Chapter 2

Santa bridge was a quiet non-disclosed location, it lay north of the orphanage just next to the post office and was nestled in between two quiet hills. Kimberwyne often used the quiet time to check on the list or berate the unfortunate circumstance that had led him to this situation to begin with.

It was the bridge where supposed sightings of Santa were and where he and Iman used to sneak off to watch the stars and play tag. This time however he was looking for information about the list of presents he was supposed to deliver and not his best friend's disappearance.

He opened up the technological advanced gift known as the Santa Watch and used the scan function to look for a familiar frequency. The usual signal from the cloud computer.
The cloud revealed itself to him as an advisor of Christmas. But considering it was just before evening's peak, the night sky had not fully coalesced yet. The usual cloud spot by Santa bridge was not present and so the cloud was not in its usual talkative state.

Yes, a talking cloud, advising him about the responsibilities of Christmas.
He turned on his scanning watch and looked for the usual question mark on the green illuminated screen, before shouting “How many presents do I have to deliver” into the watch's adjustable mouthpiece.
The watches scanning function changed before setting on an odd number of 151.
“That much?!” Kimberwyne yelped, scrunching his face into a consterned expression, his head still pounding from the rigorous thinking of routes to and from.

The odd watch’s number did not change, or even blink. Kimberwyne stood still in confusion, trying to think of all his previous destinations with the bright red cotton carrier bag he carried, but the number on the screen wouldn’t move yet alone budge.

130 deliveries left. Christmas holiday shook its dusty boots off and was cold as could be. Kimberwyne shuffled on the spot and recalled his last conversation with the Cloud outside of Santa Bridge.

-1 week earlier.

“The number of people opening their gifts has been getting lower and lower,” The computer said in a deep voice “So, the schedule we’re on this year should see if we have Christmas Memory’s favour by…..next year at the earliest-“
“Next year won’t cut it either” said Kimberwyne, who had spent the last 10 minutes running from the last delivery – “The Santa watch still works like a hunk of junk, noting the broken dial on the watch,”

“Well, provided everything goes well, the Christmas memory should give everyone their heart's content on Christmas Day,” The cloud computer affirmed. Kimberwyne and the computer continued typing in rapt conversation. Meanwhile a cloud watched them with curious interest.

Chapter 3

The foreign cloud was an opaque colour, almost invisible to see amidst the skies prolonging against the horizon. The only telltale sign it existed was a long pause almost as if Kimberwyne had been caught observing something particularly embarrassing. Pause that he itched his head at as he looked around his surroundings to make sure he wasn’t followed to Santa Bridge’s remote location.
When he stopped wandering around, the cloud intoned causing Kimberwyne to stop out of shock, his left foot still in mid-walk.

“Did you forget something?” A deep voice spoke
Kimberwyne screamed and spun around mid-place, his watch dangling from his wrist, as he looked around frantically, he had heard the all-encompassing voice and its boom thunder like resonance, but Santa bridge stood still and mundane as ever – discreet in its implausibility.
“I asked you if you forgot something,” The cloud intoned again “Don’t worry, it’s just a computer,” it added, albeit sheepishly – “My electronically modified voice that is, - usually it’s much louder,”

Kimberwyne stared, disbelief etched into his eyebrows, before rasping “No….”
A sock landed on his head, as if it fell from the sky, and indeed it did.
“Your Christmas stocking is doubtfully small,” measured the Cloud, “Buck up a bit!” it added – a smile almost wrought out of the voice’s expression

Santa bridge gleamed with unexpected promise – it had almost an arcade quality to it, with pushing light-up buttons. The gifts were pre-wrapped through Santa Bridge, it was rumoured that every wayward orphan who had attempted to steal the largest found them weighed down by an invisible weight and worse those who attempted to open some on the spot found themselves floating away as if gravity couldn’t reach them.
So to hear that his behaviour could be a bit braver was the utmost insanity to Kimberwyne.
Right next to the insanity of a talking cloud.

Chapter 4

“I’m from the north pole,” said the large cloud hovering several feet above Kimberwyne’s head – “As much as I am not from round these parts, you seem to be off with your counting,” the cloud paused, questioning. “It was 151 presents LAST week” the cloud spoke “this town is in disorder, have you visited Litten square?”
Kimberwyne shook his head, mouth wide open before swallowing, “Litten Square? I’m not allowed there…curfew is at 7pm, just ask anyone”

The cloud seemed to judge his response as correct before grimly adding “The santa watch isn’t fully scanning the entire city, anyway I’m entrusting you-“
Kimberwyne jerked sharply, before yelling at the Cloud “Listen, I’m not doing that journeying halfway across the city in an attempt to make some degenerates day! You got that?”
“-with the responsibility of helping Santa with Christmas and I’ll be there to help if you need it,” the Cloud finished neatly

“I do need help,” Kimberwyne sulked “I can’t do this all alone, it was a mistake from the beginning – and now all these kids expect their presents,” He kicked some snow with his heavy boots
“24 Hours,” spoke the Cloud “An entire day,- “That’s the time I’ll give you to deliver ONE more present, hopefully you’ll be able to get your directions right this time, with the help of the watch.”

If the Cloud could have looked around it would have, instead it seemed to vibrate as if considering something.

“Seek out Suzy Polyester, she’ll help you,” The cloud said shortly

Chapter 5

Suzy Polyester lived on the 32nd floor of an apartment building in a nice part of the city. Kimberwyne had pulled out a business card of the spare Christmas stocking that the Cloud had rained down on him during their earlier conversation.

