by Willow Rose
"Really?" he said, skeptically. "Blood? In the chimney?"
"I swear to you, it was there. I saw it again last night when I couldn't sleep and walked across the living room. It was there. It was the sound that made me stop at first. The dripping sound. Then I turned on a light and saw it. Blood running down the chimney. I swear, I also heard a scraping sound coming from the inside of the chimney. Like long nails scraping on the sides of it. I keep imagining these soot-caked claws scraping inside the brick belly of the chimney. I am not making this up, Detective. And the pictures I took at the mall. I looked through my phone yesterday. All gone. Simply vanished."
"So, you have no proof of anything you're saying?" Jack Ryder said. I could tell he was trying to understand, trying to believe me, but found it harder and harder.
"I’m afraid not. But I have been doing a lot of research," I said and showed him the many articles. "These are all victims of this. All killed in the month of December since the city of Cocoa Beach was established in nineteen twenty-five. Back then, they knew something was up; they even wrote about it in the local paper, how some people claimed to have heard jingle bells at night and strange sounds coming from inside their chimneys. The story back then went that there was a young boy in nineteen-twenty-seven, who—while playing hide and go seek with his friend—climbed into the chimney of his house and got stuck. The friend went home and later that same night his dad then lit a fire and killed the boy. The first victim that was found dead in a chimney was in December nineteen twenty-eight. It was believed back then that it was him, the boy from the year before that had later returned to haunt the city and kill people as revenge for what happened back then. In the modern day, the story was lost and later just called old superstition, a spooky story to tell your kids so they wouldn't crawl up into the chimney. But what if it is real, Detective, huh? What if this story is real?"
Jack Ryder looked at me with a deep sigh. "And you say that they all have the same red marks?"
"All of them that I have been able to get my hands on. Sydney was the one who showed me."
"I’m not sure I even want to know how she found out," he said. "But let me get this straight. You're telling me you believe this killer is...some type of a ghost? Or what?"
I shrugged. "An entity of sorts. I don't know. Something evil, haunting this town. Does it have to have a name? Not everything in life comes with a box you can fit it in."
Jack Ryder sighed and rubbed his stubble. He was very tanned for someone who worked a lot. I knew he surfed, so I guessed that was why. Apparently, everyone in this town surfed. Even the mayor could be found in the waves if they were good. I was even told that, if the waves were really good, all the shops and restaurants downtown would be closed and there would be small signs in the windows saying: GONE SURFING.
Jack Ryder was still thinking, looking through the papers on the table. I sipped my coffee, then he said:
"I have to admit that when looking at Sydney's chest, I knew something was really wrong. There was no way a human could have done that. Had we found her outside somewhere, I would have believed it was a panther or maybe a bear, but this was inside the mall. Inside. Everything was closed, all the windows and doors were locked, even the shutters were closed. No animal could have gotten in and out."
"How about security cameras? Did they have them at the store?" I asked.
Jack Ryder looked up and nodded. "That's the oddest part. There was nothing on them. Nothing but static. It looked like freaking snow." He paused, then continued: "That's not completely true, there was something on them. A sound. The sound of jingle bells."
I leaned back on the couch. "You said it yourself, Detective. Something strange is going on here. Something really strange. And, to be honest, it’s beginning to freak me out."
Jack Ryder nodded. "You and me both. You and me both."
55
Alyssa had a hard time concentrating at school. Night after night, she was awoken by the sounds coming from downstairs, but she had stopped going down there. Not since she had seen her brother. She didn't dare to. Yet, the sounds were still there every night and it scared her like crazy. But with the lack of sleep and with everything that was going on, her grades had started to slide. She had gotten an F on her math test for the second week in a row.
It had her parents worried.
"I know things are tough right now," her mother told her when she had the talk with her in the kitchen after she had come home from school and she saw the test in her backpack. "But we have got to keep living. We can't just let everything slide. You've got to focus on school."
Alyssa stared at her mother, looked into her eyes. She wanted so badly to tell her that the only reason she had done badly on another test was that she couldn't concentrate because she was so tired, so exhausted from lack of sleep. It was like the words on the test paper danced and made no sense. She wanted to tell her mother about what she had seen that night. That she had seen her brother, who wasn't her brother anymore, and that thing. That awful thing, a beast with long pointy teeth that had grabbed for her and how terrified she had been that he would run up the stairs after her, or that he would come to her room at night. He was down there at night, she just knew he was, and every night she sat under the covers shaking, listening to every sound in the house, praying that he wouldn't find his way to her door. Oftentimes, she would find herself staring at the door handle for hours, terrified that it would turn. She wanted to tell her mother about the sound of jingling bells that kept her awake. She wanted to tell her how scared she was all night long. And not just at night anymore. She often heard strange noises during the day as well. But she knew her mother wouldn't understand. She would tell her it was only in her mind. Alyssa feared they would think she was crazy and put her away in some mental institution, where they would shock her or medicate her till she never spoke of crazy stuff like this again.
"I'll get better," she said. "I promise."
