“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!!!” And that’s how we ended our not-so merry Christmas and a not-so happy New Year.

Maybe I will start by telling you about myself. My name is Alex and I live in the Gniew castle. My father is a custodian for the castle museum. I’ve been living here for about 8 years and I know this castle like the back of my hand. Once I was exploring the castle for the first time ever, and I found this secret lever which opens the room of Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen, whoever that is…
It all began with that awesome Teutonic grand master sword I got from my Uncle George for Christmas. It said it was an exact replica of Ulrich von Jungingen’s sword. That guy again. The sword must have been 10 kilograms! Although said to be a replica, it was quite sharp and could be used as a weapon.
Anyway, well one day we got this really creepy visitor. His name was Mr. Haufen Schlauve. He appeared quite mysterious to me, but my parents thought he had a cookie for a heart. The only thing that made him different from glorious moi is that he said please and thank you. Who would want to do that? So everyone was happy about this freak except me. Even my goldfish liked him. Probably because Mr. HS (Haufen Schlauve) fed him.
Well here I am, just a couple days before Christmas, and nothing was happening. That’s a problem. Christmas is made for doing things fun, like singing carols. But instead my mom sent me out to buy Christmas decorations. Surprisingly enough, I saw Haufen Schlauve walking away from the city with a box. I tried to see what was printed on the side of the package, but I just couldn’t make out what was written. Whatever… It probably was just some Christmas lights. But that was a really small box for lights. If I could only start a conversation with him… Right then HS came over to me and started chatting.
“Hello Sir!” I brought up.
“Why hello young Alex,” Haufen S. replied.
“It seems that you’re busy… Whatcha got in the box?” I queried, hopefully.
“In here?” He asked “Oh… uh… nothing… yeah…,”
Then something caught my eye: I gazed as I caught a glimpse of what was written on the box. I only saw a couple of words, but it was enough: “Genuine Swiss Army Knife.”
“Whatcha got the knife for?” I queried.
“Easier to kill your family,” He replied.
Haufen Schlauve kicked me aside like a paper dummy and I flew at least 3 metres.
“Why” I managed to sputter “Why are you doing his to me?”
“Easy. My great great great great grandfather was Ulrich von Jungingen. Your father is the custodian of the castle museum. This place belongs to me. It can’t be a museum! I will treat it as a castle. I will join my ancestors and revive the power of the Teutonic knights! All of you must go.”
He left me their as if to rot. As he left, he added that if I tried to save my family I would be too late. No, I said to myself, I won’t be too late. I creaked trying to get on my feet. I went as fast as I could, however it took longer than usual to get there, since I couldn’t use the northern wing, where HS was going. I had to get in on the east wing of the castle.
I got their quickly; much quicker than I expected. Once I got there, I was lost of ways I could help. Then something sparked inside my head. The Teutonic sword! I rushed upstairs and I grabbed that weapon. I quickly then darted back downstairs into the courtyard and waited for HS to come, hiding behind a column. Sure enough, he came with the knife at hand. While he was on the steps, I ran up and hurled my sword right into the back of my victim.
I killed him, I wondered. I killed a human being.