“Seek out Suzy Polyester,” The cloud had ended shortly, “If you have trouble over the next 24 hours, she’ll be a good aid to you - if not then maybe I was wrong and you still have 130 deliveries left,”
“Is that a joke,” Kimberwyne added grumpily
And so Kimberwyne found himself at the reception area of a luxury apartment building, enquiring over a broad desk.

“First name Suzy, Last name Polyester” he had added, doing his best attempt at the voice of a grown-up he had heard earlier who had breezed through to the elevator doors.
“Never heard of her- “The doorman’s slight smirk changing to a confused frown as the intercom busily rang. “Hello, Y-yes there is a gentleman here to see you,” A quick glance in Kimberwyne’s direction indicating he was talking to 5 foot tall Kimberwye. “I’ll send him up immediately,” he spoke, right before the conversation on the intercom terminated.

“Go right on up, s-sir, 32nd floor,” he said with a further furtive look in Kimberwyne’s direction. “32nd floor,” he repeated. Kimberwyne made his quiet way to the elevator, dragging the empty satchel with him, stopping before the illuminated buttons indicating that the lift was on its way down.

Kimberwyne looked back at the security desk, the security guard he had spoken to just shortly was walking by the Christmas tree located in the centre of the room just next to the check-in station. He walked up and down, before peering at Kimberwyne suspiciously, Kimberwyne came to an abrupt halt as the left rang, he entered the small space before jamming the button marked 32 and then puffed his chest out. He frowned to himself; just how good a Christmas was everyone except him.

The guard scratched his head and continued to peer at the Christmas tree, unbeknownst to him, small bauble-like cameras hid themselves amongst the branches.

Chapter 6

Meeting Suzy Polyester almost felt like yesterday, Kimberwyne remembering it being so abrubt that it seemed to fold his entire world in half, what with the Battle of Yule Tide, Limelight security and his corresponding education still etching shock into his eyebrows to this day.

The entrance to the 32nd floor presented a series of doors that all wore the same oak furnished brown paint, with laminated gloss indicating that the building had been newly renovated. The carpet was untouched by juice stains, suggesting that the haphazard days that Kimberwyne was used to seemed strictly within the bounds of the orphanage; with the constant noise and shouting that was a constant clog in his ears that time without it was refreshing and made Kimberwyne pay attention to the details of his surroundings.
Kimberwyne marched forward slowly, and knocked on the first door ‘3201’, the door instead of being shut, creaked open and revealed a pitch black hallway that seemed to continue forever.

“Hello?” Kimberwyne enquired, “Ms. Polyester?” he hesitantly asked, pitching one foot forward on carpet that seemed to make noise against the still silence emcompassing the entire 32nd floor.
His voice didn’t echo.

Kimberwyne walked back outside the apartment and saw his eyes drawn to a sheet of paper glued to the wall with childish scribbles covering the front, but with bold writing prominently in view .
Hi Kimberwyne!
You can find me at Al Vedo restaurant just 5 minutes away from your orphanage.
Suzy Polyester
P.S If you’re reading this you failed the first test.

Kimberwyne paused, a frown on his face looking at the paper and re-reading the note underneath his breath, was this the work of Suzy Polyester?

Chapter 7

The trek to the Al Vedo restaurant went without any complaints. Upon exiting the building the security briefed him with a hazy smile before mashing his fingers on the computer keyboard, a far cry from the thunderous tone and permanent scowl he was greeted with; causing Kimberwyne to wonder if he had grown in height. He scrunched his face in irritation and scrutinised himself in a shop window to gauge whether his robed santa outfit was catching a trend.

Outside, the bitter cold was beginning to kick in and softly pelted snowflakes drifted in the auduible breeze, showing the hours between the evening to be heavily under a dusk black sky, albeit with a few stars poking out.

Kimberwyne arrived outside the restaurant with only a few queried glances at his outfit, he had run past the usual entrance to the orphanage tenderly known as John Peters Libertine Guidance for the Young, and was looking at the restaurant from the outside. He hadn’t seen before while on a usual trek to school, where characters like the security guard often were made in spade, nor had the cloud spoke about it, so instead of standing at the illuminated door governed by Christmas lights he wedged himself by a window and looked inside the restaurant.

Aside from the usual adults and what looked to be a few mother’s in conversation, it was otherwise half empty. Kimberwyne was about to reach through the door when a loud sound made a ‘MOO’ in the restaurant.
‘MOO’ went the reindeer, its face taking up the bulk of the space of the window. Kimberwyne froze, unable to move unsure if the animal was dangerous or not, a nervous laugh halted in his throat, but as he struggled to contain himself he hoped hadn’t been seen by the waiters moving to and fro. What would an 11-year-old be doing here at this time?

“Hey,” said a person in the window-frame, fog slowly covering up the panel. They then rapt on the glass window. A small face revealed itself amongst the cold air, and smiled.

Chapter 8

“Hi?” Kimberwyne said amidst the shock of the reindeer head still rearing and peeking at him through the window. The window now slightly ajar, exhumed a variety of smells familiar with the restaurant judging by the hurried waiters back and forth between multiple tables. All in all things seemed normal despite the large mammal taking up residence in the restaurant complacently.

“Hi, Kimberwyne,” the small figure interrupted Kimberwyne’s thoughts, “My security seem pleased with you,” the small figures face withdrew its smile and moved to the table in the middle of the busy restaurant, then beckoned to him with a small palm.

The door opened automatically. Kimberwyne eyed the reindeer evenly, then made the decision to enter, his legs carrying his body for him. “That thing was huge!” He thought to himself as he walked past the evanescently smiling clerk and made his way around a group of toddlers to the table in the middle of the half-full restaurant. The small face peered at him then began to smile again.

