“You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town”
The ghastly melody from outside continued to seep its way through the thin walls and into the hollow living room of my house.
“He’s making a list
He’s checking it twice
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town”
“Why won’t they just leave us alone and go the fuck away!?” My wife pleaded; tears streaming down her face. The tears dripped down onto the cheeks of our newborn son. She held him close to her chest and he began to whimper as the warm drops hit his face. The look of discomfort soon overtook what little peacefulness he had left, for he too had heard enough of the Christmas Carolers.
I looked down at my watch, 11:58pm December 24th, “It’s been almost two hours since they have been out there singing and of course I have no reception to call the police.” I anxiously spoke to my wife.
For whatever awful reason, the cell reception in this part of town had been nonexistent since we purchased this home late October. We had several appointments to setup internet throughout the home, but we’d get cancellation after cancellation. Just our luck.
I moved towards the window with the intention of wanting to just peek out the blinds. As I listened for a brief moment hoping the singing would stop. There was a small part of me that felt this was not a good idea. Nevertheless, I cautiously slipped one finger in between the blinds and gently pushed down to get a small glimpse of what the Carolers were doing and immediately I was met with a smile-stricken face that caused me to instinctively grab hold of the blinds while stumbling back. The blinds pulled from the fasteners, due to the force of me grabbing onto them and came crashing down fully exposing the window.
My wife shrieked in horror as we both looked out the window. I felt my body stiffen, like a wet towel left outside on a cold winter night. My eyes vibrated sporadically in an attempt to process the image.
Out the window, stood dark hooded figures swaying side by side to the sounds of holiday cheer. I could not distinguish their faces only glimpses of their teeth and mouths moving as they sang. The unlit robes covered every part of their body much like cowls do that are worn by monks. Light and embers flurried from the fire behind them and cast ominous shadows through the window and into our home. A tall bulky log sat in the middle of the fire and had several small openings appearing as hooks. What in Gods name is going on?
“He sees you when you’re sleeping
And he knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness’ sake”
My heart pounded through my chest trying to collect whatever energy I had left to move. Behind the hooded figures, there was an unhooded man holding up a book, swaying to the music like a conductor in an orchestra. That kind of looks like…
The cries from my wife and child filled my eardrums releasing me from my star-stricken state. What do I do? What do I do? Stay calm Cris, stay calm. We need to somehow find a way out of here. The thoughts raced inside my head matching the speed of my accelerated heart rate. “Please leave us alone, please, please, please” My wife sobbed on the floor curling into herself and held our son as close as she possibly could.
“Come on Daph, we need to try and get out of here.” I lifted them off the floor, like a firefighter rescuing a victim from a burning building. Just as I began to move towards the hallway, a hellish screech blasted the living room window, scattering pieces of glass all over the floor. While holding my wife and child, I turned one last time towards the window to see what had caused the commotion.
The figures had unhooded themselves and were now looking up towards the night sky like children waiting for rain to fall into their mouths. I still could not distinguish their faces and the unhooded man near the fire was nowhere to be seen. In that instant, a faint howl of the wind lifted the silence, and the unhooded figures began to sing again. Only this time, the tone they collectively chanted was deep and carried a low drowning hum resembling a choir in an old catholic church.
“You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming
I mean the big fat man with the long white beard
He’s coming…”
Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep, 12:00am December 25th my watched buzzed on my wrist. As the clock struck midnight, the same loud screech from earlier blared wildly from outside penetrating my ears. Simultaneously, a flash of light sparked from the fire as if someone had poured lighter fluid on it. I felt my vision begin to fade as the shrill sound overtook my balance bringing me to my knees. I set my wife and child down on the floor and fell to my side, trying to cup my ears to stop the sound from seeping in.
I momentarily blacked out due to the overwhelming force of the sound. What happened? How long was I out? Where are Daph and the baby? I felt my ears leaking fluid and tried to move my arms but realized I felt paralyzed from the neck down. How come I can’t move? Why am I not moving? The feeling of helplessness began to consume me as I slowly regained my situational awareness. I was being dragged through the cold gravel of my driveway like a child does to an old doll on the playground. “Cris”
There was small chattering around me, but I could not decipher the language because of the faint ringing in my ears. Although the voices were muffled, I began to wonder if they were even human. This can’t be happening. What could we have done to deserve this? I felt tears filling my eyes with every passing second. The impending doom carved its misery into my chest causing my breaths to shorten. “Cris”
Whatever thing was pulling me let go, my arm and head hit the gravel. I could not move my neck to turn towards the chattering. I was faced towards my home and could only see the menacing shadows moving around the fire. There was a loud thud behind my body sounding as if something heavy had just been dropped. The ringing in my ears faded off and sounds of small clicking and hissing grew louder behind me. “Cris”
My arms and legs got yanked and stretched out. I felt rope being wrapped around my wrist and ankles and tried to look at my hands and feet, but my field of vision was limited from not being able to move my neck. I was lifted off the ground and was moved onto an uneven surface. Much of the light from the fire had dwindle and I could only see dark figures moving around me. They began to tie my hands and feet to the object they placed me on. And then it all clicked. Holy shit, no way this is happening? Please don’t tell me … “CRIS!” A voice howled towards me and immediately a vile figure presented itself before my eyes. Drool fell from its jagged teeth. Its mouth had grown so wide it ripped open the flesh on the sides of its cheeks. Its pitch black eyes were voids, not even shadows could escape from. “Crisss…” The creature tilted its head back and opened its jaw even further, tearing away at skin on the sides of its face. Not like this…
“CRIS!” Daphne called out to me while shoving my body to break me from my trance. I woke up. I was dreaming? My chest had nearly collapsed into my lungs. I felt like I had sprinted across the country, huffing, and puffing as I sat up in my bedroom. Sweat dripped from every pore on my skin. That wasn’t real?
