The Alien Reindeer's Joy Read online

  “I’ll be fine,” Sadie said. “Go do your rounds.”

  Chloe gave her a weak smile. Although the holiday season was supposed to be a time of joy, it was the worst time to be working at the hospital.

  “Thank you,” she said, leaving Hannah and Brad to Sadie.

  Two hours later, Chloe had navigated her way through a scary patch in Janet’s numbers. She was just about to sit down to a cup of coffee when the baby monitor they’d left in Brad’s room registered that he was crying.

  “Please, let that child fall asleep soon.” Sadie looked frazzled as she got up, and Chloe held out a hand to stop her.

  “I’ve got this one, Sadie.”

  The nurse gave her an exhausted smile. “You’re a saint, Chloe.”

  Ignoring her own exhaustion, Chloe made her way back to Brad’s room. The young boy held out his arms pitifully for her as soon as she entered.

  Gently, she sat down on the bed next to him and brushed some of the hair from his face.

  “What’s it going to take to get you to sleep, huh?”

  Lip quivering, Brad said, “I want my mom.”

  “I know, sweetie. She’ll be here soon, I promise. She’s coming early, so you probably won’t be awake for long before she gets here. Once you fall asleep, it’ll feel like only a few minutes before you see her again.”

  If he ever fell asleep.

  “I did sleep, but I had a nightmare.”

  If he had slept, it hadn’t been for long. The poor boy was exhausted.

  “It’s okay, Brad. I know you’re trying. Here, let me read you a bedtime story.”

  She picked up a book from the nightstand beside the bed and was just about to open to the first page when a sudden noise caught her attention. It came from the hall. Was that Sadie? Or one of the other nurses? Had something happened? She returned the book and stood instantly.

  “Brad, I’ll be right back. I just need to check on something, okay?”

  The boy whined as she left, but Chloe needed to be sure that nothing bad had happened. Some of the kids wandered at night, even though they weren’t supposed to, and she couldn’t have any of them tripping or getting more hurt than they already were.

  She stepped out to find Sadie escorting Hannah to the bathroom. Sadie gave her a questioning look. Clearly, she had heard something as well.

  Chloe walked over to the adjoining room to check for the source of the noise. Another nurse was sitting with Janet until her new dose of medication kicked in. There was no sign that anything out of the ordinary was happening in her room.

  Chloe quickly checked the other rooms as well, ensuring that every child was in bed or being aptly supervised if they were awake for some reason. She wanted to hurry back to Brad. The boy must have been even more afraid because of how suddenly she had left.

  She checked all the rooms in the ward, but nothing seemed amiss.

  Sighing in relief, Chloe hurriedly returned to Brad’s room. But as she stepped inside, she paused.

  It took her a moment to register what she was seeing, but when the sight did register, her eyes widened in shock.

  Inside the room, right next to Brad’s bed, stood a huge reindeer!

  It loomed over the boy and Chloe squawked in alarm, rushing to put herself between the animal and Brad. She liked reindeer, but a wild animal had no place in a hospital ward. If it panicked, it could seriously hurt Brad.

  The reindeer seemed to notice her now, its round, golden-brown eyes meeting hers. The color seemed almost too bright to be real, and in their depths, Chloe could see an intelligence she hadn’t been expecting.

  For a moment, time seemed to stand still as they looked at each other. The large antlers of the animal were majestic and its fur glistened in the moonlight that entered the room through the windows.

  The animal was…

  “…beautiful.”

  She didn’t even realize she’d spoken the word out loud, but the word seemed to break whatever spell they had been under. Before Chloe could do anything more, the reindeer leaped out of the window and ran off into the night.

  A heavy sigh she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding escaped her lungs.

  How had it done that? For an animal that size, having the coordination to jump out of a window that was barely big enough to fit through was highly unlikely. Maybe for trained animals or cats. But last she checked, reindeer weren’t particularly graceful.

  Chloe shook her head and hurried over to Brad, surprised that he wasn’t screeching in terror by now. What she saw made her jaw drop.

