“OPERATION: CORNERED KRINGLE” BY SCOTT DONNELLY #MicroTerrors
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When you're part of a military family, you understand sacrifice and support. So at American Public University, we honor your dedication by extending our military tuition savings to your extended family. Parents, spouses, legal partners, siblings, and dependents all qualify for APU's preferred military rate of just $250 per credit hour for undergraduate and master's level programs. American Public University, value for the whole family. Learn more at apu.apus.edu slash military.

Welcome to Micro-Terrors. Scary stories for kids. Where it's always the spooky season. Full of chills. Thrills. And spine-tingling spooks.

Micro-terrors are family-friendly frights for those ages 8 and up. And while our stories are for younger ears, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night, and some children may not be able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended. Now, for tonight's Micro-Terror. Operation Cornered Kringle.

The rescue sleigh pod blew through the snowy night, its bells jingling with urgency and Christmas music dramatically blaring through the speaker system. The wind and snow blew hard in the faces of the sleigh's three occupants, but they didn't mind. They didn't have time to mind. They were too focused on the mission. Three North Polean elves, decked out in holiday-hued stealth garments, commanded the aircraft reserved for unthinkable matters like this one.

"Two minutes until we reach our target," Tinselbottom, the brave leader of the elf squad, informed his team. "Can I get a snowfall reading?" Trixie, a cute little tech elf, pulled up the readings on the dashboard monitor. "Just under a foot of snow, Mr. Tinselbottom, and still falling. Shall I engage the skis?" "Indeed," Tinselbottom said.

He leaned over Trixie's shoulder and swiped through the images on the monitor until he came to a digital map of the neighborhood they were heading to. He zoomed in on the target house and studied the roof layout. "Given that Santa is parked here," Tinselbottom said, pointing to a specific area on the roof, "we should be able to park here."

He pointed to a secondary location on the roof. "This should be quick, elves," Tinselbottom said, addressing Trixie first and then turning his attention to the elf in the back of the sleigh pod. He was the mysterious brute of the team. He wore a full beard, decorated in small ornaments. His hat was pulled down far enough to where his eyes were barely visible. He smacked a piece of chewy peppermint in his mouth and remained silent. "You understand, Pear Drop?"

"A quick and easy extraction. None of the bells and whistles you crave," Tinselbottom said, worried that Pear Drop's loose cannon personality could compromise the mission just as it had so many other times.

A mission last Christmas saw Pear Drop fight off a herd of llamas after landing on the wrong farm to retrieve a sack of missing presents. The year before, he accidentally initiated Christmas a month early and had to use a series of glitter flares to guide the reindeer back to the North Pole before they were seen on radar. "Do you understand?" Tinsel Bottom repeated. Pear Drop smacked the peppermint between his lips again before responding, "Yeah, yeah. I hear ya, Tinsel Bottom."

Tinselbottom nodded, hesitant to believe the elf, but he had no choice. This was the team that was assembled for him. "Thirty seconds," Trixie announced, hitting a button on the dash that unlatched the skis underneath the sleigh pod.

"Switching to stealth mode," she hit another button which cloaked the pod from all radar detection. "Prepare for landing," Tinsel Bottom shouted over the music and wind. The sleigh pod zoomed through the sky, flew over a small neighborhood on the outskirts of town, and then landed on the roof of the target house, sliding to a stop next to Santa's sleigh, which was helmed by his eight trusty and experienced reindeer.

Tinselbottom hopped out of the pod and approached the reindeer. "Any updates from the big man?" he asked. Dasher, the deer at the front of the line, turned his head. "Wow, nice response time," he said. "No, no updates since the first transmission. It was also the last one." "Tell me again so we have all the information," Tinselbottom said, plugging in an earpiece transmitter and pulling on a tactical vest lined with glitter bombs.

He armed himself with a peppermint shooter. PearDrop did the same, only instead of equipping a standard-issue shooter, he opted for the more destructive candy cane cannon.