Suzy Polyester, he presumed – who looked to be around the age of 7 but definitely no older than 10. He was 11 for crying out loud. He sat down at one of the readily available chairs and met Suzy with a look of reassured but familiar paternalism, after all life at the orphanage was full of kids who knew how to throw a mean punch.

“Suzy Polyester?” he asked, his voice still audible amongst the chitter chatter in the restaurant, making a small hum around him.

“Yes, Kimberwyne, right?” the little figure spoke “I just finished my rendition of the Christmas Alliance’s first hallmark, - it was applauded most generously,” the reindeer made itself present and was stroked softly by Suzy.

Kimberwyne frowned. Was this who he had come to see? Despite her knowing big words like hallmark, he himself had grown in two shoe sizes and knew how to tie his laces all by himself.

“You were on T.V,” Suzy spoke shortly
“What?” Kimberwyne replied
“You were on T.V – sponsored by limelight, you know…. for breaking and entering into people’s homes,”

Chapter 9

“But it’s all in the Christmas spirit, “Kimberwyne said the magic words, hoping it was all a dream.
“Not according to the Christmas Star, you’ve actually been seen at EVERY location you’ve visited,” Suzy replied squarely

“Limelight security –“ Suzy started “Are used by cloud technologies in order to aid weather controls and promote the supportive environment,” Suzy spoke slowly this time “Meaning that it’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer, without the cloud, the environment will soon get worse,”

“So, our friend the cloud was looking for you, hoping that you would convince the star to change it’s mind about people,” Suzy finished

Kimberwyne stared. All of this, out of a seven-year-old?
“So I’ve been seen by who exactly,” Kimberwyne asked boldly
“By the Christmas tree,” Suzy pointed out aptly “And of course, our friend here,” She continued to scratch the reindeers coat

Kimberwyne stared even more. The Christmas tree? His mind suddenly flashed back to the security guard staring at the decorations on the small antique Christmas tree, in the apartment waiting area.
“The Christmas tree,” Kimberwyne asked “The one in your apartment building, is that Christmas tree also watching people, - “

“Yes,” Suzy stated matter of factly “It’s state of the art,” “But you failed to notice the decorations; they were all part of the security network, sort of like wifi,” – “And this-“ Suzy laundered a set a photo’s onto the table, they were coloured in green overlays and had fuzzy outlines – “is you,”

Kimberwyne scanned the photo’s noting the guard in the apartment from just one hour ago in one photo, to June Alabasters apartment where he had left several gifts, and finally Jade buzzards house where a picture of him depositing gifts underneath a tree was also displayed.

The reindeer stared at him intently before opening it’s mouth, what came out next was not a Moo but a clear spoken set of words.
“It seems you’re in trouble, Mr.Kimberwyne – and your enemies have anything but festive cheer,”

Chapter 10

Kimberwyne was certain that he had a young boy’s voice, even if he was certain of nothing else. But this fact denied reality. The reindeer was talking fully coherent sentences and didn’t seem to have any problems in telling him twice about his appearances.

“-And then you were like Aitaaa-Achahaha,” the Reindeer said describing the photo’s to Kimberwynes overactive brain, “You know, when you were peaking in Jade Buzzard’s photo album, then you did that thing, you know,”

“You mean laughed,” Kimberwyne questioned, pointing to the still image of him doing the moonwalk over a drunk Tony Pattridges askew body upon one of his first successful deliveries.
“Yeah! I can’t do it the same way you guys do it,” the reindeer who had introduced himself as Moochime had said

He had tried laughing but what sounded like a sneeze came out. A reindeer sneeze. A small earthquake had rummaged through the restaurant disrupting some of the chatter of the recipients.
Moochime was Suzy’s friend and had taken to liking Kimberwyne quite fast, talking about their mutual friend the cloud and Kimberwyne’s temporary happenstance as Santa Claus. Moochime had mentioned his family and their excitement for Christmas Day.

It was then Suzy Polyester drilled into his head the importance of the 24 hour time limit and Kimberwyne’s conversation with the Cloud.

“Take a look at this,” Suzy said pointing to a series of charts, “It’s about how long it will take to get to next year in comparison to last year,” – “It’s taking longer and longer to get to Christmas each year,” “It seems the Christmas Star knows all about it, it’s doing it on purpose, because a reindeer family are giving up on this town and moving to another one,” Suzy said, a sadness appearing on her small face.

“If we could just get the Reindeer family to talk to the Christmas star,” Suzy interrupted, “Then we might have a way to help out our friend the cloud some more,”

“How could we help him?” halfway through the conversation Kimberwyne had food brought to him -“It’s on the house!” Moochime stated as fish and chips along with a milkshake, strawberry being his favourite, found its way to their table. “He’s a giant cloud, does he even need our help?” Kimberwyne idly spoke as he dipped a fry into some ketchup.

Suzy disagree vehemently, shaking her little head from side to side, “The other reindeer believe are starting to support that everything be automated in Christmas, they don’t believe that humans should play a larger role in the Christmas season – that humans should be robots,”

At this part of the conversation Suzy gulped and then spoke firmly,
“You’ve got 24 hours, the cloud said, deliver a present in time and maybe we’ll get the star to change it’s mind, see whose next on the naughty list and do your best at being Santa,”

“I’ll lend you the special limelight t.v camouflage, that way you won’t have to worry about being seen this time, by anyone,”

Chapter 11

As Kimberwyne and Suzy Polyester chatted, the cloud slept and coalesced. It had watched as Kimberwyne had made his entrance and was greeted by friends, Moochime and Suzy Polyester. And as Kimberwyne was welcomed inside the Cloud made a usual friendly surveillance of the area, before coming to a stop by Santa Bridge. It reverberated and if it could have it would have shrugged its shoulders as an unwelcome figure made an appearance on small hill just before Santa Bridge.

