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The Legend of St. Nicholas
Everything was the same. Every day the same dress, the same food, the same books… Nothing ever changed and Elizabeth was bored.
She had already drawn pictures, read a book, and changed her hair three times now. All that and it wasn’t even time for lunch.
Elizabeth blew lazily into the trumpet and sighed. Why did she even have a trumpet? She hated the random things that were always appearing in her room. Was she accidentally bringing them there herself? Why did she bring herself a trumpet of all things?
She sat in her chair and looked around the library. She could climb to the higher shelves and find a new book. Or she could open a tear!
She stood up and took a deep breath before opening one. Only a small hole appeared and she frowned as she looked through it.
“For Christmas, Santa will bring me a new toy!” Elizabeth watched as two children sat in a bedroom.
“No, because you’ve been naughty!” Another child giggled, “You’ll get nothing!”
“That’s not true… Lucy look!” Elizabeth closed the tear before the other girl could see her. She stepped back from where the tear had been as if it would open again.
“Christmas?” she whispered. What was Christmas? She’s read through the bottom three shelves in her library and none of the books mentioned Christmas or Santa.
There was only one way for her to find out what it was. She spent the next two hours opening tears and trying to learn what the girls had been talking about.
She was able to find out that Christmas was a holiday that was celebrated once a year and only in December. People would decorate their house and there was a man named Santa. Santa usually brought the good children gifts and the children usually left him a treat.
Maybe that was why she’d never received a gift from him. She’d never left him a gift and he was probably upset about that.
She sat down and looked at her teddy bear. He was an old bear that had been stitched together multiple times. She’d learned how to sew from a book just so she could repair him. His name was Ronald because he had a large ‘R’ stitched into his belly.
“Mister Ronald,” she said, “I have an idea.”
Elizabeth paused and waited for a response before rolling her eyes, “We’re going to decorate for Christmas! Isn’t that a good idea?” As usual, Ronald didn’t respond, “You’re going to make me do this alone aren’t you?”
Elizabeth was used to doing everything by herself. Even when she used to go through tears, she had mostly explored by herself before coming back to her room. Lately, she had been wondering what it would be like to have someone else to draw pictures with.
“Step one is to put up a Christmas tree.” she set down a stack of papers in front of Ronald, “You can draw the star for the top.” she placed a pencil next to Ronald and begin to create her tree.
Since she only had small papers, she spread them out and used several to draw a large tree.
“Maybe other people can open tears and they leave me Christmas presents,” Elizabeth said as she painted the tree.
She had never received a Christmas present… Or perhaps she had and just didn’t remember it. She had only just learned what Christmas was.
It only took her an hour to paint the Christmas tree and the presents.
“I’ll just pin them under the tree,” Elizabeth said. She looked at Ronald after she finished and smiled, “We’ve done a great job. Or at least I did, you didn’t even paint the star like you were supposed to.”
Ronald did not answer and Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Maybe she needed another one that would respond to her. “Wouldn’t you like a brother?” she picked up the teddy bear and plucked a stray hair from it, “Or a sister maybe… or maybe 6 brothers…”
What she really wanted was a doll. She had seen several girls playing with dolls. They combed the doll's hair and they had tea parties. The dolls also didn’t talk back but she imagined that a doll would be a much better companion than old Ronald was.
“Maybe I can use a tear to fix you up,” Elizabeth said, “I’ve done that before.” She used to have two teddy bears actually. One day the color had changed on one of them and it continued to do so randomly. Elizabeth had been intrigued by the new development and it took her another 3 years before she realized that it was her who had been changing the color of the bear.
But, of course, that teddy bear had disappeared after that day and she was left with Ronald.
Elizabeth wasn’t sure where she’d gotten the bear but it was clear that it had belonged to another child before.
“Do you think your old friends miss you?” Elizabeth asked. No answer. “Do you think that maybe someone will bring me a gift?” No answer. “Do you think that they’ll give me a teddy bear that’s better than you?”
She threw the bear down angrily and crossed her arms. She hated that she was the only one here. Why did all those other children get to play with each other while she stayed alone?
She picked up a book and threw it as far as she could. Why didn’t Santa ever bring her presents? She picked up another book and began to tear the pages out. Why did she have to be alone all the time?
0.o.0.o.0
Rosalind Lutece watched her subject throw her books around the room. It was not unusual for Elizabeth to do this but it was becoming more frequent as of late. It would seem that her tears were having a negative effect on her mood.
“Curiously enough, she never leaves,” Rosalind noted.
“And where would she go?” Robert Lutece sat beside her and read through the newspaper.
“She could go anywhere,” Rosalind pointed out. Elizabeth had gone through several tears in the 7 years since she had been locked away but she always returned to tell her teddy bear what she had seen. Lately, she didn’t even bother to leave. She only looked and closed them.
“She doesn’t want to,” Robert shrugged.
“She’s lonely,” Rosalind said, “And she’s discovered a holiday and wants to participate.” Rosalind looked at the tree and present that Elizabeth had pinned to the wall. She had long stopped supplying Elizabeth with things besides food and clothing. Robert did occasionally give her more art supplies but that was all. She originally wanted to see if Elizabeth would start stealing toys through her tears but she still never did.
She complained about her teddy bear and threw it around the room but she never retrieved a new toy despite having the ability to do so.
“Maybe her father will bring her a gift,” Robert said.
Rosalind snorted and looked at him. He looked to be as bored as he usually was during these visits but she knew that he was thinking the same thing that she was.
