Collected Christmas Horror Shorts (Collected Horror Shorts Book 1)

by Tim Curran

  “I am the ghost of Christmas Present,” she said, sounding bored.

  “Why are you dressed like that?”

  “Don’t ask me. Apparently your subconscious is filling in some of the blanks here.” She glanced down at herself and rolled her eyes. “Offhand, I’d say this is one-half bad pun with the rest being some sick fantasy on your part.”

  “So this is all a dream?” I asked, getting out of bed and approaching her.

  “Not quite.”

  Whoa. My eyes drank her in like this was the Sahara and she the only glass of water in a hundred miles. This was a hell of a lot better than that shitty old bicycle. “Mind if I unwrap my Christmas present?” I reached out a tentative hand, grinning...

  ...and was immediately met by another punch to the face. Sally couldn’t hit as hard as Jeff, but only a fool would discount her. She packed one hell of a mean right. If someone had told me at the start of this day that I’d be signing up for some makeshift rhinoplasty, I’d have stayed in bed.

  “Try that again and the only Christmas gift you’ll be looking forward to is doctor to reattach your dick.”

  “Point taken,” I replied, checking to see if any teeth had been knocked loose.

  “Good, then let’s go.” She turned and began walking, but I didn’t move to follow. My feet were rooted in place as my eyes traveled down, noticing the Christmas ribbon thong that was, so far as I could tell, the only thing covering her ass.

  No doubt sensing my wandering gaze, she turned and gave me a glare. “Eyes up here, mister, before I rip them out of your skull. Let’s get this over with before you totally creep me the fuck out.”

  “I’m in no rush.”

  “I doubt that. Probably already shot a load in your pants.”

  That wasn’t true ... well okay, it almost was. Sometimes having a vivid imagination is an awesome thing. Still...

  “So what’s the deal?” I asked, trying to focus. “Last time I checked, you weren’t dead.”

  “That’s okay, the last time I checked, you weren’t a man. How the fuck should I know? All I know is that I’m here, I’m supposed to show you some bullshit that’s probably going to fail to teach you a lesson, and I’m dressed like I’m about to star in a porno called Licking Santa’s Candy Cane.”

  “That last part sounds pretty normal.”

  She turned and shot daggers at me with her eyes. “You can either walk or be dragged.”

  “Okay, I’m coming, I’m coming.”

  * * *

  For the second time that night, I followed a spirit into the unknown. As before, I was led up to and then through my own bedroom wall, finding myself floating in misty darkness. At least this time my company was far more pleasant to look at.

  “Behold,” she said, her tone that of someone reading off a cue card, “the misery that abounds this Christmas season because of your misdeeds.”

  I tore my eyes off of her figure long enough to take a quick look and comment, “Um, I know Tom’s kind of special, but I’m pretty sure Tiny Tim never had it this good.”

  She turned to survey the scene, apparently noticing it for the first time. We were in Christy’s apartment, or at least I assumed we were. At the very least it was far more tastefully decorated than Tom’s room at our place. Either way, she and my roommate were in the middle of a pretty heavy make-out session.

  “I did not need to see this,” Sally commented with a sigh.

  “Not doing wonders for me either.”

  The couple started tearing at each other’s clothes as we watched. Finally, Christy started unzipping Tom’s pants. At that point Sally waved her hands in a panic, causing everything in our view to thankfully get all hazy. “We’re out of here,” she said. “If I have to see that fucktard’s bony ass, I’m gonna be one cranky camper.”

  I didn’t bother to point out that she wasn’t too far from being one even when she was in what passed for a good mood. Nope, I just kept my mouth shut and continued to feast on the eye candy.

  “Next stop...” She turned to fix me with another stony stare. I quickly brought my eyes up, not wanting to get decked again. “Let us visit your coven and see what horrors have befallen them as a result of your ... oh, Jesus Christ!”

