When We Met The Guy In Red

I sat there beside the window enjoying the cold evening and the faint hum of the Christmas carols. A soothing feeling hung in the air. Nothing better than a peaceful Christmas evening. I leaned on my recliner and gazed at the rising smoke from the chimneys.

I heard the doorbell and slowly walked downstairs to answer the door. My friends were here. “Hey, Merry Christmas!” I said smiling. “Merry Christmas!” they answered in unison. Akshay smiled back to me and Mohit shook my hand. But Swastik entered the room shivering from the cold and his arms wrapped around himself.

We gathered around the heater and I passed a cup of hot chocolate to each one of them. The relief on Swastik’s face was visible as he happily sipped at the cup. “Awesome day, right?” Akshay smiled “Very peacfeful” Mohit answered. Swastik wanted to say something but he didn’t bother to leave his cup. “Great Christmas…but not better than the time we met the guy in red.” Mohit said as if collecting something from his memories. “Yeah” I said…and we drifted back into memories.

It was a cold night of the Christmas Eve. We were at Swastik’s place for a sleepover and we had a mission planned. “Okay guys there are some chips and some food in the kitchen if you get hungry, no mischief and try to sleep early, okay kids?” Swastik’s mother said in her usual sweet voice. “Okay aunty” We answered. She wished us good night and went upstairs. “Tonight is gonna be awesome!” Akshay said rubbing his palms in his childish voice as we were 8 years old then. The excitement on everyone’s faces was clear. “Are all the preparations ready?” I asked smiling. “Yep.” Akshay said giving a thumbs up. Our plan was stay up all night and meet Santa when comes to deliver the presents to us. The idea might sound ridiculous right now but hey, we were kids! “Did you guys write any letters to Santa?” Swastik asked enthusiastically. “Of course we did.” Akshay said, “I asked him for a remote controlled helicopter, some candy and an action figure, but more importantly I told him that I did not put the glue on Pranay’s chair.” Swastik and I smiled at each other. “But Guys…” Mohit said it as if scared of something; most unusual for the occasion, “Be Cautious…” he continued with his face in the shadows “There is someone out there who dresses up as Santa and kidnaps innocent kids… like us” “Who?” Akshay asked; almost annoyed. “The Boogey Man.” Mohit whispered. Akshay gulped. “Well lets not worry about that now.” I said, “Lets get our greeting card ready, its time.”

We had made all the arrangements for Santa, including a fancy greeting card. We did colour out of the lines though. We had some snacks ready for him as well, all we needed then was him.

We waited and we waited and the night passed along. It was almost midnight and no sign of Santa. The excitement in us seemed to have drained out somehow. Akshay lay on the couch with his arms limp on the hand rest. Mohit, Swastik and I sat there motionless. We were trying really hard to stay awake, but it was difficult. Swastik’s parents were probably asleep by then. But we fought it and our determination snapped us out of it whenever our eyes drooped. I was sure something was gonna happen that night. I couldn’t just go to sleep.

Then I saw it. The most glorious sight was before me. It was like a dream unfolding. The air seemed to have filled with magic. All my sleep vanished in an instant. I jumped and screamed at the top of my voice, “SANTA CLAUS IS HERE!”

Everyone stood up at once like a mechanical toy. “Where?” one of them had shouted. “There” I pointed towards the staircase

He was advancing towards us in his familiar red dress and luscious white beard. He seemed cheerful and a sack full of presents hung over his shoulder. He was laughing as he came closer. He seemed thinner than pictures depicted him to be and for some reason he was missing his elves. The echo of his boots hitting the ground became louder as he moved closer. “Ho Ho Ho” he laughed, his voice was shriller than expected but his personality was powerful. I could almost feel jingle bells playing in the background although nothing of that sort was happening. My smile grew wider and wider to the point it just looked weird. I could imagine my friends drooling but I didn’t bother give them a look; my gaze was locked on the big man.

“Merry Christmas, kids!” He said happily. We just stared at him before shaking out of the daze. “Oh, Merry Christmas, sir.” I said shaking his hands. “Merry Christmas” The others followed up. “Aren’t you kids adorable.” Santa Claus said pulling Akshay’s cheek. We couldn't help gawking at him. "You Rock" Mohit saluted him. I quickly brought the greeting card we made for him and handed it to him. "Ooh, Thanks a lot kids, this card is amazing!" he said in his majestic voice. "Don't you want your presents now?" he asked. Swastik seemed to notice something but it was only for a moment “Can I touch your beard?” Akshay said as if he were a robot. “Uh, what?” Santa said taken aback. Swastik glared at Akshay “Uh…sure you can. ” he said tentatively and lowered his face to Akshay’s level. Akshay put his hand in his beard and felt it. “So soft…” Akshay said. But then what happened next was horrifying and heart shattering at the same time. There was a loud RRIIIIIPP and there went Santa’s beard. “Oops” Akshay said examining the, now separated beard. We stood there akwardly for a moment looking at the beardless Santa. We all inhaled loudly. “The Boogey Man.” Mohit whispered with a grave expression.

