Cala and the Imps of Indian Forests

“No!” I screamed as the elf was snatched from my arms. “I don’t care what your mission is. You can’t have him!”

The police officer looked confused. “Ma’am, what is that?” he asked, pointing at the tree next to me.

I rubbed my eyes, hoping it wasn’t real. When I opened them again, the elfish figure was still there, his head and shoulders sticking out of the trunk of a giant evergreen. His legs were kicking in the air and his arms were flailing around wildly. “Help meeee!” he screamed. “This tree is eating meeeee!”

The cop turned back to me with a concerned look on his face. He opened his mouth and closed it several times before finally uttering a question: “Are you okay?”

That was when it hit me—I had no idea how I got here, where I was or what had happened to me over the last few hours. All I knew was that I did NOT want to go back to jail again! So when the cop started heading over to me, I jumped up and bolted down the street as fast as I could. But not before shouting out one last thing: “He’s an elf! He wants to take Santa down! Don’t let him get away! He’s dangerous! Dangerous I tell you!!!”

I ran for about five blocks before slowing down and looking behind me to see if anyone was following me. What I saw floored me—a dozen elves were chasing after me, their pointed ears bobbing up and down as they ran with their long skinny legs and short fat bodies. They must have been running at superhuman speed because they were gaining on me at an alarming rate. More elves were pouring onto the scene from every direction; they came out of doorways and alleys, down side streets and across intersections. They even popped out of sewer grates like rats fleeing a flood. And then there were the flying ones—swooping down from rooftops and flying through windows into buildings only to emerge seconds later with more elves on their backs like living helicopters filled with pointy-eared people. The total number of elves increased so quickly that it felt like there was an entire village of them right here in the middle of this cityscape who just sprung into existence all around me in a matter of seconds. They quickly formed a line around me with each one staring at me intently as if trying to figure out if I was friend or foe before suddenly breaking apart into groups and fanning out in every direction like SWAT teams rushing in for an arrest. That's when I realized that they weren't in any rush at all—they simply changed formation from one single line around me into many smaller lines circling each other so that they would be ready if something attacked their position from any angle possible. It made sense—they had been trained for this moment for years; it was clearly etched into their genes just like how birds fly south for winter or bears hibernate during the cold months or how fish swim upstream to spawn every springtime—it was all encoded inside of them by a higher power who told them how things should be done without even having to say anything at all except maybe giving them a few nudges here and there along the way until they were good enough not only to survive but thrive in any environment they found themselves in because they were that good! It was beautiful really—one big perfect loop where everything served a purpose and everyone had a role to play whether it meant helping another by giving advice or physical aid or simply just providing moral support by knowing exactly when someone needed someone else's presence in order to keep going forward until whatever goal needed achieving became reality as planned!

* * * * * * * * * * *

“What happened? Where am I? What time is it? Where's my phone? Did we make it on time? Did we catch him? Oh god please tell me we caught him!!!" Cala kept asking herself over and over again without finding any answers. She slowly reached up with her hand and rubbed her eyes hoping she would wake up from whatever nightmare she must've been trapped inside of but when she opened them again she saw that she hadn't woken up at all—she was still sitting on a hard wooden bench with her head resting against something warm and soft which felt oddly familiar yet strangely foreign at the same time…? This definitely wasn't her dorm room; she didn't recognize any of these people nor did she remember getting here…so where in the heck WAS she anyway?!

Just then a nearby voice answered her question: “You're sitting on top of Santa's sleigh honey—you fainted about half an hour ago so Santa put you here till you woke up." That's when Cala remembered why she was here in the first place—she'd traveled halfway across the world in order to find Santas magical workshop which according to legend contained everything anyone could ever need or want whenever they wanted it most…and once she found it she'd sneak inside, find Santa Claus himself and expose him for being nothing more than a fraud who used his magic powers to brainwash children into believing he existed by using toys as bait! Only now did she realize that her plan had gone horribly wrong as some psychotic elf had chased after her while carrying some kind of strange letter which somehow ended up getting ripped apart by accident so now he needed Cala's help in reassembling it before Santa found out because if he did then he'd kick her ass out of India before she even had time to blink an eye! She stared down at her hands which were covered in some kind of magic green dust which stung like hell whenever she rubbed it against her skin—it must've gotten everywhere because wherever she touched felt like fire ants had bitten into her flesh making blood flow freely everywhere which would explain why Santa had wrapped his heavy woolen coat around her just moments ago! And now here Cala sat with both legs sticking straight out from under Santa's sleigh while dozens upon dozens of elves flew overhead looking for some kind of crime scene where a horrible murder might've taken place…only now did Cala realize that SHE WAS THAT CRIME SCENE!!!