Her mother smiled. It wasn't a very happy smile. "That's good, sweetie. It will soon be Christmas break and hopefully, things will get better after that. We could all use a little break, huh?"
Christmas. Christmas Eve night, that's when he comes, isn't it? That's when he is planning on killing me, isn't it?
"Honey. You're shivering. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she said. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to think she was sick and have her stay home from school. She needed to get away from the house, away from the chimney.
"I'm perfectly fine," she repeated, just to make sure her mother had heard her.
Her mother smiled again, a little more genuine this time, then got up and walked to the stove. "Good. I thought I would try and cook a little tonight. Would be good for a change, huh? I’m getting tired of all that pizza."
She turned to look at Alyssa for some sort of confirmation that she agreed, but Alyssa wasn't listening anymore. She had gotten up from her chair in the kitchen and stood where the kitchen became the living room and stared at the chimney. She was hearing loud scraping sounds coming from the chimney.
"Alyssa?" her mom said and approached her. "Are you all right? You’re acting a little weird."
She looked up at her mother, her body shaking. "It's that sound."
"What sound, sweetie?"
The sound was loud in her ears, sounding like an animal trying to dig its way out of the brick chimney.
"You don't hear it?"
Her mother listened, then shook her head. She felt Alyssa's forehead. "Are you sure you're feeling all right?"
"I'm fine," Alyssa said, trying to sound convincing, but she could hear how her voice was shaking.
The doorbell rang and Alyssa's mom went to open it. Meanwhile, Alyssa kept staring at the chimney, wondering when that thing—whatever it was—that was trying to dig its way out of it would succeed.
56
"Rebekka Franck? What a surprise."
I smiled at Jackie. Her pale face smiled back. She had lost a lot
of weight since I saw her last.
"To what do we owe the honor?"
"I'm actually here to see Alyssa if that's okay with you?"
Jackie looked perplexed at me, then nodded. "Sure. Come on in. She just got back from school."
I walked into the living room and spotted Alyssa at the other end. She looked frightened and, as I stepped closer, I immediately knew why.
I turned to look at the chimney as I heard the scraping sound that I recognized from my own house.
"What a nice surprise," her mother said behind me while closing the door.
I gasped and looked at Alyssa. Our eyes met and we both knew.
"Alyssa? Rebekka is here. She wants to talk to you. Can I get you anything?" she asked, addressed to me.
"If you have some coffee, that would be great," I said, mostly to get her out of the room.
I approached Alyssa, our eyes still locked, while the scraping sounds filled our ears.
"You hear it too?" I asked in a whisper.
She bit her lip. I could tell she was afraid to say it. I knew how she felt. I sometimes felt like I was going crazy when hearing and seeing these things, and talking about it just made it worse. I had tried to talk to Sune about it, but he wouldn't listen. He thought I was losing it. I was beginning to think I was too. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew the kids had seen the blood too. And now the look in Alyssa's eyes told me I wasn't alone.
"You hear it too?" Alyssa whispered.
I nodded. "At my house. Sometimes it's bells, sometimes it's scraping sounds like these, and sometimes it's like a pulse or a drumming sound."
"It's like someone is in there, trying to get out," she said.
I nodded. We both looked at the chimney, hearts pounding in our chests. "So, I’m not going insane?" she asked.
I shook my head. "That's actually why I came. You know Sydney Hahn? Or maybe I should call her SH14?"
Alyssa nodded. "Sure. From my chat room. She lost her dad."
"She was killed."
Alyssa's eyes grew wide. She made a sound that I could only interpret as surprise or maybe fear.
"I think it was the same killer who killed your brother," I said, still keeping my voice low. Jackie was still in the kitchen. It sounded like she was looking for something in the cabinets; she was also mumbling something about cookies. I had to be fast now before she returned.
"What…what was it?"
"We don't know. But I came here because you wrote something in the chat, something about you seeing your dead brother in the living room. I went to Sydney's house and talked to her mother. She let me go through her computer and that's how I found out. You really should get a better profile name. If I could find you that easily, then anyone could," I said.
Alyssa sighed. "H-h-he was right here," she said and pointed. He was looking at me and asking me what my favorite holiday was. His was Christmas, he said."
"I take it he looked like your brother?" I asked.
She nodded. "But it wasn't him. I knew it wasn't. And then he ch-changed."
"Changed?"
Alyssa's eyes were on me. She nodded. "He became something else. Something I can't even describe. It started with the teeth…long pointy teeth grew out of his face, and then there were the eyes."
"What about the eyes?"
"They were red."
I swallowed hard. "Red? Like two…"
"Red glowing Christmas globes," we both said in unison.
Alyssa's mother came in from the kitchen holding a tray between her hands, smiling from ear to ear. "Cookies," she said. "I found cookies. They might be a little old, but I hope they'll do."
57
We ate the cookies. They were stale and dry, but out of politeness, we ate them, still hearing the scraping sounds and pretending not to, while I sipped the coffee, smiling at Jackie.