“AAAAAAAGHHH” We ran as fast as we could, the boogey ma seemed to be confused but he was followed us. “Where are you going?” he screamed. We hid behind the couch but we knew we couldn’t last there for long. We were clearly scared. We breathed heavily and Mohit had sweat all over his face. I was still processing it, all the sudden change of emotions were overwhelming. The Santa turning out to be the bad guy, the fear, But I didn’t know what got over me but then I knew it wasn’t the time to panic. Who gave the Boogeyman the right to scare the living daylights out of innocent kids? This cruelty had to stop.

“We have to do something.” I muttered. “What?” Swastik said. “We have to stop him I said.” I tried to sound confident. “How?”Akshay said, “We’re just kids!” “Trust me” Swastik and Akshay nodded but Mohit looked bewildered. He rolled his eyes, sighed and then nodded as well. “Okay then lets do this.” I said; the confidence was now real.

“Akshay go get the wrapping paper” I instructed, “Mohit- duct tape and you Swastik distract him…I’ll get the rope.” They gave me a nod and we were off. I zoomed towards the toolbox. I could see Swastik running here and there and the Boogey man chased him. I focused on the rope and grabbed it quickly and rushed back to Akshay and Mohit who had done what they were supposed to. I was surprised to see the quickness in our actions and from the look on boogey man's face, he was too. “Wrap him up” I said pointing towards the boogey man. We ran towards him and yelled and waved trying to shift his attention from Swastik. We were successful and he came after us. I ran in counter clockwise direction with the rope while Akshay pounced on his face with the duct tape. The boogey man didn't try to defend himself, he probably wasn't expecting us to react like this. Mohit waited for his chance and in no time we were thrashing at him and had him tied up and face taped. Now Mohit snatched his sack of presents and gift wrapped him so he looked like an over grown toffee. His face and his feet were protruding from the ends. Mohit put the sack over the Boogey man’s face and Swastik pushed him to the floor. Akshay sat on his back. We had done it.

“Whoa” Akshay huffed, “We did it!” Mohit had his hands on his hips. Swastik dusted his pants and grinned. He seemed satisfied. Akshay gave me a high five and we smiled. We looked at the boogey man again. He was squirming under Akshay's weight. It was as if he was trying to say something, but we could only hear muffled voices.

"Now what do we do?" Akshay asked. "Lets get rid of the sack, its unnecessary." I said, I somehow felt sorry for the man. "But.." Mohit tried to object but he stopped after seeing the look on my face.

We removed the sack from his face. He blinked at us and tried to say something again.For some reason I felt something familiar in his look and judging by Swastik's expression he felt it too. “ Lets see what he has to say” I said. “Are you crazy?” Akshay said. I felt crazy but something felt wrong something was not right. For no apparent reason I wanted to hear what the Boogey man had to say “Yeah like it would kill us if he speaks, right?” Swastik seemed to agree with me but he didn't say anything. I went closer to the Boogey man and untapped his mouth. “I am not the boogey man!” he blurted out at once. I recognized his voice...it couldn't be. Swastik went closer and removed his Santa cap, and that removed any doubts I had.

It was Swastik’s dad. Akshay's jaw dropped and Mohit rubbed his eyes as if the sight was unbelievable. Swastik looked guilty and so did we all."Now would you get this wretched rope off of me?" he said angrily."Oh sorry" I said in a small voice. We got him out of the ropes and wrap. After some time he was standing there before us. "I am sorry dad" Swastik said not meeting his father's eyes. "We are all very sorry" I said. "Sorry" Mohit and Akshay apologized together. He looked at us, anger in his eyes. “I had planned to give you guys a surprise by being Santa but you guys…” He said angrily. We looked at the floor “But you guys surprised me!” we stood there guiltily listening to him. “ But I must say you guys have a hell of an imagination… Boogeyman, really?” he laughed…yeah literally laughed, it was not sarcastic. “And your teamwork was remarkable…” We looked at each other, considering what he had said “HaHaHa…don’t worry I’m not mad at you guys." He continued. We let a smile break our gloomy faces “Most unforgettable Christmas I ever had” he said cheerfully and we laughed at our silliness.