Dasher reiterated what he had reported to home base. "Santa went down the chimney and decided to eat the cookies first. He usually waits until the end, but he said something about a raspberry filling that he just had to try. He went silent for a couple of minutes and then came back over the radio in a full-blown panic, shouting things about being cornered by a Toblerone. The signal cracked and went dead after that. We haven't heard from him since."

"Toblerones," Pear Drop scoffed. "The spike strips of the candy world," Tinsel Bottom shook his head. "There's got to be more to it than that. Santa knows to step over Toblerones. That's taught in basic training. Training that he approved. Trixie, pull out Pintel on the homeowners, please." Trixie tapped a few buttons on the sleigh pod's monitor. Information on the house and its owners flooded onto the screen.

Trixie read off the highlights. "The house was built in 1990. Two previous owners before the new occupants took over five years ago. Jack and Wendy Holleran. No pets on record, but they do have a helper monkey named..." Trixie stopped speaking and looked to her squad leader. "Toblerone. No one corners Santa, especially a monkey." Pear Drop growled with aggression.

Tinselbottom turned back to Dasher. "We'll get him out of here. You guys will be back on course in no time. We're just gonna have to do this carefully and organized." Tinselbottom turned back to his squad just in time to see Pear Drop deposit himself into the chimney. "Pear Drop!" he shouted. "Trixie, keep the pod running!" Tinselbottom ran across the snowy roof of the house and leaped into the chimney.

He hit the bottom. A large puff of soot swirled around him. He coughed and crawled out into the festively decorated living room. The tree was lit and glowing with every color of the rainbow. Santa's sack of gifts sat unopened next to it. "Beardrop!" Tinsel Bottom called out in a loud whisper. He scanned the room but didn't see his famously disobedient trooper anywhere.

He armed himself with his peppermint shooter and crept through the room. He stepped on something that crunched beneath his pointy shoes. He looked down, lifting his foot off a gooey red mess. "Rasberry," he answered to himself.

The crunch beneath his shoes was a crumb from the cookie. Ahead of him, he saw a trail of cookie crumbs. Tinsel Bottom stealthily followed the trail. He tapped his earpiece and whispered back to the pod, "'Trixie, do you have a position on Santa or a pear drop?' Trixie's voice cracked over the earpiece. "'Yes, pear drops pick Santa's signal this week, but it's coming from somewhere in the foyer. I have zero heat signatures on Coperone. Stay frosty!'

"Roger that," Tinsel Bottom responded. He aimed his peppermint shooter ahead and continued to follow the cookie crumbs. They led him into the dining room. Garland and lights were strung around the windows and on the mantel, giving a warm, festive glow to the room.

Across the room, ducked behind a decorative fern, was Pear Drop. He was positioned with his candy cane cannon, aimed into the next room - the foyer. Tinsel Bottom tapped his earpiece again. "Pear Drop, do you have a visual?" he asked. Pear Drop's voice crackled over the piece.

"No!" Tinsel Bottom whispered loudly. "This needs to be a smooth and by-the-numbers extraction. No bells or whistles, remember?" Pear Drop didn't respond, and Tinsel Bottom watched his trooper on the other side of the room remove his earpiece, set it on the floor, and smash it with his pointed shoe.

PearDrop then grabbed an ornament-shaped glitter bomb from his tactical vest and launched it into the foyer. Tinselbottom cringed as he waited for the impact. The glitter bomb shattered in the foyer, rupturing into an explosion of colored smoke and sparkles from within the disarray of radiance and glitter. Toblerone emerged, flying through the colorful chaos. He wore Santa's hat and screeched as he landed on PearDrop.

Toblerone flashed his teeth, sharp and dripping with saliva. He acted manic, like a rabid security guard on the night shift. Pear Drop pulled the trigger on the candy cane cannon just as Toblerone clobbered him to the ground. A candy cane was launched and shattered against the wall, sending sticky shards everywhere and filling the dining room with the sweet scent of peppermint. Tinsel Bottom rushed in, aiming his shooter. He pulled the trigger, popping off several rounds of peppermint candies.

