Splinta Claws

### Actors

Pavel Douglas, Alex Eastwood, Taighen O'Callaghan, Tommy French, Dominique Moore, Tina Louise Owens, John Alan Roberts, Joshua Tomkins, Wendy Wason

### Previous

Tilly Bone

**Splinta Claws** is the 10th episode of *Creeped Out*'s second season, and the 23rd episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

Two boys get locked in a department store overnight at Christmas and are stalked by an animatronic Santa who, legend has it, goes after nice children instead of naughty ones.

## Plot

### Prologue

The Curious visits a department store called Peltzer's to look at the Christmas display.

### Episode

Whilst in the store, Lawrence is unnerved by a creepy animatronic Santa that says it is watching him. The animatronic is obviously malfunctioning, and Lawrence plays with its wires, causing it to overheat. His mother asks him to go to another floor of the store and post a present for his grandmother - a necklace that contains his late grandfather's ashes. Lawrence accidentally puts the present down and it gets carried away and taken to the Santa display. He asks for it back, but the employee in charge thinks he's causing trouble and bans him from the display. The Santa animatronic (who, according to that employee, after something got wrong during its creation, developed claws which hides under its gloves and chases nice children) asks if he's been naughty or nice; Lawrence replies that he's naughty, and the animatronic winks. Lawrence meets up with his best friend Mikey, who is to sleep over whilst Mikey's mother works late at the store. Mikey, concerned about risking his mother's job, objects to Lawrence's plan to sneak into the Santa display to get the present back.
The boys hide out until the store closes and then Lawrence retrieves the present. But they are attacked by the animatronic Santa, "Splinta Claws"; which can move by itself even when unplugged. Lawrence gets cornered by Splinta Claws, but it identifies him as a "naughty child" and ignores him - chasing after Mikey, who is a "nice child." Lawrence pushes Splinta Claws off a balcony, smashing its face plate; only for it to reactivate. He realises that Splinta Claws attacks "nice" children instead of "naughty" ones. The boys trap Splinta Claws inside a play house, but it takes off its gloves, revealing its hands to be pieces of jagged metal and cuts down the door. Mikey, who has permanent injuries from an accident earlier that year, can't run away and Lawrence shouts at him to do something bad. He pushes over a Christmas tree, causing damage and Splinta Claws declares him a "naughty child."
The boys are left alone and argue: Mikey complaining that Lawrence is reckless and selfish, Lawrence upset that Mikey forgot his mother gave him a key card for the store. They knock over a box full of wishes that children wrote to Santa, and Lawrence sees that Mikey's wish was to stop being a problem for his mother because of his disability. Lawrence tries to reassure Mikey that no one thinks of him that way - he is "perfect." This reactivates Splinta Claws who comes after the boys again. Mikey leads Lawrence out of a rear entrance but warns that, once they leave, there's no way back into the store. Lawrence holds back, wanting to retrieve the present for his grandmother. He gets trapped inside with Splinta Claws while Mikey leaves. Mikey calls to ask where Lawrence is, and Lawrence lies that he has left the store and will catch up with Mikey soon. Splinta Claws now identifies Lawrence as a "nice" child for trying to spare Mikey's feelings, and attacks him.
Lawrence tries to escape another way but gets trapped in a window display. Just as Splinta Claws has cornered him, it suddenly stops. Lawrence thinks Splinta Claws ran out of power but Mikey arrives suddenly. He knew Lawrence was lying, so he never left the store. Mikey proposes that he and Lawrence can be naughty children by just taking the present and leaving, rather than trying to save the other children on Splinta Claws's list. He gives Splinta Claws the key card for the store. Lawrence hesitates, and Splinta Claws presses him for an answer. Later, we see Splinta Claws go down the chimney of a small girls house. The screen goes black and we hear Splinta Claws identify the girl as a "nice child."

### Epilogue

The narrator questions whether there are really good and bad people, or just good and bad actions. We see The Curious grabbing a finger claw from Splinta Claws that he left away and the episode ends with the narrator wishing us a creepy Christmas.

## Cast

* The Narrator (Hedvig Becke)
* The Curious (Ashleigh Smith)
* Splinta Claws (Pavel Douglas)
* Mikey Reese (Alex Eastwood)
* Lawrence Connor (Taighen O'Callaghan)
* Elf Deagle (Tommy French)
* Mrs. Connor (Dominique Moore)
* Christmas shoppers (Tina Louise Owens, John Alan Roberts and Joshua Tomkins)
* Mrs. Reese (Wendy Wason)