Chronos' Christmas

by Rhea Rose

trees in this part of Daycare that were clumped together. Crawling through the tree, I hoped the neighboring one would be close enough for me to jump across to it.

  Not knowing if the tree I was in was real or not, I moved out onto the branch as far as I dared. There was a good chance that small branch of a real tree would not hold my weight. Flat on my belly, pulling my feet under me until I crouched, I got ready to jump to the next tree. Suddenly, my knee started to ache.

  When the pain subsided a little, I leaped. My knee cramped just as I took off, and I knew in mid air that I did not have enough force to make the branch. I crashed through the branches, grasping at twigs that tore the skin from my hands. Everything blurred as I plummeted and hit.

  I’d been out for awhile, but I wasn’t sure how long. It was very dark out, and a light snow was falling, covering the ground. I was cold, but more worried that I had lost Christmas.

  I took a few things from Geebo’s body, things that I thought I might need in case Christmas wasn’t over. Carefully, I wiped off my footpads and followed a small trail through the brush. It was against all the rules for members of opposite Daycares to break away and form their own team, and I was beginning to suspect the new kids.

  I came to the north gate where Christmas normally took place and didn’t find anyone. I climbed another tree and waited there. Perched high in a branch, I cold see someone hiding in a bush below. Christmas wasn’t over yet!

  A portion of the north wall began to change color. Normally grey, it became a bright orange. Only a small section of the wall changed color and began to sink into the ground. When it had disappeared, a gush of air and mist blew into Daycare, then quickly dissipated. The black space left in the wall reminded me of the gap left in Geebo’s grin when he’d lost his front tooth.

  They entered Daycare cautiously and looked the way they had last year, tall, taller even than Deemi. They wore bulky white clothing, their heads helmeted. Their weapons holstered, but their hands rested on them. More dults followed them. They brought Christmas into Daycare. Some had their arms full of presents while others carried glitter and lights. Another brought a tree.

  They placed the parcels and packages on the ground and decorated a small area around the gifts. The tree was raised and powered up. It was a magnificent tree which rotated at the base with the centre section slowly rotating in the opposite direction. The branches shone, blinking on and off in many colors. More and more gifts were brought in, until the area in front of the wall gate was nearly covered. The presents that didn’t give off their own light reflected those of the Christmas tree.

  Some of the tree ornaments played soft music which drifted upward, to me. The tree smelled fresh, too. Everything was beautiful, better than the light shows Ceep would put on to entertain us. It was a warm, enticing scene and before I realized what I had done, I was down from the tree and wading knee-deep among the presents. I wanted to hold one, feel the smoothness of its wrapping and the crispness of a bow. I picked up a small package that glowed softly. It was wrapped in gold and trimmed with a pink ribbon and bow. I could smell the newness of it and felt whatever was inside slip and slide around. As I turned it over, the small identification tag lit up. It was for Snuks.

  “Put that present down. It’s not yours yet.”

  It was Deemi. I dropped the gift and ran towards a bush, trampling gifts as I went. I could hear Deemi right behind me as I dove for the bush. To my surprise Snuks had been hiding there all along, and she sprung at Deemi. I watched them tumble among the gifts and reached in my pocket for one of the Velcro bombs I’d taken from Geebo. She was no match for Deemi, but she’d taken him by surprise. At last Snuks fell away from him but when I stood to throw; I had a severe pain in my ribs. I couldn’t throw the small explosive without risking the chance that it would miss Deemi and cling to Snuks. Suddenly, two of the dults were keeping Snuks and Deemi apart with the threat of their weapons.

  They threatened to blast all the gifts if Deemi and Snuks didn’t stop fighting immediately. They stopped and Snuks walked back towards me. Someone touched me from behind.

  It was the two new kids.

  “I found them taking apart all the trapth in Daycare,” Snuks said. “They don’t want to fight for Chrithmath all the time.”

  “Geebo’s dead.” I looked at them. Snuks started to cry quietly.

  “Teb.” I waited until one of the kids looked at me so that I could identify Teb, whose clown face had been wiped off. “What did you do to Ceep back at the unit?”

  “Just adjusted the problem that caused him to make that funny noise. It would have eventually caused severe problems,” he said.

