A Stealthy Elf

This is a short story about an Elf on the Shelf named Tickles. The Monday before Christmas, Tickles the Elf sends a situation report back to the North Pole via satellite communications. This report provides Santa with insight into the local environment and what to expect as he drops off Christmas presents for the children and parents. 

Each evening or early morning, Tickles uses his magic, searching for another location near the Christmas tree to hang out. This tradition has been used for many years, bringing laughter and joy to the families graced by an Elf on the Shelf.

Tickles is with a secret group, Santa’s Reconnaissance Elf Team. As you can see Tickle’s true identity serves as a cover-up for Zipper his real name, who is a Team Leader of Santa’s Recon Elves. 

Tickles and the other Recon Elves on the Shelf are embedded into families' homes all over the world at the same time the Christmas Tree is put up and decorated. 

All the Elves on the Shelf are made and trained on specific skills to gather information for the naughty or nice list. Their training is intense and rigorous, building the strength and endurance to hang for a long duration, gaining the mobility to sit in an awkward position, and developing the discipline to be still for hours. This training equips them to observe, recognize, and report back to Santa on anything that might cause issues for Christmas. 

The house is silent and not even a creature stirs. The fireplace was emptied by the dad for safety reasons, per his children’s request. The children didn’t want Santa to catch on fire and be the reason Christmas was ruined. Little did they know, Santa and his reindeer faced a challenge in the Forest of Misfit Toys. Luckily for Santa, a kind leprechaun with a gold chain, has gifted magic mushrooms to Santa, enabling his reindeer the magic to finish Christmas. 

Tickles dangles from the curtain rod overseeing the Christmas tree excited and in high spirits. Eagerly waiting for Santa to drop off the gifts, and pick him up to take back to the North Pole. Tickles is excited because he is ready to return to the North Pole where all he can dream about is sipping on his favorite hot chocolate with fairy dust, candy cane pieces, and peppermint bark on top made by Mama Claus. 

Tickles felt a surge of energy run through his body, the sun had set a few hours ago and the house was sound asleep along with the humans inside of it. Tickles looks down at his red legs dangling below. He starts to swing gaining momentum in his hips, with his grip tight around the curtain rod and his arms supporting his swing body.

Tickles begin counting in his head, “1,2,3…” he snaps his hips to the rod, wrapping his legs around, crossing his feet before they slip off, pulling himself up, and around to a stand. With perfect balance, he runs across the pole, leaps off like Buzz Lightyear, and lands with style on the wooden floor, performing a forward roll before sprinting towards the fireplace. 

Aware that he still needs to climb to the roof before Santa arrives, Tickles hears another set of footsteps, he comes to a slamming stop and freezes. He looks back and it is those of Tiger, the family dog. With a grin ear to ear, his tongue flapping in the wind, and droll spraying everywhere, Tiger is at a full sprint towards Tickles.

Without panicking, Tickles makes a split-second decision, and falls back into a full sprint toward the fireplace asking himself, “How did he not see Tiger?” Tickles was so focused and concerned about getting out of the house and back to the North Pole. He failed to recognize the danger and threat of moving around with Tiger in the living room. 

Having witnessed Tiger's destructive tendencies with stuffed animals, Tickles is determined not to become part of Tiger’s stuffed animal collection. Reaching the fireplace, Tickles climbs the brick chimney in a hurry, while below, Tiger barks and scratches, causing a commotion. Barking loud enough to wake up the entire house. 

Tickles reaches the roof and sees the stars shining, the chilly air takes his breath away as he gasps. He runs to the side of the roof where he finds a bag of glow-in-the-dark candy canes. Tickles starts to lay out a Y-shape with the glow-in-the-dark candy canes across the roof so that Santa can pick him up. It was his only way of being extracted and that much closer to his favorite cup of hot chocolate with fairy dust, candy cane pieces, and peppermint bark on top. 

Tickles gazes into the sky and spots a red light in the distance - uncertain if it's real or a mere illusion. The fluffy snowflakes swirling around makes it challenging to tell.

 "Ho, Ho, Ho" bounces through the valley of homes; he recognizes that voice. 

Soon, bells join in, softly singing in the wind—jingle bells. “It's Santa and his reindeer,” Tickles says to himself with joy, jumping up and down with glee.

Santa catches sight of the Y-shaped signal, shouting at Rudolf, to fly towards the glow-in-the-dark candy canes. Tickles watches Santa approach the house, hovering above the roof, he leaps out with his sack of toys and doesn’t say a word to Tickles. 

Silently he descends the chimney, where he swiftly returns in a blink of an eye. The once-barking dog falls silent, and Santa completes his mission in a flash. Tickles blinked, and Santa was back, ready to roll. "Thanks," Tickles expresses. Santa replies, "No, thank you, for the help," Tickles jumped over the seat and joined the other elves in the back who had been on the same mission but in different locations.

Among his teammates, Tickles is no longer used, and his real name "Zipper," is used once again. A snap back into the reality. The mission ends, and it's time to rest, gearing up for the next year's venture. 

Zipper turns away from the group laughing and chatting. He looks out of the sleigh, witnessing the merging of clouds and stars fly by; as the brisk air stings his nose. 

Left with a lingering question only he can answer: will he return for another year, or is his time with Santa’s Recon Team of Elves over? 

Unable to answer the question. All he can think of is his warm sweet favorite cup of hot chocolate with fairy dust, candy cane pieces, and peppermint bark on top made by Mama Claus - signifying, a job well done and a mission completed.