Skip to content
Inklings Fiction
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Writers
  • Story Prompts
  • Kindle Vella
  • Bookstore
Dystopian

A Bootleg Christmas

*Author Note: This is a prequel/Christmas Short Story to the story: The Invasion of Allegra which is in Kindle Vella*

Watchtower XXIV, Deep Space

25 December, 2283 – 00.04

“Fahy!” Vansen whispers through the door that she had just barely cracked open.

Yawning, Fahy rolls onto his side and looks at the light that is streaming in through the crack from the bright hallway outside of his cabin. Rubbing his eyes, he asks, “Yeah?”

“Can we come in?” Vansen requests, “It’s just Boris, Fagan, and I.”

Nodding slowly, Fahy thinks about what Vansen was asking. A few beats pass and he can’t come up with any ideas. Confused, he finally says, “Yeah. Why?”

The door slides the rest of the way open, and Vansen, Fagan, and Boris slip in silently. Once they’re both in, Vansen taps on the console beside the door, and it whooshes shut. She taps in a few things on the console before she smiles and excitedly says, “It’s Christmas!”

“Christmas?” Fahy rubs his eyes tiredly, “Already?”

“Yes already!” Vansen sounds happily as she quietly claps her hands.

“She’s a little too happy about all this,” Boris chuckles.

Vansen gives Boris a playful scowl before she responds, “It’s a bit of a big deal!”

“We know,” Fagan smiles, “We all know.”

“Well, it’s a bit of a bummer since we’re not allowed to celebrate right,” Vansen sighs.

Fagan shrugs, “Doesn’t matter what’s allowed or not so long as we’ve got each other.”

Vansen smiles and nods at Fagan, “Exactly!”

“So, how are we celebrating?” Fahy asks as he swings his legs out of his bed and straightens out a few things that are in reach.

“Well…” Vansen slowly looks around before she answers, “I sort of smuggled in some gifts for all of us. I made a few things too.”

“I made a few things too,” Fagan smiles, “Been sneaking down to the maintenance area to get a chance to make things.”

“Me too,” Boris smiles. Chuckling, he adds, “Fagan and I had to hide our projects from one another.”

“D—did you get something?” Vansen asks after a few beats.

Smiling, Fahy pulls out a few small boxes. In them, there are the things that he had been slaving away at for the past few months for his team.

“I thought you’d remember!” Vansen squeals happily as she grabs the box with her name on it.

Smiling, Fahy hands out the other two boxes as he asks Vansen, “How’d you manage to smuggle in gifts?”

A twinkle in her eye, Vansen answers, “I have my ways.”

“Mysterious as always,” Fagan chuckles, “From what I heard, there were some people who owed her some favors.”

Vansen lets out a loud laugh, “That makes it sound so much easier than it was. You’ve got no idea.”

Nodding, Fahy chimes in, “I’m sure it was hard—there’s a reason why none of us were able to smuggle anything in!”

“It really was,” Vansen nods along slowly, “Well, are we ready to start opening them?”

“Let’s,” Fagan smiles, “Who first?”

“Oh, we’re taking turns?” Boris asks, his first present already halfway unwrapped.

Vansen chuckles, “Of course, we are civilized, after all!”

Smirking, Fagan says, “Well, Christmas is here to celebrate Jesus and he said whoever is first will be last so… Boris, I guess you’re up!”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Boris lets out a very sarcastic laugh before he turns his attention back to his gift from Fahy. A few moments later and Boris is poking at the small machine that Fahy had made for him.

“It’s a little farmer!” Fahy explains as he points out the small mechanism which is working slowly, “See how it’s using that thing like a hoe on the dirt? I thought it’d remind you of home!”

Boris chuckles and smiles slightly, “It does, that’s super neat. Thanks.”

“Alright, now I’m curious!” Vansen blurts out as she rips open her gift from Fahy. Once it’s open, she examines it and smiles, “It’s a cow!”

“Just like the ones on your ranch, right?” Fahy asks, his heart in his throat as he hopes that she likes it.

Vansen looks up from the cow after a few beats and assures him, “It’s awesome, thank you, Fahy!”

“Good, I’m glad you like it,” Fahy smiles back as he lets out a very quiet sigh.

Everyone else opens their various gifts and each gift is very well received. After a long while, Fahy is holding the very last gift.

“Well, you’re finishing things off, Fahy,” Vansen notes, “Hope you like it.”

Looking at the gift, Fahy briefly wonders what Vansen was able to make and what she could have smuggled all the way out to their Watchtower. The small, wrapped box isn’t large, but Fahy had suspected that it was impossible to smuggle anything larger than that out here.

“Well, are you going to open it?” Boris asks.

Nodding slowly, Fahy proceeds to begin unwrapping the gift. When he finishes, he sees that there are two boxes.

