scary story

December, 1997, in a small town in Louisiana, called Atlanta. With a big 200 people living in the city, the high school was very calm. Of course it had your usual popular kids and bullies, but life was easy. Christmas was arriving soon, on Thursday, 25th, which meant break was starting today, Friday, 19th. During the last class, everyone was talking to their neighbour about their plans for the holiday. Everyone except Mary, the guy sitting next to her wasn’t there so she moved to some of her friends. 

But suddenly the speakers made a sound, and the provider could be heard : 

“One, two ? Can you hear me?” His voice was rarely heard, especially as alarmed as right now. “Each student, please listen, an unfortunate event took place on this joyful occasion” he took a deep breath “your friend and classmate, Justin Daigle was attacked and killed this morning.” 

Everyone was shocked, of course, and the day took a more sad turn, people who knew him were crying, people who disliked him too. Even people from the city felt responsible when they learned they discovered his body unrecognizable. 

When Mary came back home, she was met with the grief of her parents who knew the kid well but also with the joy of her brother, who wasn't aware of the events since he just came back from college, and he didn't care since he was going on a date the following Saturday, at this new place where people met other people in the complete dark.

He arrived at the bar, it wasn't very crowded, people were afraid of going out, so he sat at a table, and soon a shadow sat on the second chair, sipping on what looked like a strong cocktail. A moment passed. Their hands brushed over the cocktail. Their knees bumped under the table. Heartbeats quickened. The world shrank to this tiny, enclosed room, warm and intimate. 

He was never this close to conclude with a man before so, and that stranger was so tantalizing and mysterious, almost as if he knew everything he wanted to hear so, enthralled by the situation he got up silently and began to move below the table, everything was so wrong but-

Then suddenly, a slash followed by a wet sound and metallic smell feeling the air.

The next morning, Mary's mom got a call, and her eyes filled with tears, she called her husband, who called his daughter, and Mary learned her brother had been killed.

The house felt empty and cold, but her parents had to go on a trip to see their sick grandmother, to celebrate Christmas for maybe the last time. Mary didn't want to be alone that night, after her loss and especially a detail of it, on the body of her brother, they found Justin's chain bracelet, and this didn't make her feel at ease at all. 

Not to be alone, she called her best friends to stay the night with her, and as she did so from her room, she noticed a detail on her dresser, her brother’s chain bracelet. It was weird, he usually wore it all the time, but maybe he forgot it while getting ready.

First Maria arrived, then Britney and finally Katy. They set up their stuff in the living room and started to talk about the last few days, comforting the poor mary. 

The living room was cozy, fairy lights strung around the walls casting a soft, golden glow from the Christmas tree. Four teenagers sprawled on mismatched cushions and beanbags, laughter mingling with the faint sound of a Christmas movie on the TV. Their ridiculous pajamas, cute, and a little too cozy but hey, it was Christmas! What is this holiday without its famous sweaters!

“Ugh, I’ll go get the drinks since none of you seems to do it” said Maria, tugging on her oversized sweater. “Don’t start without me.”

She walked down the narrow wooden stairs to the basement. The light above flickered slightly as she reached the bottom. Boxes of old decorations and forgotten furniture leaned in shadowy corners. The smell of damp wood and dust made hee wrinkle her nose.

"What am I not doing for those girls" she sign

She grabbed the soda and cider from the fridge, humming along to a faint carol echoing from upstairs. Then she heard someone following ... Why was there a male voice? 

She froze. The basement suddenly felt too big, too dark. Her hum was now gone. And then, a whisp, almost casual, almost playful, but it didn’t belong to anyone she knew obviously.

Maria turned, and the shadows seemed to shift, watching. The room was still, except for the faint sound of “jingle bells” coming from him.

"Hello?” she called, because that’s what you do when rationality is thin. No answer. She turned toward the shadowed corner. A silhouette separated itself from the darkness, casual and calm as someone reaching for a coat.

Maria made for the stairs, fast, elbows skimming past boxes, but the world tightened. A sudden movement, close and terrible: a glint, a whisper of metal. She never saw the hand come down; she only felt a cold, searing pain at the back of her neck and the hot shock of breath leaving him in a short, sharp sound. Her knees folded like something inside her decided he was done.