  “They fixthed Theep. Now he doth everything on time, like thnow for Chrithmath,” Snuks said.

  “That’s all? You just fixed him?”

  The kids looked at each other, and I had this sick feeling there was more.

  “We did some security bypasses,” Teb said.

  “It was all done at Ceep’s request, which was made before we arrived at Daycare,” the other one added.

  “What does all that mean?” I asked.

  “Geebo won’t be back,” Teb answered.

  “Geebo only died twith. He’ll be back,” Snuks said.

  “None of the kids killed this Christmas will be back,” Teb told her.

  There was a commotion beyond the tree. We turned to see Deemi jump onto the dult guard who had separated him and Snuks. A second dult guard was on his way over. While Deemi struggled with the first guard, I saw my opportunity to win Christmas. Except for the kid who never actually joined his side, Deemi seemed to be the only survivor from his Daycare unit. Once I go rid of him, Christmas would be ours. And Deemi would be gone for good.

  The second guard slowly weaved his way through the gifts, weapon ready. Then it happened – my chance came. The first guard, weaponless, broke away from Deemi. I ran from the tree for Deemi, tackled him and struggled for the weapon he’d taken. The next thing I knew Snuks was yelling at me.

  “Stop it, Chronos. Stop. Ceep can’t bring you back if you die. He can’t hold any of us anymore.”

  I let go of Deemi and shoved her away. “Go back!” I screamed. The second guard grabbed Snuk’s arm. “No!” I started after him, but he brought his weapon to her face. I stopped and watched him drag her, screaming, backwards through the gifts.

  Behind me I could hear Deemi laughing, and I turned to face him. He had the weapon he’d taken from the first guard aimed at me.

  “You lose,” he said. And in that instant a hole burned through Deemi’s neck as another guard shot him from behind. I thought I would be next but the guard walked away, following the one that carried Snuks. I watched the two dults take her out. Then they all left Daycare and Christmas.

  “They won’t be coming back,” a voice beside me said. It was Teb. “Ceep’s gonna let you decide what should happen at Daycare.”

  I saw the small parcel I’d seen earlier, the one tagged for Snuks. It was crushed; the lighting mechanism on the tag had gone out. I kicked it away. Ceep didn’t want any more Christmases – not like this one. That was why he brought Teb and the other kid. I supposed it was the only way he could stop it. “Ceep” I yelled up at the trees. “I don’t want any more either.” There was silence.

  Behind us the wall began to hum and change color. The gate slowly sank into the ground, and the two small kids held my hands as we slowly approached the opening. There were no dults anywhere. I thought about Ceep, but he’d already said goodbye. So the three of us walked through the opening and never looked back.

  END

  Thank you for reading my story!

  Rhea Rose

  Please have a look at my next one!

  Jing's brother blew into Squirrels' deep-fried aromatic atmosphere like a bird caught in an up draft. His clothes billowed as he stepped from the winter street into the twenty-four-hour-entertainment-cente
r’s entrance. He peeled his new winter wear from his body, folding the clothes over and in on themselves until they were small enough to fit in the nylon pouch on his belt. The white stripes on his T-shirt and sneakers took on a purple hue in the lighting.

  Jing walked on her toes as she made her way through the moving crowds and line-ups toward her brother. Above the heads and from between her black skinny beaded braids, she strained to keep him in sight.

  "Hey, Gyp," she called. "Gyp."

  He was fifteen, tall and had black hair like hers, only short. His eyes were lighter, hazel, almost yellow. Hers were dark, deeply set. Like a Chinese artist's brush strokes, someone had once told her, a Eurasian-Afro heritage flowed in their features. Emotion breezed over the planes of her broad smooth face like cloud shadow, never settling. She was fourteen and they'd been living at the twenty-four hour entertainment center for nearly two weeks.

  She lost him in the crowd but knew where he was headed and cut through the viewing lounge. There a barrage of luminous color Gamm images--cars, screaming military space ships, and gentle scenes of fantasy lit the large dish-screens displayed in all corners of the cavernous lounge. Private cubicles were filled with the curved backs of anonymous viewers.

  She sat inside an empty viewing stall and dumped her purse. Sorting though the pile of bills and change, she found a few tokens and popped one into a