Christmas Eve '96

By midnight of Christmas Eve, much of Fuselier Street was hushed. The young children who were trying to stay up to meet Santa Claus had fallen asleep and were carried away to their rooms by their parents, who made their way to their beds almost immediately after tucking them in. This left the teenagers to make up the majority of people who were still up. Five of which were together at the Cormiers’ house. Henry, Carter, Ava, Hudson, and Paisley. They knew each other from school, and since the farthest distance between them was no more than fifty feet, they asked their parents if they could spend the night at Henry’s house, and luckily Henry’s parents approved as did most of the other parents. There were two more who were invited, Lucas and Caroline, who are siblings, but their parents wanted the family to be all together for Christmas with no split time or late starts to any traditions.

The group of five decided to play Suck It Up because it was a quiet game that wouldn’t disturb Henry’s parents or little brother, but as experienced in the other games they played, everything is funnier when you have to be quiet. They scampered across the room, pushing one another, pulling the straws out of each other’s mouths, and flicking each other’s Skittles across the room. Their faces began to turn red and their stomachs began hurting with how hard they had to fight off their laughter. The game went on for about seven minutes before Hudson successfully got all his Skittles across. The gang spent an extra two minutes rolling on the living room floor trying to regain their composure.

“I need to pee,” both Henry and Carter said.

“I’m going first,” Henry said.

“Why?”

“Because it’s my house.”

“I’m going outside then,” Carter said as he turned to make way for the front door.

“You’re going to pee in my front yard?”

“Well, I can’t hold it. Why don’t we switch, and you pee on your house since it’s your house?”

“Fine,” Henry said before making his way outside.

“That’s so gross,” Paisley added.

“Whatever,” Carter responded. “Y’all just decide which game we’re playing next.”

“Well,” Ava began. “We already have the Skittles. We could play Skittles. I’ll just have to get us a big bowl and some cups.”

Henry picked a spot near the corner of his house, avoiding getting too close to the decorations because he felt like that’s where his family would be walking the most tomorrow. Different colored lights flashed around him from all of the extravagant decorating the families of Fuselier Street had done this year. Henry even took a few seconds to turn his head and glance down the street to admire them once again as he was finishing up. Then his eyes picked up movement that was going on directly across the street at Lucas and Caroline’s house. Much to his surprise, he saw Santa Claus reaching for something in the snow. There was a half full sack on the side of him.

“Nice job, Mr. Landry,” Henry called out. “Y’all are really getting into the Christmas spirit.”

Santa Claus paused before looking over at Henry. That’s when Henry noticed that the body could not be Mr. Landry because it was too petite. Santa Claus stood all the way up and wrapped a necklace around him, causing him to realize it was Mrs. Landry.

“Oh! Sorry, Mrs. Landry. I didn’t recognize you. The suit looks good on you though.”

Mrs. Landry didn’t respond. She just slowly began walking back to her house, leaving the sack behind. A puzzled Henry just decided to head inside but took one more look back before closing the door and became even more confused because he saw Mrs. Landry walking around the side of the house instead of using the front door.

“Were any of y’all looking outside just now?”

“To watch you pee?” Ava asked disgustedly. “No.”

“No,” Henry began. “Mrs. Landry was out there. And she was dressed as Santa Claus, but she was acting weird.”

“Mrs. Landry was dressed as Santa Claus?” Ava’s face was showing more and more confusion by the second. “All of their lights are off. I’m pretty sure everyone in that house is sleeping right now. Especially Mrs. Landry.”

“No. I know Lucas is up. I’ll send him a snap,” Hudson added. They began to set up for their game of Skittles when Hudson’s phone got a notification from Lucas.

“What did he say?” Henry asked.

“Well, I asked him what his mom is doing outside as Santa Claus, and he said his mom is sleeping. Also, he just posted a picture of him on his story with Caroline. Apparently, they ran into each other in the kitchen.”

“Henry,” Paisley whispered in a scared voice.

“Yea.”

“Is that who you saw?” Everyone looked out of the window to see Santa Claus picking up the sack. “Because that’s not Mrs. Landry,” Paisley finished. A red circle was left in the snow, and they noticed it was dripping from the bottom of the sack. Santa Claus then began walking in away from the house with the bag. The kids were unsure of what they just saw and that sent them into panic. They began telling Hudson what to ask Lucas and Ava even began to text Caroline. Then they sent them a video.

“Y’all are lucky our parents are heavy sleepers,” you could hear Lucas’ voice say. The video would show Caroline standing by Lucas as he opened the door to their parent's room, revealing both of them to be asleep in their bed. “See. I told you.”

“Yea,” Caroline interjected. “What are y’all so worked up for over there?” And then the video ended. They were trying to collectively figure out what to say to them next before they told Hudson to just video call them.

Once in the video call, they saw Lucas and Caroline going back upstairs. Henry began to try and piece the words together of what happened, but was having a hard time doing so, and just when he thought he finally had it together, there was a thud on the roof. It wasn’t frighteningly loud, but it was loud enough to raise concern. It was at this point that Lucas and Caroline were passing up their little sister’s room and noticed her door was open a little bit, and they thought she may have gotten up as well. They peeked in and while the group of five was still looking up at the ceiling, Caroline shouted Avery’s name and they saw Lucas’ phone fall to the ground. They began to ask Caroline and Lucas what was going on but couldn’t get an answer out of them. All they could do was listen as they expressed horrifying concern for their sister. Hudson turned the volume down on his phone as the screaming became louder. They could hear some of it from across the street and saw the lights quickly turn on in the Landry’s home.

Then they noticed a slow traveling sound coming from the ceiling. It was like footsteps, but not as broken up. Then it stopped. The kids continued to look at the ceiling before turning back and looking at each other.

“What is—”

A scream from upstairs interrupted them. Henry was the first to get up and run and the rest followed him. Could’ve been to help or it could’ve been out of fear, but nevertheless, they all ran into Henry’s little brother’s room. Henry walked up to his brother’s bed, calling his name, while his friends stood in the doorway. Mr. and Mrs. Cormier had awakened to the scream and opened their doors as well. Making eye contact with the four kids, they asked them what was going on, but they remained silent. Henry walked slower the closer he got to his brother’s bed, still whispering his name. Henry reached his hand out and grabbed his shoulder, turning him over. There was a slit on the six-year old’s neck that went from one ear to the other and a puddle of bed on his sheets. His eyes were responsive but fading quickly. Henry began backing up saying the words “we need help.” He ran down the stairs to get his phone and call for an ambulance as his parents ran into their youngest child’s room. As he was making his way down the stairs, Henry saw the front door slowly closing with the assist of five long, dark, and gnarled fingers.