There Really Is a Santa Clause John Peters

John Peters was on top of the world, he had everything any fifteen year old boy could want. He had a wonderful family, a beautiful home and a loving boyfriend. If that wasn't enough his High School Soccer Team had just won the State Championship in which he was the Tourney MVP. John's team had the game well in hand as he had just scored his second Hat Trick of the tournament. When Wilbur their goalie had gotten pissed off at the opposing forward and decided to take matters in his own hands. Needless to say throwing the ball at the attacker in the Goal Box wasn't a very smart thing to do.

With their Goalie Red Carded and a Penalty Shot upcoming John's team's hopes for a shut out were waning. John's Coach decided to play a little mind game on the other team and put John in goal instead of his official number two goalie. When John heard why he appropriately acted dejected and slowly put on the thicker pads and a pair of Goalie Gloves. Seeing John heading towards the goal caused the other teams spirits to soar as they had seen the number two goalie in action before and he was good, very good.

What the other team did not know was that on the Club Team John played on, he was the Goalie and his goals against average was phenomenal. His High School Coach wanted to use John's speed and deadly feet on the whole field instead of just in goal. The fact that he had two other All Star caliber goalies didn't hurt either. The smirking striker took his place and then making up his mind, took a shot at John. John moved with blinding speed and instead of just blocking the shot with his foot; rocketed the ball towards the other net. The whistle blew just as John made contact with the ball and no one but John's Coach saw the ball sail into the opposing net.

Later that evening at the local Joth's Pizzeria the team was having a wild celebration and had nearly run the pizzeria out of dough. Having finished off a large Stuffed Pizza between them and many pints of soda John and Zac were stuffed and could barely move. Zac spoke up hesitantly as he would rather have stayed at the pizzeria.

"Mom and Pop, I hate to ask but could you please take me home now as I have a big test in the morning and need to study." Zac had been calling John's parents Mom and Pop since he and John had become boyfriends.

Before John's folks could answer, John spoke up with a leer.

"You could spend the night you know and I could help you study......"

"John hun, I want to pass this test not flunk it. You know you couldn't speak a word of Gaelic to save your life. But I still love you." Zac reached over and squeezed his boyfriend's hand lovingly.

Several of their teammates were sitting at the table across from them and started cheering and jeering at the two teens.

"Get a ROOOM!!!", "Go ahead and kiss him." These were just some of the comments being tossed at the now blushing boys.

John, being rather adventurous, thought why not and reached over and gave Zac a great big smooch on the lips. The room burst into applause that increased in volume when Zac gave John's head a smack.

"You big oaf, not in public."

"But.....bu...." John muttered until he was cut off by his mother.

"Okay boys, that's enough; it is time for all of us to go; we have to work tomorrow and John you have chores tomorrow." John's mom announced.

 

John's family left the pizzeria several minutes later after a protracted round of goodbyes.

"John we will drop you off so you can feed the cats and then take Zac home. We will be home shortly after that unless we have coffee with Zac's parents. I want you to take your shower and get ready for bed if we don't come home right away." John's mom told her son.

"But Mom why can't I........."

"Son, your mother has spoken and you know................." John's dad spoke up attempting to lighten up the tension until his loving wife smacked him on his shoulder.

"See what I mean." John's father got out before the whole car erupted into laughter.

The family headed merrily on their way home with everybody carrying the conversation whenever there was a pause in the conversation. They had stopped at a red light and waited for a few extra seconds before going through the green light. Halfway through the intersection there was a sudden squealing of brakes and then horrendous noise and a feeling of flying through the air. John then felt a large weight smashing into his chest and then everything went black.

For the next several days John was neither here nor there swimming in and out of consciousness; neither alive nor dead. It was definitely a miracle for him to even be in the shape he was in with a very slim chance to live. His external injuries were few and minor compared to his internal ones. It seems some irresponsible driver had a hot date and ran a red light driving his Lincoln Navigator while talking to his dinner date on his cell. The smaller Ford Focus never stood a chance as the Lincoln barely slowed down after the crash. Luckily for John in the future the Lincoln was equipped with MS/ Sync® and thanks to Microsoft, its 'Black Box' was cutting edge and was still intact. John had lost a lot of blood by the time the he was extracted from the accordion that used to be the family car.

