The Flight of the Mad Elf-King (Holiday Stories)

[gunsofchekhovia]

He cannot count the ages since he last slept. People come and go, they are born and die, and he alone remains.

He remains awake. Aware. No boundaries can hold him, no house or mind can resist him. No one's sins can hide from him. He tried making a list, but there was no end to the writing. So he sits, and he sees, and he waits.

And one glorious night every year, he flies like a phantom, propelled by his eight terrified beasts across the earth, carrying with him two tons of the coal that no longer warms him.

[Varda]

WIN.

I could say more, but it would be mindless chatter, and I hear a deranged laughter in the distance.

[strawman]

I could say more, but it would be mindless chatter, and I hear a deranged laughter in the distance.

I agree.
It sounds faintly like "HO HO HA HA HE HE HA HA".
The sound of innocence, lost and whistling past the graveyard.
The sound from an overturned sleigh, surrounded by red and blue flashing lights.
Mindless chatter.

[gunsofchekhovia]

Thanks, folks.

I can't get this deranged Claus out of my mind.

[will write for beer]

Funny, I just wrote a crazy Santa story for the Apex Dark Christmas flash contest (250-word limit). Guess it's just not in us to do otherwise.

This one is good.

[jkjones21]

Really good and moody. From the title, I had this weird thought that it might be about Erl Koenig, who tries to steal sick children away from their parents, but Mad Santa works way better for a holiday story.

[gunsofchekhovia]

Thank you, Jason!