1 Satan's Merry Christmas - Winning Entry
6:55 AM.
RIIIING-RIIIING.
The alarm in the the bedroom went off. Mary reached out for it several times before grasping the top of the clock and shutting it off. She rolled over to the lump sleeping next to her and nudged it strongly.
"Get up…" she mumbled.
The lump wiggled slightly from the nudge and rerturned back to its original stillness. Mary's eyes were barely held open as she nudged it even harder than before.
"Get up, Chris…" she said more clearly.
The lump pulled the bed sheet down to reveal a head and turned around to look at his wife, peeking through one lightly-opened eyelid.
Mary giggled at him and leaned in closer to give him a quick peck on his lips. "Merry Chistmas!"
"Mmmmm…" he moaned without opening his mouth. "I'll merry your Christmas," he said as he opened his eyelids wider and leaned in close for another kiss.
His incoming face met with a palm on his forehead and a chuckle. "Your breath stinks. Go get the camera. He should be waking up any second now."
Chris blinked his eyes awake and pouted before getting up and going to the closet. He yawned as he began rummaging through the closet.
Mary got up off the bed, straightened her hair and walked out of the bedroom, heading to the living room.
As soon as the living room came to her view, her body iced over and stopped moving in the middle of the hallway.
Chris's footsteps could be heard after he closed the closet and began walking towards her.
"Mary, what's wrong? Why are you standing there?" he asked, holding a camcorder in his hand. He strode over to her and turned to see what she was staring at; he wore a calm smile on his face ready for the morning present-opening.
His body froze upon looking at the same thing his wife had.
Below the Christmas tree in the living room, they saw the gifts they had arranged the night before as well as two other things. A small, black three-headed animal with fur and scales was curled up and snoring menacingly in front of a kid-sized motorbike decorated with red flames and human skulls.
Mary and Chris continued staring at the pair of terrifying surprises next to the tree, too shocked and fearful to say anything, when they heard the pitter-patter of small footsteps approaching the living room from its other entrance.
Finally grasping the situation, Chris made a move to circumvent the living room and reach their 3-and-a-half-year-old son before he could see the presents, but it was too late. Tom had already entered the living room from the other side with an expectant smile on his face.
The small dog's three pairs of ears perked up and looked at Tom. It stood on its four legs and bolted after Tom.
"NO!" Mary yelled as Chris ran to intercept the beast and save his son, but he was too slow.
The beast had pounced on Tom's chest and their mouths shot for Tom's face. They began eagerly licking him all over, three tongues bombarding Tom's face with sloppy kisses. One head stopped momentarily to burp, a puff of smoke coming out of his mouth.
Mary and Chris were stunned, at a loss for words.
"Santa got me a puppy! He got me a puppy!" Tom joyfully laughed out, hugging the dog around one of its necks as it continuously licked him.
Apparently, Tom was a little too young to know puppies don't come with three heads.
Mary and Chris walked over to the pair, and their slobbery display halted as Tom sat up and looked at the three nametags on their collars.
"T-t-ter-termator?" Tom tried pronouncing the middle head's name.
Chris furrowed his brows as he took a look at the nametag. "Terminator, son."
"Oh...that's too hard! I'll just call him Termy for now!" Tom concluded, shrugging off the difficult name as he looked at the other two collars.
"A-a-an-any…" Tom struggled on the second name tag. Mary cautiously walked over and examined the nametags.
"This one's name is Annihilator, and this one is Decimator," she told him.
Mary and Chris were unsure of how to handle the situation, or where the dog and bike came from, but they definitely did not want to ruin what might be the first Christmas Tom would ever remember. Once Tom was distracted, they would get to the bottom of what had happened.
Tom frowned at the difficult-to-say names. "Such funny names. I will call you Annie, and you can be Dessie."
They barked together to show their understanding and ran to the motorbike. Tom's eyes bulged once more after seeing the bike and scurried over to it quickly. "I got a bike! Santa got me a bike!" he yelled with a shrill voice, eyes sparkling with joy.
Tom ran to the bike and gripped both handles. He looked to the saddle and saw a note. He picked it up and read it before running back to his parents.
"Mama, Santa wrote me a letter!!!" he announced emotionally. His mother and father had told him that Santa did not always gift everything he had been asked for, so seeing the coolest puppy and bike in his living room had made him incredibly happy.
Mary anxiously took the note from Tom and pored over it with her husband over her shoulder. Tom went back to admire his bike.
'To Tommy,
'Hope you love your puppee as much as I did. He eats charcoal and any kind of meat. No need to take out the bones.
'I know you wanted a byke, so I am giving you the one I used when I was your age. Don't let anyone stand behind it when you turn it on because it shoots out fire.
'Hope you have a Merry Christmas.
'With Much Love,
'Satan'
"Satan?" Mary asked in a puzzled voice.
Chris let out a cough. "That would explain the three-headed dog of death and the bike of doom," he said with a sarcastic voice, trying to lighten the mood. Mary looked at him with furrowed brows of anger; she was not in the mood for jokes.
"Daddy, Santa got you a present, too!" Tom had reappeared in front of them holding a rectangular gift wrapped in festive wrapping paper with a ribbon on top.
Chris took the boxed present from Tom's hands. Having given the present to his father, Tom looked to the dog and began petting each head in turn; his nursery rhymes had always stressed the importance of sharing and fairness.
Chris held the box's tag in front of him and his wife.
'To Mama
'and Daddy'
Chris and Mary looked at each other, confused with why Satan would have sent them or his son a gift. Chris was wondering whether he should examine his son's body for any numbers, but he decided to unwrap the gift first. After tearing the wrapping paper off, Chris was holding a book with a note on top of the front cover.
He picked up the note and held it so that Mary could read it as well.
'To the Lazy Parents Who Couldn't Be Bothered To Proofread Their Son's Letter to Santa,
'This should come in handy.
'Satan'
Both parents creased their foreheads as Chris moved the note away to look at the front cover of the book.
'Children's Dictionary
'By A Fallen Angel'
