by Tim Curran
“And for pity's sake, Julian,” the woman continues above me, as the carriage rumbles along and I keep kicking the trunk's side, “next year, can we please not leave it to the last minute before we come out to buy the poor child's Christmas gift?”
The End
About the Author
Amy Cross is the author of more than fifty horror, paranormal and fantasy novels. Her books include Asylum, The Farm, A House in London and the collection Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories.
Website: https://amycrossbooks.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Amy-Cross-308979449122729/?fref=ts
Deck the Halls
By
Xtina Marie
He dons the red suit
with the big black buckle,
humming ‘Jingle Bells’
with a hearty chuckle.
Lacing the tall boots
With a flick of his wrist,
He glances out the window
As the snow begins to mist.
The radio plays softly:
‘Silent Night’ and ‘Deck The Halls’,
As he combs through his beard
While around him, darkness falls.
He throws the burlap sack
Over his strong shoulder,
Then leaves his quiet home
As the temperature gets colder.
“Ho, ho, ho!” he bellows
In a jolly voice.
People stop what they are doing
And smile as they rejoice.
Through the back door he creeps;
Smells the holiday cheer and
Sees confusion in her eyes
As she looks at him with fear.
Brandishing his knife
He hums ‘Oh Christmas Tree’
Then shivers in delight
As she fights to get free.
She begs for her life
While he hacks her to pieces.
Blood splatters on the nativity
And defiles baby Jesus.
Her feet thrash and kick
In stockings of green and red.
She lies in a pool now
And knows soon, she’ll be dead.
The colorful lights blink
And cast shadows on the walls;
Her screams die down
As he whispers ‘Deck the Halls’.
About the Author
The Accidental Poet:
Xtina Marie is an avid horror and fiction genre reader, who became a blogger; who became a published poet; who became an editor; who now is a podcaster and an aspiring novelist—and why not?
People love her words. Her first book of poetry: Dark Musings has received outstanding reviews. It is likely she was born to this calling. Writing elaborate twisted tales, to entertain her classmates in middle school, would later lead Xtina to use her poetry writing as a private emotional outlet in adult life—words she was hesitant to share publicly—but the more she shared; the more accolades her writing received.
Light Musings is close to being ready for publication and her first novel: Desiree is well under way.
https://www.facebook.com/darkpoetprincess?fref=ts
@Xtina0321
Merry Fuckin’ Christmas
By
Kevin J. Kennedy
Christmas Eve is a time for joy, a time to celebrate, to relax with your family, to drink and be merry. It’s a time of year when very few people walk the streets, snow falls from the sky and the drab greys are lost to the beauty of a glistening white landscape. Re-runs of old movies take over the television, Christmas songs filter out from every store you pass, colourful lights sparkle in the windows of every house. It’s a time to forget about life’s troubles if only for a day and look forward to the Christmas dinner.
Christmas dinner was Alec’s favourite dinner of the year. He got up first thing in the morning, often before even the kids were awake, to start preparing. The turkey was covered in bacon, and apples were sliced and placed around it for flavour, the stock later being used to make a mouth-watering gravy. He would cut the vegetables and place them into separate bowls to cook later. Next he would set the table. Christmas was the one and only day of the year they used a table cloth. It was white with little bits of red and green trim. Pauline, Alec’s wife had bought the table cloth a few years ago and they had used it every year since. It looked nice adorned with the silverware that they also only used for Christmas. The family wasn’t religious but Christmas wasn’t really a religious holiday anymore. The retail chains owned Christmas now. The 1st of October this year, the stores filled with Christmas decorations, the same day they put out the Halloween decorations. It made no sense, and Alec felt it ruined it all a bit, but at least by Christmas Eve he was home with his family and he could shut out all the world’s problems, if only for twenty-four hours.
Alec finished setting the table by placing a few Christmas crackers between the plates. He could smell the turkey cooking, the smell wafting in from the kitchen. It made his mouth water. He always cooked little sausages in with the turkey and by the time it was ready, they fell apart in your mouth. They were his favourite part; the kids loved them too. Christmas had been all about the kids the last few years: seeing their little faces light up with joy as they tore the paper from their presents, only to fling them aside and grab the next one. They were spoiled, Alec knew, but he just couldn’t help himself, he would have spent his last penny on them just to see they were happy.