“Halt!” the figure demanded, shouting at the cloud “You are in breach of allocating space,”
The cloud did indeed make a non-committal noise this time, before saying “It’s not your place to say,”
“You’ve done this before,” stated the robed figure, clad in a uniform reminiscent of Kimberwyne’s Santa Claus outfit, but in a colour scheme of grey and purple. “And I gave you a warning the last time I saw you, fail to stop now and you wil be subjected to space offences by the space-overlords,”

“For what,” the cloud said simply

“You know what you did,” the unwelcome stranger said, this time angrily, uncharacteristically of it’s rough-commando like voice. “Changing the weather is a crime punishable by neo-galaxy rules, changing the weather multiple times? Not legal in cross sectors, yet alone your attempts at brandishing the Christmas alliance and helping the enemy – in the form of santa claus rebels,” The stranger cocked and loaded a now visible electrical pistol, a triangular-like piston extended from the pistols exit hole, sharpening itself with electricity.

“I know what your plan is,” this time the stranger said quietly, “But you forgot that by relying on the weather machine to harvest this town’s meagre Santa rations from the Santa bridge, won’t work without the Christmas stars. All of them.”

The stranger weighed both his empty palms, making a demonstration of himself , his pistol now firmly back in his belt buckle.

“Looks like you won’t be able to contact your allies, after all,” he added “And so much for the Christmas alliance and its dreaded pals,”
“The Christmas alliance will continue as always,” the cloud nearly thundered, it’s voice booming through the heavens

“War it is then,” snarled the santa-robed stranger

Chapter 12

“Brr…..!”
“I know, it’s freezing!”
“Let me see the screen!”
“Noddly Town, you better remember us!!”
“Whoa, watch out – MOVE!!”

A pedestrian barely managed to move out the way as an enormity of a sleigh and more than 10 reindeer barrelled through the zebra crossing in the middle of the illuminated central square. Evening ensured that the square wasn’t jam packed but turrels of beeps from cars highlighted the ricochet like noise from a fast moving object that passed through the cobblestoned roads of Noddly Town causing car after car to stop in the sleighs wake or risk not avoiding a boisterous collision.

“Whoa, DID you not see that?!”
“It was coming too fast!”
“I’m faster!”
“Heave, ho!”

It wasn’t before too long that the sligh and what appeared to be it’s carriers came to a standstill outside a brightly marked space labelled “CASINO”. Cars continued coming along the narrow roads beeping all the while, the sleighs carriers and it’s riders not too windbrushed from the speedy excursion through the winterstruck roads of Noddly Town.

Out of the sleigh jumped out a couple of reindeer, beholden by their leader wearing what appeared to be a large leather biker jacket. The carriers of the sligh instead of stopping in union, slid all over the place, thunderously laughing and tackling each other as they recalled their stunt through town.

“Haha, if you had seen the looks on their faces,” one of the reindeers shouted
“If we weren’t going so fast, they might’ve been able to see our cool wheels,” spoke another reindeer, this time, speaking over the cloud

“Yeah and finally been able to sort out Christmas for themselves. Silly humans,” coffered another reindeer
“At least they’ll be ablt to remember tonight!” This time the leader spoke, he was clad in leaher jacket and now peering at the CASINO sign. “Alright, let’s partake of our share and leave this town done and dusted and show Dough Mcbee, that we’re not a gang to be messed with”

The computer in the sleigh activated, suddenly turning on in a startling show of blue lights and eerie sounds, the buzzing suddnely stopped followed by an assortment of words appering on the screen, ranging specifically from ‘Interrupt Connection,’ to ‘Start hacking programme now’ before a countdown appeared on the screen suddenly turned appeared and the computer began to print out large pools of money.

“All right! Let’s get this show on the road!” shouted the head reindeer
“Do you think Dough Mcbee’s treasure is still around?” questioned one of the reindeer
“Or still inside the computer somewhere, along with his video security tapes?” asked another reindeer, looking at the computer inside the sleigh

“Do I look like an engineer to you, I’m a biker-oh shoot here it is, the security tapes-I didn’t even know they had DVD’s back then,” guffawed another reindeer, this time looking at a moving image on the screen of the computer
“My name is Dough Mcbee, a security stout in Noddly Town and recently I’ve uncovered some disturbing events-“
[resident evil like place with dough mcbee in the past, where he first safeguarded the town from aliens, with kimberwynes father and mother, the town was deserted; think leon kennedy first days as a cop]
“Haha, Dough Mcbee!”
“Haha,”
“That’s even his voice!”
“How would you even know?”
“Take more money from the casino!”
“Someone set up a distraction!”
The crowd of reindeer stopped laughing and then looked around at the traffic in the city, one reindeer stockpiled and ran in headfirst to the nearest parking lane and then began to race against the fastest moving car.
“Haha, race them!” the reindeer yelled over the sound of several beeps and rotating engines.
“Haha, yeah, yeah!” several more reindeer joined in against the race against the cars.

Panic ensued

Chapter 13

Sellotape – Check!
Wrapping Paper – Check!
Stocking – Check!

Kimberwyne eyed the Christmas list with a nonplussed look, unberknownst to him there was a figure entering the apartment just as he was exiting it.

The figure wore a orange Velcro suit and paused at the door, just Kimberwyne exited through the hallway. Then as the door of the apartment opened with the stranger using a key, the hallway door door shut with a thump. The clanking sound of the keys overlooking the closing of the hallway door. The stranger looked both way before entering the apartment.