  I looked past her, my jaw dropping open yet again. “Whoa! Why the fuck wasn’t I invited to this?” The scene before me was like some kind of Roman orgy, only bloodier. We were at the SoHo loft, home of most of the coven’s social activities. A couple of dead bodies were splayed on the floor, a not too surprising occurrence when dealing with vamps. As for the members of the coven, they were in various states of doing ... stuff. Loud techno music blared as the surreal scene played out before us.

  “This is what goes on when I’m not there?”

  “Well, yeah,” Sally commented.

  “Fuck me!”

  “Quite the opposite, I’d say.”

  As we watched, two of the women – Vanessa and Firebird – tore each other’s bloody tops off and began wildly making out.

  “Now we move on to see what other...”

  “Hold on,” I said. “I’d kinda like to stick around here a bit. You know, learn some more about my misdeeds.”

  “You’d die alone in a women’s prison,” she said with an eye roll. Another wave of her hands and we were once again surrounded by mist and darkness. Dammit, just when the show was getting good.

  “Ah, here we are.” she said at last. “Behold your friend Edward. Let us watch as he wallows in the suffering that has been brought upon him by... Ooh! Victoria’s Secret is having a sale!”

  We were in the Manhattan Mall from the look of things. Okay, I could dig this. If Ed was here during the holiday season then he sure as shit was suffering. I wouldn’t wish this fate on my worst enemy. I’d sooner sunbath naked on my roof than be here at this time of year.

  We spied him as he came out of a jewelry store on the second floor. What the hell? If he was miserable, he sure didn’t show it. Hell, he almost looked happy. That might not sound like much, but it was about as close to jubilation as Ed got.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Sally replied. “Watch and learn.”

  Ed stepped over to the railing, away from the crowd of mall minions cascading in both directions. He pulled a small jewelry box out of his pocket and opened it to inspect the contents. Inside was a bracelet, a pricey one by the look of things. Why the hell was he buying jewelry, unless...

  “Are those rubies?” Sally asked, suddenly interested. “They’re my favorite.”

  I turned to face her, her body momentarily forgotten – but only momentarily. “Are we here just so we can watch Ed buy you a Christmas present?”

  She adopted her best innocent face. It came across about as sincere as an apology from Charles Manson. “Don’t look at me. I’m just the tour guide here.”

  “Then we must be visiting a farm because I smell a lot of bullshit. Either way, I’m failing to see the point here. I thought you said we were going to be viewing scenes of the misery I caused.”

  “Well...”

  “As far as I can tell, the only miserable person I’ve seen so far tonight is myself. Double that after all the fun shit I’ve seen everyone else doing.”

  A thoughtful look crossed her face for a moment then she shrugged. “Good enough for the accounting I guess.”

  “No it’s not...”

  “Will you look at the time.” She glanced down at a wristwatch that wasn’t there. “I gotta get out of here. Places to be, bracelets to unwrap.”

  “You can’t just...”

  “Sorry, I don’t make the rules. I just follow them.” She began to turn away, but then stopped. “By the way, if I suspect for even a second that you’ve been jerking off to ... well, this...” she gestured down at her state of undress, “I will make a matching pair of earrings out of these.”

  Before I could react, her hand – claws extended – came up and locked onto my crotch. It wo
uld have been marvelous, had it not been so excruciating.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I squeaked.

  “Didn’t think so,” she blithely replied. To help drive home the point, she gave one final squeeze – hard enough so that the world greyed out around me and I fell to my knees, unaware of anything save the screaming jingle bells between my legs.

  Part 3

  *THUD*

  My head connected with the wooden floor of my bedroom. I sat up, wrapped in my sheets and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Holy shit, what a dream!

  Or was it?

  I did the first thing that came to mind, reached down and checked on the boys. Whew! Thank goodness, they were still intact, although they were oddly tender, almost as if they had been...

  Nah! It couldn’t be. I had obviously gotten a hold of some tainted blood. Maybe it had been unwillingly donated by a crackhead or something. That had to be it. It definitely helped to explain the weirdness of the night.