  Brad was asleep.

  Not just asleep, but asleep with a smile on his lips. She didn’t think he’d slept a single night without nightmares since being admitted, not even when his mother was around.

  Whenever Chloe had been in to see him while he slept, his little face had been scrunched in misery. Some kids dealt with being in the hospital better than others. Brad was one of the kids who really struggled.

  Chloe grabbed his chart and started checking the numbers on his monitors. His heart rate and blood pressure had both improved as if the reindeer had brought some… magic with him.

  It made no sense.

  It seemed too drastic a change to be a coincidence, but magic reindeer weren’t real either… were they?

  Chloe glanced toward the window the reindeer had disappeared through. It hadn’t been open when she’d visited Brad before. Had Sadie opened it? She walked up to the window and closed it, taking the opportunity to stare out into the night.

  There was no sign of the reindeer.

  “Sadie?” Chloe made sure she was out of Brad’s earshot before calling for the nurse, not wanting to wake him now that he was finally asleep.

  “Brad again? I brought a teddy bear from the toy basket, maybe that’ll help—”

  “No, he’s okay, Sadie. He’s asleep.”

  Sadie’s jaw dropped. Her gobsmacked look would have been amusing if Chloe wasn’t still so unsettled from the encounter with the reindeer. Had it been an ordinary reindeer? It didn’t make sense for it to be an ordinary animal, but what else could it have been?

  “What did you do?” Sadie asked.

  Chloe glanced back at Brad’s room, not sure exactly what had happened either. “He… He fell asleep on his own. Or, I guess on his own. There was a reindeer in his room.”

  Sadie’s look of shock instantly turned to one of concern. “A reindeer? Are you sure? Chloe, maybe you need to get some rest too and—”

  Chloe shook her head. “No, Sadie. There seriously was a reindeer in the room. Look.” She walked back into the room and pointed at the specks of snow on the floor, right by the window.

  A look of alarm entered Sadie’s gaze. “A reindeer? How? Did it hurt him? Is he okay?”

  “He’s better than okay. I don’t know what happened there but his vitals are good and… He’s finally asleep.”

  “How did a reindeer get in? Should I call animal services?”

  Sadie was back to being concerned and perhaps Chloe should have been concerned as well, but she couldn’t bring herself to fear the animal. It hadn’t seemed malicious or even wild to her. Maybe it was someone’s pet… But then what was it doing at a hospital in the middle of the night?

  Chloe shook her head. “It jumped in and out through the window. It’s gone now.”

  “Who opened the window?”

  Chloe frowned. “I assumed you did.”

  “It wasn’t me. Maybe Brad. He knows he’s not supposed to, but with how unsettled he’s been, maybe he decided to do it anyway.”

  Somehow, Chloe didn’t think so. “I’m going to check on the others again.”

  She didn’t know exactly what prompted this sudden round of checks, but Chloe felt justified when she was through with the ward.

  Almost all the children were doing better. Those who were asleep were sleeping soundly. The few who were awake for one reason or another were in better spirits than the last time she’d seen them.

>   Only Hannah, Janet, and one of the boys didn’t seem to have improved. Chloe couldn’t help but note that all three of them had been with a nurse while the reindeer had visited.

  How had this happened? Was it really the reindeer?

  To her great surprise, the rest of the night passed easily. No one woke up. No one cried. Those who were still awake soon drifted off, leaving Chloe and the nurses with a much-needed break.

  If a reindeer really had this kind of effect on the children, Chloe might consider hiring one as part of the staff…

  Chapter 3

  Kaelar

  Kaelar ran for longer than he really needed to, determined to escape notice. Tonight was not his night. That was twice now that he’d almost been caught, the second time more serious than the first.

  He’d followed the same pattern he always did, no matter where he went. First, he’d knocked something over a few wards away to distract the doctors and nurses. Then, he’d gone around to the children, slowly emptying his pouch of joy. He’d started with the children who were the farthest away from any of the hospital staff, then moved onto the others.

