Post by Sixteen on Dec 4, 2013 19:12:08 GMT -5
Poles Apart
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
- John Wolfgang von Goethe.
Don’t stop believin’.
- The cast of Glee.
“Come on! We’re almost there!” Anka said, holding Mister M’s hand tight. They ran through the snowy hills and called out for the others who were bringing up the rear. The 667ers had been trekking through icy plains for days on their journey to the North Pole. Soon they would reach their destination and meet the man they had all been waiting to see: Santa Claus himself.
As they approached the ridge of the hill, a wintry wonderland presented itself below. Around a frozen lake, polar bears were cavorting with penguins in a jolly fashion. The 667ers stood and watched in awe at the spectacle.
“It’s amazing,” Sixteen said. “I never thought I’d see anything like this.”
“Me neither,” Freebird added without any sense of whimsy, “though that’s mostly because penguins don’t live at the North Pole.” Almost before he had finished speaking the penguins began to shimmer and fade away. Within a minute they had vanished altogether. The 667ers looked around in confusion but chalked it up to the magic in the air. They ran down the side of the hill and continued on their way.
Before long the group reached the edge of a Christmas tree forest. Behind some of the trees they spotted workshop elves giggling and whispering to one another.
“Wow!” Charlie exclaimed. “This is just like that classic movie, Fred Claus starring Vince Vaughn!”
“What?!” Terry screeched, appalled at Charlie’s use of the term. “Classic movie? Don’t ever say that again. That movie doesn’t exist.” With a poof and a slight yelp, the elves vanished. The 667ers were beginning to notice a pattern and felt very uncomfortable. Sophie tried to lighten the mood by singing some Magnetic Fields songs but suddenly the sun disappeared and they were plunged into darkness.
“I’m scared,” Tryina said with a sob. Emma put a comforting arm around her shoulder and the group huddled closer together.
They plunged deeper into the forest, unsure of where to go next, when suddenly the sound of sleigh bells could be heard from up above. High in the sky the 667ers saw a bright red sleigh being pulled by a group of reindeer. They all let out squeals of excitement, except for one confused boy.
“Huh, that’s weird,” Teleram mumbled. “I always thought reindeer were land animals.” The red light that had been leading the sleigh was extinguished and the group saw the animals falling from the sky like rocks. Pen whipped around with fire in his eyes.
“DAMMIT TELERAM!!” he shouted, leaping for the kid’s throat. He had to be restrained by a reluctant Bryan before he calmed down.
The 667ers were truly frightened at this point. It appeared that whenever they questioned the reality of the magical things they encountered, they simply disappeared.
“It’s almost like in Peter Pan where you have to clap if you believe in fairies,” Michelle said expositionally, “except in reverse.”
They rested for a moment and sat in silence. Nobody spoke until a beautiful voice was heard in the distance. The voice was singing a familiar tune while a bear and a hare frolicked in the snow. Willis looked up in delight and rushed towards the source of the voice. All was not lost. Lily Allen was here.
“Hey,” Shelly the songfic queen piped up, “isn’t that a cover of a Keane song?” The voice transformed before the 667ers’ ears, becoming much deeper and much less magical. Willis burst into a clearing to find Keane playing the song. He dropped to his knees in despair.
Meanwhile Lucas had spotted something peeking out from under the snow.
“Can it be?” he muttered. “It is! It’s a cookie!” He scrambled through the snow and pulled out the warm, freshly-baked cookie, holding it close and cradling it.
“They’re called biscuits,” BSam said, obviously. The 667ers gasped, expecting something horrific to happen again, but since biscuit is the right term Lucas was able to keep his cookie.
“It’s a good thing we haven’t run into anything dangerous in the dark,” Bee said, wiping her brow.
“Omg,” Pandora said, “I know you didn’t directly mention it but I presume you’re talking about wolves like in Teen Wolf.” The group heard howling in the distance and glared at Pandora for willing the predators into existence.
“Christmas is ruined,” Linda said with tears in her eyes.
“Oh well,” Songbird replied. “I don’t even celebrate Christmas. I’m Jewish.”
“Me too,” Bandit said cautiously, “but I didn’t want to mention anything in case – “
The ground shook and trees began to fall. The 667ers scattered in every direction, their hopes and dreams shattered. When the earthquake had passed they reconvened and built a small campfire.
“You know,” Hermes said after a long and tense silence, “perhaps we don’t all believe in the same things. Maybe we do celebrate holidays differently; maybe we grew up with different stories and practiced different traditions. But why should that matter to us here, at this moment? All I know right now is that we all believe in each other.”
As he finished speaking a glint of sunlight appeared on the horizon. The light shone through the trees, simultaneously casting light and shadows. It called to mind the colours of the forum in a way that resembled pinstripes on the snowy ground.
“Hermes is right,” Rellim said confidently. “At least we have each other. That’s something I’ll never lose faith in.”
A pole sprung forth from the ground with the 667 Dark Avenue insignia planted on top.
“We may not have made it to the North Pole,” Sherry Ann said, gesturing, “but we’ve made our very own 667 Pole.”
At this point in the story, as in every good Christmas story, the 667ers sang a song. The chorus went “I don’t believe in some things, But I do believe in you”. Unfortunately I wasn’t convinced that it was very good so it vanished from the text box. The group celebrated their newfound sense of joy by sharing hot chocolate and smores though the latter disappeared after LSWannabe and Carma debated the nature of crackers. Everyone laughed and raised their cups of cocoa.
They toasted to their friendship, no matter what the circumstances.
“That’s all very well,” Dante said. There was a needle scratch from the song that I mentioned earlier. “But aren’t we responsible for the death of hundreds of penguins, several elves, at least eight reindeer and one jolly old soul in a red suit?”
“You’re unbelievable,” Kyle said, shaking his head.
Dante vanished and everyone got back to having a guilt-free party.
THE END