The Man in Red - 24 hour short story contest entry

_{This is my entry for the Dec. 4 Twenty-four hour short story contest. The theme is "An elf causes trouble in Santa's workshop." I hope you like my take on it.}

The lights in the workshop were dim, all except the ones over every work space. It was a combination of dim depressing lighting and bright focused lights. Dozens of elves worked in the shop, one at every space, two at a few, working together.

This workshop primarily focused on electronics. At every work space there was a soldering iron, some helping hands, a magnifying glass, a hot air rework station, testing equipment, etc. A few had microscopes for more delicate work.

You could feel the depressing emotions hanging in the room like a fog. Working for the man in red was not a good job. It was endless hard work with little reward under a boss that didn't accept failure. Even a slight delay was wholly unacceptable, since they were working on a schedule written in stone. The whole shop smelled of solder and desperation.

This was just one workshop out of many. Some had a bit of a better mood. Some occasionally even sang work songs to pass the time. All of them worked tirelessly all year long though. Or at least they never stopped.

An elder elf made his rounds behind the workers, checking their work, making sure they weren't falling behind, and occasionally disciplining them. He had worked in the shops himself for hundreds of years. He earned the right to be the hand of the man in red. He managed to keep pace with technology more than some other elders, earning him a coveted position in one of the electronics workshops.

Electronics wasn't such a bad job to have in the workshops. The electronics workshops were full of solder fumes, but they also had vents at every work space, so the harm was reduced a bit. The smell wasn't so bad. They didn't necessarily need to wear masks. They didn't have to do heavy lifting. They got to sit down at desks. All the same, the work was never ending, under horrible conditions for mental health. Every year dozens of elves ended their lives, some of them from electronics, just as from every other facility.

One of those recent deaths was Priscilla, a beautiful blonde elf that lit up the room with her smile. Many elves were interested in her, but one in particular, Edward, really loved her. She might even have felt the same. They flirted occasionally, exchanging smiles every time they saw each other. The job didn't leave much time for a social life though. She didn't even work in electronics, like Edward did. The only time they saw each other during working hours was when she brought in paperwork for the overseer. She worked in processing, but was often sent out on errands.

No one really knew why Priscilla decided to take her life, but it's not like anyone really looked into it. Edward had his suspicions though. Everyone knew what the man in red was really like, behind his jolly image. There were rumours that he kept some "naughty" little girls and boys in the basement. There were certain elves that were tasked with disposing of their bodies when he was "done" with them. Rarely did they ever last until the end of the year. As Christmas got closer and closer, he got worse and worse. Then, he would run out of children to play with, and he would start choosing certain elves to take their places. He was more careful with the elves though. He didn't want to kill them. At least not directly. But such things take their toll.

A few days after Priscilla took her own life, Edward decided the man in red should rain red down upon the world.

He started going back into the factory after hours, working on a secret project. He had some circuit boards secretly printed from his own designs and soldered them up after hours. Then he would place the circuit board, along with something cooked up in the chemical lab, inside a few random toys, and set up a timer for each of them, set for Christmas Eve, each with different times.

No one but the man in red and a few lieutenants knew his schedule. Even if he did though, the toys were assigned to children in a different facility. It wasn't like they actually expected anyone to do anything, they just each had their own jobs. Asking questions might raise suspicions. Why would you need to know that? You do your job. You keep your head down. You finish your work. Then you go home and you do it again the next day. Sometimes, on designated days, you drank with coworkers, to blow off some steam and keep from losing all sanity.

For the same reason, there was no way to access his sleigh. Each workshop had it's own security. The elves only had access to the workshops they were assigned to. When they had to go to another workshop for whatever reason, an overseer temporarily gave them visitor access to the other workshop.

Those with access to the sleigh were limited. Far more limited than any other workshop. Most of the other workshops, if you really wanted to get into them, you could steal a pass card. Elves occasionally lose them. It wasn't met with kindness when they did, but many more lost them than usual after one of the few recreational "celebrations". It was quite easy to lift one off of one of the drunk elves. Of course, the next day the cards would be reset when it was found out they were missing.

