Youtuber Egos Short Story Collection!

Confronting Your Demons - An Ego Christmas Part 1

Jack looked anxiously at the clock, noting that they were five minutes late. His heart skipped a beat. Where were they? Were they coming at all? What was taking them so long?! Jack took a moment to breathe. Maybe they were just running late. Maybe they were nervous about coming and needed a moment to compose themselves, just like him.

"What's wrong?"

Jack turned, coming face to face with Mark. He was standing next to the Christmas tree they and the egos had spent the entire day decorating, with a present in his hands. Jack tried to find the words to express what he was feeling as Mark silently placed the present under the tree.

"I just..." Jack said at last, "I'm just a bit nervous. They're running late and I don't know what to do!"

"Only by five minutes," Mark replied, straightening, "You gotta give them a chance. The traffic might be bad or something."

"But what if they're not coming?!" Jack said, turning and beginning to pace the room, as he always did when he was nervous, "We planned this whole event for them and- "

"They'll come, I'm sure of it." Mark replied, moving in front of Jack and blocking his path so he wouldn't be able to keep pacing, "And besides, if they don't come, we can still enjoy the holiday with everyone else. We planned this for everyone, not just them."

"I know, but- "

"They're here!" They heard Chase call from the kitchen. Jack had instructed him to stand and look out the kitchen window to see when they arrived so everyone else could prepare.

"Oh god." Was all Jack could say, "Oh god, oh god..."

"Breathe." Mark said quietly, holding his hands out in a comforting way. Jack took a breath and calmed down slightly.

"Sorry," he said, "I'm just really nervous."

"Tell me about it." Mark replied.

They heard a loud knocking at the door, followed by the other egos scrambling to get ready.

"I'll get it!" Jack called over the noise, immediately regretting opening his mouth once he spoke.

"Shit..." he muttered.

"Do you want me to get it instead?" Mark offered.

"No...no, it's fine." Jack replied, walking out of the room as he spoke and making his way towards the door. He was visibly shaking as he reached the front door, his palms sweating like crazy. His hand hovered over the doorknob as he took one last deep breath the steady himself. Once he'd composed himself as much as he could, he turned the knob and opened the door.

He was met with Anti and Dark, stood side by side outside in the snow. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Jack couldn't bear it anymore and spoke.

"You're here! Thank god! We were starting to think you were never going to show up!" Jack awkwardly chuckled after he spoke, expecting Dark and Anti to laugh with him.

They didn't.

Jack trailed off.

"We were considering it, I assure you," Dark said in his calm, collected voice, "But the others somehow managed to convince us otherwise. Now let us in before we change our minds."

"Ah..." was all Jack could say for a moment. Every ounce of his body was screaming at him to shut the door in their faces and run, but eventually he forced himself to step to the side and open the door wider. "Uh, sure. Come in." He muttered. Anti and Dark walked in silently past him. As he passed, Jack couldn't help but look at the red, bloody slit across Anti's throat and shudder.

"Do you remember the plan?" Dark muttered as the entered the house. Anti nodded, his knife hand clenching.

"I can't wait to see the life drain from Jack's eyes..." he giggled.

"Easy Anti," Dark said quietly, "We need to take this slowly, remember? We wait until they are most vulnerable, then strike. For now, though, we play their game."

"Fine..." Anti spat, unclenching his hand.

Anti and Dark made their way down the corridor and into the living room, where they were met with all of the egos and Mark. The room was brightly lit, with a giant Christmas tree in the corner brimming with decorations and presents under it. The fireplace in front of them was lit and burning strongly - a drastic contrast to the cold outside – and the mirror above it had been covered in wrapping paper and a bow. Most likely because of Wilford...Anti thought. As he looked back down to the fireplace, Anti suddenly noticed it was full of hung-up stockings, each one hand made it seemed, with a name on each. Anti suddenly spotted his name on a black stocking with white fur around the top and felt...something he couldn't describe. However, he had little time to dwell on this feeling as everyone suddenly shouted "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" at the top of their voices and proceeded to get up and meet them.

Dark found himself staggering back suddenly as Wilford launched himself on him and hugged him tightly.

"Dark! It's been so long, my old friend!" He cried right into Dark's ear. Dark couldn't stop himself from returning the hug. It'd been so long since he'd seen this pink-haired idiot that he couldn't help but smile to see him again. Meanwhile, Anti was in the middle of a rather awkward group hug consisting of him, Jackaboy and Marvin, who had both quite literally flown into his arms almost as soon as he walked through the door. Just as he managed to break away from those two Robbie leaped into his arms, purring loudly. Anti staggered, struggling to carry the massive weight that was Robbie before literally dropping him on the wooden floor. Robbie didn't seem to mind though – he'd gotten his hug, and that was enough for him.

Dark met Googiplier's eyes from across the room, giving him a polite nod of 'hello'. Google returned the nod but didn't come over. Chase held his hand up for a high-five, which Anti returned rather awkwardly. It was, however, enough to make Chase smile.

"No knives, I see!" Chase said with a grin. Anti tensed.

"No...not yet," he replied stiffly, "Although the same could be said for you and your guns."

"Good point." Chase replied, shoving his hands into his pockets, "But yeah, no bang-bangs for me this year!" He laughed, "Doctor's orders."

Schneeple looked up upon hearing this.

"Ja," he said, walking over to them, "After last year, I'm keeping a close eye on Mr. Brody."

"I see." Anti replied, surprised at how easily this conversation was flowing, "I guess it's for the best." Schneeple nodded.

"But anyvay," Schneeple said, "Zhis isn't about Chase. It's good to see you again, Anti. I know ve've had some...incidents in zhe past, but I hope we can put zhem aside for the sake of the Christmas season." With this, he held out his hand for Anti to shake. Anti paused, surprised. He'd expected everyone here to hate him, to ostracise him for what he'd done in the past. He'd expected to be the outcast for, to put it frankly, something he couldn't really control. That had been the main reason he hadn't wanted to come to this Christmas party, and the reason (at least he thought) neither him nor Dark had been invited to any in the past. He wondered if this was all an act - some elaborate ruse to make him feel wanted when in reality they all hated his guts – but Schneeple's actions coupled with Jack (who had just walked into the room with a batch of cookies) offering him a cookie almost immediately without a second thought, made him doubt that assumption. As he took a cookie from the tray, he looked across at Dark, who was completely confused trying to learn some elaborate handshake Bing was trying to teach him, and wondered if he felt the same way. He'd seen his smile when Wilford hugged him after all.

They'd come here with the specific goal of killing Jack and Mark and finally getting their revenge, but now he was here, looking at all the pretty lights on the tree and smelling the cookies and hearing the excited chatter of the others, Anti didn't feel like he really wanted to kill anyone tonight.

He just hoped to god that Dark felt the same