Dasher & The Dancer - Christmas In Aspen [a specterverse christmas special]

Chapter FIVE

❄️ASPEN❄️
Holly Garland

...Christmas Morning - 2am...
~Northside~

-THUMP-

I sit up starved for breath with a sharp start when I hear the sound of a thudding down in the living room below.. Rubbing my sleepy eyes to encourage them to adjust to the darkness, I blink through the black to peer around the empty guestroom.

Dreamy clouds dampen my judgement and everything feels syrupy and slow around me in the quiet of the night..

Had I dreamt the noise?
Had it come from inside or is it just the storm getting worse?

Looking down to the foot of the bed I see that Snowy is nowhere to be found and immediately I can't help but suspect that the darn cat is downstairs, getting up to mischief and playing his favorite game of trying to pull the ornaments from the tree again.. He's cute, but he's also a rascal when it comes to shiny baubles..

-THUMP-

Still, the little voice in the back of my mind whispers a word of caution..
What if it isn't the cat?

Reaching down into my suitcase beside the bed, my fingers wrap around something heavy and plastic, my big, battery operated boyfriend, the sex toy I have affectionately named 'The Terminator'.. Right now, he's the closest thing I have to a weapon and I'm pretty sure a few good whacks with his girthy shaft could do a fair amount of damage.. Not that I need a weapon really, I'm sure I don't..

But I'll bring him with me, just in case, a girl should never go investigating bumps in the night unarmed..

My red and white stripey socks hit the fuzzy carpet and I sneak across the floor to the door, cracking it open I can hear the sound of soft thuds and tinkering around the living room..

Definitely the kinds of sounds that would come from a crazy cat trying to destroy decorations.. Or maybe I am still asleep and this is all a crazy dream!

"Snowy, is that you, boy?" I whisper as I creep out onto the landing and peer down the stairs into the dim darkness of the living room.. In the soft glow of the multicoloured lights on the tree I can see a shadow slink by and my suspicions are confirmed as I see a ball of white fluff skitter across the carpet heading for the kitchen..

"Mew!"

Crap on a Christmas cookie!
What is he doing down there?