Festive Frights

by CW Publishing House

  A father’s work was never done, and I made my way from the bathroom to the kitchen. I never knew I could be as hungry as I felt in that moment. I reached for a small knife on the counter and decided to make a sandwich, but I was interrupted by the sound of crying. There was always so much crying. Those clumsy girls, always falling or cutting themselves. I’ve warned them about sharp objects. I ignored the cries and continued making my sandwich; funny, I didn’t remember putting jelly on the knife, but all the better. I enjoyed cherry jelly.

  Drip….drip….drip….drip…

  I awoke in my chair with the sandwich sitting on my lap. I must have fallen asleep while eating it, as there were several large bites taken out of it. I moved my feet against the cold floor and felt the liquid again. I reminded myself to grab a mop and clean up whatever had spilled on the floor. I would have hated to have one of the girls trip and hurt themselves. Clumsy as they are.

  All was quiet now. I didn’t hear the splashing of the water or the voice of my wife. All I could hear was a constant dripping sound wherever I went. Before I went to bed, I knew I had to remember to wash my hands.

  About Christopher Broom

  Christopher was born in the city of Montclair, California in the winter of 1982. He was born to very young parents in a time when there were no books on how to successfully raise a child or how to support a young one’s growing emotional needs. As such, he fell into the world of books at a very young age—around five or so—and he never truly let go. To this day, he’s surrounded by books and all the different worlds laying hidden between the pages…and he couldn't be happier.

  He’s had some ups and downs in his life—some doubts and some despair—but through loving support and his passion for the written word, he persevered. It is his hope that his works may inspire or at least entertain someone who has found themselves in a similar situation. Keep writing, for words are sustenance for the soul.

  Nightmare on the Shelf

  By M. W. King

  Morning sunlight streamed into Jeremy’s room, filtered through the bare branches of the twenty-five-foot dogwood in the center of the front yard. The window acted as a magnifying glass, concentrating the beam and shining it right onto his angelic face, breaking his peaceful slumber. With his sweet, Christmas-season dreams interrupted, he groggily opened his russet brown eyes. As he sat up and stretched, he let out a groan, his ears perking as he heard the muffled voices of his parents through his closed bedroom door.

  He could just barely make out his mother saying, “Where did you find it? I’ve been searching for months. Everywhere was sold out.”

  Jeremy’s hazy, six-year-old brain caught up to speed as he realized what day it was: the first of December. It was the first day of their annual Christmas family celebration, which they called Merry Month. They would start with setting up the Christmas tree as soon as Jeremy woke up every year and do a different festive activity every day up until Christmas Eve. He jumped out of bed, throwing on a play cape, and scurried down the hallway in his superhero footie pajamas, the cape flying behind him.

  Halfway down the hall, he heard his dad Gary say, “It caught my eye as I drove by Ms. Johnson’s yard sale. Sh! He’s coming. Act natural.”

  “Happy Merry Month!” Jeremy shouted after bursting through the living room door.

  “Hey buddy,” Gary said, kneeling down with his arms open for Jeremy to run into. “You ready to put up the tree?”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Jeremy said, jumping up and down.

  “First,” his mother interrupted, throwing Gary a sideward glance, “I think we have a new addition to the family.”

  Karen pointed to a book sitting on the couch with a picture of a happy elf on the front cover. Jeremy gasped in disbelief; a Christmas Elf had finally come to live with them. All of his friends had an elf friend, and now Jeremy could join in with his friends to tell them all the awesome things his elf got into.

  He snatched the book from the couch as he looked up to his mother with pleading eyes and said, “Can we please read it now, before the tree? Please.”

  Karen smirked as she gently took the book from his hands and sat on the couch. Jeremy immediately hopped up onto her lap. As she opened the front cover, the first thing Jeremy noticed was another kid’s name scribbled on the “name” line, and another two names listed under that.

  “But, I thought it was my elf?” Jeremy asked, looking up worriedly at his mother.

