The New Year Goblin

A Friday Fictioneers Holiday Flash Fiction

I originally posted this on WordPress on December 22, 2021. In preparing for Christmas, I decided to spread the holiday joy and humor to Medium.

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who provides us with a photo prompt. Each week’s challenge is to write a 100-word story inspired by the photo. Click here to play along or just read more stories.

The New Year Goblin

“We’re gonna get in trouble, Theodore.”

“Don’t be a wuss. I’ve been good for weeks to make my parents forget the bad stuff. I’m itching for some mischieve.”

“My mom says if you’re bad after Christmas, the New Year Goblin will take away your presents.”

“What the hell? … I’ll light the bag. You ring the bell.”

’Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except the New Year Goblin. He snatched Theodore’s presents and pooped on his bed.

Off he went out of sight and screeched “He! He! He!” into the night.

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The New Year Goblin is something I tell kids. If I ever have kids, I will teach them about him along with Santa. The first time I wrote about him was in A Nearly Norman Christmas, which I highly recommend if you need a good Christmas story. It makes me laugh, and I wrote it.

I don’t think anyone, especially a kid, would ever say, “I’m itching for some mischieve.” It just reads funny to me.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields