The Demons Within

A frozen Christmas

Swearing softly Max pulled his frozen hands slightly away from the crackling fire place. Brushing off a thin layer of soot, he pulled away, thinking of the last time he had such a bad Christmas. Snow had been piling into the county for the last half hour, and before that he and his wife had gone caroling with their church. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone else in their town had went to sleep early for not even a dog's angry barking was at any house to greet them.

Some priest from two towns over had led their group, as their normal friendly, pudgy pastor was bedridden after a nasty accident. His gaunt frame followed their group like some kind of malevolent crow, pecking at the sullen group for any weakness shown. After one of the women in the group stormed off crying about something he and Mary had went back home. Unfortunately the sudden blizzard still caught them off guard.

They arrived home shivering and tired, Max's red truck abandoned in the driveway. Normally he almost viewed it as a living friend, but his wife took precedent over the already slightly frozen car. Thankful they had a tradition of sitting around a burning fire each Christmas night until they fell asleep in each other's arms, because Max already had the fire going before they arrived back home.

Their puppy had risen off of his rug in front of the fire to greet the two happily, his short tail wagging like a whip. Sloppy dog kisses reached all exposed skin, the frost slowing limbs down too much to avoid the excited pup. After a few tired giggles from Mary and a discontented sigh from Max the dog finally returned back to his rug.

Now he quickly saw that the 3 month old puppy had decided to take the role of slippers for his wife, and was draped over her feet. He could barely make out her thin form, as she had seemingly piled every blanket in the house on top of herself. Grinning slightly to himself, Max walked up the pile of blankets and gave it a loose hug. Judging from the soft "love you" he heard, she could still somehow feel him. After repeating her message softly he walked slowly over to the kitchen.

The normally clean countertops were filled with plates and pan of Christmas cooking that would have to be abandoned. Max idly mused about the fact that his mother hated the cold, and knew almost as a preordained fact he wouldn't get to see his youngest sister this year. Sighing slightly, he began to put up the assorted foodstuffs. Mary was undoubtedly the better cook between the two of them, but he still enjoyed cooking with her. Her bright smile as she watched him at least try to help her assured that fact.

Finally, after everything but a glass of milk and a platter of cookies was put in its rightful place Max slowly walked back to the fireplace. Sitting in another leather recliner he slowly drifted into the vastness of dreams, clutching Mary's outstretched hand.
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Hours later Max woke up as a cold chill drifted through his bones. Pale light danced around the room as the clear sliding doors revealed the clear moon. He had shoved the curtains aside earlier, as he enjoyed the beauty of snow even if he disliked this blizzard's brutality. Slowly he stretched out on the recliner, enjoying the soft pops as his bones slowly began moving.

Swinging his bare feet onto the cold plywood flooring he shivered slightly, before pushing himself forwards. Sometime during the night Mary had evidently shared some of the blankets she had collected, as a thin pile of cloth fell down around him as he stood. A loose smile graced his face once more as he collected the blankets and covered Mary with them.

Then he resumed his original mission, and walked towards the sliding doors. He gripped the thick cloth of the curtains, before some strange feeling grabbed his brain. Slowly he pulled open the sliding doors and stepped onto the snow covered balcony.

Once he had been skeptical of the need for a lakefront property, but now all doubt was erased from his mind.

The moon had finally been released from behind the dark snow-bearing clouds and showed its beauty upon the earth. Pale moonlight reflected off the frozen lake, and thin snow flakes drifted down to the ground. Christmas lights shined like colorful stars, mixing like a rainbow upon the frozen water.

Then he heard a soft intake of air behind him. Tearing his eyes away from the beautiful moon, he gazed upon an even greater beauty. Mary stood at the door, her sapphire eyes focusing on him alone. She took slow steady steps onto the snow, and then embraced Max as tightly as she could.

Her blonde hair cascaded like a golden waterfall as she glanced up at Max's much higher face. Burying her swiftly freezing face into his chest she murmured softly, "Come inside with me, it's cold outside baby."

After glancing once more behind him, he captured her lips with his own. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad Christmas after all.

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This is probably going to be my sort of "Christmas special". I'm not sure how good it actually was, since I'm really not experienced with writing stuff like this. Hopefully it's alright.