  “Of course it’s your elf, but you’re not his first kid to watch. He’s already finished monitoring and reporting these boys’ behavior back to Santa, so he gets a new assignment. You’re the lucky boy,” Karen said, with a fixed smile. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as Jeremy smiled with a quick grunt of acceptance before turning his attention back to the book.

  “Can’t we read the story later?” Gary asked, “We know the gist. The elf magically appears on December first and hides every day for Jeremy to find him first thing, and every night he returns to Santa to report if he’s been good or naughty, right?”

  “Today’s December first.” Jeremy jumped up from his mother’s lap, looking at her with wild eyes. “That means he should be here.”

  He scanned the room, looking for the elf. After a moment, a little red hat caught his eye near the window. A tiny elf dressed in red hung from the curtain rod.

  “I found him!” Jeremy squealed.

  “Now, remember, we aren’t allowed to touch the elves, otherwise they lose their magic and won’t be able to fly back to the North Pole. What will we name him?” Karen asked.

  “Rudolph,” Jeremy said with no hesitation.

  “Rudolph it is. Now, let’s get this tree decorated,” Gary said, ushering Jeremy toward the massive evergreen in the corner.

  A few days later, Jeremy rushed into his class, excited to tell his friends he had finally gotten his own elf. He ran up to his best friend George.

  “Hey,” Jeremy said breathlessly, “an elf finally came to live with us.”

  “Cool,” George said, sharing Jeremy’s excitement. “What types of pranks has he pulled so far?”

  “So far, no pranks. He’s usually just sitting in a different spot, like on the couch or at the top of the tree or on the kitchen counter.”

  “That sounds lame,” George said, stuffing his jacket into the cubby and running to his desk.

  After school, Jeremy went straight to his bedroom and dropped his backpack and jacket onto the floor. He went straight to his toy box to take out his frog superhero action figures. Just as he fished the second one out of the toy box, he heard his mother calling him, and she sounded angry. Jeremy dropped the toys on the floor and hesitantly walked down the hall to the kitchen.

  “Jeremy,” Karen said with her hands on her hips, “what did I tell you about touching the elf?”

  “Not to,” Jeremy said slowly.

  “And where did you find him this morning?”

  “On top of the television.”

  “Then, why is he on the floor in the middle of the kitchen?” she asked almost rhetorically.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t lie to me, young man,” Karen warned, waving her finger at him.

  “I didn’t touch him,” Jeremy insisted.

  “Go to your room. You know we don’t tolerate lying in this household.”

  “But, Mom—”

  “Now!” Karen said forcefully, pointing in the direction of his bedroom.

  With slouched shoulders, Jeremy obliged.

  Jeremy hopped out of bed and rushed to his printed Christmas calendar hanging on the wall next to his bedroom door. Using the red pen tied to the calendar, he crossed off the date, December tenth. He threw open his bedroom door and rushed down the hallway to look for Rudolph. As he raced through the doorway to the living room, he saw the elf sitting on the couch.

  “Found him,” Jeremy called excitedly toward his parents’ closed bedroom door.

  He noticed something sitting with Rudolph. Step
ping toward the couch, he racked his brain trying to think of what the brown fuzzy thing could be. By the time he got to the middle of the room, he realized what it was: a Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer stuffed animal with its head torn off and ketchup poured all over it. A small piece of paper sat on the elf’s lap.

  Jeremy picked up the piece of paper as he heard his parents’ door open.

  “There can be only one,” Jeremy read slowly and clumsily.

  “Jeremy!” Karen shrieked as she stepped into the living room. “Why would you do this?”

  “I didn’t,” Jeremy said, dropping the paper and turning to his parents.

  “Not cool, bud,” Gary said, stifling a laugh.

  “No more videogames for you,” Karen said as she snatched the reindeer stuffed animal and used her robe to wipe up the ketchup that was on the couch. She picked up the elf and turned to walk away.

