Small Stories

Horror - Better Watch Out

Class - CRWR 309 - Intermediate Writing Fiction

I just re-read what I wrote, and wow... I was unhinged when I came up with this.

It was the night of Christmas Eve, and Klaus was more terrified than he was last year. His three college roommates had insisted on sitting around the living room fire, exchanging urban legends of the Krampus over snacks.

Hollis wiped crumbs from her mouth with her hands, then licked them up. "I've heard," she swallowed, "that it knows when you're awake on the night before Christmas. It only spares you if you're asleep from midnight to sunrise."

"That's not the scary part," Bella jumped in. "When it catches you, it takes your muscles and bones and twists them into candy canes. Then it eats you."

Jasper cringed and hugged a pillow tighter to himself. "That's gross. Why are you two so morbid?"

Klaus had also heard enough. Tuning them out, he sighed and grabbed a handful of sugar cookies. He ate them one after the other. Each time, the sugary goodness crumbled over his mouth, coating his tongue in sweetness. He shut his eyes and slowly worked at the bits stuck between his teeth and cheeks.

A sharp pain exploded against his cheek, snapping his head to the side and out of his daydream.

His eyes focused on Hollis standing over him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" she screeched.

"Wh-what?" he gasped.

She pointed at the gold plate in the middle of the coffee table. "You ate two of the four, you psychopath."

His other three roommates stared at him, eyes so wide they were like dice rolled to one. The dread and realization dawned. "I didn't mean to."

Jasper pulled Hollis back. "We can get more."

"There isn't any more," Bella said. "I checked before."

"Yeah," Hollis snapped. "You didn't know Klaus here would be stupid enough to eat the ones we had to keep as offerings."

Jasper cut in. "Please just chill, guys. It's done with. Odds are that nothing will happen."

Klaus nodded, swallowing the last of it. Right. It never came to this part of town anyway. And this was one house in millions. And why the hell did no one stop him?

"Let's clean up," Bella said. "If anything happens, god help me."

They gathered up the trash, and Klaus had just started to feel safe when a thousand groans echoed in the chimney. A fracture burst out of the wall above the fireplace, spreading downwards. Black boots landed on the fire, stamping it out in a cloud of ash.

"No..." Klaus gasped, trying to stand up. Hollis cursed and Jasper's breath caught.

Against all physics and anatomy, the boots walked in. The legs in them were bent like pink tentacles. The rest of the body, dressed in red and white, began to follow by slithering in.

"RUN!" Bella shouted.

They scattered, sprinting for the front door. When Bella threw it open, they found what looked like reindeer in the front yard. But they were crude, gaunt, and hairless with bone white antlers.

It freaked Klaus out. He didn't trust them, and neither did the others.

"Wait," Bella said, looking at him and Hollis. "Where's Jasper?"

They spun around. In the living room doorway stood the shape of a large bearded man. It made a groan so loud it was more like a muffled scream.

Then it choked and a tan hand reached out of the Krampus's mouth. Its stomach shifted as Jasper struggled inside it.