A muffled thud. A scatter of cans. The carton toppled, rolling into the shadows, fizz hissing where a can had split open. She was done for

"One gone, three more to go~"

As they heard the commotion downstairs, the three looked at each other:

“should we go see?” asked katy 

“i wont go alone” said mary, quickly

“I can't go down the stairs, you know that I'm claustrophobic.” britney stated 

“Fine, then I’ll go with Mary” Katy got up, and so did Mary “we’ll be right back” and they went to the basement.

Britney let herself fall down on the couch, laying, when she heard a knocking noise on the glass door to the garden. She ignored it, it knocked, and she went to check, opened the door, looked outside, and then the heavy shutters fell on her neck.

When they came back after finding Maria's dead body in a pool of blood, they came to find Britney's headless body in the living room and decided they had to act out.

Marie sprinted up the snow-dusted walkway, breath puffing white in the cold. The neighbor’s house loomed silent and dark, windows like blank eyes. The wind rattled the shutters, mocking her with each step. The neighbors weren't here 

Katy she ran toward the phone on the wall above the stairs - the old, corded kind - was her last hope. She picked up the receiver, dialed 911, and waited.

Nothing.

“Hello? Hello?!” Her voice trembled, echoing through the empty rooms.

A faint click, then a calm, mechanical voice: “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”

Panic clawed at her chest. She slammed the receiver down and retried to load the number, again and again, heart hammering. Shadows shifted below the stairs.

Before she could run, the metallic glint caught her eye, the knife, already in his hand. He moved slow, deliberate, almost casual, each step cutting the distance between them like a predator savoring the fear.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly, voice almost cheerful. “I just wanted to make sure you couldn’t call anyone.”

And then the flash, sharp, cold, and she crumpled to the floor. The phone slid from her hands, cord stretching across the tile, the dial tone buzzing faintly as if nothing had happened.

When Mary came back after seeing that no neighbours were there, the first thing she saw was the home phone covered in blood against the upstairs stair ramp, and fear took over her body as she ran upstairs, to find the lifeless body or katy and a man all dressed in black, wearing a ski mask, he looked at her, took of his mask, and when she saw that it was Justin, he smiled at her, and said with a raspy voice : 

“surprise, mary”

She then ran down the stair, scrambling on a few steps and finally falling when she felt the carpet move under her feet, she fell down but managed to catch herself, Justin himself was less lucky as he fell right on the head and seemed to be less responsive, only whispering stuffs about vengeance over those ungrateful brats, and how he was the perfect man for her. She walked to the other side of the hallway, and as he went silent, she finally relaxed.

She has won. Everything was alright. She was alive and everything was well!

She took a deep breath as she walked down the hallway, her feet echoing softly on the tiles. Her hand reaching the door handle, finally, peace. Then as her eyes filled with tears of relief : 

**Ding dong.**

 "No. No, no, please… not again." She said.

Has she held her breath and pressed her eye to the peephole...But it’s just a group of children outside, wrapped in scarves, singing Christmas duets?

She laughed a little, shaking. "Heh. Finally, everything’s back to normal." She uttered as she opened the door.

“Hello, Miss! We’re selling Christmas cookies for the church!” Their smiles are wide and innocent. It almost feels unreal after this night of pure nightmare. The girl reached for the box. Maybe it’s the magic of Christmas after all. Maybe it explains why her stomach is suddenly so warm?

As she looked down she saw the children’s smiles melt into screams. One dropping the box of cookies

thud! crash!

Crumbs scatter across the floor and the knife was sticking down from her stomach, droplet of blood falling from it

 She couldn't breathe anymore. The world tilting, everything muffled, the sound seeming so distant 

 Then she hears it-his voice, calm, almost cheerful.

 “… Merry Christmas.”

He stepped into view, picked up a single broken cookie from the ground, took a bite and walked away with something golden with Mary's engraved in it in his hand.

 The last thing she saw was the crumbs mixing with the snow at her doorstep, and for a moment, she couldn't tell which is which.