Santa Claus In Jail

Santa Claus should have been more careful. Now he's in jail and children are crying around the world. His only hope lies with one boy. Sequel to Don't Look For Santa

Santa Claus in Jail
by omegax45




Once upon a late Christmas Eve, when all the children in the world were either in bed sleeping or getting ready for the arrival of Christmas Day, Santa Claus had left the North Pole to deliver presents to all the good children of the world. He always left on the earliest eve and went counter clockwise in order to deliver everything in a single night. It was one of his tricks that he had learned over time, for going clockwise had made it impossible and he was almost caught a few times. His reindeer weren’t that fast, as many would think.
The night started out like it usually did every year, with this year being him starting early to have extra time. He went to every house that the inhabitants were sleeping in and dropped off the present, having some cookies and milk to keep himself awake and giving the reindeer celery and carrots if there were any. Some houses left him either a cup of hot coffee or hot chocolate, which he appreciated for the extra caffeine. He would wait for the other houses to go dark before visiting them, sometimes he was forced to act like the Santa actor that some houses that had parties going on hired to drop off the presents without anyone suspecting him to be the real thing. He snacks they offered were many times delicious.
After finishing a few continents, Santa Claus arrived at a mansion in a very nice town. Something felt off about the mansion, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Shrugging it off as being overly cautious, he went down the chimney and began unloading his sack of presents when he heard the sound of clicking. He slowly turned around and saw a middle-aged man with a revolver in his hands, looking very angry.
“Who are you,” the man demanded, “What are you doing in my house, and do NOT say the obvious with that getup.”
“Getup,”. Santa Claus repeated, hands in the air, “What getup? This is my outfit. I’m Santa Claus-”
“And I’m the Tooth Fairy. Nice try. Santa Claus doesn’t exist. Every adult knows that. Just a commercial character made for businesses to rake in the cash at this time of the year. You’re here to rob me blind and use that disguise to make me dumb enough to go back to my room while you take everything. You’re not the first person to try that little trick.”
“Wait,” Santa Claus panicked as the man took out his cell phone, “I can prove to you that I am Santa Claus. Your name is Charles Dean, age 36 with a lovely wife named Joanne and have three children: Scott, Sylvia, and Donald. You own Alchern Industries that makes many toy lines like Mecha Train action figures and Fashion Walkway dolls. When you were seven, you wanted an Intergame game system for Christmas, but you were on the Naughty List for cheating on your exams and thus why I didn’t give it to you.”
“What of it,” Charles stated, “Everybody knows that, seeing as I put it on my social network page. And besides, I did get that game system from my parents. I know this because I caught them putting presents under the tree. Hence, you are not Santa, and Santa does not exist. Now keep quiet before you wake up my kids. You can tell your wise tales to the cops.”
“Wait! Please, just hear me out!”
“I said keep quiet,” Charles pointed the gun at Santa again before picking up the phone.