The stranger stare at Kimberwynes handiwork then removed a device from his pocket. With a small beap, the stranger aimed the device at the pile of presents under the tree and as if taking a photo pressed a small button with the device positioned next to his mask. He did this with each presenet underneath the tree, then pocketed the device. The star at the topof the Christmas tree seemed to dull opon response to each successive beep from the device. The grey like Christmas wrapping that Kimberwyne had left, indicative of gifts left for people on the naughty list had left behind, turned into flumescent red and green instead. The figure looked left and right then exited the apartment.

Chapter 14

Kimberwyne hauled a heavy cargo of presents from Santa Bridge, he was dressed in his new Santa outfit gifted to him by Suzy Polyester, this time in a bright red flourescnet colour instead of a likable crimnson. The outfit stood out all the more but he didn’t seem to have trouble being seen at the dead of night by Adults or any lingering teenagers.

This time, his target audience was the Billows; a regular family basied in a small house near Kimberwynes orphanage. They had ben on a naughty list for causing small tantrums in Noddly Town with their attitude and leaving garbage all over the town according to the Christmas list. Gone were the days of the town being rubbish free, instead the rubbish had mounted up by the boatload near the small house, leaving bags of trash askew and all in the Billows garden.

Whist delivering the presents Kimberwyne had come into envounter severak empty canisters of food which stuck to his santa boot and left him nearly tripping over the stairs in the house. As he despoited his presents under what appeared to be a makeshift Christmas tree, he noticed an approaching loud noise which sounded like several voices arguing

“And then we raced these those cars….”
“Yeah! That’ll sever as a lesson to Dough Mcbee”
“Wherever he’s hiding!”
“Yeah!”

Kimberwyne peaked his head out of the window of the Billows residence, only to see multiple reindeer racing against cars. A small gaggle of them lingered in the corner, snoozing on the sleigh.

“Move up a bit!”
“You’re taking too much space!”
“The chairs are comfortable….”

Kimberwyne wasn’t surprised to see that they were talking this time and eyed the reindeer as one of them charged headfirst against a blue sedan family car; it’s onlookers in the vehicle looking at the reindeer in shock.

Kimberwyne still in the billows residence hummed as his bag was now empty of the gifts he had depositied under the tree and exited the residence trusting Suzy Polyesters word that the Santa camouflage would stop him from being seen by limelight security. The Christmas tree stood in silence, with Kimberwyne there as as he recalled memeories of him looking at the baubles curiously he did not remember a thing at the Billows being out of place by the time he left.

Chapter 15

The front entrance of the casiono had been devasted there was a car placed angrily through the front door and a man speaking into a mobile phone standing outside of the rear car door. He looked unhappy. A group of onlookers had gathered together and were spectating bear a sgop which housed televisions.

The latest news report was on one of the television indivating the damage in Noddly Town.
“Citizens said they’ve seen nothing like it, Reindeer Chaos! As reported in town, we’ve seen a set of attacks which have left us all bewildered. Noddly Town News Reports,”

Kimberwyne wandered into town looking at all the damage that had been cased due to the reindeer racing.He peered at some of the pedestrians responses to the environement bt they seemed to look away from the majority of the destruction and focus on walking away from the areas that had been sequestered.

Kimberwyne saw a traffic poster advising people to avoid East Pippin Street and head down North Anglia instead. Kimberwyne paused, his orphanage was on East Pippin street, where the majority of people were heading away from; he just had one question: Why could the majority of people see the damage that lined North Anglia Road?

“Illusions can be hard to see through, Kimberwyne,” Spoke the cloud suddenly
Kimberwyne stopped walking in shock, the cloud had appeared again. Did he reach the time limit of 24 hours already?

Tomorrow midday hadn’t made it’s way yet, as he had set an alarm on the shoddy yet strapped together santa watch. He had to make his way to the operhanage by 6pm at the very latest. The breeze was cooler than the trek to Suzy Polyesters.

“What do you want?” Kimberwyne pre-empted, numb from the shocks of the day
“The Christmas memoery that the reindeer were after,”the cloud asked, “The memeory of the town,”
“The damage done by the Christmas was is covered up by the aforementioned ‘Chrismas Memory’”
The walking done by Kimberwyne stopped, as towns road seemed to walk by itself.
The ticking on Kimberwynes watch stopped
“I’ll show you,” The cloud said

“You think the damage tonight was bad?” the cloud intoned “Look at this,”

As if a veil of surveillance had been lifted, holes began to appear in the nearby – what Kimberwyne assumed- apartment complex. The duplex itself shrank and resorted to an old decript style, somrthing resemebling a crypt, more than an modern apartment duplex.

Kimberwyne stared, an entire row of buildings had now lost their metallic sheen and now instead looked like something out of a dungeon, rust caked in dullshaped brics and where you once imagined it housing the people you saw everyday in Noddly Town, it’s aura now appeared empty and silent.

“What have you done,” Kimberwyne asked, it was as if Noddly Town had gone from bad to worse in under a minute
“Your town without Christmas memory won’t work,” The cloud said “The only thing that keeps this town running is Christmas,”

Chapter 16

There used to be many Sky’s, and many lights in the sky. And many Cloud’s that could talk.
They solved mysteries and intervened in troubles.
Many Christmas lights for many maps. Times that etched far beyond the North Pole. One small spart and lighting up once at a time.
There was once a time where-
Suzy Polyester switched off her audiobook. Santa Claoud and the thesis of the reindeer was getting nowhere to the point.
Along with Santacronology.Phd
Her studies were lacking something paramount as she looked at the complicated diagram she had assigned herself.

