Dark Santa

Twenty-three years ago, a woman gave birth to a child in a black market, underground cave where she is one of many; held captive. Her abuser is the father of a budding crypto cult, where the RNA of male genes and chromosomes are empathetically mutated and used on female babies to strengthen their body’s natural immune system. After a negative gender identity, her child was swiftly removed. Only to be used like all other negative results, as test subjects for the next batch of girl babies. Surprisingly, the caretaker deviates and ships the baby to a disclosed facility were the rare few, are given rays of hope through adoption or foster care.

Present day adopted, Damien, a college dropout has an eye for malice behavior and a zest for numbers and technology. Underneath his dashing smile and his salacious physique lies an untapped vault of lies and uncertainty. However, with the blood of a cult master and an auspicious lifestyle, it is easy to believe that he is an honest guy. His fifth foster family describes him as a turbulent, troubled, loner who uses his strong manipulation skills to put himself above the rest.

Lately, he has been stirring up trouble, stealing, and breaking into cars. In his most recent criminal act, he takes his foster parents’ moderate sports sedan, almost recks it and flattened two tires. Now, in the middle of nowhere, hungry, and waiting for his foster parents and a tow truck. He searches for snacks to curb his hunger and stumbles on a small black book crushed between the toolbox and jumper cables. Before he was able to open it, his upset foster dad and tow truck man arrives, and he slides the book in his back pocket. After things cool down, Damien was able to open and read the book and what he discovered was the book contained old and familiar names of the facilities and families that he has seen in the past. Determined yet, unbothered by his decision, he visits and spends time at each facility and past family members’ home. In doing so, he slowly gathers and gains intimate details about his childhood and who his parents really are. Arriving at the last page he noticed that it is torn and realizes the numbers he is looking at are latitude and longitude coordinates.

Through strong persuasion and savvy tech work, he hacks into GPS satellites and gains access to the location. Only to find that the facility is non-operational, full of foul smells, has cryptic photos and degrading videos of slain and tortured bodies. Cautious, he follows the ambient dripping sound and instantly falls through the weathered floorboard, onto a box which breaks his fall. Splintering into many pieces and searching for his flashlight he finds a small cast iron doorknob, with a rope attached to the other side. He opens and pulls the rope only to find a box filled with documents, a bag, and a key inside. He noticed that bag had his birth name and birthdate labeled on the bag. Curious, he opens the bag and finds twenty thousand dollars in unmarked bills. While taking the money and seeking help through deceptive measures, learns that he is the eldest son of an infamous cult leader, and that money was hush money for his first foster family from the caretaker.

Thus, sparking the lore of dark Santa, egregious he is a librarian by day and an empathetic kidnapper by night. He uses his savvy tech skills to intercept emergency calls and hospital visits of parents with severely ill and immune deprived children. In doing so, he takes his father’s habits and puts a new spin on it. Not only does he kidnap the children, but he reunites them with their original and biological families. Which effectively reverses what his father started. But he creates new wounds and perpetuates new insecurities for the families affected. Just like the little black dress, the little black book offers mystery in a shapely form.