“What is it?” Robert caught her staring, “Oh.” she didn’t need to say anything to him, “Well then, I suppose we should start looking for a gift. I don’t think that will be easy seeing as it’s the day before Christmas.”
“If we do this, she’ll expect it every year.” Rosalind began to put on her jacket.
“Maybe next year she’ll save us time and get her own gift,” Robert said, “Shall we go?”
Finding a present for Elizabeth was not hard at all. Rosalind simply thought of what she would have wanted at that age, “A doll?” Robert looked at the rows of dolls, “Is that what she wants?”
“Yes,” Rosalind said, “One of those.” She nodded towards the larger dolls. They all had red, white, and blue dresses on and shiny blonde hair.
“How does he find the time to do this?” Robert looked over the dolls, “What if we’d become toymakers instead of physicists?”
“We’d be very bored.” Rosalind walked over to the dolls and sighed. Though there were several different kinds of dolls, she didn’t want to give any of these to Elizabeth. They all seemed to be exactly the same and while they were cute, they weren't what she needed.
“Maybe something a little less…” Robert said, “Something that isn’t covered in that flag.”
After speaking with the owner, they were able to find a similar doll with brown hair. The doll wore a light blue dress and according to the owner, it was too “boring” when compared to the other dolls.
“We’ll take it,” Robert said.
“Are you sure?” The shopkeeper looked at the doll. He didn’t seem to be proud of the work he’d done but the doll was more than enough for Elizabeth. She would want a doll that looked more like her.
“We are,” Rosalind nodded.
After paying, Robert insisted that they visit a few more stores to find something more, “The one doll would have been enough,” Rosalind said. She didn't want to do too much because Elizabeth was still young and impressionable. It was risky enough to give her one gift.
“One doll would be enough,” Robert agreed, “Does she like caramels?”
“How would I know?”
“You knew she’d want a doll,” Robert said.
“That was… a guess,” she said.
“Oh,” Robert blinked, “I’ll get her caramels then.”
They waited until late at night when they were sure that none of the other scientists would be in the building, “Only one of us needs to enter her room.” Robert said, “And your steps are much softer than mine.”
“Fine,” she nodded. In and out and it would be very quick.
She entered through the hidden door in the pantry. It was the door they used to restock her food while she was asleep.
Rosalind walked carefully through the kitchen towards the library. The books were all still scattered across the floor and the old teddy bear was still lying alone.
Rosalind was well aware of the fact that she didn’t have to do any of this but she couldn’t leave the room how it was.
She picked up the books and set the bear and the doll under the tree.
“And this,” she felt someone tap her shoulder and bit her lip to keep from making any noise.
“Robert!” she hissed, “What are you doing in here?”
“I forgot to give you the candy…” He whispered. He set the box of caramels down next to the doll, “And I wrote a note for her.”
Rosalind said nothing as he added the rolled slip of paper to the pile of gifts. She waited for him to finish before they left together.
“We should get here early to see her reaction,” Robert said once they were completely out of Elizabeth's room.
“I have no desire to wake up early,” Rosalind said. She already knew that Elizabeth would like the gifts they gave her, “What did that note say?”
“I wouldn't know," Robert said, "It was from Santa, not me."
0.o.0.o.0
Elizabeth slept in and felt sad when she woke up. She wished that she had never learned about Christmas. She needed to stop opening tears because they only showed her things she could never have.
She looked at the empty space in her bed and remembered that she had thrown Ronald against the wall and left him in the library. He was probably upset about that…
“I’ll make him breakfast,” she decided. All she really knew how to make was oatmeal but he wasn’t a real person so he would like it.
She stepped out of bed and shivered. The floors were always so cold in the mornings.
Elizabeth shuffled to the kitchen and took her time preparing breakfast. She realized as she was searching for a bowl that she hadn’t left a treat for Santa… He definitely wouldn’t have left her gift.
“Who needs him?” Elizabeth mumbled. She finished preparing breakfast and groaned as she had another realization. She had to clean up the mess she had left the day before. The books she’d thrown about were all over the floor. She needed to stop throwing her things around when she was upset because she would only get more upset the next day when she had to fix it all.
Not only that, but she ruined the books that way. If she ruined all of her books, she wouldn’t be able to get more.
“Ronald will help me clean,” she said. She walked out of the kitchen and looked at the library. It took a moment to register but there were no books strewn across the floor. Instead, they were stacked neatly around her ‘tree’.
“How…” her eyes widened as she noticed the doll nestled in between the books. A doll with wavy brown hair and a blue dress like hers…
Elizabeth set the bowl down on the floor and walked over to the doll. She almost convinced herself that it was a tear and would disappear once she got close to it. She noticed the rolled piece of paper and picked it up.
“Please stop destroying your room, if you want something just ask. Take care of Ellie and next time, please leave a treat for me.”
“Ronald!” she picked up the teddy bear and hugged him, “You were here, did you see him? Did you see Santa? He left us a doll and candy!” Ronald didn’t answer her but he didn’t need to. She was so happy, “Let’s give her a tour!”
Elizabeth set Ronald down and picked up the doll, “Your name is Ellie,” she said, “That’s like my name.”
Ellie didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry you’re trapped here with me but I’ll make sure you have so much fun.” Elizabeth picked up Ronald and started the tour at the bedroom. She spent the entire day playing with her new doll and she decided that she would behave even better for the next year.