The Holiday Hijacker

No matter how much Lana Bentley wanted to believe her Christmas wish to be one of a kind, there was no denying that she had reached the peak of her teenage years when she announced her desire to get a break from her family. No fretting mother, no eye-roll-inducing dad jokes, no annoying little brother — just a moment of peace to herself. To anyone outside the angsty girl's own bubble, it sounded like a rather self-centered wish, but to her, it was more than sensible.

And by some miracle, the 16-year-old's wish came true on Christmas Eve when the rest of her family took on a road trip to collect Lana's grandmother from Illinois and left her in charge of the house for the day. 

Even if it got tiring trying to convince her little brother of Santa's existence a little harder every year, she didn't hate the holiday. So, when she finally had the house all to herself, she didn't hesitate to climb into bed with a mug of mulled wine and her favorite Christmas movie on TV. Between the company of her Samoyed and the sight of gentle snowfall outside, she was convinced that Christmas Eve couldn't have been more perfect.

By the time the bickering couple on Lana's screen was heading for an epic kiss, the fluffy dog from her side had disappeared downstairs where he erupted into a loud bark. Startled from her haze, Lana nearly spilled the remains of her holiday drink, and when calling out for the dog didn't work, she got up with a groan. Tossing the covers aside, Lana abandoned the mug on her nightstand and praised her fuzzy socks for shielding her toes from the cold floor as she tiptoed downstairs. 

"Bear, quit it", she muttered unhappily, her hand trailing past the row of colorful lights wrapped around the railing until she made an unceremonious landing before the front door. "The squirrels aren't out to get you", Lana reminded the Samoyed on her way to the living room, but as soon as she found the ball of fur growling at the arrangement of colorful packages beneath their Christmas tree, she froze on the spot.

She almost didn't notice it at first, not from amidst the bright lights of the tree or the shiny bows scattered across the floor. But when Bear gave her a look as if to say, hey, it's not a stupid squirrel, she could figure out the golden bell at the top of a red hat and the short form of a person, crouched over the family's presents.

"Hey, who do you think you are?" Lana called out defiantly, her eyebrows knitted together as she watched the plucky boy — or man, she wasn't sure — stand up with one of the wrapped gifts in his arms. The look he shot her was firm and insulted, not at all exposed or worried about being caught stealing. The crime didn't even register in Lana's head fully, if anything she was trying her hardest to hold back a snort at the ridiculous sight. She had heard her mother's doting warnings of the robber who had rampaged the entire street last year, but she couldn't believe that the movie-like short man in front of her would be the one. 

"You need to leave", the girl spoke into the air once more, uncertainty slipping into her voice as she wondered if she had accidentally poured a glass of her dad's mulled wine, instead. Once she gave Bear a careful glance and found him still eyeing the boyish man angrily, she no longer knew what to think. 

"I'm an elf", the man of an unreasonable age revealed, no hesitance or shyness in his voice as he clutched the present in his arms. There was nothing merry or jolly about him, however, if you looked past the colorful outfit that chimed with even the slightest of movements — in fact, he looked like he had received nothing but coal for the majority of his Christmases, and yet, Lana failed to be scared.

"Right", she pronounced with doubt, "you still need to leave." Elf or not, she wasn't going to destroy any future chances of being left home by herself.

As if her words had fallen to a deaf pair of pointy ears, the elf sauntered towards the plate of cookies that Lana's brother had left out for Santa and chuckled. "You're calm for someone whose house just got broken into", he pointed out nonchalantly while climbing onto the large armchair by the window with the chocolate chip cookies in his grasp. 

Unsure how a remark like that was even meant to be acknowledged, Lana followed him with her arms crossed over her chest. "I'd be more intimidated if you were, I don't know, taller? Armed? Something about the red tights and jingly slippers just doesn't do it for me", the Bentley replied with heavy-handed sarcasm, her wit hardly affected by the unexpected arrival of an alleged elf. And, admittedly, she wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea of calling the cops and pulling her family right back to where they had just departed. 

"Maybe you should cut down on the snark, Lana", the elf retorted smugly from where he was seated with the baked goods and the red present. With narrowing eyes, Lana scrutinized his appearance and let out a scoff that almost betrayed her cool attitude. 

"How do you know my name?" she couldn't help but ask, probably in a much less sneaky manner than she had intended, but she hoped for the unwavering stare and power stance in front of the elf's chair to prove her confidence.