  It was heartwarming to see the children’s numbers improve. A little positivity could go a long way toward recovery.

  All had been well until he’d entered the room with the young boy—Brad, he thought he remembered reading on the chart.

  The doctor had returned to his room earlier than Kaelar had anticipated. At first, he hadn’t even noticed her re-enter the room, not until she had pushed herself between him and the boy.

  Then, he had definitely noticed her.

  Curly, dark brown hair and tan skin. Her curvy body hadn’t been concealed even by the overly large white coat that she wore. Perhaps mid-to late-thirties, a few crinkles framed her sparkling green eyes, proving she laughed a lot.

  Her own word “beautiful” was exactly the right one to describe her.

  Kaelar had never been stunned motionless by the sight of a human—definitely not to the extent that he hadn’t even realized he needed to flee!—but this doctor had definitely done it.

  Was she Dr. Wilson? Kaelar had seen the name on some of Brad’s medical charts. She seemed to be one of the main doctors in the ward, clearly dedicated to her work and…

  Kaelar shook his head. Why was he thinking so much about the doctor? It wasn’t the first time he had nearly been caught, nor would it be the last. It just meant he needed to be more careful for the time being.

  The doctor had probably returned sooner than he’d expected because of the boy. Poor Brad had been swamped with sadness. He was exhausted and discouraged, crying alone in his bed.

  Kaelar had given him a large dose of joy, which brought an immediate smile to the boy’s lips. Soon after, he’d fallen asleep. With his misery and loneliness no longer keeping him up, his body was finally able to relax and get the rest it needed. He would probably only remember the reindeer as something from his dreams.

  The doctor was a bigger problem. She had been very much awake when she’d seen him, and Kaelar wondered whether he should call in the incident.

  He struggled with that thought. Somehow, it didn’t seem right to call it in. There had been a certain warmth to the doctor—a kindness to her eyes—that had immediately made him think she was a good person. No matter how illogical it seemed, he didn’t think she would cause an issue.

  It was times like this that he really saw the reason for revealing their presence to humans. Kaelar could do his job so much better if he wasn’t constantly running and hiding. He’d gotten used to it by now, and he didn’t really mind, except when it interfered with giving joy to those who were in need.

  He hadn’t been done with the ward yet. There were three children who were still joyless, and he had a few smidgens left in his pouch.

  If he was being smart, he would leave those children alone. They would survive, even if they weren’t entirely happy.

  Sometimes, Kaelar really wasn’t smart. Santa often said he loved children too much for his own good.

  After making sure that he hadn’t been followed, he shifted to his humanoid form. He pulled on the clothes he’d been carrying in a pouch around his neck and started picking his way back to the hospital.

  The area around the hospital was empty and quiet. No one was about this late at night, except for those within the hospital’s walls.

  Just in case someone saw him outside, he had his excuse ready: his antlers were a part of a costume. If they asked where the rest of the costume was, he’d act drunk and confused, which should bypass any further questioning.

  Kaelar went around the back, to the window nearest the children he had yet to deliver his joy to. He needed to be close to them if he wanted it to transfer with the proper concentration.

  The window was locked, but part of his training for this job included how to overcome such obstacles. Kaelar pulled a flat piece of metal out of his pocket, one he kept for this very purpose. It didn’t take long to jiggle the window open.

  He shifted once more to his reindeer form and slipped into the room. An unknown reindeer discovered in a child’s room would cause confusion, but an unknown man would cause panic. It was safer to do his work like this in case of discovery.

  Not that he planned another discovery.

  The boy was sleeping fitfully in the room. Kaelar hadn’t had time to engineer a distraction this time, so he worked quickly. The joy leaked out of him, hovering above the boy in a haze. Usually, he’d wait to see the effects, but that was more job satisfaction than necessity.

  When he was done with the boy, Kaelar listened carefully, making sure the doctors and nurses were some distance away before he moved onto the next room. Once he was certain he wouldn’t come across them, he pushed the door open with his antlers and snuck into the hallway.