Suzy understood that without exposure to the Christmas memory, amnesia would set in and that ir was starting to happen to many individuals in noddly town. Her meeting with Kimberwyne had solidified her theory.
The Christmas was a terrible thing, she realised, the destruction of the Christmas memeory and cloud computers had left a majority of the word in denial of a world across the north pole.
Yet alone talking reindeer and computer cloud’s.
The battle of the five forces had been one of the worst unspoken secrets in Santa Claus history.
…It taking longer and longer to get to Christmas each year.
As time squeezed in on itself.
Suzy looked at one of the demonstrations on the diagram.

“Nuclear Momentum Crisis Schedules”

The agreement between Santa and the North Pole and the countdown to doomsday as the Christmas Alliance failed to establish themselves in the later years.

Things couldn’t get any worse.

In the past, Santa (with great strength, mind you) had managed to bring back gifts from the North Pole. Inventions people had called them, one of a kind wonders. The Christmas alliance had been about trading faith for good, an agreement between Santa’s and the foreign clouds and reindeer ilk who had guaranteed Christmas wonders year after year..

Senior Major reindeer had visited Noddly Town once she recalled, she had only been 4 years old at the time but she still recalled his great baritone voice and the smell of sage. Senior Major Reindeer and his squadron had been a great part of the Christmas alliance him and his allies keeping the presents arriving timely year after year despite the bitter winters, and heavy snowfall.

Noddly Town had been a shade of itself, since the days of the Christmas Alliance.

Suzy Polyester wiped down her desk.

But Dough Mcbee, another reindeer, had a caring side.

The Christmas alliance had it’s members, and Dough Mcbee was one of them, a reindeer that spent his days on the computer instead ‘running around’ as he put it, he had salvaged a good portion of studies and documents relating to Christmas in hope that Noddly Town could be saved.

Of course these documents had been stolen from an unlikely source, “All’s well to you, to know,” Dough Mcbee had proclaimed, his age showing only slightly with the greying of one of his antlers. He and Moochimes Father did not get along. Dough Mcbee believing stubbornly that the key to Christmas Memory layed in the documents and not so much in the generous notion of another Santa Claus.

“Another Santa Claus,” Dough Mcbee had said, “That’ll be the 20th one since the last failed excursion to the North Pole, where diplomatic talks with Easter Cloud have held no function and the Christmas Elf village had all but been abanadoned.

If you believed in things like Christmas Elves that is.

Still, Suzy believed in Kimberwyne. The kids at the orphanage seemed to look up to him.

She smiled a small smile, looking at the Limelight security images, before giving a brief pause, she looked at one of the pictures intently; one of him walking away from a Christmas tree, then gave a strained glare.

The timestamps didn’t add up she saw, looking at the small analogue figures at the bottom of the picture. One of the pictures, had it’s numbers six hours in advance of another one.

Which couldn’t be possible.

Because that time hadn’t occurred yet.

Suzy looked at her clock, it hadn’t hit 6pm yet.

Had someone hacked the security?

Was there someone else who had been in the room with him?

Chapter 17

Kimberwyne stayed at the orphanage and was well used to it. The in’s and outs of St.Thomas porphiles for orphaned children often resulted in misdemeamours, as the barely tempered children would often sneak out to the local shops on the weekends and charge a penny more to misinclined younger orphans for stolen goods and such.

All kinds of activities took place at the orphanage, not much of the friendly sort. Kimberwyne found himself around a middle group of friends, or rather they found him. Short and besmirched Peris Tollowmeer cringed his face into something resembling awake and alert as the bell toll rang for early school.

You would reckon at night, they would spend their time on kid-like excursions and hobbies.

Instead they would spend their time trading around the Santa Watch.

The Santa Watch was something to be avoided at the orphanage. A jinx of sorts. The kids like to say that no such thing as Santa visited them, but the Santa watch was proof that some poor kid definitely had been cursed if they ended up with the Santa Watch from their turn in the game.

It was sort of a musical chairs like game, they would all pile out of the chairs and the first person to be seen moving when the tallest kid said “Stop,” would receive the watch. Ben and Milly took turns being the so called tail whistlers, or administrators and would always cheat.

The winner (or in the minds of the fellow orphans; loser) would pull a number from a hat which supposed a number of dares; many which teetered on the edge of rule breaking to outright illegality.
The santa watch would then be deposited on the winning orphans wrist and off they would go to pursue their junior level criminal activity.

The more accident prone orphans would try to avoid this game at all costs, but being accident prone would often find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time and find themselves co-erced into playing.

Such was the fate of Kimberwyne.

It happened after a labourous discussion on the penalties of leaving juice cartons on stairs, blank eyed stares being the result of the 15 minute berating. The pinched face administrative staff made it a point to say that they were in no way involved in the orphans lives, lacking the least part of an open ear to hear reasons as to why or who was involved. The most medieval of punishments was usually dolled out, in Kimberwynes opinion, from cleaning the home with a extra large sponge and bucket or dusting the exteriors of the rooms until the mahogany walls shone.

There was no accounting about the punishments handed out only to whom, and thus a rather sordid-tempered group found themselves chauffeuring their punsihments onto other children, and those children found themselves getting into trouble under the tutelage of older and bigger kids.

The bullies of St.Toms were mean to say the least and so Kimberwyne found himself at a disadvantage when he decided his friend needed help mopping the floor.

“Whatcha got on today,” Kimberwyne asked, his mouth filled to the brim with a beaming smile, trying to cheer up Oman, one of his only friends at the orphanage.

“Nothing but the programme,” Oman tuned, sitting down on the only available couch in the orphanage, an alabaster and plastered together type thing, “In fact, it’s my turn to go in now,” He said looking at the clock on the wall.