* * * *


After trying in vain to explain to the police who he was and what he was doing in the Dean Mansion, Santa Claus was arrested and put in jail. He had a cell to himself, which he was grateful for. His sleigh and reindeer were confiscated, the reindeer brought to a zoo for care before being released into the wild. His sack was brought in as evidence, but it was empty. Santa Claus tried to explain that the presents appear whenever me was in a person’s home by magic, but it was also written off as an excuse to hide that he was there to steal things. He was threatened to be taken to a mental institution if he kept going on about being Santa Claus.
The elves at the North Pole became worried. Santa Claus had not returned at the allocated time, and there were complaints pouring in from so many children that had waited for their presents that their post office got over flooded. Mrs. Claus searched for her husband from checking the news to trying him on his phone, eventually finding out from a call by the police department that her husband had been arrested for trespassing and attempted robbery. Mrs. Claus tried to reason with the police, but they wouldn’t listen to her and told her to come in and speak to their therapist for counseling. They truly believed that Santa Claus didn’t exist and that her husband was a crazy thief. Mrs. Claus didn’t know what to do. The elves were at a loss themselves. They had always been careful about keeping their existence limited to short sightings, just enough for children to believe in them, but not have concrete proof. They called up the best lawyers they knew to help them, but it wasn’t looking good. They ended up fighting in court for months before Santa Claus lost and was sent to prison for lack of evidence to prove that he really was who he said he was. It was a sad day for everyone, including the children that believed in him. He was only grateful that he wasn’t sent to the mental institution instead.
Christmas came again, but this time no one received any presents from Santa Claus. What scant presents they did received were from their parents and did not matched what they were looking for. The children were crying, blaming the adults for locking Santa Claus away. The adults couldn’t figure it out, as many thought their significant other read their children’s list and got the presents out and ate the cookies after everyone went to bed. They had never questioned the other about it before, and no one was going to admit to something they didn't do. The same thing happened again the following Christmas, the children losing hope and many stopped being good and getting into mischief. After all, they had no reason to be good anyway without their main reason there to remind them why and what their reward would be. The adults became desperate, stealing their children’s letters to Santa Claus to buy them the right presents or giving the children money to buy their own presents when they couldn’t find any letters, stating that they were too old for Santa Claus to deliver presents to them. The Santa Clauses at the malls were mobbed by the children begging them to deliver presents again or being attacked by them when the children found out that they were just actors hired by the malls. It was getting out of hand fast.
Meanwhile, Santa Claus was miserable in prison. He could feel the children’s anguish at not getting presents on Christmas Day from him and their childhood wonders were fading away. It hurt him… badly. It hurt more than the jeers from the other prisoners harassing him. It hurt more than him being separated from his wife. He knew that she was doing her best to get him out sooner than his sentence, but he feared that it would be too late. Children were not believing in him anymore, sapping away at his magical energy, and soon he and his elves would be out of a job. He couldn't figure out just what to do. What few friends he did have in prison told him to lift weights if he had time to think. It would keep him occupied. Santa Claus found that they were right.
One day, Santa Claus received a visitor. It was Charles Dean’s son, Scott. Scott asked if he really was Santa Claus, and Santa Claus revealed that Scott wanted a chemistry set that his father denied him because it was from a rival company. Realizing that he really was Santa Claus, Scott promised that he would find a way to set him free and left. It revitalized Santa Claus’ spirit in children.
Scott told his siblings when he got home what he had learned and told them to start a petition to everyone around the world to get Santa Claus free. His siblings were skeptical at first, but when he showed them the chemistry set that Santa Claus got him years ago, the very one that their father forbid him from having, they went to work right away. Millions of people, mainly children, signed the petition in a few short weeks. Santa Claus got more visitors wanting to know if he was the real deal, right to the point that the prison guards had to set up appointments for him. Scott did all this in secret, not wanting his father to know about it and stop him. Charles didn’t believed in Santa Claus just for what he witnessed as a child, and he had tried to drill that type of thinking into his children’s minds. However, they knew better. Santa Claus was real, and he needed their help.
Within a month’s time, Scott brought the petition and a large group of people to the mayor’s office, telling him what he learned and begged him to set Santa Claus free. The mayor looked at the alarmingly large list of signatures and took a visit to the prison to see Santa Claus himself. The mayor’s eyes lit up in recognition of the same man he met many years ago as a child that was left with only a letter for breaking the rules. He set Santa Claus free, the roar of applause loud enough for everyone to hear. When he came out of prison a free man, the cheers became quiet when they saw him. Santa Claus was no longer fat. In fact, he had lost his large belly and had gain quite a bit of muscle in his arms. Santa Claus thanked his friends in prison for giving him a means of keeping him from being miserable in prison and he thanked everyone for helping him get out of prison, giving extra appreciation to Scott and his siblings. Charles heard what happened and grounded his children for going behind his back. He wanted to argue about releasing Santa Claus, but he couldn't go against the mayor or such a large amount of people. His business would be affected more so than it had been in the last few years. He was in the right for having Santa arrested, and he was sticking to that.
Christmas came again, and Charles was ready for when Santa Claus would come to his mansion. He would prove to the people that Santa Claus was a thief and make certain that he stayed in prison for good. He waited for hours, but Santa Claus didn’t appeared. Around five in the morning, Charles dozed off and awoke to the sounds of his children laughing and separating a large amount of presents. He didn’t remember giving them that many presents. They even found a letter addressed to Charles and gave it to him. Charles opened up the letter and it read:


With the loss of my reindeer, I had to make due with several delivery services and my GTR race car. Your company's delivery service is truly up to what they advertised. Also, my new friends in prison taught me a few new tricks. Better luck next year.


Sincerely,

The REAL Santa Claus



THE END

Author's Note

I finally got a new Christmas Story up just in time for the holidays. Please see Don't Look For Santa for the rest of the details.