  I was almost ready to believe that, when a shadow fell over me. Vampires have excellent night vision, so it’s not like I was at a disadvantage in the dark, but even so, when I looked up all I could see was a black void standing over me. No, that wasn’t quite right. There was something in it. Whatever it was, it was draped in an unnatural shadow. As my eyes attempted to adjust to the supernatural darkness surrounding it, I saw that things weren’t helped by the black clothing it wore – a hooded robe, the color of obsidian.

  “Let me guess,” I said, untangling myself from my bedclothes. “Ghost of Christmas Future, right?” Standing, I found myself looking down upon it. Hmm, awfully short for a ghost. I felt like I was standing there staring down a Jawa. Oh well, I guess the Grim Reaper didn’t need to be seven feet tall to be intimidating.

  The figure raised one arm, covered entirely in the sleeves of the robe, and pointed. What a surprise – I was supposed to follow it through my wall again. Jeez, didn’t ghosts believe in doors or shit like that?

  “Alright, let’s get going. Show me my staking, my funeral, or whatever the fuck dog and pony show you’ve got in store so I can get back to bed. I’m tired and I figure it’s only a matter of time before someone kills my ass anyway. Hell, barely a day goes by where I’m not surprised I lived to see the end of it.”

  The figure began walking and I found myself following it. “It’s Sally, isn’t it? She’s the one who kills me, right? That’s okay, you can tell me. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  The mists began to coalesce around us as we walked. Despite knowing what I’d be shown, I found myself rambling nevertheless. “The Draculas, it’s gotta be them. They’re all assholes anyway. I’m sure they’ll sacrifice my ass whenever it suits their needs.”

  There was still no response from the figure.

  “It’s not Colin, right? Please tell me it’s not him. That guy is an absolute weasel of a prick. I’d sooner be staked by...” I trailed off as the world began to take focus around us. Grey bleakness stretched toward the horizon. I found myself wondering when someone would hit the colorization button to fill things in, but then everything snapped into focus, sharp and crisp, but still drab in tone. This was how things looked? Kinda depressing if you ask me.

  My attention was caught by something off in the distance. Squinting my eyes, I saw it was a great city or at least the remains of one. Broken buildings littered the landscape and random fires burned throughout. Damn, I guess some serious shit went down there.

  The figure stopped and I almost bumped into the creepy little Oompa Loompa. It pointed again. I had been so focused on the Mad Max scenario playing out in the distance, that I’d missed a fairly large gathering of people off to the left of us.

  We approached and I saw there was an order to the group. Several dozen people stood at attention in multiple columns. Though there seemed to be discipline in their actions, their method of dress varied. Some wore crisp suits while others were dressed in casual street attire. The spirit entered their ranks, and I followed. Passing the first few rows, I caught sight of several smiling faces, fangs protruding from them all. They weren’t people, they were vampires.

  Okay, so was this the vamp apocalypse everyone kept telling me about? It didn’t look so bad. I could deal with...

  “The last human city has fallen!” What the? I turned toward the front of the gathering, where the ghost was now heading. The voice had come from there. Once again, I knew it quite well.

  I should have. It was mine.

  “Even now, our brothers and sisters comb through the wreckage, picking off the last of their resistance,” future me said from the head of the group. I was dressed ... well, damn. I looked fairly badass. I wore a long leather duster over a black uniform of sorts. Not to sound egomaniacal, but I apparently cleaned up pretty well when I put my mind to it. I’d have to remember that look. It might score me some points with the ladies.

  I quickened my pace so as to catch up with the spirit. It was now approaching the head of the column, only a few feet from where I gave my victory rant. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not particularly fond of the thought of becoming a genocidal nutcase. Still, I think there are few amongst us who haven’t indulged in an evil overlord fantasy or three. Mine just happened to be somewhat more vivid than most.

  “I have fulfilled my destiny,” Emperor Bill continued, giving a psychotic monologue that would have made Ernst Blofeld proud. “The Icon is dead and my enemies lie crushed beneath my feet. We are now free to remake the world in our image. The vampire nation reigns supreme!”