Walking into the kitchen, Alec opened the oven, then stepped back as the heat spilled out, he grabbed a fork from the shelf and speared three of the little sausages. He closed the oven door then began carefully nibbling on the piping hot sausages stacked on his fork. He leaned against the kitchen unit, staring into space as he finished them off, then threw the fork in the sink. The house was eerily quiet, something Alec wasn’t used to. You didn’t get a lot of quiet time with a wife and two kids. Sarah, who was the older of the two, was reasonably manageable, but his five year old son, Sammy, was a lunatic. The boy only seemed to need occasional small naps, then wake up with a whirlwind of energy. He could tire out both Alec and Pauline in a matter of an hour, however, he was a good boy overall, just noisy and energetic. Alec walked over to the unit on the wall just to the side of the kitchen window, opened it and slipped out a bottle of whiskey. He took his glass from beside the sink and filled it with three fingers then knocked it back in one shot. The burn going down his throat felt good. ‘Daddy’ he heard, but only in his head: there would be no one shouting at him as they came running down the stairs, sounding like a heard of wild elephants, no wife to kiss his cheek and wish him a Merry Christmas, no one to sit at the table with and share his meal, no one to look at and feel filled with love just because they are part of his life. No...fucking...one!
Alec launched the glass across the kitchen, smashing it into a million tiny fragments. He picked up the bottle and upended it, taking several gulps before thumping it back down onto the work top. His throat was on fire but it felt good. It felt like the anger that was buzzing around in his head was somewhere else, if only momentarily. Alec knew he would never have a good Christmas ever again. His family had been taken from him, stolen by a scummy drunk driver that had walked free, all because the law was a fucking joke. His lawyer had told him in layman’s terms that the police had fucked up, it was that simple. His family was gone and the guy got off. No justice, no retribution, just a big ‘fuck you’. Alec lifted the bottle and took another drink of the whiskey; it was having little effect. He had been drinking pretty heavily for weeks now ,and it was taking more and more to have any effect. No matter how much Alec tried to move on, he knew he couldn’t; there was nothing to move on to. His wife and his children had been his life, his sole purpose for living; without them he was nothing and had no reason to go on living. For him, Christmas wasn’t a time for joy, for family, for forgetting about life’s miseries. Instead, It was a time for giving up, self-loathing, pity, anger, hatred
, and…revenge! Alec knew what he had to do, knew what this Christmas Eve was for. It was God’s gift to him. The God that no one feared or celebrated anymore and had been replaced by Santa Claus. Alec thought about Christmas and all its modern traditions and smiled to himself. It had all been fun and games while he had a family but now that they were gone he could see how stupid it all was. It was just another distraction, given to the masses so they could be led like sheep through a life of pain by the few who held the power that those same masses gave them. People were weak and no longer fought for anything they believed; it was easier to go home and watch the TV and forget about it all. Not any fucking more, Alec thought to himself. Tonight there will be consequences, he thought, leaving the kitchen with the bottle still in hand.
***
The snow was falling heavily, there was already a good eight or nine inches on the ground. It was cold out but Alec felt nothing. The side of the drunk driver’s house was pretty secluded by the high wooden fence, so that the only way he would be seen is if someone was walking by the front of the house and looked down, which was unlikely on a night like this. Alec didn’t really give a fuck but he didn’t want to get arrested before he got started; just like Santa Claus he had more than one person to visit tonight. Alec had half-expected to find the drunk driver sitting alone, in a pile of his own filth, feeling miserable. It was just the impression he had of drunk drivers but, looking through the small side window, he could see that, in fact, the man had a family just like the one Alec used to have. Two kids, and a wife..un-fucking-believable! It was too bad the family was here to witness what Alec had planned, but his mind was made up. Alec was left without a family, and now the driver’s family would be left without a father/husband. It’s not a time of year for giving, he thought, it’s a time of year for taking away.
The snow crunched quietly underfoot as Alec made his way around the back of the house. It was a nice neighbourhood so Alec could only hope that the family didn’t lock their doors. He couldn’t believe the man who took his family lived on a nicer street than he could ever afford. He had to wonder if this man was somehow connected to someone in power, having seemingly gotten off so easily. Alec reached out and tried the handle and the door popped open. The houses in the street were pretty new and the door opened silently. Although he didn’t want to alert the family to his arrival, he wasn’t exactly going for a stealth job here. He would enter, take the man and leave. He walked through the kitchen and stopped behind the door, because he knew when he opened it he would be in the dining room where the family were sitting.
“Is it getting cold in here?” he heard come from through the door. He turned to see he had left the kitchen door open and the cold night air was spilling in. Fuck it, he thought to himself before pushing the door open and bursting in. Screams filled the air instantly. One of the little girls jumped up from her chair and ran to her mother’s side. Alec pulled the large kitchen knife from the inside of his jacket.
“You! Cunt! Come with me or they all die. I’m not here to fuck about, I’m not here to argue with you or make a deal. You get up out of your chair and come with me if you want your family to live. You know who I am. You stood watching me in court, looking smug while getting your ‘not guilty’ verdict. Well you are guilty, and you will pay but your family doesn’t have too.” Alec said, pointing the knife straight at the driver.
“Okay, okay. Don’t hurt them. I’ll come.” The drive replied.
“Barry!” the woman screamed, hugging the girl tight to her side and reaching over the table to grab his arm.
“It’s okay, honey. I’m just going to go with the man and sort this out.” Barry replied.
