The cold, winter snow blustered within the winds of Nuremberg, Germany. The cozy winter breeze gently landed on my face, nearly blowing my glasses away from my face. It felt nice to be outside in the cold for a while.

I held a book with a hard red cover close to me. The topics that the book enclosed were mostly about how to draw and create comics & cartoons. Having a fascination with cartoons, I always wanted to make my own, just for the sheer comedy and silliness of the story, but I’d still want to keep the heavy elements in. Diving deeper into the book, cut off by a snowball thrown to my face. I sighed as I closed my book, placing it down in the watery snow. I curled some snow into my hands, rolling it into a ball; I could sense a futile presence behind me. 

“Step any closer,” I whispered under my breath.

For a moment, there was a brief silence, which was then followed by a rustle of leaves from the bushes. Fast reaction is key; throwing the ball at the exact timing and angle, and progressing the bounce back of the snowball is negative. At a split of 0.3 seconds, the snowball countered, hitting the person in the face.

“Fritz, I should’ve known it was you.” I laughed. Of course, it was my little brother Fritz, he’s a mischievous little monkey. We both sit down on the snow and start laughing at our silly little antics. I proceed to read my book as Fritz looms over me. “Marie,” he asks, “how long are you going to read these books? Why not draw from the experience?” while he was saying that, he was strutting some poses that some cartoon characters would do, like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, etc. I laughed as Fritz made those poses.

“MARIE! FRITZ!”

Fritz paused his movements as he glanced at the door; I sat up after acting defeated on cold white cold snow, holding my book closed by my chest. Louise was staring at us, and boy was she pissed. “Inside! NOW!” she barked. We had no choice but to comply, as her being the highly authoritative figure next to Mother and Father was mandatory as the firstborn of the entire Stahlbaum Family.

“What’s the big deal?!” Fritz exclaimed. Louise gave us the stank eye a bit as she proceeded to lecture us; envisioning us as students and her as the teacher. Fritz and I sat secluded on the couch; the quieting moments of wind accompanied us during the troubling times. Fritz held a smirk as he touched the floor with his two small feet, looking like he was going to pounce; dashing up the stairs and exclaiming, “Dibs on the washroom first!”

I groaned as I watched him run up the stairs to the washroom; feeling bored, I walked to my room. I took out a couple of dolls from my toy chest, along with my favorite doll, Clara. I sat down by the giant dollhouse, opening it, so I could see the rooms more clearly. Coincidentally, one of Fritz’s soldiers was left in the dollhouse, so I could just mimic certain scenes of a ballet I recently saw this week.

“Oh, my prince!” I mimicked Clara’s voice, “I saved you!”

“Thank you, Mistress Clara,” I then mimicked the soldier’s voice, “for your reward of kind bravery, I shall take you to the land of sweets where we shall live happily ever after!” But pretty quickly, accustomed to the story, I grew bored after playing with them for an estimated 10-15 minutes. I put the toys away. Soon, Mother arrived to show me a dress that she had sewn and stitched together for me. It was a light blue dress with off-shoulder sleeves; it also had small patterns of diamonds all over the skirt. “Oh, mama! It’s beautiful!” I exclaimed.

“Let’s put it on you, my dear,” she spoke softly. I stood up, taking off my winter outdoor clothing before stepping up on the pedestal. Mother then slid the dress on me and I could feel its soft fabric touch my body. I opened my eyes slowly to see the beautiful dress that I was wearing; it felt like I was a princess. 

Mother smiled as she escorted me downstairs, telling me that Uncle Drosselmeier will be here for the party tonight, in hopes of giving me a wonderful gift like last year, or any year of this particular sort. When walking downstairs, I’ve noticed something had changed within the living room; it caught my eye pretty quickly for me to notice the sparkling Christmas tree sitting on the side of the chimney. I approach the tree slowly as I saw the glimmering leaves that the tree had. 

Of course, I remained well-aware and respectful of the tree’s fragile ornaments. I examined the wrapped gift boxes around the tree. For the record, that I wouldn’t dare touch the gifts unless Father gave me full arranged consent was crucial in this household. I gently sat down by the fireplace, awaiting Drosselmeier’s arrival.