When Fahy hesitates, Vansen speaks up again, “The one on top is what I smuggled in, the one on the bottom is the one I made.”

Letting out a long sigh, Fahy stops and says, “Thank you all for this. As much as I’d like to be back at home with my family for Christmas, you all made this Christmas something special.”

“Oh, you can’t go and say that before you open your present!” Vansen laughs, “And besides, we haven’t even finished the party! Things are just getting started.”

Smiling slightly, Fahy presses his point, “All the same, you guys are the best. I hope we can keep doing this when this is all over—”

“You mean when we’re not in the middle of a deathly cold vacuum that could kill us and that the only thing keeping us alive is this little tin can?” Boris cuts in.

Fahy chuckles, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“I don’t know if I’d like to stick around with you weirdos if I don’t have to,” Boris says sarcastically.

Vansen elbows Boris and then looks around. Smiling, she lets her head lull to the side slightly and she sighs, “I’d like that. You all are something else, and I think my family would love you all too.”

“Mine too,” Fagan chirps.

“Same here,” Fahy smiles, “Let’s just hope that we can get home sooner rather than later so we don’t have to spend another Christmas way out here.”

“And so I don’t have to go through so many hoops trying to get you all gifts!” Vansen adds with a laugh, “I mean, you guys are great and all, but sheesh!”

“And so I can just buy you guys your gifts,” Boris teases. Holding up a hand, he points out a few burns, “You have no idea how much of a struggle it was to make all your things.”

Fahy laughs and nods, “I think it would all be a lot easier back home. A lot less people to try and sneak things by that way too.”

Shaking her head, Vansen scoffs, “You guys don’t even understand how much of a struggle it was to make it through all the trainings and whatnot they forced me through to become an officer. If I stuck to the rules like I’m supposed to, we’d all be stuck in the brig for this.”

“And we’d be dead not long after that,” Fahy adds the grim caveat that they all knew was the truth.

“And we’d be dead,” Vansen echoes in agreement.

“Well, open your thing already, Fahy!” Boris urges, “I’m ready for our Christmas dinner!”

“Christmas dinner?” Fahy asks, his ears perking up.

“Oh, unwrap it already!” Vansen laughs, “Stop getting distracted.”

Chuckling, Fahy shrugs, admitting defeat at long last. He was, in fact, stalling and he knew it.

Turning his attention back to the present, he gently unwraps the bottom box.

“It’s a miner!” Vansen tells him, “I know it’s just a figurine and can’t move like yours do, but—”

“It’s awesome,” Fahy cuts Vansen off, “I love it.”

Fahy is slowly turning the piece over in his hand as he admires Vansen’s work. Sure enough, the figurine is a very well done miner and they are in the middle of swinging a pickaxe. Fahy knew full well that Vansen likely spent just as long as he did, if not longer, making this present. He also knew that she must have spent a lot of time coming up with something that would be the perfect gift for someone like him who spent so much of his life belowground working the various mines around his home on Allegra.

“The second gift—the one I smuggled in—is the other part to this one,” Vansen explains, “Go on, open it!”

Nodding obediently, Fahy opens up the next gift and is greeted by the sight of a chunk of iron pyrite.

“It’s fool’s gold!” Vansen pipes up.

Chuckling, Fahy rolls the piece of metal between his fingers as he recalls the story that Vansen had likely used as inspiration for this gift. That story, as Fahy had told it, had taken place maybe ten years before. Fahy had been working an abandoned part of one of the mines he worked in an effort to find something worthwhile to make a name for himself and hopefully breathe some new life into his town’s mine which had been struggling as the ore dried up. As he had been digging, he found some iron pyrite and was convinced it was gold. After running through town and making a complete fool of himself, Fahy had been informed that his discovery was nothing more than fool’s gold and that he was the fool.

“Just like your story,” Vansen continues, confirming Fahy’s suspicion.

Smiling, Fahy looks up at Vansen and says, “Thanks, Vansen, this is great.”

Vansen takes the two gifts from Fahy and then puts them together so that the miner figure is preparing to strike the lump of fool’s gold instead of empty space. Handing it back, she smiles and nods, “I’m glad you like it.”

“Well, with that out of thee way, that means it’s time for some chow!” Boris announces as he sets his presents aside and pulls out his bag.

“I guess it is,” Vansen nods as she pulls her own bag out and starts laying out small bags of food, “I had to pull some strings for these too.”

Smiling, Fahy takes a bag that Vansen hands him and he does his best to help finish laying out their little Christmas meal.

When the meal is all set up, Vansen looks out the window behind Fahy and sighs, “Despite everything else, we sure have a lot to be thankful for too. I mean, just look at that view.”

