-shaped necklace appeared. I quickly closed the object in my hand, and when I looked at the dog again, he was already running back to his owners. I decided to put on the necklace on my neck and when I did, the image of a boy appeared in my mind. It was strange but for some reason, I wasn't scared.

I went back home that day and I immediately showed my new gift to Joy. She loved it as much as I did and it was also the day that she started to call me the snowflake. And advised that perhaps I should thank Santa for the gift in the letter that I will be sending today. So I did. I haven't included the part of the young boy, I felt like I should leave this part to myself...