“Move!” Alec demanded.
Barry got up from his chair and slowly moved around the side of the table that was empty. He never took his eyes from Alec. Alec knew that most men would do whatever it took to protect their family, so had counted on the driver coming quietly. Alec kept the knife pointed at him as he passed into the kitchen then followed him out without looking back at the family. Scaring the two girls was a sad, unintentional consequence of today’s events, and Alec knew they would always remember the bad man who took their father away. But really, what choice did he have when it was their father that caused all of this? And Alec would see to it… Barry had to pay!
***
Four hours later
Alec pulled his jeep into his driveway, groans coming from the backseat as he did. The snow was still coming down heavily, which had been a godsend in keeping his actions discreet throughout the evening. The roads were empty and no one was walking anywhere at this late hour. It was almost approaching midnight. The kiddies would be wrapped up in their beds to allow Santa to do his rounds and the parents would be trying to squeeze in some much needed rest before the big day. Alec turned and looked over the seat at the Chief of Police, tied up and gagged in the back of his car.
“Now we are going to go inside. I’m sure all my neighbours will be asleep and as you know it’s a very important time of year. I would appreciate very much if you could keep the noise down as we go in. I could always just knock you out so you can’t make a noise but I am affording you the opportunity to behave yourself. The downside being that if you don’t behave things will be much worse for you. Do you understand?”
The Chief of Police nodded his head, sweat was running down his brow. It was clear he had been struggling but Alec knew he was going nowhere. Alec came round the side of the jeep and opened the door before pulling the Chief out into the snow. Not bothering to lift him into a standing position he dragged him through the snow to his door leaving a furrow behind them. He took his keys out quietly and unlocked the door. Taking one last look around his street and seeing it was deserted he dragged the Chief inside. Last year when he stood outside the front door having a smoke before he went to bed, he had never felt so good. Tonight though, the only positive feeling was that he had achieved what he had set out to do. The night was far from over, however.
***
Sweat dripped from Alec’s head in the kitchen. It had taken him the last few hours to get everything prepared. The turkey had only needed warming up but he had to cook the vegetables and make the gravy. His kitchen was pretty small so the heat built up quickly. He removed the turkey from the cooking tray and settled it on the platter. Lifting it with care he walked back through into the living room and gently placed it in the middle of the still decorated table.
“Get anyone a drink?” he asked, looking around at his guests, before chuckling to himself.
The three men were tied securely to the hard backed dining chairs, their mouths tightly gagged. They looked from Alec to each other, their eyes filled with fear. Alec felt that people should pay for their transgressions on this most holy of evenings, and especially those he deemed responsible for the tragic loss of his family. Alec had spent the evening rounding them up. They were: the driver who had killed his family, the chief of the police station where the evidence was conveniently lost, and the local politician, primarily because he was a useless, corrupt fuck. Alec left and went back to the kitchen.
Twenty minutes later Alec had laid out all the food, the room smelled gorgeous. For a split second, as Alec left the kitchen for the last time that night, he saw his family sitting around the table, only for the briefest instant and then he was back with the three men--the three wrong doers who represented the problem with this world and the reason that Alec felt like he had no reason left to play the game of being a good guy anymore. His entire life he had questioned himself about the way things worked and often found that though he disagreed with the world on a basic moral level, it was never quite enough to do anything about it at the time. Now everything was different and he no longer felt the need to conform to society and it’s ridiculous rules. The people in charge weren’t looking out for his best interests so he would do it himself in any way he saw fit, and this was the start.
“Now gentleman, I know what you’re all thinking. Yes, the f
ood does smell delicious, and no, you wont be able to eat with the gags in your mouths. It’s not for you. I just wanted to do this one last time.” As he finished speaking, a single tear ran down Alec’s cheek. “I loved my family you know, truly loved them. I suppose most people say that, but I really did. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” As Alec stopped speaking again, instead of sinking into thoughtfulness, this time his face hardened and his brow furrowed. “But you! You cunts took everything from me! Every fucking thing! Look around this place. Does it look like a fucking bachelor pad?” he asked rhetorically. “No!” he answered himself and continued, “It It fuckin’ doesn’t! Do you know why? Because it was a family home, FAMILY! Do you know what I’m saying? A family home.” Alec knew he was getting too worked up and didn’t want any of his neighbours calling the cops before he was finished.
“I’m sorry gentlemen, my emotions got the better of me. One moment please.” Alec got up and went back to the kitchen, returning with a new bottle of whiskey.
“I’d offer you a drink but…..well, you know.” He snickered.
The three men could barely budge since their restraints were so tight. Their eyes flickered nervously from each other to Alec, knowing that the situation couldn’t be much worse. The driver, Barry, knew his wife would have called the cops by now. The police chief lived alone, and, since having anyone else around was often someone who ended up knowing too much, so did the politician.