  In the next room, there was a girl—Hannah. She had been with a nurse earlier, so Kaelar hadn’t been able to visit. She was awake now, with a book on her lap. Her eyes widened as she took in the reindeer that was entering the room, and Kaelar huffed in the most comforting way he could, standing close and releasing his joy.

  Fortunately, the girl didn’t call out, and a content smile came to her face the moment the joy started to suffuse her. Hopefully, like Brad, she would only remember dreaming of a reindeer.

  Now, there was just one more to go.

  Sneaking into the last room, Kaelar faced a sleeping girl, this one older than most of the other children in the ward. Kaelar checked her chart for a name and age. Janet. She was fifteen. She too had been with a nurse earlier. Now, her face was set in pain.

  Kaelar frowned. Joy could dull the edges of pain, but it couldn’t take it away. She could probably use some more pain medication.

  He let the last of his joy go to her and turned to the window, opening it carefully with his antlers. Just before he leaped out though, Kaelar kicked the small table next to the bed, upending it.

  With the joy he’d just given the girl, the noise wouldn’t wake her up, but it would bring one of the doctors or nurses into the room. Hopefully, they would check on the child and give her a dose of pain meds.

  Kaelar knew that the hospital staff was stretched thin this time of the year. Tomorrow, after his collections, he planned to sneak into the nurses’ station to release some joy there. He would not leave it to any specific person, so that whoever stopped by would get a hit of it. If he was lucky, he could get in at a time when a number of doctors were around too.

  Feeling good about getting his job done, Kaelar bounded off into the night. It was time to settle down for some sleep. There was plenty more to do tomorrow.

  This time, he managed to leave the hospital without being caught. He ran through the forest, heading toward the cabin he had for shelter while working in this town when a loud bark sounded behind him.

  Kaelar immediately picked up his pace. The barking of hunting dogs was never something he relished. This wasn’t the first time he’d run afoul of hunting dogs, but in his reindeer
form, he was a big, red target. Peaceful forests could turn into nightmarish races for your life in minutes.

  He ran as fast as he could, hoping to outdistance the dogs, but after a few minutes, it became apparent that he couldn’t outrun them. They were gaining on him, and he heard the shouts of humans as they chased after the dogs.

  Wonderful. Hunters. Kaelar wasn’t bulletproof. He’d been shot at before and had no desire to repeat the experience.

  Christmas lights were still on all over town, so flying would be risky. He couldn’t afford to be seen, but he was running out of options.

  He had to do it now—before the hunters got too close. If they were willing to shoot an ordinary reindeer, they would be ecstatic to get a chance at a flying one.

  Kaelar sprang upward with his back legs, catching the air and soaring into the sky. The shouts behind him faded with the rush of the wind.

  He hoped that the hunters didn’t see him. Santa didn’t want the stories about flying reindeer to become anything but children’s tales, and Kaelar didn’t want to be benched during the Christmas season. It was the busiest time, as well as the one he enjoyed working the most.

  Fortunately, there were plenty of clouds to lose himself in. Kaelar angled sharply upward, closing his eyes for a moment as the cold washed over him. When he broke from the clouds, there was nothing but starlight and moonlight to guide his way. It was enough.

  It didn’t take long to get to his safe house. A small cabin built deep in the woods, far from any hunters. Santa owned hundreds of these all over the world. Whoever was in the area could use them for temporary shelter when they worked in a particular town.

  The cabin had been modified to have much taller doorways than most human houses, which meant Kaelar could walk inside in his humanoid form without his antlers catching on the doorframe. He turned on the lights out of habit. He could see fairly well in the dark, even in his humanoid form.

  It had been a long day and night, but he wasn’t ready to sleep yet. He got out his journal and pen, thinking back to the children at the hospital. Brad was at the top of the list for extra joy, of course. Kaelar hoped the boy could go home soon, but if not, he would ensure that Brad was in better spirits for the duration of his stay.