The holidays… Normally I’d be overjoyed about it but ever since my mother married my new stepdad, Joseph Black, things have never been very cheerful around the holidays. Joseph himself is pompous, arrogant, ignorant, and for the lack of a better word, an asshole. His son, my new step-brother, Bradley, is even worse if that’s possible. He’s entitled, violent, prone to throwing tantrums whenever he doesn’t get what he wants (obviously, he inherited that from his father), and a bit of a psychopath who lacks empathy and enjoys torturing innocent creatures. 

It’s safe to say the holidays aren’t pleasant. Not that any time spent in our house is. But Bradley will most certainly throw a hissy fit when he doesn’t get enough presents or doesn’t get the one present he wanted and of course, with the long list of toys he gave, one will most certainly be left out and that’ll be the gift he wanted most. God, I can’t stand that little brat. Meanwhile, his father will indulge him and reinforce the behavior. I can only take so much of it. If I could, I’d spend all of the Holidays in college, but I love my mother very much and I’m willing to endure a few days of torture with the Blacks, my stepfamily, to spend time with her. The irony that their last names are the Blacks and the fact that they are whiter than printer paper isn’t lost on me. Not that race has anything to do with their poor attitudes. I just found that that was an interesting bit of irony considering my mother and I are black. I of course kept my father’s last name of Knight. 

Anyway, it’s safe to say, I’m not looking forward to the holidays. Driving home in this terrible snowstorm has already proven to be a sign as to how this weekend is going to end up. 

I arrive home to find my mother and step-dad snoozing in the living room. I didn’t bother to wake them up as I went up to my room. The little shit’s door is wide open and I spotted him sitting in the middle of his pigpen playing video games, eyes glued to the screen, and he’s shouting obscenities at it. 

I sigh and head into my room which is just how I left it and pass out for the night. The following morning I awake to the sounds of an argument. 

“I don’t want to go. Their family is a bunch of weirdos,” Bradley’s voice echoes through the hall. The last thing I want to wake up to. 

“Bradley, it’s just an evening. You’re going,” his father asserts. Then Bradley screams and things go crashing as he throws a tantrum. I grab the pillow and cover my ears with it. 

I finally pull myself out of bed and get dressed before walking out to see my mother getting things ready for the trip to my grandmother’s.

“Good morning, sweetie.” She pulls me into a hug. “How was the drive?”

“Terrible,” I say. “Mother nature chose to bring on the snowstorm during the hour and a half it took me to drive home. It was a complete whiteout.”

“Morning, Jazmin,” my step-father says in a stiff tone as he walks in and kisses my mother. 

“Morning, Joseph,” I say right back in an equally stiff tone. His face never wavers from its perpetual scowl. 

We eat breakfast as Joseph goes on and on about how he’s the only one who’s competent at his job and everyone else who works there are a bunch of useless sacks of garbage. I try my best to drown him out. I still can’t quite figure out what my mother sees in him. Bradley eats his way through a mountain of pancakes in a pig-like manner, getting syrup everywhere. After breakfast, I withdraw to my room where I spend the rest of the day hidden away. 

We eventually head over to my grandmother’s where all my relatives are bunched up in her cozy but far too small house. My grandmother greets us with a merry smile and she of course says I’m way too thin and accuses my mother of starving me. My cousins, all of whom are children, flutter around me like bees around a flower. Not that I mind, I love my cousins. They’re all adorable even if they have way too much energy. I keep an eye on my step-brother to make sure he doesn’t bully any of my cousins in which I have caught him doing in the past. I spend most of the night keeping my cousins entertained before we eat a huge dinner. Bradley throws a huge fit when my mother politely asks him to finish what he has on his plate before going for dessert. Then he has a meltdown when he’s asked to help clean up. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my entire life as he screams obscenities. I can just tell my uncle Lavell would love to take him out back and introduce him to his belt by the look on his face. All of my relatives give me a sympathetic look and hate my step-family just as much as I do. My grandmother gives me a present as we go to leave. It’s a book that was one of my grandfather’s favorites. She knew how much of a book worm I am. 

When we finally get home, I unwrap it to find a really old leather-bound book that has no title. I opened it once I came into my room and read through the table of contents. Apparently, it’s all short stories. One story really caught my eye. A tale of Krampus. It is the holiday, after all, might as well give it a read. 