Several times John started to regain consciousness but was quickly sedated again as his body still needed more time to heal. Additionally there were several legal issues that needed to be worked out before John would be allowed to awaken. There were lawyers in and out of the hospital waiting for John to wake up so they could make their pitch. Unbeknown to John, Zac's parents never left his side unless absolutely necessary. That was only due to the fact that Zac's Dad was an Orthopedist specializing in Adolescents and Pediatrics. That wouldn't have been enough except for the fact the John's attending Physician was a family friend and knew the families' situation. The other reason was that Zac's Mom was a Certified Physical Therapist, who also just happened to have a degree in Juvenile Psychology. Dr Redar couldn't think of any two people better qualified to look after his patient. The fact that they loved him like their own son and wanted to adopt him also might have had something to do with Dr. Redar bending the rules slightly.

As the days passed, John's vital signs steadily improved and some of the visible bruising slowly faded. Lights and sound now made their way occasionally through John's slowly returning consciousness. As John's eyelids began to move in small twitches and John began to finally try and move his arms; Zac's Mom carefully wiped the 'sleep' out of John's eyes. As soon as she had finished, John's eyes opened completely for the first time since the accident. Zac's mom leaned over and gave John a kiss on his forehead and then whispered;

"John honey, you will be okay now, just sip this water and go back to sleep."

Before Tina could push the button that would add the sleeping med to John's IV he tried to speak.

"Zac, Mohhhm....."

"Shh, honey, later, now go to sleep." Tina then pushed the button as instructed and John was soon in dreamland again. Tina broke down crying as her son's name reopened the partially healed wounds of her son's death. That was the scene her husband Anthony and Dr. Redar saw as they entered John's room.

As soon as she could get herself back together, Tina explained to Dr. Redar what had happened and Dr. Redar smiled for the first time since John had been brought in. Quickly checking the printout from one of the myriad of monitors in the room, his smile grew until Dr. Redar was practically grinning.

"This is wonderful news; he is past the worst physically and will definitely recover, physically at least, with a lot of help from the two of you. Mentally we don't know yet and Tina, he will need all of your help and at least full time for the next few months. I know you have your own practice, but I would really appreciate it if you would find someone to take over for you so you can concentrate solely on John. As you know, money won't be a problem; his family's insurance will cover those costs easily. In fact, with the work the two of you have done with those vultures, John's financial future is secure." Dr Redar paused to let the impact of his words sink in.

"Robyn, we had already decided to do whatever is necessary to help John's recovery; we will both take him as patients and he will be well taken care of at home. He can stay in Zac's ...... room until the apartment over the garage is finished and ready for him It was supposed to be for him and Zac, a Sixteenth Birthday present for the two of them. Tina and I have both talked it over and we agree it should be one of us to tell John that his parent's and his boyfriend, our son, are gone......" Anthony had to pause as his emotions overcame him.

"I personally agree with you, but the Hospital's Psychologist/Grief Counselor will be standing by if you need help or change your minds." Dr. Robyn Redar told Anthony and Tina.

"Don't worry, Doc, we will be fine; John is going to need us and we will always be there for him." Tina responded to Robyn.

"No offense, Doc, but I wouldn't wish that Bozo on my worst enemy. He has about as much compassion as a nail." Was Anthony's response.

The next couple of days were very tough on all concerned; as expected once Tina and Anthony broke the news to John, when he awoke the next morning, he was heartbroken and emotionally overwrought. He wouldn't be left alone and cried himself to sleep with his head cradled lovingly in Tina's lap. For the next several days, either Tina or Anthony had to hold John's hand or he would go almost catatonic with the fear that they would leave him as well. Using everything Tina had ever been taught or heard and a large batch of mother's intuition, the two finally convinced John that the three of them were in it for the long haul. At least that was the plan and as we know the best laid plans of mice and men................

Bright and early the next morning, Tina and Anthony showed up with a change of clothes for John as Dr. Redar was going to release John into their care that morning.

"Well John, are you ready to go home with Tina and Anthony? I surely hope you are, as I am beginning to get tired of looking at your scrawny bod." Dr. Redar, laughing, asked his young friend and patient.

"Boy Doc, have you got it all wrong; I am going home with my Mom and Pop!" John laughingly replied, the hours of therapy/loving conversations with Tina beginning to show results.

You could have seen the smiles on Anthony and Tina's faces from the moon when they heard John's heartfelt words. John had always called them Mom and Pop or more specifically Mom2 and Pop whenever he was at their house. This had started shortly after they had accepted John as Zac's boyfriend. Which alone was a story in itself; let it be said that always locking your door when you are in love; is a wonderful idea!