Turning, Fahy sees that they are looking over the whole of the Milky Way.

“Yeah, that’s a view alright,” Boris nods, “Makes me think about how small everything is in the grand scheme of things.”

“Come on, guys, let’s eat,” Vansen says after a few moments.

Turning back to Vansen, Fahy smiles and nods in agreement, “Let’s.”

“Prayers first,” Vansen reminds everyone as she stretches out her hands.

Taking Vansen’s hand, Fahy nods, “Prayers first.”

0
Rated 0 out of 5
0 out of 5 stars (based on 0 reviews)

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

Caleb Fast

Check out his Author Bio!

Contemporary

Liquid Monster

~Journal of the day the Japan Tsunami hit~

May 11, 2011 started like any normal day, but I remember all the details perfectly unlike any other. I’d biked to school with my older brother, Yuuto. It was beautiful out and the cherry blossoms were still in bloom, which was unusual for that time of year. I wasn’t very interested in the trees though. I’d raced inside ahead of Yuuto, slowing down once in the hall and walking to my locker looking around for Sumire, my best friend. I wanted to tell her about my birthday that was coming up and how my parents had said we could have a sleepover. I changed my shoes to my school slippers and bounced on my toes, then I saw her. She bounded through the front doors grinning and clenching her sticker book. She waved it over her head as she charged over to me, her short black hair bouncing around her face.

“Look!” She’d shouted at me, shoving the book in my hand and flipping it to a new page. She always made the pages decorative and usually placed a photo, a note, or a pressed flower in it. This particular page featured a picture of a girl, about a year old, in a Kimono.

Cho is Sumire’s cousin and the absolute cutest thing. Several other girls came over and squealed “Kawai” with me.

Sumire giggled and stuffed the book into her locker with her shoes rather than put it in her backpack. “I can’t wait to see her next week.”

As we walked to our homeroom, I told her about my birthday plans. Then, for the next few hours, the normal day’s activities commenced…. until the room began shaking.

Earthquakes, they never cease to terrify me, even more so now. This is the only moment I don’t remember clearly as I was frozen in fear. I’d never been in an earthquake so strong before. I suppose someone told us to get under our desks because Sumire grabbed my arm and dragged me to the ground. It didn’t stop shaking. Someone screamed and several girls cried. I thought it would never end. Then it finally stopped. I continued clutching the legs of my desk until I heard someone say it was alright.

When I stood, I noticed a huge crack in the ceiling. Dust was already sprinkling from it.

Sumire tapped my shoulder and pulled me into the evacuation line. We moved smoothly out onto the park where we all stood anxiously. I observed the other buildings nearby noticing one that had fallen, its red tile roof slanted in and scattered across the street. I looked around for Yuuto, but I couldn’t see him.

I’ve never been so afraid in my life as I was March 11th. Sumire tried calling her mom and dad and I texted my grandpa, but we never got to check for replies in all the running that came after. More earthquakes took place as we were led in an orderly but prompt fashion to higher ground, a nearby shrine. As we hiked up to the temple, other people from the town started joining us and parents began searching for their kids.

At the top, Sumire and I huddled together near a stone sculpture of a komainu and watched the other kids huddle into groups of friends. I finally spotted Yuuto who was running toward me. The ground rumbled again, shaking petals from the trees recklessly, just as he reached me. We stood there, looking over the city for several minutes and watching the stairs as people climbed up them. We noticed many houses were already caving and it looked like some power lines had fallen. Off in the distance there was smoke. I couldn’t have felt more suffocated with fear than if I’d been standing in that smoke myself.

It was some relief to see Sumire’s mom appear in the train of people. All three of us ran up to her. Many parents argued with teachers about whether to stay here or drive away.

I asked Yuuto if we were high enough. He promised we were. I watched Sumire and her mother leave and get into their car; it was then that I noticed it: houses disappearing in a blackish-brown haze in the distance. Silence came quickly among us at the shrine as more noticed it rushing toward us. Rushing isn’t even the right word for how it moved. It wiped houses flat in mere seconds as it hurtled closer.

I looked down at the road where cars were being scooped up and rolled amongst its debris like clothing in a washing machine, except it wasn’t cleaning. I looked desperately for Sumire’s car. I saw it. I saw it… right as the wave swallowed it. I screamed, but it didn’t stop. It leapt its way up toward us. Its muddy mass foamed like a rabid beast flicking its claws upward, it devoured everything… and roared as it did so.

Yuuto pulled me away as the water reached where we were, sweeping at out feet. We ran further up into the shrine; I saw some people lose their footing and they were sucked into the dark mass.

Yuuto and I huddled together under the bell amongst hundreds of others as the water swept beneath us dragging wood, rent metal, bodies… I closed my eyes and sobbed as I held onto Yuuto. He hugged me close, but I could still hear it. It sounded like the monster it appeared to be.

