Oh, Holy Fright
I’ve heard it told that in most parts of the world, Christmas and the surrounding holidays are a joyous time filled with love, laughter, and togetherness. What a joy it would be, because where I’m from things are very different.
At least, that was what the elders and adults wanted us children to believe. We will never have a fairy-tale holiday season, but dark revelations came to pass that could no longer be ignored and generations of lies were exposed.
I hadn’t planned discovering what I did, but I was tired of living in fear and my friends were too. Why did an unholy demon haunt our town when others were so full of cheer? What benefit did it serve, and why were the youngest among us always targeted, but never was there any damage truly done?
Yet, every year it was the same, “Be good or they would get you…”
This was the year I’d had enough. I began to do research, and my eyes almost popped out of my head the deeper I dug. Despite what we’d all been told, this ‘legend’ only appeared during my grandparent’s generation. A teen went missing in November and the rumors spread from there.
The whispers centered around the oldest family in our village. I needed to see what I could find. I waited until my parents were out for the evening, and prepared for my own adventure.
My best friend demanded they come along, and I was glad I wouldn’t need to go alone. The possibility of the unknown frightened me more than I wanted to admit.
We were wet and cold from the trudge through the snow, but stopped dead in our tracks. There were lights on in the house and cars lined the driveway. Not just any cars, our parents’ cars!
My mouth was suddenly sticky and dry. The pieces began to fall into place. The children were never harmed, but adults went missing every year. But we were all grateful the holidays were over we never saw a pattern.
We snuck up to the window. My knees felt like water. I took a deep and looked into the window. A dark shadow clouded the room, but I could see candles lining the floor, and a cloaked figure stood at the center. A dark smoke poured from his mouth and I watched two other cloaked adults fall to the floor.
My friend and I screamed scrambled through the snow, and we’d never be able to unsee what we saw.
There was some truth to the legend. It was there to protect us, but not for the reason any of us would imagine.
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