"Pop, can you help me get dressed while we are waiting for my wheelchair? I can't wait to get out of here and away from Doctor Snagglepuss. Plus, I heard Mom has a wonderful lunch planned for us." John asked Anthony while sticking his tongue out at his Dr.

"I understand I missed the funeral while I was unconscious and I would like to stop by a florist and get a bouquet of flowers. I would like to place them on their graves and say my goodbyes........."?

John's request was interrupted by the loud braying of a very obnoxious woman who came bursting into John's room unannounced.

"You are going nowhere but to the Home for Orphaned Teenager's until your loving Uncle can arrange to take you to live with him and your Auntie."

"Who in the HELL are you, and what right do you have to barge into my patient's room uninvited?" Bellowed a furious Doctor Redar.

"My name is Ms. Dolor Schwein-Boden and I am John's Case Worker and Official Guardian until his Uncle takes him off my hands. AND as such, I don't need your worthless permission Doktorrrrrr!" The last words sounded like the gestapoish woman was uttering a profanity that was beneath her.

"I will not sign the release papers until I get to the bottom of this! Mrs. Gladys ArtigFrau told me that she had everything arranged for Mr. and Mrs. Miller to take custody and guardianship of John." Robyn told the woman while glaring directly into her eyes.

"Well Doktor, you are highly mistaken my charges release papers have already been signed by the Home's Doktor so your threat is worthless and as to Gladys what's her name, she got called out of town before the judge signed the papers. I was assigned her case and luckily, I was informed that John had living relatives and that the Miller's house is not a suitable home at all for any children. They should have had their son taken away from them and cured." Ms. Schwein-Boden stopped her tirade long enough to mumble into her ubiquitous Bluetooth Headset.

"I am not going with you. My Aunt hates kids and her husband isn't alive any more." John vehemently stated.

"Oh, how you are wrong, Sonny Boy, you are coming with me, now!"

At that moment a gorilla of a man in an orderlies uniform pushing a rusty squealing wheelchair came barreling into the room. Without a word, he pushed the wheelchair to where John was leaning against the bed; swooped John up into his burly and hairy arms and then slammed John into the wheelchair.

John let out an obvious groan of pain as he was slammed into the wheelchair; but he was pushed out the door before anyone had a chance to react.

Nothing was said until they were in the van heading towards the 'Home'.

"Now listen up punk, these are the rules you will do everything you are told and nothing else; you will speak only when spoken to and only then! Do you understand me?"

"Yes..." John's reply was forced and very weak as he was in a lot of pain and completely bewildered.

"What did you say?" The glowering witch asked with venom dripping from her voice.

"Yes Ma'am, I understand."

The rest of the ride was in silence and seemed to take forever at least to John's pain dulled brain. After what seemed like hours but was actually only fifteen to twenty minutes, they finally arrived at a decrepit Old Brownstone building. They had to pull around to the back of the building as the front had no wheelchair ramp; and from what little John could see, living with his Aunt and Uncle couldn't be any worse than what living here looked like. The back had no ramp either but the steps were much shorter; John was manhandled out of the van and carried up the stairs like a sack of potatoes, by now the pain was increasing dramatically and causing John to fade in and out of consciousness. John vaguely heard the female Ogre yell at someone to bring the wheelchair inside. The burly orderly who later would turn out to be the Janitor carelessly laid John down on a couch in what appeared to be a small office. Complete and utter blackness overtook John and he experienced nothing for a while.

John started to wake up once when a different voice intruded on his thoughts; but a pin prick in his arm sent him under again. It would seem that the Home's Doktor was not very good as the dose he injected John with wasn't enough to keep him under for very long. As a result, about twenty minutes later, John awoke only this time he lay perfectly still and just listened to the sounds around him. Once John was completely awake, he began to understand the murmurings coming from the other room. Unfortunately, he could still only catch bits and pieces but those were enough for understanding to begin to gleam.

What he heard were words like, "Insurance, payback, inheritance, proof and more profanities."

Just then the door to the inner office opened and John heard several people approach him.

"I think it will be best that we keep him sedated until his injuries have healed enough for his 'Uncle' to take him home. The sooner that happens, the sooner we can get our cut." A whiny male voice said to whom John assumed was his "Case Worker". Just as John decided to open his eyes and say something a sickeningly sweet odor overtook him and it was lights out again. The quack used chloroform to knock John out before he was unceremoniously taken to his 'room'. The Home's Doktor decided it was too much trouble to take care of John, so he stuck him on IV's full of antibiotics and glucose.