“Marie, please.” Louise urged as she moved me inches away from the fireplace. I groaned, only for Louise to lecture me into being a good role model and a well-behaved girl of the Stahlbaum Family. It was 2009 for gods’ sake, nobody could even compare up to the standards that Louise has. Getting an iPhone at the age of 11 was stupid enough already, but trying to act like a “role model” is stupid, especially when most teenagers just look at their iPhones and try to act “professional.”

The hours felt dull.

I sat on the couch as I watched the clock tick… tick… tick… Just then, I felt something cuddle up on my lap. Narrowing my eyes down, I saw little Pavlova. The cute little kitten curled up on my lap, purring as he took a nap. I stayed still, not even moving an inch because that would wake him up.

Soon, the entire room was infested with party guests. Within each corner I could find a guest holding a cup of champagne, others dancing in the ballroom to the well-known Waltz of the Flowers, but mostly the children would be galloping through the hallways, having fun. What fun! But, I stood my ground, awaiting for Drosselmeier’s arrival. Then, like magic, small firecrackers popped on the floor along with some smoke and a bunch of small fireworks.

Coming out of the smoke was Drosselmeier himself! It looked like he was covering something underneath his cape; as he opened it, appeared a beautiful castle which happily played the Dance Of The Toy Flutes. My eyes widened as I watched the soldiers walk in and out of the castle, along with seeing beautiful swans with golden necklaces and crowns on their heads. Fritz ran downstairs and witnessed it too, but after a while, he grew bored of it at well.

“Drosselmeier, can we see the inside of the castle please?” Fritz had asked him. Drosselmeier bowed down, replying, “It can’t be done, young Fritz.” I knew what this would soon escalate to, so I walked away from the argument before it had even started. I continued to walk around the room, viewing the beautiful glances until I’ve noticed something at the corner of my eye. Standing modest under the christmas tree was a little man; he looked odd but intriguing. With his cotton-candy pink hair to his star cheeks and beautiful green princely outfit, I reached him out with my two hands, feeling his wooden face.

I noticed Drosselmeier giving me a certain glare as he held a peculiar smirk. I approached him while holding the little man, smiling. “You brought him, huh?” I asked.

“You like him?” he asked me back. I held the nutcracker cradled in my arms like it was a baby. I pet his face gently as I looked back at Drosselmeier, “Honestly Drosselmeier, I’ve never seen anything like him.” He smiled as he took the nutcracker from my arms, saying happily, “He’s a nutcracker, Marie. He can crack the hardest of nuts for you.” He took the nutcracker out of my arms, putting a simple fragile walnut in the nutcracker’s mouth, only for the nutcracker to chomp down really hard, breaking the walnut into pieces.

I stood there astonished, watching as Drosselmeier was able to crack half of the nuts using the nutcracker. Suddenly, like lightning, Fritz dashed over to Drosselmeier, and he snatched the nutcracker. “I’ll break a whole bowl full of nuts with this nutcracker!” Fritz grabbed the bowl, proceeding to break most nuts in there, but then I noticed in the bowl, there was a massive nut, that was bigger than the others. Fritz grabbed in and shoved it in the nutcracker’s mouth.

“W-WAIT FRITZ! DON-”

CRACK!

“Uh oh…” Fritz said softly. I sank to my knees as the nutcracker’s 2 front teeth fell on the floor. I screamed in terror as I snatched the nutcracker away from Fritz. “WHY FRITZ?!” I snapped at him.  I held the nutcracker close to me as I stroked his hair gently. I apologized to him softly, feeling the guilt and anger rise up. Drosselmeier patted my head and smiled, “It’s okay, Marie. Everything will be okay.” I didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, but I trusted his words as I sat by the fireplace with him. Fritz walked away to do his stuff while Drosselmeier spoke something out of the random, “You know, that nutcracker you're holding there is my nephew.”

“Your nephew?” I asked.

