Ticket to Hell - Fifth Place

Since young, Charlie has always been a stellar student - at miserably failing in spelling. So, of course, when Christmas came around, he wrote a letter to Santa, in which half of the words were misspelled...

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Deer Satan,

I hoep u r not ovur worcking urself during this holday. Eat sum cookees and drinc sum milke.

I wold liek butter speling skeels. And sum fwuits.

From,

Charlee

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After struggling for an hour, he finally finished writing. Happily sealing the letter, full of eraser marks, into a large envelope, he snuck out of the house. Indiscreetly, he dashed towards the post office, and he saw that no one except for the cat was watching him. When he arrived, he pushed open the door and the bell quietly jingled. The man at the counter looked up from his phone and smiled, "Little boy, what are you doing here without your parents?"

"I'm sending a letter to Santa!" Charlie's youthful face beamed as he expectantly stared at the man.

"Haha", the man laughed and handed him a stamp along with a pen. "Here's a stamp, I'll find your parents to pay for it later. When you're done, drop the letter into the mailbox."

Charlie nodded and accepted the stamp and pen. He pulled out a letter from his shirt, and uncapping the pen, began writing on the envelope.

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Norf Poll, Earth

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Following which, he dropped it into the mailbox and joyfully dashed away.

A month later. Christmas morning.

"AAAAHHH!" A deafening scream filled the house. Charlie paused, holding a confused expression.

"What is it?" Charlie pondered to himself. "Why is my mom screaming at 7 in the morning?"

"W-w-what is this?" She screamed in astonishment.

Opening the curtains, he peered through his window and glimpsed a large box lying in the middle of the street. The box was about 7 feet tall, 6 feet long and 6 feet wide. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the long line of cars trailing behind the box and the angry drivers who were cursing at the person who put the box there.

"Could… this box be from Santa?

It is Christmas morning today after all." At this thought, Charlie sprinted down the stairs and through the kitchen to reach the box. Once he arrived, he spotted a small tag on the box that said, 'To Charlee'. His eyes lit up and he began to climb up the box.

Half an hour later…

Finally, Charlie had clambered to the top of the box. Cutting a hole in the top of the box, he was astonished when mountains of pink fluff burst out. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he mumbled, "What did Santa send me… Why would he send me so much fluff?" as he threw the fluff over the box and into the street. Immediately, loud cursing could be heard from the driver who was standing behind the box.

Charlie had almost been completely buried in the seemingly endless fluff before he found a slip of paper at the bottom of the box. His face was full of confusion as he frantically muttered to himself, "What happened to my improved spelling skills? What happened to my fruits?" His eyes watered as he dug through the fluff for his presents. Unfortunately, it was to no avail, as even after he had searched through every inch of fluff, the presents he asked for had not been found.

In defeat, he picked up the slip of paper. It read,

Train Ticket to Hell!

One way only.

100% satisfaction guaranteed, no refunds available.

If Charlee uses this, he will be able to meet Satan for a minute *wink*

"Satan…?" He stared at it for a moment, uncomprehending the meaning. "Didn't I send my letter to Santa? Why did Satan respond?" Glumly, he murmured, "It must be a prank." and dropped the piece of paper back into the box.

Charlie was about to jump out of the box when he felt a faint tugging sensation on his leg. Surprised, he looked downwards and saw that the ticket was exuding the force that was attracting his leg. "Paper can act like a magnet?" His face filled with confusion as he puzzledly stared at the paper.

Suddenly, his mother yelled, "Charlie, why did you throw all of this fluff onto our front yard?!"

"Oops…" Charlie poked his face over the edge of the box and sheepishly smiled.

"Get out of there right now! And don't go near that box again. It might be dangerous." She sternly glared at him as he clumsily clambered out of the box.

"Okay mommy." He flashed a smile at her and ran back inside the house with his hands clutching the piece of paper. Once he arrived at his bedroom, he crawled under his bed. Prying open a small cube-shaped container, he messily stuffed the paper inside before wriggling out.

12:00 AM, Midnight.

Charlie held his breath and listened carefully. There were no footsteps or creaks from the staircase. "Mommy is finally asleep!" He couldn't resist glancing under his bed for a moment. Unconsciously, his fingers were creeping towards the two slips of paper.

Conflicted, he rolled around in his bed as he argued with himself. "Should I try to use the paper? It's surely just a prank. It's fine for me to satisfy my curiosity, right? But mommy told me not to go near the box, which includes things that were in it…"

Ten minutes passed. Unable to restrain his curiosity, Charlie gave in and squeezed under the bed to retrieve the train ticket.

"I should check whether or not the train ticket is a prank or not…" His eyes glowed with excitement as he stared at it. Unbeknownst to him, as his hand approached the ticket, it began to at first softly glow, and then the light became brighter and more intense. He was transfixed with awe, and he didn't notice the blinding light that had practically veiled upon his full figure. At the moment when he touched the ticket, a loud "CRASH" resounded, and the light flashed brightly for a second.

After the dust settled, Charlie and the train ticket had completely disappeared from sight. Only a trace of blood remained on the blanket.