For the next several days, John drifted in and out of consciousness as the doses of the sleeping agents varied wildly. Luckily for John's sake, he was in superb physical condition before the accident or the quacks care would have had long reaching consequences. John became slightly awake whenever his diapers were changed. Several times he thought he had been groped and probed but he wasn't sure as his brain was in a fog.

After being in a virtual coma while the Doktor and the "Case Worker" waited for John's "Uncle" to claim him, John was finally allowed to awaken completely. The Doktor also decided that John could have semi solid food now and shortly be allowed to use the bathroom with assistance. Semi Solid turned out to be overcooked hot cereal or undercooked scrambled eggs. John's food was always served reluctantly by one of the younger residents of the home for the first two days anyway. John was completely dismayed when he took a look at his surroundings and realized his 'bedroom' was actually a large closet.

There was no TV or radio nor even books in the room; so John was forced to just lie there and daydream. John's thoughts went back to all of the fun times he and Zac had shared the stories they had found on the net at http://storylover.us. His favorite stories were the ones about 'Goos' and Neal and he strongly wished that those stories were real. He spent many an hour imaging life on Draconis or living at Haven© with Neal he yearned to hear Neal say Jeez©.

Things changed for the worse on the third day when his evening meal was served by a leering older teen. The surly teen who brought in John's meal almost threw the food down on the rickety night stand that served as John's table.

"Don't forget to take your meds you want to get a good night's sleep." The teenage goon said with a smirk and wink.

John though for a few second before responding;

"Thanks Butch you can go now; I will take my meds as I am a bit sore tonight."

As Butch was leaving, John could've sworn that Butch muttered;

"I'll show you sore later tonight."

John wasn't sure what that meant but he had an idea it wasn't a good thing.

---

 While John was trying to recover at the so called 'Home', Anthony and Tina were exhausting all avenues to try and find him. Unfortunately, they ran into dead ends at every turn. Their only glimmer of hope was of all places CPS. Although they had no record of a Ms. Dolor Schwein-Boden, however, they had finally tracked down Mrs. Gladys ArtigFrau who was in a hospital downtown recovering from a forced overdose of barbiturates. She was expected to be back at work in a few days; unfortunately, all of her files had been surreptitiously removed from her office. John's Aunt's home was vacant and the neighbors said she had left town, passed away or both. Tina and Anthony were getting very worried about their 'son'.

 The Millers had already switched all of Zac's College Fund and other Savings Accounts over to John's name. In addition John and the Millers had received an extremely large insurance settlement as the Black Box had revealed that not only was the driver talking on his cell he was going over 75 Miles and Hour in a 35 MPH Zone. And if that wasn't enough, this was his second accident of the same type in less than a year. John would be able to live comfortably for the rest of his life with them if they could only find him.

---

 John had just started to doze off dreaming of 'Haven'; as even though he had just finished eating his energy level was very low as he was barely getting enough nourishment to survive let alone heal. Loud voices outside his room awakened John with a start.

 "Their shyster lawyer got another judge to overturn my custody and now we can't get any of the money unless the brat signs it over to me! I am goin' to get him to sign, or else!"

 The door bursting open awakened all of John's senses completely and he looked up and saw a bear of a man storming into his room.

 "I'm your Uncle and I want what's rightfully mine, your worthless Aunt never gave me the money she promised me, so now you are going to give me yours. Sign this now and I will give you a piece of it before I leave for Timbuktu." The drunken bearish looking sod threw some papers at followed shortly by a chewed on pen.

 "Who are you?" John asked quietly.

"Your Uncle, now just sign the blasted papers so I can get the money and some more to drink."

 "My Uncle died three years ago and you are definitely not anyone I know! I wouldn't sign anything over to you even if you paid me........" John's response was interrupted by the crash of a backhand against his cheek.

 "Why you ungrateful whelp!!!!!!! If you won't give me what I want then I will just take it out in trade." Before John could recover from the bruising blow he had just' received; he found the covers ripped off of him. The belligerent drunk then popped the buttons of his pants open and whipped out his cankerous and ill smelling manhood.

 As John tried to move away and cover his exposed privates his 'Uncle' then flipped him over so his bare buttocks were visible to the now drooling ruffian.

 "I don't know about you, Boy, but I am sure going to enjoy a piece of those tasty looking buns of yours." Without further wasted words, John's so called 'Uncle' began to collect his pound of flesh.

 As the violation of his body began the pain and violence of the invasion caused many of his barely healed injuries to tear and bleed which caused John even more horrendous pain. John screamed out just before he lost touch with the physical world.