The water receded for a bit, but we didn’t consider ourselves safe. Everyone climbed higher up. I didn’t watch when a second wave rushed over, sweeping away the shrine. People were not silent anymore. I heard kids screaming and crying, calling for their parents. I heard mothers singing softly trying to keep their own horror from their voice. I heard teachers calling out names frantically, trying to make sure all the kids were still there. I heard the sound of the bell from the shrine being left by the wave, clanging against itself and the ground. I wished I couldn’t hear.

We stayed there for hours. It was cold. It smelled terrible, like salt and sewage. When we finally were told it was safe to go down, I was terrified. Yuuto kept his hand over my shoulder and I kept both arms wrapped around him as we went down the soggy slopes with our classes. When we made it back to the school, it was clear it could not be used for a shelter. Large sections had collapsed. Buildings in the area had seemingly vanished leaving only wood and mud and warped metal, many that still stood looked ready to collapse, some houses looked as if they had been turned upside down, and some burned. I wondered how they could possibly burn when they’d been pounded by the ocean.

I pulled out my phone and noticed there had been a message from grandpa before the tsunami hit. I wondered if he had made it to higher ground like he said he was heading to. I tried to message but there was no service. Yuuto squeezed me tight and when I looked up at him I could see the same fear written on his face that I saw in the other people around me. Some were covered in mud, bleeding, holding broken limbs, crying. Many held phones trying to call people but finding themselves out of luck just as I had.

Yuuto and I sat on a soggy mattress that had been swept into the schoolyard, if that was indeed what it was. One wouldn’t know by the piles of trash that had been caught by the fence. A car that was bent in two lied beside a uprooted tree as if the roots had been the vise like paws of an enormous creature. I saw a hand hanging from the car’s shattered window. I swallowed hard and wondered if it was possible that Sumire and her mother had survived. I wondered if we would ever see grandpa again. I wondered where we would go. I wondered how so much could change… It had been just a normal day.

I wonder if all disasters start like that.

Works Cited:

Gorgo, Paolo. Japan Earthquake: Internet a Communication Lifeline as Telephone Lines Fail. 14 

Mar. 2011. Seeking Alpha. 

https://seekingalpha.com/article/258078-japan-earthquake-internet-a-communications-lif

eline-as-telephone-lines-fail. Accessed 5 Feb. 2019. 

Johnson, Marcia L. Johnson, Jeffery R. Daily Life in Japanese High Schools. Oct. 1996. Freeman 

Spogli Institute. Stanford University.  

https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/daily_life_in_japanese_high_schools. Accessed 5 Feb. 

2019. 

Oskin, Becky. Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. 13 Sep. 2017. 

Live Science. 

https://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html. Accessed 5 Feb. 2019. 

Parry, Richard Lloyd. The School Beneath the Wave. 24 Aug. 2017. The Guardian. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/24/the-school-beneath-the-wave-the-unim

aginable-tragedy-of-japans-tsunami. Accessed 5 Feb. 2019. 

Shaw, Rajib. Takeuchi, Yukiko. East Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami. International 

Environment and Disaster Management Laboratory. Kyoto University. 

https://www.preventionweb.net/files/27138_03mrshaw.pdf. Accessed 5 Feb. 2019. 

What if there’s an earthquake at school? Kids Web Japan. 

https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/schools/q6.html. Accessed 5 Feb. 2019. 

0
Rated 0 out of 5
0 out of 5 stars (based on 0 reviews)

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

Brianna Harpel

Check out her Author Bio!

Search for Stories, Authors, and Genres

Search By Genre

  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Alternate History
  • Apocalypse
  • Bible Adaptations
  • Children’s
  • Classics
  • Comics
  • Coming of Age
  • Contemporary
  • Crime
  • Detectives
  • Drama
  • Dystopian
  • Espionage
  • Fairytale
  • Fantasy
  • Folklore
  • Historical Fiction
  • Horror
  • Humor
  • Literary
  • Middle Grade
  • Military
  • Mystery
  • New Adult
  • Pirates
  • Post-Apocalypse
  • Romance
  • Science Fantasy
  • Science Fiction
  • Short Story
  • Supernatural
  • Thriller
  • Uplifting
  • Urban
  • War Stories
  • Western
  • Young Adult

Recent Stories

  • Shrunk: Weekly Prompt 78 December 31, 2021
  • The Cambridge’s Final Voyage December 24, 2021
  • Smuggler’s Route December 24, 2021
  • Distant Prospects December 24, 2021
  • A Bootleg Christmas December 24, 2021

"Go Forth and Write." Isaiah 30:8

God's put a story in all of us. Write it with us.
Copyright 2021 by Inklings Fiction
Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress