The Alien Reindeer's Joy

by Starr Huntress

  He wrote Brad’s name down, along with three others who he would concentrate on. Tomorrow, he was set to deliver joy to a school in the area, but he still wanted to pay a visit to the hospital as well, if only he could.

  No one minded if he took a few liberties in how he distributed his joy. It meant later nights for Kaelar, but it was worth it.

  Things weren’t this busy all year round. At Christmas time, there was so much excess joy in the air. He hated to let any of it go to waste. While most people were bubbling with cheer in this season, there were always some who were drowning in misery, or those who could simply use a small lift of joy to get them into the season.

  Kaelar tucked his journal away and fell into bed, going over his route for tomorrow in his head. But as he thought about his extra visit to the hospital, a whole different thought appeared in his mind.

  One that involved a curvy, curly-haired doctor…

  Chapter 4

  Chloe

  Since she’d worked the night shift the previous night, Chloe got the morning off, but she had to go in for a couple of hours in the afternoon. One of the doctors had called in sick, and they needed the extra hands.

  When she finally got home in the evening, she was ready to drop straight into bed, but she forced herself to shower first. By the time she was out, her stomach was grumbling. Chloe remembered she had some leftovers in the fridge, and gratefully warmed them up.

  She’d just finished eating when the phone rang. It was the landline, not her cell, which meant it probably wasn’t the hospital. She knew she should still answer it. She lived in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes reception here wasn’t great. If the hospital tried her cell and couldn’t get through, they would use the landline.

  Sighing, she picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Chloe! I was wondering when you’d wake up. I’ve called twice today already.”

  “Hi, mom. I wasn’t here. I was working.”

  “Working?” She could practically see her mother’s disapproving frown. “I thought you had the night shift last night?”

  “I did, but they needed me for a few hours this afternoon.”

  “You shouldn’t work so much during the holidays,” her mother scolded. “You need a break too.”

  “I know. I’m booked for a week off, just after Christmas.”

  Many doctors and nurses at the hospital had young children, and Chloe didn’t begrudge them getting the better holiday spots. She hoped that one day, she’d have children of her own to open presents under the tree with.

  But for that, she first needed a husband.

  Perhaps her mom was a mind reader, or maybe she just harped on about this too much. “I heard that Giselle gave birth yesterday—two baby girls.”

  Giselle and Chloe had been childhood friends, though they’d lost contact as they grew older. “That’s wonderful.”

  It truly was, but she knew what was coming next and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

  “When are you going to start a family, Chloe? You can’t sustain yourself on just work forever, you know.”

  Chloe suppressed a sigh. They’d been through this multiple times before.

  “Mom, I’d love to have children someday, with the right guy, but it’s not something I can force. It’s not like I can just snap my fingers and have my future husband appear in front of me, can I?”

  “You aren’t ever going to meet anyone if all you do is work.”

  “Most of the staff at the hospital are married to people they met there,” she pointed out.

  Her mother chose to ignore this point. “You should put yourself out there more! Go out! Get some hobbies! You’re thirty-six and all you do is work.”

  Chloe released an exasperated sigh. “I don’t have time for hobbies, Mom. The kids at the hospital need me. I can’t just stop working.”

  “They take advantage of you there! You work way too many shifts.”

  “It’s not their fault they’re underfunded and understaffed—”

  “Excuses, excuses! It’s not like you don’t want a family. I know you do. I just don’t understand why you won’t fight for it. Go on dates! Meet a man!”

  Chloe took a calming breath, willing herself not to snap. “I don’t want to talk about this again, Mom. Please, let’s just drop the subject.”

  Finally, her mother seemed to get the point. “Fine, I won’t nag. I just want you to be happy. You know that, honey. I don’t mean any harm.”

  “I know that. I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.” Chloe thought longingly of her bed, but it seemed her mom wasn’t done talking. She prattled on for what felt like hours about her Christmas shopping and various things at home. Chloe did her best to concentrate. She loved her mom, but right now, she just wanted to sleep—not chat.

  Her mother’s monologue was interrupted on Chloe’s end by a knock on the door of her cabin. Startled, she snapped properly awake.

  Who was here at this time of night?

  She never got unexpected visitors—she was too far out for that. It took her half an hour just to drive into town.

  “Hang on, Mom. There’s someone at the door.”

  Chloe checked through the peephole and smiled when she saw it was just Matt. He was the twenty-something-year-old son of her neighbors. They still lived quite a bit away considering they were in the middle of the woods, but she ran into them on occasion. She opened the door and stepped aside.

  “Hi, Matt.”

  “Hey, Chloe.” He gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry to disturb you so late in the evening, but I saw the lights were still on…”

  “It’s no problem. What can I do for you?”

  “I—I just wanted to ask if you’ve seen anything strange lately?”

  Chloe cocked an eyebrow. “Strange? Like what?”

  Matt shook his head as if he didn’t want to answer. “My dad has been asking everyone around here. He was probably coming to ask you too but I thought it would be better if…” He cleared his throat. “This is going to sound strange no matter how I put it. My dad was out hunting last night and he swears he saw something… Something like a flying reindeer.”

  Chloe giggled at the thought. “And you came to ask me if I’ve seen the same? I’m sorry to disappoint Henry, but no flying reindeer have been sighted in my part of the woods. Honestly, it sounds like someone is getting a bit too much into the Christmas spirit to me.”

  Matt chuckled. “Maybe. I was just passing by and I… I thought I’d stop by.”

  Chloe wondered if that was the only reason. For a while now, she’d suspected that Matt had a crush on her, but Chloe had never held any romantic feelings for him. She felt that the boy was just a tad too young.

  “Well, let me know if you see anything.” Matt shrugged. “Have a good night.”

  “Thanks, Matt, you too.”

  She closed the door on him and hurried back to the phone. “Sorry, Mom. What were you saying?”

  Apparently, her mother had completely abandoned her previous line of conversation. “Was that a man in your house, Chloe?” The enthusiasm in her voice was so over the top, it was more annoying than funny.

  “Yes, it was the neighbors’ son. He was just checking on something that his dad saw last night.”

  “Nothing bad, I hope? I worry about you living all alone in that cabin. When your dad left it to you, I don’t think he ever meant for you to live there by yourself.”

  “I’m fine, Mom. It’s actually a lot safer here than in populated areas. Violent crimes are a lot more common than animal attacks. Most people who are injured by animals in forests could have avoided that if they knew how to act and what precautions to take.”

  “Well, you should at least have invited him in! Is he single?”

  Chloe ignored the question. “He was on his way somewhere. He just stopped by. Besides, I wasn’t going to leave you hanging on the other end of the phone all night.”

  “Nonsense, I would have been happy to cal
l you back after he left.”

  “Well, he’s gone now. Look, Mom, it’s late and I’ve got an early shift tomorrow. I should really get to bed…”

  “Of course, of course. You’re still coming home for Christmas, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I’ll see you then.”

  After hanging up, Chloe washed her plate and stumbled into her bedroom. She put her phone to charge, but seriously hoped that she wouldn’t receive a call from the hospital in the middle of the night. The prospect of having a full night’s sleep was delicious.

  Tomorrow, after work, she’d have to see about doing some Christmas shopping. She was leaving it late, and Chloe knew that it was a task she should get over and done with as soon as possible.

  Her mind wandered as she settled into her bed.

  She dreamed of men… and mysterious reindeer.

  Chapter 5

  Kaelar

  Kaelar walked into town happily while whistling a Christmas tune. He was in his humanoid form, wearing a reindeer costume to explain away his antlers. He’d just finished his route, delivering joy to the children at school during the daytime and paying another visit to the hospital at night.

  He never tired of watching the difference a little bit of joy could have on the children. Although he hadn’t had much sleep, he was in a cheerful mood, ready for the new day and ready to collect more joy in the town.

  Before he even reached the town, the cheerful giggles of a young girl reached his ear.

  “A reindeer! Mommy, look! A reindeer!” The child ran toward him, her mother lagging behind with an apologetic expression on her face.

  “Are you one of Santa’s reindeer?” the girl asked him as she reached him, not even realizing how close her question had hit.

  “I’m sorry,” the mother huffed, carrying a few shopping bags in her arms. “My daughter—”

  “Don’t be,” Kaelar said with a smile. “If I was averse to children, I wouldn’t wear a reindeer costume, would I?”

  The mother smiled gratefully, her aura changing from nervous to calm.

  “Yes, I am indeed one of Santa’s reindeer,” Kaelar answered truthfully, turning back to the girl. Children always accepted the truth without qualm, though their parents just thought he was playing. “I’m here on Santa’s orders to spread some joy.”

  The girl giggled, a red haze of joy starting to form around her. “Then, can you tell Santa what I want for Christmas?”

  “Of course, but you’ll have to whisper it to me so your mother doesn’t hear.”

  He winked and bent down to listen to the child’s wishes, promising to make a note of it to Santa as soon as possible. As the little girl whispered into his ear, he pulled on some of the joy that surrounded the child, easily tucking it into his internal storage pouch.

  Once the mother and child waved their goodbyes, Kaelar continued his walk into town. He had a feeling that this was going to be a good day since he already got to such a start from the morning.

  But as he reached the town, he paused.

  Something was amiss. Compared to the previous day, the town seemed dull and lifeless. People were still out shopping and going about their business, but they seemed slower and less enthusiastic about the season than before.

  The red haze of joy seemed a lot thinner than usual for this time of year. If Kaelar hadn’t known better, he would have thought it was mid-January. That was the worst season for joy. The high of Christmas and New Year would be wearing off and everyone had to get back to work, back to reality.

  Kaelar went over to a newsstand and bought a newspaper, scanning the headlines. There had probably been some tragedy that was making everyone sad. He’d collect what joy he could and maybe even move on to the nearby towns to see if there was more to be had there. Then, he’d deliver whatever he could to those most affected.

  He ended up reading the entire paper from front to back, but he couldn’t find anything unusually tragic. There were normal reports of petty crime, but nothing that should have resulted in the whole town lacking so much joy.

  Stumped, Kaelar started making casual conversation with people, hoping to pick up some clues that would help him understand. But the people seemed grumpy and not at all interested in talking. Nothing that was said brought him closer to uncovering the cause.

  Could there have been someone else collecting joy in the area? Maybe there had been a double booking. It wasn’t unheard of. Perhaps one of his colleagues had been sent to this town as well by mistake and had already collected most of the joy.

  But even that shouldn’t have made people so gloomy. Not being joyful enough to give off excess joy was one thing. But for so many people to be unhappy at this time of the year, without any apparent reason, was something else.

  Technically, Kaelar had the ability to draw joy directly from people. He could do it, but taking anything but excess joy from the air was strictly forbidden. It didn’t result in being benched for the season, it resulted in being banished from the planet.

  Still, that seemed like the most plausible explanation for what he was witnessing.

  Taking out his phone, Kaelar logged onto Santa’s server to check the schedule. No one was set to be in this town except for him. He wrote a post on the forum asking if anyone had been here on extra runs, but one by one, people said that they hadn’t. A few voiced concern, which Kaelar shared. If there was a problem here, it was his job to figure it out.

  One of Santa’s managers spoke up and informed him that she would send over a meter. Kaelar thanked her and ran into the nearest store with a fireplace. He’d memorized all of them for situations such as this. This one was a local charity shop, and he stood as innocently as he could beside the already-defunct fireplace.

  A few minutes later, a meter popped down the chimney and into the fireplace.

  Kaelar grinned at Santa’s special method of delivery.

  Inconspicuously, he grabbed the device and left the store. It looked like a simple tablet, but it was equipped with sensors to track emotion and read the recent histories of different areas.

  Armed with his new tool, Kaelar returned to the town’s center, where the joy should be the strongest. But if anything, it seemed to be getting weaker.

  Kaelar glanced down at the meter, doing a double-take. According to the readings, the amount of joy around him was decreasing by the second. It truly was as if it was being siphoned by someone else, but he already knew that no one else was supposed to be in the area.

  At least, no one who worked for Santa.

  There had been past cases of rogue reilendeer on Earth. Those were few and far between, but each one stood out starkly in Kaelar’s mind. Any cases of possible rogues were to be reported at once. Galactic police forces would be called in to capture and confine the rogue.

  Kaelar hoped this wasn’t the case. The thought of one of his own people doing something so repugnant as stealing other people’s joy made him sick. Maybe there was another explanation.

  After a few minutes, the meter had picked up enough to give him some more detailed readings. The device was able to pinpoint where the joy was being drained from. Kaelar’s instinct was to storm over there and punch whoever was doing it in the face. Human or reilendeer, they were stepping over a line.

  If it wasn’t just some human spreading misery, though, Kaelar needed to be careful. Rogues could be unpredictable—dangerous, at worst.

  He moved slowly toward the source that the meter had identified. It led him to an alley, and Kaelar paused behind the building on the corner, his heart thumping in his chest. He could feel the lack of joy in the alley—like a cold void—and it made perspiration form on his skin.

  Taking a deep breath, he carefully peeked around the corner.

  What he saw wasn’t what he had expected.

  Those weren’t reilendeer. They weren’t human either.

  A group of aliens with bright yellow, scaly skin stood in the alley, clustered around something. Kaelar immediately recognized them as Za
lfa, though the knowledge provided him no more clues as to what was happening.

  Zalfa had neither the ability to drain joy, nor the ability to blend in well enough with humans to talk to them long enough to produce sadness. Their forte was technology, not innate abilities. Yet, they were clearly doing something to decrease joy in the alley.

  Quietly, Kaelar edged closer to see what they were doing. He ducked down behind a dumpster and peeked out as cautiously as he could. One of the Zalfa shifted to reveal a globe of sorts with flashing lights. It was probably some kind of Zalfa technology. The question was, what was it doing here?

  Kaelar looked again at the meter, his eyes widening as he took in the numbers.

  It couldn’t be.

  The meter was flashing with warnings of a possible rogue. He watched the lit-up pathways on-screen, clearer than the red mist he could make out with his eyes. Joy was being drawn not only from the air but from the people themselves as they passed the alley.

  How were they doing it? The meter was reading it as a reilendeer, and the meter was hard to fool. Kaelar’s mind spun. They must have figured out a way to use technology to replicate his species’ ability. Only, instead of harmlessly skimming extra joy, they were pulling it directly out of people.

  He looked at the orb with new eyes. It was like a vacuum, taking everything in its path.

  What was the point?

  Of course, that was an easy question. There was really only one thing criminals cared about: money. They must be selling joy on the black market. They would get a good price for it, too, if they could find enough unscrupulous buyers, which Kaelar was frustrated to admit probably wouldn’t be difficult.

  For the first time in his life, Kaelar saw red, and not the joyful kind. He seldom got angry, but when it came to stealing joy, nothing could hold back his hatred for those who did it.