 "Neal, 'Goos', help me please........................!!!"

 As the utter blackness was overtaking John, he swore he saw an orange dragon swooping down towards him. Of course that couldn't possibly happen, could it?

 The ringing of the doorbell startled Neal Richards out of his thoughts. He was in the Living Room, trying to write his Christmas Story for the year: "Fred the Elf 3 – Looking for Santa" and he was almost finished when he was interrupted for the umpteenth time.

 ` "Jeez© can't a guy get any writing done around here? You would think someone would answer the door besides me." Neal muttered to himself as he headed to the door to answer it after the third chime.

 'Philip' chose not to answer him, with one of his smart ass remarks, since he was too busy adding the missing comma's to Neal's story. {Take a vacation, Sleeping Beauty.} (ZZZZZZZZZZ... I heard that! Where are my glasses?)

 Neal opened the door and then staggered and nearly fell over, as a teenage boy wrapped in a torn Hospital Gown fell into his arms.

 'Doc Leo to the Main Entrance, Stat!! We have a Medical Emergency!'

 Neal never heard 'Philip' call Daddy Doc, as he was too mesmerized by the glowing ghostly orange dragon who was flying majestically off into the sunrise, and could swear he heard, 'Till we fly again,' wafting through the breeze.

 "Nah, it couldn't be. 'Goos' isn't real; he is just a character in Uncle TSL's story." Neal muttered to himself.

 The boy in Neal's arms stirred a little bit and squeaked out a question.

 "Who...?"

Then;

"Where?"

"Neal Richards, and we are at Haven." Neal replied and then the boy said;

 "Safe," and then slid back asleep, with a deep sigh.

 Leo arrived quickly, and carefully removed the sleeping teenager from Neal's arms, and with Pat Without's help, placed him on the gurney that 'Philip' had insisted he bring with him. Still in a daze, Neal turned back inside the Manor and tried to close the door. The door wouldn't close as there was something blocking it; leaning down, Neal saw a very ornate leather pouch of some kind. As Neal got closer, he could see the pouch had some very ornate script written on it.

 Merry Christmas, Cousin Neal. Love, Jonah.

As Neal read his note, the tantalizing aroma of cinnamon reached his nose and he broke out into an ear to ear grin, "Kewl!!"

The End

Author's Notes:

I would like to thank Str8mayb and Neal for letting me into their universe for this story. I thoroughly enjoy all of the stories in the 'Haven Universe', so I decided to add a little piece to it. There is something hidden in this story that ties into several threads in several of Str8mayb's stories. Please let me know if you can figure it out.

Gustavo

Please send all comments to Gustavo Cristofero

Str8mayb and Neal's Comments:

Well I am happy to have John join in the 'Haven Universe'. Does this count as a case of AAKD and if so, who is infected? I hope 'Goos' is going to go back to the other 'bad universe' and bring the Millers. With all the kids at Haven, The Phoenix House and the Harris's home, their skills could really be used. Leo could start his own pediatric clinic and I bet Dr. Lisa would want to be a part of that too.

Neal, leave me one of those. Yum a real 'Cinmon Crumble'! Here you type, I'll eat.

Str8mayb

Thanks 'Goos', I'll look after John. I bet he and Andy will be friends. And thanks Jonah, those 'Cinmon Crumbles' were Just great. Str8mayb those are mine! Give 'em back!

Sorry got to recover stolen property. JEEZ!

Neal

Darryl's Notes:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ... Ah.......Wha.....Oh!... What was that? I'm back! Someone, I'm not sure who it was, just kissed me, and I woke up. I Just' have to get myself back into focus... Ah, that's better. I have had my coffee and a 'Cinmon Crumble' that I found on my nightstand. Thanks, Jonah. Good job, 'Goos', I managed to read the story, which I also found on my nightstand, and I agree; they need to get Zac's parents out of there, and bring them to 'Haven'. 'Goos', could you go get Tina and Anthony, and bring them to Haven, please?

I think we also need to get Linda into the act, so to speak, and put those ruffians out of business. Nick might decide to get involved too. He's a real saint sometimes. He can do some investigating. Those mean nasty people need to be taught a lesson.

Oh, Neal, You are lucky, you didn't get one of those 'S' things when you answered the door. I had actually heard some rumours that one of them was going to show up soon, so I think you had better be careful about answering the door. Perhaps you should consider letting someone else answer the door for a while.

I do hope that John and his parents will become part of the "Haven Universe", I think there will always be room there for more caring people and troubled youth.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher AKA Sleeping Beauty