“My name is Macy Robertson and what I’m about to tell you is not just a tale, but the truth. And it is a terrifying experience that is quite hard to believe, but every bit of it is as real as the paper I write on. I’m an orphan and I spent most of my childhood at Saint Brigid’s Orphanage. My stay there was for the most part pleasant. Our guardians, Sister Renata Garcia and Father Isaac Gordan were two of the kindest people you’ll ever find. Sister Renata was an elderly plump woman with white hair but had a very kind heart and a motherly nature about her. Father Isaac came off as a stern man, but he was just and fair, and deep down, we all knew he truly cared for us. 

Now, not everything was peachy perfect. Some kids were truly despicable in the worst way. There was a boy named Declan Roberts who was the most entitled, disrespectful, and rude boy you’ll ever come across, although another boy named Finley Porter was even worse if that’s possible. There was something not quite right about him. He was the kind of boy that enjoyed cruelty and got off on torturing poor helpless animals.”

These two boys sound a lot like Bradley, cruel, entitled, and disrespectful. God, I still can’t believe how embarrassing he was at the party. His tantrums are the worst.

“As if they weren’t bad enough, there was also Renee Bates. She’s a psycho. She has the audacity to be kind to your face only to stab you in your back as soon as you’re not looking. When I first arrived here, she was the first to greet me with open arms, however, as soon as Sister Renata took a liking to me, Renee spread a rumor about me saying I burned my own house down and my family disowned me for being crazy. Fortunately, she has a reputation for being a liar and I was still able to make friends with a boy named Enzo Watson and a younger girl named Aya Gill. The three of us stuck together and became close friends.

As the holidays came closer, something seemed off. Both Father Isaac and Sister Renata seemed a little worried. It was as if they were expecting something. They told us all sorts of stories about a demon named Krampus who took bad children. I think they tried to scare us into being good, but it did not work on Declan, Renee, and Finley.

Meanwhile, the three of them were at their worst. Finley had killed one of the cats I was so fond of. We don’t have any proof that it was him, but everyone knows it. The poor thing was strung up by a noose. Declan on the other hand was making everyone miserable. He’d purposely go out of his way to be extra cruel to the rest of us. He’d try to single out Enzo when he’s all alone. Make remarks to Aya and me about any little flaw he could find, always attacking our insecurities. Of course, Renee was always with him and helping him. It was to her delight to see the rest of us suffer. Always spreading lies and rumors about the rest of us, while Finley would plant dead animal carcasses in our beds and he’d try to get us alone so he could physically hurt us. Enzo, Aya, and I had to always stick together. 

Father Isaac and Sister Renata, as kind as they were, didn’t seem to notice any of it. Which I find hard to believe. However, they seemed to subtly treat Declan, Renee, and Finley as if they were marked or something. They’d have that sad look on their faces whenever they talked to them or punished them for doing something horrible. It’s as if they knew something was going to happen. Little did any of us know, something was going to happen. 

As Christmas came, we all were excited to see what we’d got from Saint Nicholas. I had found an adorable little teddy bear in my stocking along with a diary in which of course I’m writing this all down. However, Declan, Renee, and Finley all threw a fit when they received nothing but coal in their stocking. They gave everyone hell for it. None of us could enjoy our presents. 

I was in tears when I came back from breakfast to find my teddy bear torn to pieces. Luckily they didn’t find my diary, however, both Aya and Enzo’s gifts were destroyed too. 

Now here’s where things get scary. That night, we all got in our beds as any other night. Sister Renata seemed to wish us all goodnight. She took one last look over to Renee before heading to the boys’ room. 

I had barely fallen asleep when I was awoken to some eerie clapping noise echoing through the halls. It sounded like hooves. Aya heard it too, for she shot up from her bed. The clapping grew louder and louder. My heart started to beat faster. We heard the creak of a door across the hall to the boys’ room. There were screams. Aya jumped and rushed over to my bed. She was crying. 

We heard both Declan and Finley screaming for their lives. We heard them plead and beg before being muffled out. My hands started to sweat, but the air seemed to chill as the windows became covered in frost. We could see the steam of our breath. Suddenly the door creaked open. 