Rolling his eyes — which hardly seemed like an elf-like thing to do — he shook his head. "I'm an elf, remember?" he spoke the words that Lana certainly hadn't forgotten, but didn't exactly know how to process, either. "I know every kid. And I'm here to take back presents from the naughty ones. Including you!" he continued proudly while waving the pretty package he had grabbed, just in time for Lana's eyes to catch her own name scribbled across the wasteful paper. There was no denying that being dubbed as naughty felt far from pleasant, but even if her stomach sank, she didn't try futile arguing with the cookie-munching creature.

"You're a rogue elf? What, you never got the present you wanted? You're a real cliche, Grumpy", Lana taunted with the best weapon a teenager could have: the bite of sarcasm that managed to crawl under people's skins. Teens could be ruthless like that, and while Lana didn't usually describe herself as cruel, there was no doubt that she, too, had gained edge in the past year.

Although the elf tried to put on a brave face, there was just a hint of offense in his voice when he spoke up to disagree. "I'm not a dwarf."

After snatching the final cookie away from him and shoving it into her own mouth, Lana hummed. "Uh-huh. What's your name, then?" she questioned, knowing that if he wanted to get rid of the foolish nickname she had adorned him with, he needed to give her an answer. 

"Candy Cane Carl", he responded as seriously as he could, but when Lana's eyes flew a bit too wide, he chuckled grimly. "No, you imbecile. It's Matt", he added, completely truthful yet the look that dawned onto the girl's face suggested that Candy Cane Carl would have been an easier pill to swallow.

Suffocating a cackle, she crouched over her knees to reach his level and give him an incredulous look. "You work for Santa, and your name is Matt? I think I prefer Grumpy." She didn't hold back on amusement and concluding from the dry smile that Matt shot her, he could tell. Nonetheless, he didn't say anything more, so Lana cleared her throat to stop herself from laughing in his face.

"Yeah, okay. Listen, this is very Home Alone and all, but you really need to leave", she continued sternly, weight returning to her words as she wiped her hands and stood back up. Behind her, Bear had settled down onto the carpet and no longer seemed to mind their guest, but to Lana, that wasn't such a good sign. She wasn't going to befriend this elf, and he wasn't going to steal their presents.

Surprisingly, the elf caved in and hopped off of the armchair with a huff. Although he still had Lana's present huddled up in his arms, he began to journey towards the front door with his jingling shoes and his bouncy hat. "Fine", he shrugged, "I'll just go to the next house." The look he directed at Lana confirmed his unwillingness to interrupt his mission just because one witty teenager had poked holes into his self-esteem. 

"Whatever", she stated bluntly, her arms folding over her chest once more as she watched the elf reach for the doorknob with her present in his free hand. With that, he was welcoming a gush of cold winter air into the house, and as soon as the wind had ravaged the house, he had ducked outdoors and slammed the door shut behind him. 

And that should have been the end of it. He was gone, not for Lana to worry about anymore, not even when he had so rudely stolen something of hers.

Yet when she made her way back upstairs with Bear at her heel, she halted on one of the creaky steps in uncertainty and glanced back at the front door. Sure, she could handle one less present under the tree but what about the toddlers next door? What about the poor kid who had lost their mother a few months ago? Not to mention those who had so few gifts, to begin with! Undoubtedly, Matt the Murky Elf would take and take, regardless of who the children were and what they had been through. 

"Stupid, stupid, stupid", Lana grumbled to herself as she dashed right back downstairs and grabbed her heavy coat from the rack by the front door. Angrily, she shoved her arms into the sleeves and after making sure her keys were nestled in one of the big pockets, she was waving a wry goodbye to Bear and heading outside.

Unsure what she was even intending to do, she made sure to descend the slippery steps of the porch with care, only to resume her waddling all the way through the icy driveway. Her eyebrows were knitted together in frustration, although she couldn't deny that the soft snowfall was exactly what she had hoped for Christmas. Who knew, maybe the elf would be sucking all the joy out of nature, too.

As soon as she saw the elf tiptoeing inside the house across the street, her steps grew in courage and she rushed after the man. The pure adrenaline only intensified when she reached the neighbors' door and found it to be unlocked, and without stopping to consider the consequences, she shook the snow off of her shoulders and stepped inside. No thought of crime passed her mind, she was only concerned for the children of the street to a point where she was prepared to pick a fight with Santa's elf.

"Hey, Grinch!" she hissed into the warm air that instantly melted the snowflakes on her hair, "you need to stop ruining the holidays for others!" Although she was almost positive that hers was the only house that hadn't been deserted for Christmas, she made sure to be quiet and careful as she snuck past the decorated hallways. Every wall had been filled to the hilt with lights and papery creations that the children had brought with them from school, and the view sparked something nostalgic in Lana's chest as she thought back to all her masterpieces from art class. They still hung around the house, but lately, she had mostly seen them as embarrassing.

"Maybe you should take your own advice", the elf chimed in from out of nowhere, his small frame appearing from another room with Lana's present in his hands. Freezing immediately, the girl gave him a puzzled look which didn't impress him enough to prevent a loud laugh from his throat. "You practically pushed your entire family away. On Christmas Eve. To be alone", he recalled with grave eyes, and refusing to be the target of his judgment, Lana waved him off.

"Oh, come on! They—they needed to get my grandma, anyway. Doesn't everyone need a little peace and quiet sometimes?" she tried to justify her wish, even if she couldn't stop herself from imagining her family's hurt faces. Of course, they had put on smiles and insisted it was more than okay, but as the elf's words sank deeper, Lana fell to wonder if she had been unnecessarily rude, after all. Maybe Christmas Eve was, in fact, the wrong day to beg for space. 

Supposing that she was realizing what he was tempted to tell her, the elf turned on his heel and trekked further into the house. Instead of letting him wander off, though, Lana broke into motion and followed each of his determined steps, hellbent on making sure no other kid would suffer from a lack of presents on Christmas morning. She supposed it was lucky that many families had left town for the holidays, but the more she thought about it, the less she doubted the mean elf's abilities to ruin plenty.

"Why are you so grumpy anyway, Grumpy?" Lana steered the uncomfortably charged conversation back to the elf who aimed glares at every cheery decoration presented on the walls and above the fireplace. Frankly, Lana was certain stuffing stockings with coal wasn't actually that far-fetched of an idea for him.

"Santa’s getting sloppy. There used to be a clear list of nice and naughty. Now everyone gets whatever they want and soon even the nice children will give up because there's no reason for them to actually be nice", the elf ranted, surprisingly open with his set-in-stone principles, and while Lana couldn't deny that he had a point, she wound up rolling her eyes. 

Right as they appeared by the grand Christmas tree that had been decorated in blue and gold, Lana jumped in front of him and spread her arms to stop him from getting to the presents. "So what? Truly nice people will stay nice no matter what. Christmas is a time of giving and gratitude. Even if one kid breaks their mom's vase or another pushes their brother, everyone deserves something and no one has the right to take that away", she defended not only herself but the children that hadn't spent the past year being perfect but worthy of love, nevertheless. 

She could have sworn that the elf's lips threatened to curl upwards, but she didn't get to pick him apart when the doorbell rang. The soft sound startled both of them, and while Lana couldn't tell if someone had called the cops or if it was just the nosy grandma from down the street, she acted on instinct. Ushering the elf around the corner, she, too, stumbled behind the nearest wall and held in her breath while waiting for someone to come in or poke around the large windows of the living room.

The following seconds felt endless and Lana could feel the trickle of sweat crawl beneath her dark Christmas sweater as she peeked from around the corner in the hopes that she wouldn't have to waste the rest of the night away in a cell. Much to her relief, though, the ringing of the doorbell ceased as quickly as it had begun and silence landed in the entire house once more. Whoever had appeared at the porch was long gone by now, and the realization slowly melted a smile onto Lana's lips as she nodded.

"See? Now that's Christmas spirit, letting us—", she sighed happily, but when she turned to find the grouchy elf by her side, he was nowhere to be found. The jingling of his shoes didn't fill the air anymore and the strange magic around him had vanished with a snap of fingers. 

Distressed, Lana rushed to roam around the house, but not a single room seemed to be hiding the elf from her judgy stare. Just like that, he had disappeared, though none of the presents had gone with him — each neatly wrapped gift under the neighbors' tree remained untouched and it earned yet another smile from the girl. Up until then, she had been undeniably doubtful of the elf and his true nature, but the longer she stood there in sheer silence and felt the warmth of Christmas sliver into her heart, she wanted to believe. She wasn't a child anymore, but maybe, she didn't have to be so critical of a Christmas miracle.

However, the joy in her didn't expand to its fullest until she was making her way back home as carefully as possible and tiptoeing upstairs to her room, where the movie on her TV had ended ages ago. The spicy scent of mulled wine lingered past her, but what truly caught her attention was the red package adorned with a golden bow resting on her bed. It was the same one that the elf had tried to take with him, the very same with Lana's own name written across the wrapping, and immediately, her eyes lit up with childlike happiness. 

It seemed that the elf had learned his lesson: Christmas wasn't the right time to point blaming fingers at anyone, but rather, the time to be grateful for all that you had. And when the front door of the Bentley house opened hours later and Lana's name was called out by a choir of loved ones, she instantly ran into their open arms and figured that maybe she had taken the same advice to her own heart, as well.