To make the chemical explosives, he had to lift a card from one of the elves working in one of the many chemical related workshops, then clone it and get it back to him without him realizing it was ever gone. That was a bit more difficult, but not impossible. He also needed one from a warehouse worker. He just had to pick one of the sloppiest drunks that worked in each area.

The ones that worked on the sleigh were picked carefully though. They all took their work very seriously. They always drank together at a table in the back. You couldn't even approach them without someone noticing. They were all pretty stuck up. They also always left early. There wasn't a chance that he could lift one of their cards to get access to the sleigh.

Without access to the sleigh, his only option was to put bombs in dozens of toys, just so at least one of them was left on the sleigh when it exploded. He didn't want to kill any of his fellow elves and he didn't want them exploding before he got in the sleigh. The man in red worked far too quickly and he couldn't be sure that he might not start a few minutes late. Even with the harsh working environment, a few minutes delay was not unheard of. He had to ensure at least one of the bombs was still with him when it exploded.

It was over a month of careful work, with the risk of being caught at any moment, all the while the weight of it on him. He was going to be killing dozens of families, all to get rid of one man they saw as a beloved saint. But they didn't know the man. They didn't even know he was real. They most certainly didn't know the horrors whispered about by his "loyal" workers.

When the night finally came when he would deliver all the presents to the good little boys and girls, all the workshops were panicked, rushing to complete their orders and ensure another Christmas went off without a hitch. Edward was relieved though. He worked happily to finish the work of others that had fallen behind and repair electronics mucked up by others. Repairs were common today due to elves rushed to finish up their quotas.

Edward had finished up all his work well before the day though. He had been doing a few extra boards every night as he worked on his extra curricular activities. He wanted to make sure no one was looking too close at him. Ensuring he was on schedule was one way to do that. He was always a pretty good worker, so being on schedule wasn't unusual, but the late nights did take their toll on his performance. Getting a few extra boards done every night was the only way to stay on schedule and under the radar.

Now he just had to wait for the sleigh to launch while working to finish the work of others. They weren't doing so badly. They had a few boards to finish and quite a few to repair, but they were going to have everything done in time.

They finished up all the boards, they were tested and put in their toys, then all the elves left their workshops, exhausted, to watch the launch.

A few elves handed out eggnog and cookies and other refreshments to the exhausted workers as they waited for the launch. It was a festive occasion. The work was hard, the hours long, and the conditions nearly unbearable, but this was the day they all worked towards. Some of the elves even believed in what they did. They were after all making toys for the world's children. Their year's work was finally over.

It was the start of the biggest celebration of the year for the elves. They would drink and party all night and all of the next day. By the end, they would be exhausted in an entirely different way than usual. It would also be the only day of the year when the man in red celebrated with the elves. When he returned from delivering the gifts, he would join the celebration.

This year though, he wouldn't return at all. Parts of his body would be spread across the world, like so many presents for all the good little boys and girls.

Some of those good little boys and girls would also have to pay the price for their saint's sins.

It felt like it was taking too long though. He was a few minutes late. Edward started to wonder what happened. He started to get nervous.

Then, finally, the doors of the hangar opened and the sleigh was pulled out by the reindeer, the man in red riding on top, waving to all the elves.

He made a speech about the hard work all the elves had done throughout the year, but Edward wasn't listening. He was too nervous. How many minutes delay had he set on the first bomb to go off?

Then the speech was over and the sleigh took off into the sky.

Edward left the celebration early. A few other elves that did so as well. They were mostly the ones that were behind schedule. They were simply too exhausted.

Edward had worked hard for the last month and a half. He fell asleep the minute his head hit his pillow, relieved.

Then, sometime in the night, he woke up. Someone had opened his door. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus. The light from the hall was too bright. It was quickly blocked by a hulking figure standing over his bed though.

"Did you think you could get away with it? You think you're the first elf to try to get rid of me? You aren't. Reindeer have quite the keen sense of smell. When they told me what you had put in those toys, it was only a matter of figuring out which ones and disposing of them. Because of you, some good little boys and girls are going to wake up with one less present, or none at all. You're going to pay for what you've done. You're going to pay until you can't breath. Lets see if you can last until the new year."

_{St. Augustine - Wolf's Museum of Mystery - Creepy Santa
Taken on January 5, 2014 by Jared CC BY 2.0 (source)}