Elf in the Attic

This is part of a short series. Each story is also very short! I recommend reading them in order if you haven't already. Here they are:

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Sandy was strung tight and thrumming with nerves, like an anxious harp. Is Malcolm alive? Is he suffering? Poor Malcolm....

She dropped the children at school and nursery, and then set up her camera in the car to talk to her followers.

Karl had told her not to. He didn't get it. She'd made a commitment. Thousands of people expected her to post. Today, she'd failed to post about Jingles the Elf at all. No horror scene, no family friendly one either. Something tugged away at the corner of her mind, whispering, it doesn't matter. Leave it! Did you notice how much easier it was this morning without all that extra work?

Going "live", she leaned close to the screen, glancing sideways and pitching her voice low to facillitate a conspiratorial air. Early sunshine glinted off her lips. (She always kept lip gloss in the glove compartment.)

"Guys... listen..."

She didn't give them all the details, only some juicy hints. That she'd had to stop doing elf on the shelf, because "something real bad" happened... She adopted a mantle of humble superiority. "I'm sorry, guys, but-" (pause to catch a stray teardrop on the back of one finger) "-my family has to come first."

Laughing emojis rolled up the screen, and her heart sank. Shit. This could make or break her.

Maybe it was easier to worry about this than... the other stuff, which was too creepy and weird for her brain to get a handle on.

One comment especially caught her eye.

>Don't mess around with elf on the shelf! Seriously, I know some people who had some really creepy things happen. If it's still in your house GET RID!

She drove home slower, more thoughtful, a new fear nibbling away at her, like those feet fish in that spa she went to last year.

Shucking her crocs in the hallway, she stepped into her fluffy slippers and made her way through to the lounge, where she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Karl?" she called. "Karl...? I thought you said you put the elf in the attic?"

There was no answer.

Jingles grinned at her from his place on the shelf next to the tree.

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Thank you for reading!