A long-clawed hairy hand wrapped around the door. It was not human. Its skin was a sickly leather texture. The door swung open and what met us was truly horrifying. It couldn’t be anything other than a demon. Great long horns shot out from its head. It wore a cloak like Saint Nicholas, but it was tattered and had dark red stains in it. It also had a white beard, but it had been tinted red around the mouth where fangs tinted black lurked. Burning red eyes seemed to bleed out from a hood. It was like some kind of twisted Santa. It stomped into the room carrying a giant red bag over its shoulder. The bag seemed to have what could only be children inside it. They were moving as if they were trying to escape it. I grabbed Aya and held onto her, trying to keep her safe from this monster. 

However, it didn’t bother with us. It gimped into the room and stopped at the end of Renee’s bed. She was mortified and screamed as the demon grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her off her bed and into the air. He opened his bag as she screamed, cried, and pleaded with it, but he said not a word and dropped her inside before closing it shut. Her screams were silenced. He then took the coal and ate it before its eyes fell upon us. It took one sniff at us and then gimped out of the room. As it left, I felt like I could finally breathe. Krampus does exist.

Ever since that night, I made sure to be as kind as I could. You never know who or what is watching you.”

I closed the book as my heart was pounding in my chest. What a story. I stowed the book away and fell asleep. As Christmas arrived, to no surprise of my own, the tree was flooded with presents and most of them were for Bradley. His father had outdone himself and yet, Bradley still found something to complain about. He threw a tantrum about not getting the game he wanted with the console his father bought him. What a spoiled little brat. However, no one expected him to open up a chunk of coal. Even my mother thought I gave it to him. I had nothing to do with it. I found it rather eerie, to be honest. Especially after reading that story. 

For the rest of the day, Bradley spent it in his room, playing his new console while I helped my mother cook, while Joseph spent his time down in his man cave. We prepared a huge dinner and spent a good amount of time catching up. Turns out things aren’t well in paradise. She and Joseph have spent a lot of time arguing recently. He thought it’d be best if they’d move out west to be with his family and she didn’t like the idea of leaving our family. Regardless, that argument created a lot more arguments and they found themselves nagging at each and every little thing the other did wrong. She told me all about how he continues to criticize everything she does and how nothing is ever good enough for him. It made me wonder what exactly she found so attractive in him, to begin with. 

Dinner was a complete and utter disaster. My mother and Joseph spent it arguing while Bradley played on his handheld for most of it until he threw a fit when my mother asked him to put it away. By the end of it, my mother was in tears. I helped her clean up and she went to bed early that night. I followed suit. 

At some point, after I had fallen asleep, I was rudely awakened by a load crash. It was oddly freezing in here. I could see my own breath. I rushed out of my room to hear the sound of loud clapping. It grew closer and closer as my step-father stormed out of their room downstairs, baseball bat in hand. He marched out from the hallway across the stares to where the clapping seemed to grow closer. I heard him scream which was followed by another loud crash.

My heart was beating faster as I stood at the top of the stairs, trembling. What the hell is going on? Did someone break-in? Is Joseph okay? That clapping seemed to get louder and then I saw a clawed leather hand wrap around the side of the entryway to the Dining room from the living room. My heart froze as tears started to fall from my eyes. 

Out from the dining room stepped a figure with long horns draped in a tattered and torn Santa style cloak. It had a long white beard that seemed to be stained in red. I heard my mother scream as she came out of her room. It looked up at me with those burning red eyes and long black-painted sharp teeth. It then made its way up the stairs. I backed all the way down the hall until my back met the end of it. It gimped closer with its hooved feet, towering over me as its horns dragged across the ceiling making a horrifying scraping noise. I was still at a loss for any words and frozen in place. It was as if it crawled out of that book. Krampus was the title. 

It stopped before it got to me and turned to Bradley’s door. It opened it and I heard Bradley scream out. He cried and pleaded as I heard him struggle and then he went silent. The demon gimped back out of his room, chewing on a black lump of coal with a red sack slung over his shoulder and I could see the shape of a chubby boy trying to claw his way out of it. I heard the clapping sound slowly disappear as it left our house. 

After I was able to pull myself out of my shock, I rushed downstairs to find Joseph dead, his head was twisted unnaturally. We couldn’t quite explain it all to the police after my mother called them. Neither she nor I mentioned Krampus. The report that was filed mentioned a figure in red, attacking Joseph and kidnapping Bradley. I still don’t know what happened to Bradley. One thing’s for sure, I followed that girl’s advice and made sure to treat everyone with respect. You truly don’t know who or what is watching you. 

