Christmas Full Throttle
Part 14: Christmas Eve
Outside on the square, music could be heard again. Softer this time. Waiting.
Behind the stage, they stood facing each other. Four teenagers. A man with a clipboard. And Tom.
No one spoke. Until Lea broke the moment.
“This ends today,” she said. “Not sometime. Not after Christmas. Now.”
The man looked at her. For a long time. Then he smiled tiredly.
“You think you can stop this?”
Jonas stepped forward. “No.”
The man raised an eyebrow.
“We can make it visible,” Jonas continued.
Mehmet pulled out his phone. “Livestream is running.”
For a fraction of a second, the man lost control of his face.
“You would ruin this,” he said.
Sofia shook her head. “No. We’re saving it.”
Lea gestured toward the monitors. “The people outside love Christmas. Not your version of it.”
Tom stepped forward.
Without a costume. Without a role.
“I’ve seen kids here who just wanted to laugh,” he said. “Not be part of a staging.”
The man took a deep breath.
“WinterSpark works because people want control,” he said. “Safety. Predictability.”
“And you forgot why Christmas works,” Lea said.
Silence.
Then the man slowly reached for his headset.
Hesitated.
And took it off.
Outside, the music fell silent.
The host stood uncertain on the stage. No more instructions.
Lea walked past him out into the light.
The camera followed her.
She stood in the middle of the stage.
“Hey,” she said into the microphone. “This was planned. Too planned.”
Murmuring in the audience.
“But Christmas doesn’t happen because someone controls it.”
Tom stepped beside her.
“It happens because people are there for each other,” he said.
Children laughed. Adults listened.
Jonas, Sofia, and Mehmet stood at the edge of the stage.
The livestream was running.
No one stopped it.
Lea smiled. No script. No plan.
Just this moment.
Later, when the lights were dimmed and the market slowly emptied, they sat on the steps of the stage.
“And user017_xd?” Sofia asked.
Jonas looked at his phone.
user017_xd: “You thought for yourselves. That’s all I ever wanted.”
Mehmet grinned. “Mysterious to the very end.”
Tom pulled his jacket tighter. “And today?”
Lea looked up at the sky. Lights. Stars. Cold.
“Today is Christmas,” she said. “That’s enough.”
And for the first time, it truly felt real.
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