“Hey, it’s okay. Breathe. Breathe. It’s going to be okay honey.” My wife placed her hands on my shoulders.
They are okay… I am okay…
A flood of emotions had found its way out of me, and the waterworks began. “I was dreaming?” My voice cracking from the dryness.
“What happened? You were convulsing in your sleep, love. Like full on seizure.” She voiced concerned.
“I thought you guys were gone. I thought they had taken you.” The room suddenly began to spin, and nausea found its way down into my stomach. I rushed to the toilet and made it just in time for last night’s dinner to find its way out.
“Cris, you aren’t okay. We can have Brenda and John come over in the morning to take a look at you.” She always found a way to involve the whole neighborhood in our everyday lives.
“No! I am sick of always involving the neighbors in everything we do. It was just a really bad dream, is all. I will be fine.” Are dreams supposed to feel that real?
“Well, it’s almost 4am and the baby should be waking up soon. Try and get some rest and no more scary movies before bed.” She headed out of the restroom.
I hunched over the sink trying to control my breathing. My heart continued to pound against my chest. I splashed cold water on my face trying to cool down. I was shaken and did not want to look in the mirror for fear of something jumping out at me. I walked out of the restroom and over to the nightstand to grab my watch 3:33am December 24th
I could hear my wife talking to someone on the phone in the room next door. Don’t fucking tell me she called. “He started screaming out of nowhere and it woke me up. I tried to wake him up several times but then he started having a seizure.” I could tell she was worried since the seizures started happening after our son was born. “Maybe he’s stressed out since he just lost his job? He’s been staying up really late watching TV too. I don’t know can you just come over in the morning and check on him?” She said thank you and hung up the phone.
I had asked her not to involve anyone, especially the neighbors, which did manage to piss me off. I walked into the room, “Why did you call Brenda? I specifically asked you not to involve anyone.” Of course, now we’ll be the talk of the town for another holiday.
Our son was born a few days before Thanksgiving, and we got to spend our first holiday together in our new home. The night of Thanksgiving the neighbors next door, Robert and Shana, insisted we come over for dinner. I had tried to express our gratitude for the invitation and that we would be unable to make it. My wife was a crowd pleaser, despite her just recently giving birth, she told him we would stop by. Shana joked and said, “Don’t forget the baby!” with a grimace look on her face.
I knew going over next door was a mistake from the moment we agreed. There were 15-20 people inside Robert and Shana’s home. All laughing, eating, and drinking while enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t the age difference that made me feel out of place, it was the overly friendly nature these people had. I felt overwhelmed by the bombardment of questions and at one point stepped outside the back to get some fresh air.
I looked up at the vastness of the sky wondering when we would be going back home. We had moved into this neighborhood a couple of weeks ago because of a job offer I couldn’t refuse. The cost of living in the city was far too expensive so we decided to move out into the rural parts of the main city. It took about an hour drive through the windy mountain roads to reach the closest town. And then another 30 minutes from that town to get into the main city where I worked. Unfortunately, the bid on the contract was lost and it cost me my job.
“Are you even listening to anything I’m saying Cristiano?” My wife asked me as she interrupted my train of thought. She knew just how to push my buttons.
“Why do you want everyone to know our business? It doesn’t make sense to me. Every time things don’t go the way you picture them; you want to involve the whole fucking neighborhood.” I wasn’t an angry person but lately I had become easily irritated.
“They just want to help, and they have been nothing but nice since we moved into this neighborhood. I don’t see any of our family ever offering to help us out like the neighbors do.”
And that was exactly what hadn’t sat right with me. They were always so kind and giving. They always went the extra mile to help. Since the day we were unpacking our pod, the old lady across the street offered to help us out. She told my wife a pregnant woman shouldn’t be moving around so much and needed to be resting. The elderly woman coming over to offer help only created more work for me since she spent all her time asking my wife questions.
