He wasn't Santa

He wore black instead of red and he had a gaunt face. His teeth were yellow and jagged. He spoke in a dialect not of this world. There was a lot of clicking of his forked tongue when he spoke. He handed little Judy Miller a shiny red box. She took it and watched as the creature walked out the front door. She stood there a moment or two looking at the package. She wanted to open it. The present was from Santa, or so she thought. She placed it under the tree and headed up to her bedroom. She curled up all nice and comfy in her bed. She fell asleep and entered a nightmare. She went downstairs to find her parents, Stacy and Jeff butchered beyond recognition. She also found her little brother Donny; he was dead as well. She woke up crying.

A couple of hours later, it was Christmas morning, and time to open gifts. She went downstairs and was relieved to find her parents seated on the sofa. Both of them were holding coffee mugs. Stacy noticed Judy first.

“Good morning sweetheart,” Stacy said. Judy waved.

“Good morning pumpkin,” Jeff said. Judy nodded. She unwrapped a gift and found a Gremlin version of a Santa Doll. He looked up at Judy. He had a black tail and two beady eyes. His grin was full of malice. His pointy chin resembled a rat’s.

“He’s unusual,” Jeff said. Donny looked over at the doll and sneered.

“He’s an ugly doll,” Donny said. Judy observed the thing. Its’ pointy ears poked out from under the Santa hat it wore.

She sat at the dinner table that night. She held onto the doll while she ate. Judy put the doll up to her ear. Stacy noticed this and addressed her daughter.

“What are you doing?” Stacy asked.

“Talking to Gremlin Santa,” Judy answered.

“Unique name,” Stacy chuckled.

Judy went to bed that night cuddled up next to the Gremlin Santa. A terrible storm began raging outside. A loud clap of thunder woke Judy up. She clutched for her doll, but it wasn’t there. She threw the covers off of her and walked hurriedly to her bedroom door. It popped open and her brother ambled into the room. She turned on the light and gasped when she saw her brother holding his own intestines. Blood had soaked through her brother’s pajamas. She ran screaming into her parents’ bedroom, but to her horror they were already dead. They were staring with unseeing eyes. Their throats had been slit. Judy stumbled back into the hallway. Sheer anger and depression compelled her to grab the scissors from the medicine cabinet and hunt down that psychotic freak. She found him in the kitchen standing on the table. He was holding a bloody butcher knife. He charged at her so she lifted him up and stabbed at his belly. Stuffing flew everywhere. Soon he was just black fabric and stuffing.

Next in walked the real Gremlin Santa. He looked down at the destroyed remains of the doll. Then he looked at the girl with indifference.

“You didn’t like your gift?” he said.

“Why did you do this?” Judy asked.

“You were chosen,” he said with a sigh.

“I didn’t want to be chosen,” she said. The Gremlin Santa let out a sigh and shrugged.

“No one ever does.” She charged at him with the scissors held high. He threw her in the bag and carried her back to his lair.

The following Christmas Eve a boy named Jacob saw the Gremlin Santa sitting on the sofa. He handed the boy a package that was shiny and red. He opened it in front of his teen sister Maddie who was texting her boyfriend.

“Stupid looking doll.” Josephine the mom, rolled her eyes.

“It’s a cute doll, Jacob.” The doll looked just like Judy Miller. She had blonde hair worn in pigtails, blue eyes, and wearing pajamas. She grinned and spoke.

“Hi; I’m Judy,” the doll said. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Jacob,” he said.

Maddie stuck her finger down her throat and pretended to vomit.

“Maddie will die first,” the doll said. The dad, Greg chucked the doll right into the fireplace.