The End.

Remember, you’re never safe in the dark…

If you enjoyed this story please join my email newsletter for an exclusive story you’ll only find on my email newsletter. 

Do you believe in the old Christmas folklores they use to scare children into being good? I’ll admit that I was never a true believer. At least not until one Christmas when something truly horrifying happened that still haunts me to this day. 

I grew up in foster care and it was truly as bad as people say it was. One particular foster care family I was placed in was really terrible. Randy and Amber Willis were truly despicable people. Amber was easily 10 years older than Randy and had wrinkled leathery skin from smoking too many cigarettes and spending too much time out in the sun. Randy on the other hand looked like he took way too many drugs. He was always strung out on something. His face had a permanent 5 o’clock shadow with a giant mole on his cheek. His teeth were an indefinite shade of yellow. They were druggies who were using the system to fund their addictions with money that was supposed to be used to care for the children they took in. To make matters worse, there was a boy about my age who lived there who wasn’t quite right. I swear he had the potential to become a future serial killer. His name was Blake Kane and was particularly psychotic. He has slick red hair and pale sickly-looking skin. 

Things weren’t all bad. 3 other kids I grew up with became lifelong friends and more. Laney Moore was almost 18 and was the closest thing we had to a mother. She looked after us and made sure we all got food. She was 3 years older than me and very pretty with silky brown hair, warm ivory skin, and sparkling brown eyes. Her smile can brighten up any room. Then there was Kaitlynn Morrison. She was only 8 years old who usually kept her hair in braids and she’s got very dark chocolate skin, but a very cheery smile. She’s very smart. She definitely read more books than I have and I’m about to turn 15 soon. Lastly, my best friend Dillon is a bit of a wiz when it comes to all things lore, comics, sci-fi, and horror. He’s got messy brown hair, short and skinny. 

The 4 of us looked after each other. We had each other’s backs. We had to because our foster care guardian’s certainly didn’t care for us and with Blake lurking around every corner, we had to protect each other.

Anyway, as Christmas came up we tried to spend as much time out of the house as possible. Luckily it’s not a far walk from the house to downtown. So we’d spend most of our time in the city. 

Dillon was going on and on about all the creepy lore that surrounded Christmas as we made our way through the park. “I found the Yule Lads rather interesting. A bunch of trolls who cause trouble for bad kids. Everything from stealing to murder. And then there’s the Yule Cat which eats little children who were lazy and didn’t receive new clothing from their parents. Of course, there’s Krampus who would kidnap and beat kids who were naughty. Or maybe he’d kill them, I’m not sure. And then there’s my favorite. Perchta. She can either appear as a beautiful woman or an old ugly lady. She rewards good kids with silver coins and murders the bad ones by pulling out their entrails and stuffing their insides with straw or trash or something like that.” 

“Ewww that’s gross!” Kaitlynn whimpered. 

“Seriously, Dillon? Stop trying to scare Kaitlynn,” Laney said, rolling her eyes. 

“I wasn’t! I just find it all fascinating. Don’t you?” he asked. 

“Not at all,” she said. 

“Come on, you have to admit it’s at least interesting,” Dillon said. 

“If you’re into that crap that’s messed up,” she sighed. 

“What about you, Dom? You think it’s cool, right?” he asked. 

“Yeah, sure whatever,” I said, not really listening as I watched this old lady who looked homeless get harassed by several kids. I recognized them from school. Caleb, Steve, and Greg. Bunch of assholes. I couldn’t help myself. “What kind of assholes pick on a defenseless lady?”

“Man, why did you have to say that? Now they’re going to harass us,” Dillon sighed.

“Oh look who it is. Dom and the rest of the ragamuffins,” Caleb said as the 3 of them stepped away from the lady and gave us their full attention. 

“Aren’t you three late for your parole meetings or something?” Laney asked. 

“Laney, when are you going to ditch these three and get with a real man?” Caleb asks as he steps up to her. 

I step in between them as he tries to place his arm on her. He cried out as the lady whacked him with a stick across his knuckles. “What the fuck you stupid bitch!” 

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” A police officer asked as he strolled up to us. 

“Nothing,” Caleb said awfully quickly. “We were just leaving.”

He and his minions quickly walk away. The officer gives us all a suspicious look before walking away. 