  “But, Mom, you said if anyone touches him he’ll lose his magic,” Jeremy whined.

  “Adults are allowed to, especially to clean him,” Karen said, trying to retain her composure, “and either way, that is not something you need to be worried about right now. Santa would not be happy to hear about this.”

  “Why don’t you go get ready for school?” Gary said, nodding toward the bathroom.

  Jeremy walked passed his father, feeling disheartened.

  The next morning when Jeremy woke up, he didn’t have to rush far to find Rudolph because the elf sat on the bookshelf next to his closet. Again, a paper was tucked under his arms on his lap. Jeremy didn’t call out that he had found the elf before inspecting the area first.

  When the shelf was clear, Jeremy took the piece of paper and unfolded it. He read it quietly out loud to himself. “I had fun playing with Tommy, Richard, and Jason, but I think I’ll have more fun with you.”

  Jeremy came out of his room and heard his mother making breakfast in the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and tugged on her pant leg as he said, “Mommy, who are Tommy, Richard, and Jason?”

  Karen looked away from the stove with a confused look on her face as she said, “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Rudolph says he liked playing with them, but he’ll have more fun with me.”

  “Oh.” Karen chuckled. “Those were the boys he got to help before you. So, where was he today?”

  “On my bookshelf,” Jeremy said, climbing onto his seat at the breakfast table.

  “What?” Karen asked, “That’s not where I—I could have sworn I saw him in the bathroom this morning.”

  “Nope,” Jeremy said as Karen set a plate of eggs in front of him. He noticed his mother looked angry as she pursed her lips, but was too afraid to ask about it.

  After school that day, Jeremy and his mother went to the park with a few of the kids from his class and their parents. As he ran and played tag with his friends, he couldn’t help but overhear some of what his mother said to the other mothers.

  “I just don’t know what’s gotten into him. First the lying, then the bloody Rudolph. Should I be worried?” she asked, putting her face in her hands.

  “No, it’s completely normal,” George’s mom said. “He’s just testing his limits. I went through almost the same with George. Well, there was no ketchup-stained stuffed animals, but he went through a lying phase. It’s part of their imagination. Try not to be too hard on him.”

  Jeremy watched as George’s mother patted Karen on the shoulder consolingly. He was yanked back by one of the girls, pulling his attention back to their game of tag.

  By the night of December the fourteenth, Karen noticed Jeremy had lost interest in looking for the elf. After hinting at the elf’s whereabouts all day, she gave up by suppertime.

  “So, I noticed you’re not so excited about Rudolph the Elf, lately,” Gary asked halfway through their meal.

  “Yeah,” Jeremy mumbled, shrugging his shoulders and avoiding eye contact.

  “Didn’t you have fun looking for him?” Gary asked.

  “Sometimes,” Jeremy said slowly, “except when he gets me into trouble.”

  Gary chuckled and glanced over at Karen, who smirked. Neither of them pried any further as Karen changed the subject of the conversation to the upcoming Christmas performance Jeremy would perform with his class.

  After supper and Jeremy’s typical bedtime routine, Karen tried to brainstorm new ideas to get Jeremy more excited about the elf. “There must be something he would find fun,” she said, pacing in front of Gary as he tried to play a sports videogame.

  “Maybe we just got on the Christmas Elf bandwagon a little too late. Maybe he’s just too old.” Gary leaned back and forth, trying to see around Karen.

  “No,” Karen said, tapping her chin. “Think, Karen, think.” She paced a few more times before stopping abruptly, right in front of Gary. “I got it,” she said with a smile and rushed out of the room. After about ten minutes, she called out to Gary to come to the bathroom. As he stood in the doorway, she looked up and asked, “What do you think?”

  She admired her work, or rather, the elf’s work. Toilet paper was strewn across the bathroom and over the sink, around the trash bin and on top of the medicine cabinet. From there, it went around the curtain rod and the rest of the roll was thrown in the toilet. The elf sat on top of the medicine cabinet with a few pieces of toilet paper wrapped around him.

