Why would Santa bring her these, Matilda thought staring at the teddy bears sat next to her in the car. He must know she was six now, already had plenty of cuddly toys, and they were definitely not on the list she had sent him. And why had he delivered them to Granny’s house?

When they got home Matilda stomped upstairs with her new presents and threw them onto her bed. They landed next to her new RayBlaster 3000. She had an idea.

*

Isobel let her daughter stay in her bedroom. Her Gran always tried to get Matilda a nice present, and always managed to get something she had outgrown. There was the occasional thud from upstairs and Isobel could here the sound effects from that annoying toy gun Matilda’s uncle had got her.

Suddenly she heard Matilda screaming. Isobel dashed to her daughter’s room and flung the door open.

‘Matilda, what’s happening…’ she stopped and took in the scene of carnage. Matilda sat on the floor dressed in her doctors outfit. She was pulling the stuffing out of one of the new teddy bears. It was missing an eye and an arm.

‘Not now, Mum.’ Matilda whined, ‘this soldier is badly injured. I’m in the middle of operating. We have to save his life.’

Written as part of Sunday Photo Fiction. Write a story of around 200 words based on the photo prompt given (above). For more details visit HERE.

To read more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.