“That was awfully kind of you 4 children,” the old lady said with a crooked grin that made us all cringe. She had a crooked nose with warts on her face and what little teeth she had were yellow. Something about her really creeped me out. 

She then pulled out 4 silver dollars and gave them to us. “Take these for your trouble. Not many people go out of their way to help an old lady anymore.” 

She then started to make her way down the alley and before we knew it she was gone. 

“Well, that was weird,” I said. 

Dillon just elbowed me. He gave me a wide-eyed look. I sighed. “If you’re trying to tell me that lady is Perchta, please save your breath.”

“You have to admit it was odd. She gave us silver coins,” he said. I sighed even longer this time. 

“Come on, we should get back, it’s getting late,” Laney said. 

As we made our way back to the house, we found Blake lurking in the shadows. He was crouching over something. Kaitlynn let out a scream and pointed at his feet. It was then we saw the bloody mess on the ground. 

“What the fuck Blake?” I asked as Laney covers her mouth with one hand and pulls Kaitlynn away with the other. 

“What? You don’t like it? I was thinking of using its remains to decorate your rooms,” he said with a smile that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. 

“I swear to god, Blake, if I find any animal parts in any of our rooms, I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” he asked, interrupting me. 

“Just leave our rooms alone,” I said and we all hurried inside. We all headed up to our rooms. Dillon and I shared a room while Laney and Kaitlynn shared the other room. They made Blake live up in the attic after all the creepy shit he tried to do to us while we were sleeping. It’s still hard to get a good night’s sleep in this house. You had to sleep with one eye open. But at least Dillon and I didn’t have to deal with Randy. He’d always try to sneak in Laney and Kaitlynn’s room after getting all fucked up on whatever he could find. Laney would do whatever it took to protect Kaitlynn and I’d do whatever it took to protect her. I called the cops on more than one occasion, but nothing ever happened. Amber would always say we were deranged juvies who lied to get out of trouble. 

I never understood why Amber put up with Randy. Especially with all the bruises, he gives her. Of course, she’s no better. A fucking witch if you ask me. While Randy’s more physically abusive, Amber’s more verbally abusive. She always tells us how worthless we are and if it weren’t for the money they’d get from the state, she’d have kicked us out a long time ago. 

Anyway, Laney and Kaitlynn have been sleeping in our room. I’d let them have my bed and take the floor. Sometimes Dillon would sleep on the floor and let them have his bed. We traded. 

As Christmas came, we all gave each other gifts because there was no way we’d get any from Amber and Randy. None of us had any money, so our gifts wouldn’t be of the highest quality. Kaitlynn would always give us her sketches which had gotten better over the years. Dillon always gave us cookies and candy he snagged from the youth centers. I tried to get them each something special, but it would usually be whatever I could steal. Laney was the best at gifts. She’d always find a way to get us something we always wanted. Most of the books Kaitlynn had were from Laney. She’d got Dillon the latest handheld video game once. He was stoked. She got me my first skateboard. Of course, the fact that she had a job at Walmart helped. She only worked there on weekends though, so it’s not like she was just rolling in the doe. I know she hides money away and saves up for months to get us gifts. 

Blake would give us gifts too, usually dead animals he’d kill or vague threats in the form of creepy letters. Nothing scares you more than finding a dead bird lying on your pillow with a cryptic note about how it could’ve been you. We constantly lived in fear for the day when Blake finally snaps and kills us all.

However, that day never came because after Christmas things started to get strange. It was the night after Christmas when it all started. I was sleeping on the floor at the time when I heard something that pulled me out of my sleep. I opened my eyes and froze. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t get a sound out. 

Only inches from my face was a woman I had never seen before. She was crouched over me with a smile. She was beautiful. Silky white hair, with a shimmering pale ghostly skin. Her eyes seem to glow in the dark. She held a finger against her lips. I wasn’t sure if I should be afraid or in love. She then pulled out a silver coin and placed it on my lips. I blinked and she was gone. What the fuck was that about? 

I woke up the next morning thinking it was all just some weird dream. However, I found the coin. At first, I thought it was just the coin the old lady gave me, but I had that one too. What really freaked me out was the fact that Dillon, Kaitlynn, and Laney all shared similar stories of how a beautiful woman with white hair woke them up and gave them a silver coin. Truly weird. 