“Look she can just take a quick look at you; it doesn’t have to be super in depth. Brenda is a retired doctor, you know.” She stated as if it would help ease the burden.
“Alright, if it’ll get you off my case, then sure. I’m going to go lay down and try to get some sleep.” Although, I agreed I still had a bad feeling about everything.
I laid in bed for several minutes, still shaken by the dream and now concerned with talking to Brenda in the morning. Great, I had to have another seizure, just what I needed before Christmas. I started to think back to that Thanksgiving night when the first episode occurred.
I am not sure if it was something I ate or drank that caused it to happen. I remember talking to one of the neighbors outside and then everything went black. I remember being on the floor with several faces staring down at me. My wife was in tears as she held our son. An older woman was kneeled down next to me shining a light from one eye to the other. “Cris, can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?” she said holding out two long skeleton like fingers.
There were whispers among the people standing above me, but they were too muffled for me to understand. This hadn’t ever happened to me before, so I didn’t really understand Brenda when she was saying I had a seizure. After we got back home, I remembered feeling so embarrassed. Daphne kept trying to apologize to me because she felt responsible somehow. I reassured her it could not have been anything she had done, even though I wanted to remind her I didn’t want to go to begin with.
I’m not sure how long I fell asleep, but I woke up to the baby crying. It was probably time for him to eat. I looked over at my watch to check the time 9:46am December 24th
The doorbell rang and my wife called out, “Cris, Brenda and John are here.” Here we go.
I quickly collected myself and went out into the living room to greet our expected guests. Brenda was already in full doctor mode scanning me up and down as I walked over.
“How are you feeling? We heard you had another episode last night in your sleep.” She motioned me over to sit down on the couch.
“Yeah, I had a pretty wicked nightmare and when I came too, Daphne said I was convulsing in my sleep.” I noticed she gave a quick glance to John when I had mentioned a nightmare.
“Well, Daphne also had said you have been watching a lot of scary movies since getting laid off work. That definitely explains why you would have such a dream.” She acted rather sly and even used the word “dream” instead of “nightmare” trying to cover something up.
“I definitely said nightmare and not dream. There is a huge difference.” I challenged her.
“Well, let’s take a look at ya, shall we?” She completely disregarded my comment, and I wasn’t convinced that she made a mistake interpreting my nightmare as a mere dream. The same feeling from earlier this morning returned and I felt I was too far out of place to pursue this any further.
After Brenda examined me, she recommended I stop watching TV and to get more rest. Some medical practitioner she was. I watched them walk down our graveled driveway hoping to find any sign of odd behavior.
“You don’t need to be so paranoid; they are nice people Cris. You always think someone is out to get you or there is something going on behind the scenes.” Daphne had an annoyed sound in her voice as she walked away.
A while later I caught myself looking down at my watch again like if I had been waiting for something 2:32pm December 24th
There was a knock on the door a few moments later. Sigh, what now? Our neighbor Tom had come to the door wanting to check in. “I heard you weren’t doing so hot Cris, might I interest you in some fresh air?” He kindly asked holding an awkward smile.
“Did Daphne put you up to this?” I questioned him.
“No Robert gave me a call and told me what happened last night. Figured maybe a little bit of work might help get your mind off things.” This is exactly why I didn’t want to get the neighbors involved, now everyone knows. He had driven his truck up to the front of our house and I had been too caught up in my thoughts to notice.
“Daphne I’m going out for a bit with Tom, he needs some help. I’ll be back in a couple hours.” I yelled out as I grabbed my coat heading out the door.
We hopped in Tom’s truck driving down the dirt roads of our neighborhood. I was from the city and always felt I wasn’t cut out for rural living. Everyone knows everyone and everything is so far away. Tom and I didn’t say much to each other as he drove. He wasn’t one for talking which was a nice change of pace from the constant interrogations I received from the other neighbors.
“So, what did you need help with Tom?” I hadn’t bothered to ask him since I didn’t really care but I also didn’t want to be out longer than I needed to be.
“We just need to pick a couple things up from the church for the big Christmas party.” He replied back to me. That’s one Christmas Party we will not be attending so please don’t even bother inviting us.
“I know that’s probably the last thing you want to do but it’s a yearly tradition we’ve done for decades.” Decades? How old are you? Tom looked like he was in his late forties at most, and I couldn’t imagine him as a decrypted old man. I could feel my palms begin to sweat as the unease began to slowly creep its way into me.
We drove about 20 minutes from my house before reaching the church. “Wait this is the church? I always thought this place was abandoned.” I said looking at the old rundown building. There were no windows on the building, only small openings at the top that allowed the sun to beam inside. The place looked lonely from the outside. My discomfort grew and somehow, I felt Tom had taken notice of it.
“Don’t be scared Cris, this place might look rundown but she’s in better shape than you think.” He pulled into an empty dirt lot beside the church.
