Santa Claws

The story "Santa Claws" centers on Elias Thorne, a skeptical history teacher who moves to the isolated, snowbound town of Northwood with his young daughter, Lily. Elias quickly discovers the town's unsettling secret: their local legend, Santa Claws, is a dark, ancient entity who grants children precisely what their hearts desire, but at a terrible cost. This "Ancient Pact" demands that the town's adults maintain a state of enforced ignorance. Any adult who witnesses Santa Claws or attempts to expose the truth is struck with the "Northwood Winter Sickness"—a precise, diagonal facial laceration that results in permanent blindness and the surgical erasure of their memory, a state the Claws calls "oblivion." This sacrifice protects the children's "pure belief," which is the source of the Claws's power. Elias, driven by his rational mind and a desperate need to protect Lily, investigates the town's history, finding evidence of the annual ritual in medical records and forbidden texts. He learns that the Claws's violence is not random malice, but a twisted form of preservation. On Christmas Eve, Elias attempts to confront the entity, but is swiftly overwhelmed by the Claws and his goblin servants. He is blinded and his memory is erased, becoming a silent, sightless guardian of the very lie he sought to destroy. Years later, Lily returns as a college student, her childhood belief replaced by a keen, questioning mind. She uncovers the truth of the Pact and her father's sacrifice. On a subsequent Christmas Eve, she confronts Santa Claws, choosing truth over the "perfect gift" by destroying her cherished music box. This act breaks the foundation of the Claws's power. The entity vanishes, and the adults of Northwood collectively regain their sight and their traumatic memories. The town is forever changed, choosing the imperfect, honest reality over the beautiful, terrible lie. Elias, though permanently blind, finds peace as the town's living memory.