I told her I was there to talk to Alyssa about arranging something for Sydney's funeral since her mother was too out of it to do anything herself. Jackie didn't seem to know who Sydney was so we told her it was a girl from school that we both knew, and she seemed to accept that. I told her I got to know Sydney while vacationing here, and luckily, she didn't ask for details. We drank our coffee and ate the cookies for about an hour when I told them I had to leave.
Alyssa walked me to the front door, then leaned over and whispered. "I'm scared."
I looked at her, then stroked her cheek gently. "Me too," I said. "Lock the door to your room at night and, whatever you do, don't go near the chimney. Promise me that? I gave you my number. So, call me if you need me, okay? If anything happens, just call."
She nodded and I left, feeling like I was leaving her in the lion's den. It felt so good to get out of the house and away from the scraping sound. It seemed to be a lot worse at her house than mine and, as I entered our own beach house further down the road, I was delighted to hear nothing but the sound of Tobias and Julie fighting over something. I hadn't told them where I went, just that I was going for a run. I yelled that I was back, then jumped in the shower. When I came out, William was standing in my bedroom with tear-filled eyes.
"Now what?" I asked.
"Ju-Ju!" he said and pointed.
"Was she teasing you again?"
He nodded with a sniffle. "I miss my binky," he said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "She called me a baby."
I smiled and took Will in my arms. "You're not a baby," I said. "You're a big boy now. A big boy who doesn't need his binky anymore."
He sniffled again, then nodded. "Big boy."
"There you go."
"Mo-om?" It was Julie. She came into the bedroom too, Tobias right behind her.
"It's a party now," I said smiling.
"When are we going to Disney World?"
I sighed. It was a question the kids asked every day now. I had promised I'd take them, but I was worried about Sune. Would he come? I had told him it was probably not a problem to navigate a wheelchair around Disney World, but he didn't seem very thrilled about the idea of spending the entire day there, having all those staring eyes at him and kids pointing fingers and asking their parents What is wrong with that man? Or even worse, hearing the parents tell them Not to stare.
I had kept postponing it, but time was running out. Christmas was coming up in a week and it had to be before then. Plus, I was eager to get out of this strange house and maybe even the entire town. It was starting to get on my nerves.
"You know what? Let me talk to your dad about doing it tomorrow, okay?"
58
"I’m not going."
"You can't be serious."
I was looking at Sune. As usual, he was sitting in the media room, looking out the window, his back turned to me.
"Well, I am. I’m not going to Disney World."
"Sune," I said. "Your kids have been looking forward to going ever since we told them about this trip. They want you to be there. They want to experience it all with their dad. Don't you get that? You're missing out on everything. This trip could have been so much fun if you took part in some of the stuff we do. Going to Kennedy Space Center would have been a lot more fun if you had been with us. The kids asked about you all the time. Tobias was so worried, he could hardly enjoy it. You can't seriously tell me you don't want to go to Disney World?"
He shrugged. "Well, I’m very sorry that the fact that I can't walk has destroyed your vacation time."
"That's not what I meant and you know it perfectly well. You're twisting my words again."
He sighed. "It's not like I’m missing out on anything. I can't go on any rides anyway."
I stomped my feet in anger. "Damn it, Sune! We're not going to Disney for your sake. We're going for the kids. Go for them, not yourself. For once, get your head out of your bellybutton, will you?"
I growled, turned around and left, slamming the door behind me. I was so sick of this, so tired of him feeling sorry for himself.
But as soon as I had slammed the door, I was overwhelmed
with guilt. Who was I to get angry with him? I knew nothing about what it was like to be in his position.
"I take it he's not coming?" Tobias said.
"Are we not going to Disney tomorrow, then?" Julie asked concerned.
William looked up from the drawing he was making on the breakfast counter, a whimper emerging from his lips.
"Oh, we're going," I said as I opened the fridge and pulled out some dough to make a fresh batch of cookies. I was determined to make this the best Christmas ever, no matter whether Sune participated or not.
"And we're going to have a great time."
The kids looked at one another. Only William cheered. The two others smiled but didn't dare say anything out loud.
The next day, when we were all getting ready to go, the door to the media room suddenly opened and Sune pushed his chair out.
I stared at him, mouth agape. "You dressed?" I looked at his wet hair. "And showered?"
He smiled. "I can hardly go to Disney World wearing the same thing I’ve worn for the past week, now can I? I mean, I might meet Mickey and you can't be dirty when meeting Mickey, can you?"
The kids could hardly contain their excitement, and frankly, neither could I. "Let's go then," I said and shooed the kids into the car, then helped Sune get in as well.
"I might have made a mess on the bathroom floor," he said in a low voice. "It's a little flooded."
I smiled, then leaned over and kissed him. It took both of us by surprise. We hadn't been close in a very long time. "I'm sure it's okay," I said. "I’m sure it will be just fine."
59
Disney World's Magic Kingdom was even more overwhelming than I had imagined. And so perfect for Christmas. Everything was dressed in lights and the whole atmosphere was so magical.
I had bought tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, that started late in the afternoon. As soon as we came up to the main entrance—after taking the boat ride across the lake to the entrance—I saw Elsa in a holiday outfit, holding a sign for the Christmas Party. We followed her so we could enter via our special party tickets.