  “I don’t think it’s a very good idea,” Gary said hesitantly. “I mean, he seems kind of scared of the elf. He’s gotten in trouble, what? Like, four times already for posing him inappropriately.”

  “No, it’ll be fun,” Karen insisted with an uncertain smile.

  The next morning, Karen woke to Jeremy screaming from the bathroom. After springing up in bed, she looked over at Gary with a sly smirk.

  “Someone’s found Rudolph’s surprise,” she said in a sing-song voice as she slid out of bed.

  As she got to the bathroom door, her smile faded as a gasp escaped her. It was not the mischievous scenario Karen had set up. Instead, it was the elf hanging from the shower curtain rod by a length of toilet paper tied around his neck. Her eyes darted to Jeremy’s fear-stricken face before she ripped the doll out of the air and stormed out of the bathroom, pushing Gary out of the way on the way down the hallway.

  “What happened?” Gary asked, but got no response as Karen slammed the bedroom door.

  Jeremy stood frozen in the center of the room, facing the shower, as Gary walked in and sighed heavily. Without saying anything, Gary placed his hand on Jeremy’s back and escorted him to his bedroom.

  “It’s time to get changed. I’ll clean up the bathroom and then you can come brush your teeth,” he said before closing the door.

  Jeremy stood in his bedroom, the image of the elf flashing every time he closed his eyes. Pulling his shaking hands up from his sides, he opened the paper that had been crumpled in his hand and read it again through shallow breaths.

  “You’re next, Jeremy.”

  The next two days, Jeremy didn’t see the elf anywhere. Part of him was relieved—with all the trouble the elf seemed to be, Jeremy didn’t want anything to do with him. The other part of him, though, knew that if he couldn’t physically see the elf, he had no idea where he was or what he was doing.

  And that terrified him.

  On the night of December the eighteenth, Jeremy’s eyes snapped open in the pitch blackness of the middle of the night. His night light was turned off, and his mind instantly raced with all the creepy-crawly things that could be lurking in the dark. As he heard a voice, he felt his heart stop.

  “Jeremy…” he heard an eerie rasping voice whispering.

  After his eyes adjusted to the dark, Jeremy realized his door was cracked open. He sat up in bed, his heart racing, as he heard the voice call out to him again. Although he was scared, he wanted to know who was calling him. He slipped out of bed and went to his door, slowly opening it.

  “Mommy?” he said, looking down the hallway.

  “Jeremy…” The voice
seemed to be coming from his parents’ bedroom.

  Jeremy quietly tiptoed down the hallway. “Daddy?” he called out a little louder.

  The whispering voice called out again; Jeremy was definitely getting closer. He stood outside of his parents’ bedroom, leaning closer to the door to listen.

  “Jeremy…”

  He pushed the door open a few more inches so he could squeeze through the doorway without opening it all the way. The voice had come from his mother’s dresser. He quietly crept over and waited for the voice. When he heard it again, he knew it came from the bottom drawer.

  Opening the drawer, he saw Rudolph laying atop his mother’s clothes. His whole body shook as he reached down and picked up the doll. As he held the doll in front of his face, his eyebrows furrowed with fear and he waited for it to speak.

  All at once, the doll’s face animated with a sinister smile and its hands sprung up, grabbing Jeremy’s cheeks as it cried, “Why don’t you want to play with me?”

  Jeremy instantly dropped the doll as a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the whole house. Both his parents’ sprang up, his father falling out of bed in his surprise. They rushed over to him, incoherently asking what was wrong as his mother wrapped her arms around him, picking him up.

  “The elf,” Jeremy tried to explain, but it just came out as whimpers. “The elf.”

  Jeremy couldn’t find the words to explain what happened, and even if he could, he couldn’t speak through the tears and violent sobbing.

  Jeremy refused to sleep alone after that, since he felt safest when nuzzled between his parents. Karen had become much more affectionate since the eighteenth, too.