Kimberwyne looked at him oddly, usually Oman would stretch out on the sofa for 10 minutes before retiring, usually the both of them deep in conversation about the day and school, but this time his attention was abrupt. Suddenly a figure entered the room.

“Oman,” the figure spoke ominously, “Please report to Misses Katering to continue your detention,” The man in the grey suit stated, Kimberwyne hadn’t seen him around the orphanage before – he gazed inquisitively at the large briefcase in one of the man’s hands.

Oman winced, but then smiled tiredly at Kimberwyne, before struggling to his feet and leaving the room quieitly with the member of staff.

Kimberwyne paused after Oman had left the room. He thought about briefcase the member of staff had, and how out of place it seemed. The members of staff usually wore drab, plain clothing. The sharply dressed man seemed out of place amongst the dull yellow walls of the de-facto sitting room. Was the orphanage going to get extra funding?

Just then 4 young boys rushed into the room. One of them looked Kimberwye up and down before scowling viciously at him.

“Remember me?” He asked, “So, it was you who stole it”

Kimberwyne froze.

Now don’t get the wrong idea, Kimberwyne was plenty brave, and a sterling actor too. But the glow-in-the-dark pen stood out of Kimberwyne’s school trousers like a sore thumb. He had taken one from the bullies stash to show Oman; rare, because Kimberwyne never stole. But it’s fire patterned design made it too good to pass on.

“It’s not mine,” Kimberwyne stammered out weakly, “I know that! I’m holding it for a friend,”

The boy who Kimberwyne assumed to be the leader, opened his mouth to say something but was abruptly cut off by the man with the grey suit entering the room again.

“You five,” he stated “Report to Mr. Dimitri for scheduling, you’ve been assigned to clean up duty,” He finished, idly petting his smooth silver tie.

“Why? What did I do wrong?” Kimberwyne asked, bewildered with the sudden order.

The man in the grey suit, gave the 5 children a utmost hollow look, as if he was a robot, then he opened up his briefcase and pulled out a walkie talkie.

“You were loitering,” The man in the grey suit said, before stuffing the walkie-talkie into his pocket. It made a rather untidy bulge, and in Kimberwyne’s eyes made him wonder if the man’s pants had shrunk in the washing machine. Kimberwyne glared at the man, wishing Oman, or anyone, was here to witness this injustice.

The Christmas tree in the back of the room jingled softly.

Chapter 18

Kimberwyne met Lufa and Peris while mopping the floors. He saw them running through the hallway, chased by the other, larger kids. A handful of pens being carried in their hands. Pens in the orphanage were a lot like currency, so Kimberwyne’s guess is that the bullies were running after the younger children.

Kids liked to draw, especially the younger ones, this often ended up in lots of mishaps and fighting as the orphanage, as the pens would run out of ink and there would be a shortage. The middle to younger aged kids would howl, run away and laugh if they managed to get a few hours of drawing time in; some of their creations varied from anything to pictures of mansions to a house on fire; Kimberwyne supposed this would be the orphanage. But a small mob started to form over time, of small children piling their artful drawings together in a show of defiance against their older counterparts as well as teachers.

Kimberwyne was part of the younger brigade, he didn’t find himself getting picked on as much when he stayed with the younger kids.

So when Kimberwyne saw the two assailants running down the hallway, pen’s in hand, he paused as he watched one of the older bullies speed around a corner in an attempt to catch the two, his view on the stairs giving him a vantage point. Luckily for them, Kimberwyne had quick thinking.

“They went around the other way,” Kimberwyne spoke, nonplussed – hoping the bully would take the bait, even though the next corner was non-existent as it ended at an exit. He watched as the older bully caught up to his friend, the two looking lost in thought as they sprinted in the other direction.

Kimberwyne sighed and looked down before continuing to mop the stairs, he stared at his expression in the pearlescent view of the wooden floors, before he heard the pitter patter of feet drawing slowly towards him. He looked up cautiously, and saw the two children who were being chased by the bullies.

“Hey, thanks,” said the boy through panted breaths, the girl on his right side said nothing, but smiled and nodded her head.

Seeing as they were out of breath, Kimberwyne jokingly offered them water from the bucket, knowing that the younger kids were prone to grosser habits. The two younger children declined, their brows furrowing at the untold joke.

“Are you sure you don’t want any?” Kimberwyne asked, mildly cautious and idly checking to see if the two of them were human or at least not rabid.

“No,” the girl said shortly, before abruptly asking, “Why did you save us?” she drooped her bottom lip in question.

“It didn’t seem like it was your fault,” Kimberwyne responded quietly, remember his own clashes with the older years in the orphanage. He shrugged his shoulders before he resumed the cleaning of the wooden panels.

The two younger children frowned before the boy spoke, “You’re short, you can’t be that much older,” the girl looked down at her hand, a few pens jutting out of her clenched grip. She handed one of her pens to Kimberwyne, who looked at them then politely shook his head.

“Hide them,” Kimberwyne whispered, “Maybe if you’re lucky, they won’t notice they went missing,” he then frowned, “Why were they chasing you anyway?”

The girl murmured something too quietly for Kimberwyne to hear, the boy looked at her pitifully, almost on the verge of crying this time. The girl spoke once more, quieter still, then began looking around to see if anyone could hear her.

“The Santa games,” she spoke, looking down at her knees, starting to cry.

Kimberwyne was upset, but frowned. These kids looked too young to be playing with the older years, yet alone playing the orphanage’s Santa games. At best they were kind of done in the shade in the corner through muttered murmurs and narrowed glances.

“You played the Santa Games?” Kimberwyne whined, this time wondering what had gotten into the minds of the younger kids to convince them to play. Everyone knew that the bullies were notorious for making you play again, and again, and a third time. With a smile on their face as if they couldn’t hear what you were saying when you decided to back out.