They pelted Toblerone on his side and butt. The crazed monkey spun around and screeched viciously at Tinsel Bottom, his eyes burning with hostility. Tinsel Bottom in turn flipped on his laser scope and fired a peppermint directly into the animal's mouth. Toblerone snapped his jaw shut like a vice, smashing the candy and then seemed to actually enjoy its minty flavor.

The Diversion bought Pear Drop enough time to climb to his feet and use the hook end of his candy cane-shaped weapon to yank Toblerone back.

But Toblerone wasn't going down without a fight. He thrashed and rolled around until he was free from the hook's grasp. Tinselbottom advanced into the room, popping off round after round, peppering Toblerone continuously until he was able to slide into the foyer. Pear Drop aimed his cannon again, but Toblerone smacked it out of his grip with unrelenting force. The cannon flew across the room, and the monkey screeched victoriously.

PearDrop then ripped another glitter bomb off his vest and held it into the air like he was about to smash it to the ground, like a magician preparing to disappear in a cloud of smoke. Toblerone went silent, now knowing what the glitter bombs were capable of. And he didn't like it. His lips quivered with a mix of fear and anger.

"I'll do it," Pear Drop threatened. The two combatants stared into one another's eyes with a mutual respect for each other's dedication and character. Tinselbottom rushed into the foyer, scanning the room but not getting a visual on Santa. He tapped his earpiece. "Trixie, where?" A small voice came over the speaker. "Four feet to your left." Tinselbottom turned to his left and saw a closet door with raspberry filling smeared on the knob. He advanced again and opened the door.

Santa cowered on the floor, raspberry jelly caked into the hairs of his beard. "Mr. Tinselbottom!" Santa exclaimed. Tinselbottom smiled and tapped his earpiece. "Subject recovered!" he proudly announced. While Pear Drop held Toblerone in place with the threat of another glitter explosion, Santa set the presents under the tree before escaping back up the chimney.

Tinselbottom escorted him to a sled where he settled back in. "Wait!" Santa exclaimed. "My hat!" He touched his freezing, cold, bald head and remembered how Toblerone stole it from him and teased him with an arrogant monkey dance. "I'm not Santa without my hat!" "Never fear," Peardrop shouted as he flew from the chimney with Santa's hat and placed it upon his head. "Christmas is saved now thanks to you three," Santa said.

"Just doing our job, sir," Tinselbottom said, giving Santa a fist bump. "Go now! You have to make up for lost time!" "Merry Christmas, elves!" Santa shouted as he commanded his eight reindeer to fly. Within seconds they lifted off and were out of sight. Tinselbottom and Pear Drop climbed back into the sleigh pod and Trixie set the course for the North Pole.

"Hairdrop, good working holding off Toblerone with another glitter bomb. You were able to buy us the time we needed," Tinselbottom said, honored to have been a part of another successful mission. "Thank you, Mr. Tinselbottom. The monkey didn't seem to like those bombs. It was only logical to utilize them." With that, the sleigh pod lifted off the roof.

And just as he was about to soar away into the snowy night, Pear Drop slyly pressed a button on his remote detonator, causing a loud crack and boom from the house below them, and a volcanic geyser of red, green, and gold glitter and smoke from the chimney. The elves could hear Toblerone's frantic shrieks from below as they flew away, and Pear Drop cranked up the Christmas tunes to drown him out.

Thank you for listening to MicroTerrors. Join us each Saturday for another scary story. For more fun, visit our website at microterrors.com, where we will also have spooky games you can print out and play, like wicked word searches, mysterious mazes, and more.

Microterrors.com is also where you can find us on your favorite social media and even send in your own scary story for us to tell. Plus, you'll learn more about our author, Scott Donnelly, who has other horrors for both young and old. I hope you'll join me again soon for Microterrors, scary stories for kids.

When you're part of a military family, you understand sacrifice and support. So at American Public University, we honor your dedication by extending our military tuition savings to your extended family. Parents, spouses, legal partners, siblings, and dependents all qualify for APU's preferred military rate of just $250 per credit hour for undergraduate and master's level programs. American Public University, value for the whole family. Learn more at apu.apus.edu slash military.