Saving Mrs. Claus: An Apocalyptic Fairytale

By Serena Walken

Carrie is the next Mrs. Claus, and the son of Santa follows his family traditions to make her his. Only, tradition must break as Carrie's world gets lost to darkness.

 

Kris wants to take a slow, traditional approach with his future Mrs. Claus. Night riding in the sleigh. Drinking the elves cocoa. Distributing toys to good girls and boys as friends for a few years. His father though, isn't doing too well in the magic department, and Carrie's world loses the protection of Santa Claus.

 

Carrie is a sweet seventeen year old, who has known Kris only a little from his visits year to year. However, when he spits out the truth to her, running away to the North Pole isn't on her plans. As people in her world turn, and the season of merriment is no longer celebrated, will she have any choice in the matter?

 

Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus are gone. To give her world a fighting chance, can they both become the new Mr. and Mrs. Claus?

 

*A Christmas story in An Apocalyptic Fairytale. Read this story in any order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Serena Walken
• Release date: Apr 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201434663

Serena Walken

Serena Walken likes to write fantasy, sometimes whimsical or sometimes dark. She lives in Kansas with her wonderful daughter. She enjoys writing stories for a more broad-based audience and it's usually romantic but not always. https://www.patreon.com/serenawalken is where you can find more exclusive books and writing of hers. You can also find her on several other sites like Tumblr, Wattpad, Webnovel, and more writing for free and for paid.

Book preview

Saving Mrs. Claus

Copyright 2022 Melanie Ray

Written by Serena Walken

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Originally published under Melanie Ray in 2013, this story has been changed/updated to be more broad based for younger audiences.

After being teased endlessly in Kindergarten, Carrie grew up being a normal person. She tried to think about being something else. A teacher. A graphic designer. An author. Her parents were worried that she would never choose an appropriate college since her interest waned in anything that wasn’t Christmas related. Okay, maybe she had been weird, and maybe she hadn’t.

Being born on Christmas just skewed her attention from the regular. She had a side job at a local store wrapping gifts when people came in to shop, and she loved helping people find what they wanted.

Carrie?

Yes, Mom? Carrie answered her as she gently shook her birthday/Christmas present.

That boy who wanted to bring you to the dance? Where is he? She questioned her.  I thought you said that you had invited him.

That was another thing. Since Carrie didn’t know what she wanted for her future, her mother tried to persuade her to find someone. Her mother was hoping the man of her dreams would sweep Carrie off her feet and in a few years she’d be living on his company’s yacht. Her mother wasn’t raised in a pristine neighborhood, and she wanted her daughter to be secure. Love was a bonus, if included. Carrie's father was more passive. He was the kind who used the phrase ‘whatever your mom said’ too many times. Carrie looked over toward her mother, bracing herself. You mean Michael? She shook the gift in her hands, hearing no clinking sound. She knew there wouldn’t be. Each year she had received a material doodad gift, and a sweater. Carrie already had the doodad, but now she couldn’t wait to see the sweater. Noticing her mom had not taken her brazen eyes off of her, she had to continue. Well, I don’t know. Jenny said I should stay away, and I don’t know him well enough to―

You didn’t invite him? Her mother covered her head in shame. Carrie Childers, what am I going to do with you? Do you know who his father is?

Carrie went back to concentrating on the gift. Sure, Michael was cute and good looking, but they weren’t happy together. Shouldn’t everybody be happy? She guessed that was why she had such a hard time choosing what to do with the rest of her life. Carrie wanted to help people, so what should she be?

Nurse? Police woman? Ninja Samurai warrior that comes out of the shadows to prevent evil?

Who knew. She heard her mom and dad talking behind her as she opened the box of clothes. A green sweater with a large red bell. Carrie's parents never seemed to know or understand her taste, but when it came to her sweater each year? They always knew exactly what to get.  Carrie pulled her head through the sweater and flung her hair up and out of it. It fit snug against her skin. She hugged herself, basking in the feel of the warmth. Beside her was their firewood stove, radiating its warmth through the new clothes. There was nothing like new clothes, right beside a fire.

The rest of the night, her mom tried to talk again. Even though she was seventeen, Carrie never showed any signs of having interest in anything.

Many people don’t know what they want to be at seventeen, she told her mother. Can’t we drop this already?

If you were a normal girl, yes, we could. Her mother didn’t use the kindest words with her as their hands wrapped around each other’s. We both know you’re far from normal.

What your mother means... Carrie's father tried to join in. ...is that you’re special. Sweetie, you’re...

You are merry, her mother finished for him. You are too gracious, and stupid. This is a cruel world, Carrie Childers, and you need to survive in it. Last year you tried to donate half your room to charity! There isn’t room in this world for someone like that. You will wake up penniless and hurt.

In her defense, she did try to steal our credit card when she was younger, her father said.

Yes, to adopt orphans in third world countries, her mother continued. That doesn’t count as evil. Misguided and immature. She was only eight or so.

Carrie's mother would never be happy with her until she knocked over a bank or something. Honestly, she could go out and graffiti the neighborhood, and her mother would be proud of her. Maybe Carrie was a little more generous than others, but she didn’t want to be what her mother wanted. Why couldn’t she be herself, and be appreciated? Why did she have to be bad to be loved?

She won’t be a nurse, it would be too much. She can’t even watch regular fake blood. She won’t be a police woman, too violent. Honestly, Honey, what is she going to be? her father questioned.

It was a question that her mother would always ask, especially on her birthday. One year closer to the big decision. What was Carrie going to be?  She wanted to be someone that made others happy. That was all. People like that didn’t get paid though. Well, almost not. There was an opening for Mrs. Claus down at the mall, but her parents didn’t want her applying at all. They remembered when she was younger. The only thing she solidly ever admitted wanting to be.

If she were crazy or depressed, there would be pills. What do you do for merriment? Her mother scoffed. If people knew the real you.

Nora, her father said softly in his own way to disagree with Carrie's mom. Honey, don’t get that hard.

That’s not hard, Phillip, her mother said to him. She never fights back. How can that be hard?

The