We spent the next day outside in the snow. We went to the park and built a snowman and had a little snowball fight before coming back to find Blake watching a girl that lived down the street. My heart raced as he cornered her. God only knew what his intentions were. I quickly rushed over. “What are you doing Blake?” 

“Oh me? I just wanted to show our neighbor my pet collection,” he sneered. 

“Leave her alone,” Laney said as she quickly rushed over to her and got between them. 

“Oh come on, don’t be like that. We were just having fun,” he said with a wicked grin. Then he walked away. God only knows what he’d have done with her if we didn’t show up. 

That night, Laney and Kaitlynn once again slept in our room. This time Dillon slept on the floor. I don’t know what time it was, but I woke up to a creaking outside our room. I slowly got out of bed and crept towards the door. I cracked it open and what I saw made my stomach turn over. Creeping through the hall was that old homeless lady from the street. 

She looked over at me with her toothless smile that sent shivers running down my skin. One eye was larger than the other. She held up a long hooked finger across her thin lips as she craned her head to look at me. She had one of those long crooked noses. She literally looked like those stereotypical witches that eat little kids. I slowly closed the door and leaned against it. I had no idea what to do and I didn’t want to go out in the hallway with her, but I wasn’t going to let her come in here and allow her to get her hands on my friends. 

My heart was pounding in my chest. I listened as the creaking continued down the hallway. Then I heard the steps up to the attic. There was a loud crack and a scream before everything went silent. I just slid down the door as I prayed to God she wouldn’t come back to our room. 

I must’ve fallen asleep there because the next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake by Laney. 

“What are you doing there?” she asked. She didn’t wait for a response. “Can you please move? I have to use the bathroom.”

“No! Don’t go out there!” I stammered as the memory of that old crone lingered in my thoughts. 

“What? Why not?” she asked.

“That lady from the street. The old one that Caleb, Steve, and Greg were harassing. She’s in the house. I saw her creeping down the hallway,” I said. 

“Why didn’t you wake us up?” she demanded. 

“I didn’t want to disturb you and I didn’t know what she’d do if I made a move. She seriously creeped me out,” I said. 

“That doesn’t change the fact that I have to pee,” she said. 

“I’m telling you, she’s out there. I think she went into the attic,” I said. 

I climbed to my feet as Laney cracked the door open and peered out. “I don’t see or hear anything.”

“I’m telling you, she was there,” I said. 

“Can you just wait out in the hall for me?” she asked.

“Are you crazy? What if that lady comes back down?” I asked.

“Dom, I really have to pee,” she said as she started to shift her weight back and forth between legs.

I sighed. “Fine. Make it fast.” 

I followed her out in the hallway as she crept to the bathroom. She went in as I waited. I kept looking up at the attic expecting that old creepy lady to come down at any minute. It felt like time just stopped as I stood there. God, it was so cold in here. What was Laney doing in there? She’s taking forever. I whip around as I thought I heard something downstairs. My heart was thundering in my chest. What if she’s down there? 

I heard the toilet flush and then the faucet turned on, then Laney came out. As she made her way back down the hall to my room a loud creaking noise echoed up from downstairs. I looked over at Laney to see if she heard and her eyes went wide. She pointed downstairs and I followed her finger to find the old lady staring up at us with a wicked grin. She waved her long hooked fingers at us while she brought her other hand up to her thin lips and signaled us to be quiet. I want to yell, but it’s like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. 

I reached over and grabbed Laney’s hand and pulled her into the room as I shut the door and pressed up against it. I could barely see tears coming down Laney’s face. “What the fuck?” 

“I don’t know. Should we call the police?” I asked. 

“The only phone we can use is downstairs,” she said. 

I let out a breath. “I’ll go get it.”

“No,” she said. “Don’t go out there. We should all stay here.”

“What’s going on?” Dillon asked as he shot up off the floor. 

“Shhh,” Laney said, looking over at Kaitlynn. “That lady from the street is in our house.” 

“What?” Dillon asked as he got up off the ground. “She’s here?”

“Yes,” I said. 

“I told you she’s Perchta!” he said. 

“Shhh!” Laney said. 

“What do we do?” Dillon asked. 

“We just need to stay here and pray she doesn’t try to come into our room,” Laney said. And that’s what we did. None of us besides Kaitlynn slept another wink that night. 

In the morning we all slowly crept out of the room to find that the lady was gone. Amber and Randy were up and already high as they ate breakfast. We all waited for Randy and Amber to clear from the kitchen before snagging some food for breakfast. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. 

