White Elephant: Chapter Three

Chapter Three

December 20th, 4:08 PM

"Yeah!" a booming male voice shouted.

"No!  Don't!" replied a female voice.

The room gradually erupted into a cacophony of competing demands.

"Take it off!"

"Leave her alone!"

"We want Santa back!"

"Start with her mask, and then do her costume!"

"She's just a girl!"

"What the hell is going on?"

Erin's eyes darted from one shopper to the next.  The room was nearly in a panic, and it had her in a panic, too: she could feel her chest heaving against her bonds, could sense her thighs quivering in the clutches of the elves.  She was on display here, fully exposed: and if her mask came off, there'd be hundreds of people who'd never forget what they'd seen.

Sunny stepped away from the microphone and grinned at Erin.  "The jury's out, I guess," she whispered.  "But don't worry, Blue Lynx.  We won't unmask you here.  I just wanted to see you sweat a bit."

Erin breathed as big a sigh of relief as her gag would allow.

Sunny laughed.  "After all, we wouldn't want to ruin Mr. Hammerson's Christmas gift."

Erin blinked, watching Sunny move back to the mic.  "Okay everybody," she announced.  "After careful consideration of your voices, we've decided to not unmask the Blue Lynx."

The crowd again erupted, about half in groans, and half in cheers.

"What we will do, however, is give her to a young man who could use some holiday cheer."

Before Erin could even process what that might mean, Sunny snapped her fingers.  The elves holding her legs pushed her over, and the Blue Lynx fell backward, where even more elves were waiting for her.  She fell into what seemed like twenty small hands, and they quickly grabbed her, holding her arms, back, butt, and legs, and lifted her up in the air.  They carried her twitching, moaning body across the stage.  Erin could hear Sunny's voice get fainter as the elves walked her down some stairs, moving toward the base of the Christmas tree.

"And that's it for this year's show," Sunny said.  "Thank you for watching, everybody.  Hope you enjoyed watching the Blue Lynx and the Black Bobcat get a taste of the Christmas spirit.  I know I did!  Have a happy holiday, everyone!"

From her tied position in the clutches of the elves, Erin could only see the ceiling of the mall.  So she had no idea what was happening when the men suddenly stopped.  She heard rustling, and elf mumbling.  And then, suddenly, she was dropped.  She hit a cold, flat surface hard.

"Okay," a elf murmured.  "Let's take the belt."

Erin could only swish her hips uselessly as one of the men reached down, scurried his hands around her back, and unclasped the Blue Lynx's utility belt from her waist.  The elf pulled it up with one deliberate motion, leaving Erin weaponless.

"Alright," another elf muttered.  "Now get the paper."

Erin, shaken and humiliated by the removal of her belt, looked around, desperately trying to take stock of her situation.  There were short walls on each of her sides.  She seemed to be inside of some kind of... Trough?  Coffin?  She could see the elves peeking over at her, some grinning with expectation, each one of them clutching some sort of tool: tape, scissors, ribbon...

And that's when it hit her.  She wasn't being buried alive.  She was being gift wrapped.

"MMMPH!" she cried, but only the elves could hear her.  They didn't pay her noises any mind as they affixed a lid to the box, thoroughly coated the box in glossy red and green paper, tied ribbons around the package, and topped the present off with an elegant white bow.

On to Chapter Four