We got out of the truck, and Tom began to hum a familiar holiday tune to himself. I paced alongside him trying to figure out where I had heard that same melody before. Why does that sound so familiar?
“Alright we’ll be in and out of here. We just have a few things to pick up and load into the bed.” Tom said as he walked up the deteriorated wooden steps.
As we walked in, I had imagined the place to be rundown like it appeared on the outside. The place looked recently renovated and even smelled new. “See I told ya, you really can’t judge a book by its cover Cris. You really never know what is on the inside until you open that door.” He casually looked at me with the same awkward smile he gave me earlier.
“Alright what are we here to pick up?” I asked scanning the room.
“Follow me to this back room, there are a couple of boxes we need to grab.” He said leading the way.
I still felt like something was wrong about all of this. I couldn’t really determine exactly what, but I definitely felt a looming dread gnawing at my heart. My attention kept getting pulled towards the altar of the church. I assumed most churches had a cross sitting right behind the altar, but I did not see one. All I could see behind the altar was a long wooden beam leaned up against the wall.
“Cris, take this one, I’ll grab the other.” Tom shoved the box into my chest shifting my attention towards him.
“Oh right, I’ll wait for you outside.” I replied feeling my chest begin to tighten the closer I got to the door. I could see my vision begin to narrow with each step towards the door. Not now, not here please. Before reaching the door, my knees gave out from under me, and I fell face first onto the freshly stained wooden floor. My chest had tightened so much it now spread into my throat, slowly closing my airway, I turned to my back gasping for breath. The space around me darkened and I could only see the small openings of the ceiling letting in the remaining days sunlight.
“Cris? Can you hear me?” A familiar voice called to me.
“Cris it’s going to be okay honey, help is here now.” Is that Daphne?
As I regained my vision, a slim figure stood over me, waving a light into one eye and then the other. I had very little feeling in my legs, so I tried to move my hands reaching for my face. “What happened?” I asked the slim figure, still struggling to see.
“Tom said you passed out in the church, so he dragged you into his truck and brought you home. How are you feeling? You fell pretty hard and split open your head.” My vision cleared and I saw Brenda sitting in a chair beside me.
I caught a glimpse of myself falling in the church, trying to figure out what was happening to me. I was walking towards the door and then felt weak the closer I got. Right before I fell, I dropped the box and it split open on the floor. What was inside though? It didn’t look like Christmas decorations. Tablecloths maybe?
“I think you should take it easy tonight and rest up. Please drink plenty of fluids and I’ll call my friends in the city first thing Tuesday morning so we can get you setup for a CT scan or MRI.” Brenda had suggested gathering her things. I hadn’t noticed until now how thin she was, since she usually wore big clothing. “Daphne, it is getting late, and we have a lot of festivities to attend to, so I’ll get out of your hair.”
Before stepping out the door, she turned back and said, “Oh one thing before I go, don’t be alarmed by the Christmas Caroling. It’s a yearly tradition and this year we have a special treat just for you guys.”
The unsettling feelings surged through me at the sight of her devious smile, just before she stepped out into the dirt road, fading away into the unlit neighborhood. What the hell is that supposed to even mean? I looked down at my watch 7:37pm December 24th
A few hours passed and I kept trying to recollect the events that had occurred since early this morning. I looked over at my wife and said, “Maybe there really is something wrong with me Daph.”
“Listen honey, if there is, I know we will get through it. I know it hasn’t been easy these past couple of weeks, but I want you to know I am here for you. And I know as much as you hate hearing it, the neighbors are all here for you too. I am so grateful with how helpful they have been.” She said looking out the window.
“I mean how cool is it that the neighbors all celebrate Christmas together? They even go caroling from house to house!” I could tell she was genuinely thrilled to have moved here by the sound of her voice. Maybe it is me and I am just being paranoid.
A couple of hours went by. I managed to ease my mind a bit and give my wife and newborn child the attention they deserved. We sat in the living room, watching movies, and eating freshly baked cookies. There was a lingering thought rummaging its way to the front of my thoughts. I walked to the restroom to wash my face with cold water, hoping to get rid of it. I wondered how much time had gone by and checked the time 10:10pm December 24th
“Cris look! They’re here! All of the neighbors are here to sing!” Daphne shouted with excitement from the living room.
I started trembling as everything in my mind began to make sense. The sudden shock caused my breathing to spasm out of control. Every small detail I had tried to ignore came crashing into me. I walked into the living room with a face full of tears looking at my wife and child. They were so happy, so peaceful as the Christmas music found its way into their ears.
“Santa Claus is coming” Daphne sang along bouncing to the tune. “How freaking cool is this place, Cris! I can’t believe they actually came!” She said staring out the window.
“And they aren’t going to leave.” I whispered, gazing through the window at the dark hooded figures.