This all started about 4 years ago. None of my cousins, aunts or uncles live in the same city as me so every year we go on a road trip to see each of them and their families. Last year we took a trip to pietermaritzburg. My uncle had passed away a few months prior to this paticular visit due to cancer so my aunt and her 16 year old daughter were staying alone in their huge double story home.
Everyone remembered my uncle, David for giving gifts to everyone. He would always take us shopping and spend ridiculous amounts of money on expensive toys and gadgets for the kids. My dad was driving our 8 seater hyundai van while my two sisters and my mother were fast asleep in the middle row of the vehicle. My older brother, Keeran and I were seated right behind them. We were sharing earphones and listening to creepypasta stories he had downloaded on his phone. It was getting really boring.
It read 12:10 am on the dashboard. It was saturday morning, Christmas Eve. It was dark outside as there were no street lights on these gravel roads. All we could see ahead of us was as far as the cars headlights went, so my dad drove slowly. As we drove on, both sides of the road were covered by forest. This is when I saw something very odd. A man was walking along the left side of the road. Keeran saw him too.
We tried to see his face but it looked like he was made of shadow somehow. His figure was boney and disturbing and he walked slowly. Keeran tried making something creepy out of the situation as he usually does but I shot down his theories until I realised again that there was no source of light, food or electricity for miles.
Maybe he was just a homeless guy who doesn’t know where he’s going, I thought to myself. The rest of the trip was quiet. Everyone was asleep besides my dad who was driving and me who was looking out the window at the stars, trying to come up with more solutions which could explain the creepy guy. I came up with nothing.
We finally arrived at my cousin, sarah’s house after 11 hours on the road. It was 2 in the morning and we were unpacking our bags from the car. My brother and I were forced to sleep in the lounge as the rest of the open rooms were occupied by reptiles that my cousin had an obsession with.
I put my pyjamas on and looked at the old christmas tree. I remembered all the gifts I had waiting for me under the tree when I was growing up and I knew this christmas wouldn’t be the same without uncle David.
I woke up at about 11 am. My sisters were doing my cousins skin care routine and Keeran was on the phone with his girlfriend. I asked Sarah where our parents were and she told me they were out shopping for christmas food. That was the one thing I was looking forward to. For most of the day I played airhockey with Keeran and Forza Horizon on sarah’s xbox while she socialized with my sisters. Later in the evening, our parents got home.
Keeran and I went to the car as soon as they parked and helped with all the food and groceries. Packets were filled with gammon, corned beef, and other good food and deserts. When we were done we fetched some firewood from the backroom of the house and got the fireplace going.
Everyone was more cheerful than I expected and we had a great time watching tv and playing games. I think we were all just excited for Christmas lunch. Everyone got up and went to their rooms while I layed on the couch. Me and keeran went to the bathroom to brush our teeth and when we went back to the lounge he went straight asleep on the couch. I turned the light off and fell asleep shortly after him.
I woke up in the middle of the night but I couldn’t move. I saw a figure in the corner of the room, behind the christmas tree. It looked so familiar. It was just standing there. Boney in figure and short. It looked exactly like the thing we saw travelling to sarah’s place. For some reason I wasn’t horrified. I didn’t try scream. I felt so comfortable and I was so happy in that moment.
I woke up again. This time it was about 7 in the morning. Sarah’s rooster was crowing. It was christmas morning. I laid there on the couch for about 20 minutes, thinking about the dream I had. Was it a dream or was it real? I still don’t know. I got up and at my amazement I found a ton of gifts under the tree.
I quickly forgot about what I had experienced the night before and looked for a gift with my name on. I couln’t find any. The gifts had the names Anne Meyers , Peter Coldham, Steven Bennet, Hannah Young, Ben O’reilly, Connor Newton, and Kyle Oubre on them. I knew no one with these names.
I went to the kitchen and got a glass of water. Everyone woke up and wished everyone a merry christmas and the adults were confused about the gifts. They asked us who bought all of the gifts and we all said we didn’t know. I took another look at the gifts. Underneath all of the gifts each of our names were written. They were written in blood.
At first we thought keeran was playing some sick prank on us but he said he wasn’t so we believed him. I opened my gift and to my surprise it was an Iphone 8. I was tired of using android but I had never told anyone I was saving up money to buy this exact Iphone. Keeran’s gift was a new lenovo laptop, he said it’s the exact one he was planning on buying when our vacation ends. In summary, everyone got exactly what they wanted.
Later that night I told Keeran about the dream I had and he told me he saw the exact same thing. We tried figuring out what was happening so we did our research. We searched the name “ Anne meyers”. We were horrified when we saw what came up. The girl had died on christmas morning due to injuries she supposedly sustained from her dog. The dog was put down. An Iphone 8 exactly the same as mine which had been bought for her christmas gift was nowhere to be found.
We were shocked to find that Peter Coldhams christmas tree fell onto him and pinned him into his fireplace where he burned to death. Peters mother had bought him a lenovo laptop identical to keerans which went missing.
It was the same thing over and over again. Every name we researched had a gift one of our family members had recieved. Keeran and I kept this information to ourselves. For years and years every Christmas I get whatever I envy. I’ve tried my hardest to not want anything but that’s impossible isn’t it? Year after year I see names on a gift box of someone who dies and their gift miraculously ends up at my feet on the 25th of December.
I managed to come up with the only explanation that makes sense. The boney figure is my uncle. He lost a tremendous amount of weight in his last days alive and It would explain why I felt so comfortable that night. Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t really care. I can’t handle this.
I’ve been to fortune tellers, Specialists and all sorts of witches but they all turn me away when I tell them my full story. I don’t know how I can live with this. I don’t deserve the gifts being given to me every year and these people don’t deserve to die. If I die no one’s gift will disappear and they won’t die right?
Even if I’m wrong I feel guilty. And it’s something I can’t deal with anymore. It’s time for me to end it now. This is my goodbye.