Santa's Workshop

Nick stared at his surroundings dumbly as he

struggled to get up. 'Where in the world am I?'

"Urgg... Now that is going to hurt in the morning." Nick stretched and felt for his phone. He wanted to call someone, he had obviously been either drugged or kidnapped. He new that barista was suspicious. Nick really wanted to call his mom, but he really can't face her without a job. She would save him, sure, but then she would kill him. Brutally, with the presents he would never receive.

Maybe he could take advantage of this situation to become a famous youtuber. Probably not the job his mom had imagined for him but oh well, everyone had to start somewhere. Nick reached down for his phone and felt for his pocket. Empty.

"Where is my phone?!" Nick frantically searched his pockets and his landing area but it was nowhere to be found. He was in a unfamiliar place with no mode of communication or entertainment. This is not good.

"Don't worry, you'll get it back later." A female's voice sounded right in Nick's. "What the?!" He jumped and fell right on to his butt.

"Ha. Ha ha. Hehe ha ho....." Nick starting laughing uncontrolably with tears coming out of his eyes. This is it; he had finally lost it. I've done it. I've gone insane. At least his mom wouldn't hold him to the job thing now. She would hold him to the asylum.

"You haven't gone insane, Nick. You accepted the job offer, remember? Your selfishly accepted it for the pay? That is not Santa-ish at all! How could they choose you? I have to admit you are not what I imagined my Santa to be like." This time the voice sounded more sassy and a little mean.

Nick started to look around, ignoring the voice in his head and its insults. He had landed in a large wooden cabin. A few feet away there was a wooden desk full of tools and parts. Behind the desk there are a few strange looking conveyerbelts covered in dust. Farther back in the cabin there was a door and a small kitchen type area. Nick decided to see what was behind the door.

"Selfish? I am just going to ignore that bit." Nick thought for a moment while he walked. Maybe he should humor himself, see what delusion the voice in his head came up with.

"Wait, so I signed up to be Santa Claus? Like what it said on the paper? How can I save the world by lying to children in a mall all day? I mean I'm not complaining about the pay but I do not really look like Santa." He gestured to his average tummy, not too fat but not muscular either.

"Your job is to spread Christmas Spirit across the world of Polaria, not to be a Mall Santa, even though that line of work is also honorable. Also 'lying to children'? I'll just ignore that bit." The voice actually mocked him!

"Hey, don't you-" Nick was immediately interrupted. 'I don't even want to be Santa. Christmas would be just the same with out him.'

"Now onto appearance, I does not matter what you look like. Anyone can be Santa, even a nonbeliever like you. It's a shame, if we had gotten a believer this world could have -"

"What in the actual heck is this?! A TV screen?!" Nick had stopped in front of a window. The scene outside can only be described in one way; impossible.

Snow covers the ground and the sky, but in between flurries one can see a small village down the mountain the cabin sat on. What is this? The Appalachian Mountains? There is no way I could have been brought up here with normal means. Maybe I have gone insane.

"That is the first town you will be Christmas-ifying, Norn, and your workshop overlooks it. Now let's get started, first you should open-" Again the voice was rudely interrupted. By Nick, of course.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa lady, who said I agreed to this? I don't wanna be a part of this. This is all impossible." Nick's voice cracked. 'Where is this stupid voice coming from?!'

"You selected yes. You agreed. You are now this world's Santa Claus, whether you like it or not." The voice sounded annoyed. "I for one sure don't like it, but I have no choice and now neither do you. You agreed."

Nick laughed, "Yeah right. Where are you anyway?" He finally got to the door. Behind this door perhaps? He reached for the doorknob and started twisting.

"That is just your bedroom, I am not back there. I do not even have a physical body! How could such an idiot be Santa?!"

Nick ignored the annoying voice and looked through the door. A generic guest room greeted him with a small bed and a bookshelf. How did she know? What does she mean by not having a physical body?

"I'm in your brain, non-believer." The voice sighed thinking that it's new host was too slow.

Nick went into the room and sat on the bed, putting his head in his hands. "Who, no, what are you? This makes no sense. Santa isn't real. None of this can be real! A different world, Christmas spirit, and a disembodied voice? Soon I am gonna wake up in a mental hospital!"

"You sure will if you don't calm down. Seriously, for all the books you read, you should understand what I am. I'm your system. Your Santa system." The voice, no, the system revealed itself.