"Nia!"

Stomps came from the stairs and a head poked into the room.

"Nia. We've been calling you for the past five minutes. Come on love, we're about to watch Home Alone." She smiled and bounced on her heels excitedly.

I groaned and rubbed at my face."Addy I just had the weirdest dream."

Her smile dropped then reappeared.

"You did?" She gasped and poked her head back outside."Guys! Nia had a dream!"

More footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Several kids and teens poured in and took up the space on the floor and beds.

"So what was this one about?"Addy sat on the floor close to me and looked up.

"We were all elves on North Pole Planet," I made quotation marks with my fingers for emphasis,"working for Santa Claus and all of you were there."

"For real?" A husky boy asked. We called him Thomas because of his obsession with trains, but his real name was Mark.

"Yeah and you were there too. Especially Addy, Josh, Carlos, Felix. I mean you guys were badass. And you Taylor, you were evil and..."

That's when I launched into the crazy dream that I had. I sat on the dresser with my feet propped up on the chair I was sitting in. After I wiped up the slob and they laughed at my expense before I shut that shit down. My hands moved animatedly as I explained my dream as best I could.

I was in the midst of telling them about the fight with the Guardians in Claude's factory when something tapping at the window kept breaking my concentration.

"Then Claude came in with-" Tap. "-these six gnarly-" Tap. "-figures that went straight for Father-" Tap. "Do you all hear that?"

They furrowed their brows in confusion at my abrupt question in the middle of the story.

"Do you all smell that?" Carlos held his nose."I think Thomas let one loose." His laugh came out nasally as Mark hit his shoulder.

"Did not!"

I jumped off the table and waved them off."No, not that."

Making my way to the curtains, I yanked them open and looked out the window. It was snowing.

"It's snowing."

"It's snowing?!" Taylor ran up beside me to get a look."Oh, I love the snow," she mused.

"We can go out and play when Nia finishes her story," Felix lead her back to her seat beside him on the floor while I continued to look outside.

"Nia." I turned at the mention of my name."Come on and finish it," Josh told me.

"Alright." I closed the curtains and sat back down at the table.

"So." My hands were up to continue the story when that tapping came again and I ran up to the window before it could stop. I yanked open the curtain just as something blew in through the window, knocking me to the floor.

Glass went everywhere and the room erupted into chaos. Kids screamed while running for the stairs as the bigger kids ushered them out.

Josh helped me up and wiped glass off my night shirt. He was ushering me out of the room when these tiny monsters flew in through the broken window.

They latched onto us like leeches refusing to let go. Taylor was ushering the remaining kids out of the room when several of the little monsters charged her and Felix knocking them against the wall. Carlos and Addy went to help when more of those monsters latched onto them as well.

I yanked one off my leg and beat it against the wall. More were crawling around my back and I couldn't shake them off. I slung the one I was beating outside the window and backed up against the wall with all my might.

Looking around at everyone else I could see them in similar situations. Before I could assess the situation any longer, a blinding bright light appeared. One moment we were there and in the next we were gone.

Vanished.

Hocus pocus'd.

Abracadabra'd.

《<•○●○•>》

"Kids?" She looked around the room in search if the missing teens.

"Kids!"came her hysterical voice.

She gazed about the room. Mostly wverything was knocked over and there were cases of blood on the floor.

The last thing she saw was the billowing curtains, jagged glass, and the fresh snow that came through the window.

《<•○●○•>》

"Is the camera ready?" She asked the camera man. She pulled at her coat to get it just the way she wanted and tucked her hair behind her ear.

The camera man gave her a thumbs up and counted down with his fingers until it was time for the news report.

"This just in..." She continued her story until it was time for her to sign off.

The only thing she didn't notice was the beat and battered body of a little elf hidden behind the bushes.