  A roar of approval rose up from amongst the assembled vamps. It was both disturbing and kind of flattering at the same time. I looked down at my tormenting spirit and remarked, “This isn’t so bad. I mean there are worse fates than winding up in charge. I could have ended up...”

  The figure silenced me by holding up its arm. The sleeve of its robe slipped down revealing a small pale hand. It then pointed back toward where I stood triumphant. Oh well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hear what other kick-ass things my future-self had to say.

  “We shall stride into this new age with our heads held high. Never again shall we hunt from the shadows. Together, I and my beautiful bride shall lead you to the glory our kind haven’t known for far too many centuries.”

  Wait? Beautiful bride? Ooh, now this was getting interesting. Not only was I a kick-ass motherfucker, but I was apparently getting some too. I could dig this.

  “Come here, my love, and share in our triumph.” Badass Bill raised his hand and held it out in front of him, pointing it to the left of where I stood.

  “Of course, beloved,” came an eager reply from the crowd.

  I knew that voice.

  No fucking way!

  Gansetseg, daughter of Ogedai Khan, strode forward. She was over three-hundred years old in my time, so who knew what age she was now. There was only one small problem – well, okay, a lot of small problems. For starters, Gan was batshit crazy. Under other circumstances, I could deal with that. The more pressing issue, though, was that she had been turned into a vampire shortly after her twelfth birthday. Physically, she had stayed that age ever since.

  In short, she was the most psychotic munchkin to ever walk this Earth.

  I blinked my eyes, not willing to believe it. Gan walked up to my future self and put her arms around me. He ... err ... I returned the affection. Ewww! That proved it. I was either in Hell or the vampire apocalypse was playing out in Arkansas. Neither was a particularly appealing proposition.

  “Okay, you’ve got my undivided attention,” I said to the spirit beside me, a feeling akin to panic starting to settle in. “I get it. I’m a horrible, evil person. Just tell me what I need to do to avoid this fate.”

  “Avoid it, my love?” the spirit replied, finding its voice at last.

  Oh shit.

  It reached up and removed the hood from its head. Gan’s face peered up at me, a large grin spread across her prepubescent face, her green eyes sparkling with excitement. “This
is your destiny. There is no avoiding it, although I cannot imagine why you would ever wish to. Is it not marvelous?”

  It’s about there that a lesser person would’ve probably cracked.

  Oh who am I kidding? I am a lesser person. “Holy motherfucking shit!”

  “I am pleased to see you too, beloved.”

  When confronted by the most horrific destiny that they can imagine, some people man up and charge headfirst into their fate. Others beg for mercy like the whiny little bitches they are. Me? I prefer to think I’m my own person, an independent thinker, a free will if you please. Thus I did neither. Instead, I took what seemed to be the most logical course of action.

  I turned tail and ran off screaming.

  Gan’s voice followed after me as I entered the ether. “This is your future. You cannot escape your fate!” The last thing I heard as darkness closed around me was perhaps the most chilling of all. “By the way, our wedding was beautiful.”

  Well wasn’t that just dandy like motherfucking candy? The world was in shambles, I was joined at the hip with the most dangerous pre-teen alive, but at least I knew how to throw a good reception.

  Lucky me.

  * * *

  I’d like to tell you I woke up with some of my dignity intact, but let’s not bullshit ourselves here. I bolted out of bed, sweat pouring off my brow and a scream escaping my lips.

  Bright light streamed through the windows. It looked like it was morning. Had I slept through the entire day, then night again? It certainly seemed that way. Oh, who cared? I was back in my own bedroom and the nightmare was over. I was so happy that I would have even kissed Gan had she been there. But just for the record, I was glad she wasn’t.

  A sense of elation filled me. I had seen the very worst life had to offer me, including a nightmarish vision of the future, one that I would strive to avoid like the plague itself. Screw all that destroying mankind crap! If anything, I would embrace my humanity more tightly than ever before. There was no way I was going down that other path.

  Oddly enough, that realization made me feel good, really good. I stood up, feeling light in my step. A smile on my face, I strode to the window and opened it, letting the cold morning air wash over me. I stuck my head out and surveyed the town ... my town.