We went on as if nothing happened, trying to forget last night. We avoided the park for fear of running into that creepy lady again. Instead, we ventured out to the playground at the school. As Kaitlynn played on the slides, Dillon, Laney, and I sat at the swings. We couldn’t find the words to speak. Eventually, we returned back to the house. Amber was skulking around and leered as we came in. “Have any of you seen that psycho Blake? He hasn’t shown up all day.”

All of us shrugged. Her face grew more foul as if that was possible. “One of you go up and check for him. We’re getting a visit soon and if he’s not here… Let’s just say there will be trouble for all of you.”

We all hurried upstairs. None of us wanted to go up into the attic. Who knew what Blake had up there. However, I stepped up and made my way up to his room. As I climbed the attic stairway, I didn’t seem to find anyone up there. However, what I did find made me sick to my stomach. Animal carcasses were littered everywhere. Bones decorated the walls. There were entrails to god only knows what strewn on the floor. I thought I saw a heart that looked human. I quickly rushed out of there and threw up in the bathroom. 

I told Dillon and Laney what I found and told Amber that he wasn’t up there. He didn’t come back at all that night. 

However, Randy came up around 8 o’clock high on something. I heard him break into Laney’s room. I rushed out to see him wrestling her down on the bed and Kaitlynn was crying hysterically. He was fighting to pull her shorts down. She was horrified and in tears. I quickly grabbed my skateboard and bashed him over the head with it. He was out cold, but still alive. I rushed Laney and Kaitlynn into our room and barricaded the door shut. 

We stayed in our room all night. Not one of us slept. And then we heard it. Creaking going on out our door. We all thought it was Randy finally waking up. I tried to take a peek under the doorway and saw those familiar rags and knew who it was immediately. It was that crazy old lady, she was back! My heart raced as I quickly backed away from the door. I looked at the others and I can tell they saw the horrified look on my face. 

“What is it?” Laney asked.

“She’s back,” I breathed. 

“Who’s back?” Kaitlynn asked. 

“Perchta?” Dillon asked. 

We all heard a nose in Laney and Kaitlynn’s room and silence took over the air. There seemed to be multiple footsteps. Was there something else out there? No one moved to check. We were all frozen in fear. My heart was racing so fast, it sounded like a drum. My hands were sweating profusely. I felt sick. What did this woman want? Was she the reason Blake had disappeared? 

No one got a wink of sleep last night as morning finally came. We all stayed in the bedroom for the longest time, too afraid to leave or unbarricade the door. When we finally did, no one could find Randy anywhere. He was just gone. Vanished. Amber was furious. She interrogated us. “I heard a loud noise last night. What did you do to him? I’ll find out. I always do.” 

We all escaped the house. We were back at the playground. This time even Kaitlynn was too shocked to play. We just sat there on the swings while the snow came down. No one knew what to say. When we finally did return home, Amber was passed out from some drug. We raided the kitchen before returning to our room. We barricaded the door once more. As it got late, I snuck out to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. When I turned to head back upstairs, I froze in my tracks. Standing in front of me was the old lady. 

I swore I didn’t hear her get in nor did I see her when I came downstairs. The house was empty. She just held out her finger to her lips as they formed a demented smile. It was truly the most hideous thing I had ever seen. With her were what looked like children, but their skin was pitch black as the night sky and their eyes were red. They carried Amber who was still breathing and followed the old lady out of the house. 

I thought for sure they’d come back for us, but that was the last I had seen of her or Amber. When we got our visit from the Child Protective services, we told them that Randy, Amber, and Blake had disappeared. We soon found out they were not the only ones to vanish. Along with Caleb, Steve and Greg, there were stories of hundreds of other people who had just vanished over the last week ever since Christmas. We were all taken to another foster care home, fortunately, we weren’t split up. 

It was only years later after Laney and I had gotten married did we hear about a horrifying story in the news. They had found hundreds of bodies strung up in the woods outside of town. All of them had their insides cleaned out and were packed with leaves. Among them were Caleb, Greg, Steve, Blake, Randy, and Amber. Ever since then I had made sure to treat everyone I see with kindness. You never know if Perchta is watching. 

The End.

Remember, you’re never safe in the dark…

If you enjoyed this story please join my email newsletter for an exclusive story you’ll only find on my email newsletter.