Better Than The Sack

Some wishes are heard. Some are answered. On a bitter Christmas night, a boy lies awake in a house that has long forgotten him. Outside, something old walks the snow—measuring, listening, judging. Pain is not the worst punishment. The sack is. As an ancient figure passes judgment, cruelty is named, silence is broken, and a child is left standing in the aftermath—alone with the consequences of what he wished for, and what he was spared. Better Than the Sack is a dark Christmas short story about fear, choice, and the moment when mercy arrives in its most unsettling form. A short story of 5,542 atmospheric words.