“This is Lufa,” the boy spoke quickly this time, looking sadly at the crying girl in question, “I’m Peris,” he said, taking a short breath to dry his damp cheeks

“Oi!”

Kimberwye looked around frantically, the two bullies were now slowly walking toward the three of them, looking angrily around. Kimberwyne quickly grabbed the pens from Lufa, and stuffed them in his pockets.

The first bully stepped towards Lufa, his hand extended out to grab the boy by the collar but Kimberwyne called out-

“Hey, want some pens?” Kimberwyne near shouted, so he could grab the first bullies attention “I’ll play you for them,”

The bullies facial expression slowly went from a snarl to a vicious curved smile as recognition dawned on his features. Play only meant one thing in their eyes. The way a predator plays with it’s prey.

And so began Kimberwyne’s introduction to the Santa games and the destiny of the Christmas alliance.

Chapter 19

What Kimberwyne remembered most about his turn at the Santa Games was the music, that and the near frozen expressions on the younger years faces as they tried to keep themselves from crying. Sam the toddler had no idea what was going on and kept gurgling happily, but looking over his shoulder to try and see if there was a conversation happening in the background.

Santa Games. All that for a room with a dustbin in it and badly tuned stereo.

During the de facto game of musical chairs, Sam often bumped into people when the music stopped leaving the younger children in the small group petrified of making inordinate moves when the silence permeated the air. Children froze in dance-like poses leaving the bullies free to inspect them as they wished, often picking children who were the smallest or most fearful and exposing them to the list of dares that they would then be forced to do.

The most eventful pick to the orphans’ memory recently was Chumley Pickins, who was dared to jump out the first storey window onto the pavement below. Upon his success, he would be given his turn at having the Santa watch. In his naivety, his total losses came down to 3 broken bones and the missing avenue of two front teeth. Not a Santa watch in sight. It was much spoken about in the orphanage, wiith Chumley being applauded for his hardness and rumoured acknowledgment from shadier older’s who lingered outside past the orphan’s curfew. Most rumors caught on with the younger crowd who looked in on admiration at those who played the Santa Games.

“Chumley was nexzt- then it’ll be mine turn,” whizzed the 6 year old Marcus Tremley, slurping down the rest of his meal at dinner time, - “Then we’ll take back the STREETZ!” he yelled, his voice barely a higher octave then the resident 3 year olds. Naturally the bullies smirked and nodded their heads.

Kimberwyne’s experience with the Santa Games, was, atypical? To say the least. After being caught out he was dared to visit the haunted Santa Bridge. After curfew. By himself.

Kimberwyne’s introduction to Mr. Cloud and the Santa Bridge cloud computer began here.

“The only thing that keeps this town running, is Christmas…” Kimberwyne repeated underneath his breath, slowly returning to the present

He looked around at his surroundings to make sure he wasn’t seeing things again.

The cloud had been quite thorough in it’s explanation about Christmas memory and told Kimberwyne to talk to it again using the Santa Watch. Kimberwyne wasn’t convinced by the surroundings that showed themselves to him and mused in thought, walking slowly back to the orphanage.

As he turned the corner he heard a loud sound, he turned around and was struck by the proximity of a loud voice.

“Boo!” uttered the reindeer, standing on all fours, Kimberwyne practically jumped several feet into the air before he focusing on how large the reindeer was; complete with a mish mash studded vest. Kimberwyne saw his barrel chest breath in and out slowly, seemingly in thought, before his head pointed in the direction of the santa watch occupying Kimberwyne’s wrist.

“Whacha got there?” the reindeer asked with curiosity bringing his full head forward to squint at the watch.

Kimberwyne froze, was this reindeer somehow related to Moonshine? Would he get into trouble for mentioning the santa games and the bullies at the orphanage?

“It’s a Santa Watch,” stammered Kimberwyne, “It points me in the right direction,”
The reindeer looked around carefully, as if they were being followed. His wide antlers spread out, he squinted at the watch again, before abruptly and gleefully stating, “....Works perfectly!”
An awkward pause coincided between the two.
“I’m much bigger in person,” said the reindeer, strutting back and forth as if in salute, “Much more impressive,” – “Nice clothes, by the way,” he said to Kimberwyne, bowing his head in acknowledgement.

Kimberwyne looked at his Santa outfit, and he smiled genuinely for the first time in a while.

“There’s a reindeer family having a baby,” Kimberwyne said excitedly, somehow lost in thought, thinking back to his meeting with Suzy Polyester and Moochime. He confronted the reindeer.

“Do you know them?” Kimberwyne asked

“No,” the reindeer snorted, “They sound like old people, and I’m not doing any babysitting,”

“Are you related the them?” Kimberwyne asked tentatively, unsure if he had poked a soft spot

“Are you related to them?” mimicked the reindeer, matching Kimberwynes tentative look with one of incredulity

“What? No!” Kimberwyne remarked confusedly

The reindeer paused for a moment, seeming unsure, before looking back and forth between Kimberwyne and the path spread out in front of them.

“Let’s go and visit the reindeer family,” he said, an agreeable note in his tone

Kimberwyne paused un silence, looking at the night sky. His next steps were to sneak back into the orphanage and get some sleep, if he was honest.

But instead-

“Okay,” Kimberwyne chimed brightly, recalling Suzy Polyester and Moonchime, “I don’t mind-”

“Great!” the reindeer chimed back, looking Kimberwyne directly in the eye as if he had declared some sort of invisible challenge, “Oh christmas time, oh christmas time,” he sung, before erupting into laughter.

Kimberwyne stared.

Really cool story so far! I really like it.