He nodded. “His name was Saragona Levoy-Aries Drosselmeier, the Prince of The Land Of Dolls. He was a brilliant boy and a really kind soul at the very least, but he was a bit of a selfish brat. It was indeed a shame when he lost his father due to the rampage of The Mouse King. He tried escaping but that only ended up downhill when The Mouse King cursed him to be a nutcracker or as he calls it: The Prince Of The Dolls.”

“The Prince Of The Dolls? That seems like a fitting name for a prince of THE Land Of The Dolls.” I joked. Drosselmeier chuckled at the joke as he pet my head gently. “One day, my nephew will break his curse and live happily ever after in the Palace of The Dolls as the rightful heir to the Drosselmeier throne.” he said with glee.

I sighed happily, glancing at the nutcracker. I thought to myself:

Drosselmeier… You better not be lying, because he looks too boyish to even be considered a cursed human.

Of course, it was time for the party to end; Drosselmeier was able to stay for a night as a thanks for being a wonderful guest at the party, so he guided me upstairs to my room, so I can sleep peacefully in my bed. I got my nightgown on, and I took off my glasses, placing them on top of the cabinet. But before I went to sleep, I saw Fritz walking into my room, placing a small sword in front of my nutcracker. He spoke softly, “Sorry for breaking off your teeth. When Marie awakes, tell her that I wanted to apologize to her.” I smiled softly, hearing Fritz apologized warmed my heart, melting it to the floor. As the night fell soft, I awoke at the brink of 11, succumbed to my own heart paining desires. I walked downstairs to see the nutcracker standing on the cabinet right by the fireplace.

“Nutcracker, how did you get here?” I asked him softly. I cupped my hands, holding him close to my chest. I sighed as I stroked his pink fluffy hair gently. I sat down by the fireplace, feeling the touch of the fire cuddle my body in its warmth. I laid on the floor, laughing silently as I looked at the nutcracker curled in my arms, “You know, it doesn’t matter what you look like, you’ll always be a prince in my heart.”

Just when I said that, I felt something. But it was off. Really off. I sat up, looking around for what was feeling mutually disturbing. After minutes of searching, the moment drew near as my eyes landed on the grandfather clock and who was on top of it. “UNCLE DROSSELMEIER?! GET DOWN! YOU’LL HURT YOURSELF!” I exclaimed. He stood there, watching me and my nutcracker; the tension rising as he snapped his fingers, quickly showing the living room with magic sparkles. Mice came from the tree along with another mouse, except there was no telling what type of mouse he was. This mouse had seven heads with zombie-like features. I backed away, scared for my life, only for my arm to puncture the glass, grazing my arm as it drew out with blood. I look back at where the rodent was and it looked like he vanished. I held my arm in pain as I slowly stood up before I heard creaking from behind me. Then, the cabinet leaned closer before I dodged, watching it shatter on the floor. There, standing on top of the cabinet, was that zombie rat. His grin had deformed quite a bit and my heart sunk to my stomach. I was done for… Oddly enough, I felt something on my head, looking up, I saw the nutcracker raising his sword, pointing at the seven-headed mouse king. “I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM MS. STAHLBAUM!” As he jumped down onto the floor, Fritz’s toy soldiers came out to fight. They joined the Nutcracker as it became World War Toys-R-Us in the living room. I watched worryingly as the nutcracker fought and fought with the mouse king. But just when hope arose, the mouse king cornered the nutcracker, almost ready to accept his fate. I gasped as I knew I had to do something! I took off my black slipper and I threw it at the mouse king, exclaiming, “STAY AWAY FROM HIM!” it knocked The mouse king back into a mouse hole where the other mice followed. I sat down, wondering what had happened. Suddenly, I felt an embrace on my arm. It was the nutcracker, smiling at me.

“Ms. Stahlbaum, I thank you for saving my life.” he whispered. I smiled a bit, kissing his forehead. But then, he broke the embrace exclaiming, “I need to head back to the Land Of Dolls to defeat my brother, The Mouse King. I may be gone for days, even weeks on end but promise me that you won’t forget everything.”

“I…” I was about to promise, until everything turned black and I could just hear faded out words.

MS. STAHLBAUM! WAKE UP PLEASE! 

MS. STAHLBAUM!