"You've got to be kidding me."

The tree-that-shouldn't-be-there had turned itself on and started to play Jingle Bells. Samaëlle stared at it with big round eyes, a desire to put each and every branch in the shredder rising in her.

And unexpectedly, the branches started to spin like helicopter blades, at full speed. The teenager hurried to the dining room and took a chair, thinking she'd be able to hold the tree back.

How wrong she was.

Samaëlle had barely lifted the chair that said tree had already torn it apart. Right away, the teen flipped the table and the other chairs, and retreated in the living room. The tree had already shredded the table and was following her.

"Just stop sleeping and help me !", she yelled at Mister Couch-Squatter, who shuddered, then opened his eyes suddenly, startling Samaëlle. He got up, spotted his clothes next to the couch and searched in the leather jacket, then found some kind of a pen that he aimed at the tree. The device emitted quite a strange noise that sounded a bit like a dying screw gun, and the mad tree simply exploded.

"Remote control. But who's controlling it ?", the man mumbled.

Samaëlle shook herself out of her stupor and ran to the window. Outside, three fake Santas were standing right in front of the house.

"Them, maybe ? We've already met, real gentlemans."

"Thanks !"

And the strange man got out, Samaëlle hot on his heels. Before he could do anything with his alien pen, the two-bit Santas got beamed away.

"Pilot fish.", the man said.

"Then where are the sharks ?"

"Good question !", he retorted before clutching a hand on his chest, in pain.

"What's wrong ? Is one of your hearts dysfunctionning ?", Samaëlle asked, worried.

"Yeah, that too, you woke me up too soon, I'm still regenerating ! Hold on, how do you know about that ?", he answered hurrriedly before sighing a bit of golden mist, a wary look on his face.

"You literally fell on me, unconscious, I had to check on you ! By the way.... "regenerating" ? You'll have to tell me all about that, but first you need to rest a bit. No offense, but you look terrible."

"Neural implosion. Oh, my head !"

Samaëlle did her best to help him going back inside, heading to the couch that had been spared by the tree as the strange man clutched in turn his head, or an arm...

"Why is there an apple in the dressing gown ?"

"Oh, sorry, that's my adoptive father... He gets hungry at night."

"I see- Aaah ! Brain collapsing. Pilot fish, the pilot fish means something big is coming, a shark, as you said, something, something is coming...", he stuttered before passing out again. Samaëlle put him on the couch as well as she could, then went in her room to check on her tarentula who was sleeping in her cocoon.

"What a crazy night, right, Rosie ? But hey, more scared than hurt", the teenager said, distractedly petting her hairy friend. "Something big this way comes, hey.... Maybe they'll mention something about that on the news."

She went back downstairs and turned on the telly as the news were starting - perfect timing.

"We are expecting the Guinevere probe's first images to get to us in a few minutes. However, we had quite a scare earlier tonight, didn't we, Mr Llewellyn ?", Another Host announced.

"Well, yes actually, we lost contact with the probe. However, she disappeared for a split second only, just a blip, really. We will receive the first images anytime, without any problem.", said Llewellyn replied.

"Very well, very well. Ah, I've just been informed that the first images came to us ! Ladies and gentlemans, from Mars...."

"These are not red rocks or there's a real problem with biology....", Samaëlle muttered, a disbelieving look on her face.

Instead of red desert landscapes, the telly showed a face. A red-eyed face covered in what looked like bone, something like a goat's skull. Really ugly. And apparently talking, according to the guttural sounds it was emitting.

"Oh God. Tonight, on December the 25th, at midnight, the absolute proof that alien life exists has been broadcasted live on BBC1 and all around the world.", the host said.

"Blimey, had I known I would've called them earlier. We would've made the front page with Mister I've-Got-Two-Hearts-And-I-Breathe-Sparkles.....", Samaëlle smirked.

She stopped laughing right away when she realized that the metaphorical shark the stranger had mentioned was without a doubt the bag of bones who was speaking Yoghurto-Klingon on the BBC.

"According to some military sources, a huge spaceship would be approaching Earth as we speak, despite the government's claims of an alien hoax.", the host added, and Samaëlle stopped listening, lost in thought.

Samaëlle didn't recall falling asleep. However, she woke up right where she had sat down hours ago, next to the couch. Dawn was breaking, and what had waken up the teenager was the noise coming from the street, outside. Curious, but also quite worried that it was the ugly trio coming back, Samaëlle got out, holding a kitchen knife and a frying pan. She knew it wouldn't be that useful against the three horrors, but it was better than nothing.

It wasn't the Worst-Santa-Claus'-Ever, but something told her it was much worse. A few people were walking in the street, some kind of blue halo around their head, blank-faced despite their families' attempts to stop them. Nearby, a police officer was shouting in his radio.

"What do you mean, it's happening all across the country ?! What the hell is going on ?"

"We don't know, sergeant, we don't know ! But apparently these people are heading to the highest buildings they find ! We don't know what came over them !", the radio crackled back.

"This world really has gone mad", Samaëlle muttered. She went back in, and glanced at the telly, which was still on.

"My parents won't like the bill...", she said. "Oh, nevermind. With everything that's going on, they'll understand, I think...."

"According to the reports, a fair amount of people are going up to the nearest building's rooftop. Every attempt to stop them has failed, and I just got the information that this is happening all around the globe.", the host announced. "Once again according to the reports, it would represent a third of the world's population. In other words, two billions of people are standing there, ready to jump at any moment."