A NOT-SO-MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ghosts of the Christmas Present

Hymms of Krampus

Memories, cheers, chants, and love echo in the silent street of the Faraway land. The barren fields that were filled with his prayers have become the remains of Krampus, he lingers on every tree, plant, and soil. The houses seeped with black goo, and torture screams in the air. Santa could feel it all, the town, his town was in agony, agony caused by his twin brother or so he thought.

***

His walk took him to the highland, the church where the twins were blessed, trained, and ascended in their rightful title, him as the joy bringer of this scary holiday and his twin as the misery of this holiday. He stood on that ring and like it was just yesterday the chants echoed in his ears, he was again mesmerized by them, singing and dancing to their praises, but the chants changed their tune for when heard them closely they were not praising him, they were praising his twin. He quickly opened his eyes and saw the arena was filled with people of the town, but they looked different, their skin was rotten, their eyes hollow, they were decaying, and they were the undead. The ring is lit with bright light, and Santa stands in the middle. He looked around and the crowd cursed at him. The town that once praised the hero now loathes his existence.

***

Thump thump thump the ground shook beneath his feet, he looked at the monster emerging from the cave, his long horns looked sharp under the lit lanterns, his nostrils blared smoke, his hands into claws, his body covered with silver and brown hairs, Krampus was walking towards him bearing a cunning smile. He stood in front of Santa, his brother who turned like this after he lost the battle, a battle Bunny won. Santa tried to talk to him but before he could speak, the tree, the holiday tree shone bright like gold, and the star on the top turned into the goddess. She sat in her high chair. The crowd fumed with cheers even more, Krampus roared in the silent air and Santa glared on. The Goddess praised both her champions again and commended them into battle.

'SAVE THEM' was what she said and Santa believed that reliving the past again, and winning the battle again would mean that the ghost of the present, the ghost of these townspeople would be saved, for Krampus had a hold on them. A whisper swayed away between the chants and the cheers and rang his ears 'No Bunny', he looked at his twin brother who smiled and went at him. Santa remembered their old fight, and how equal they were, so he maintained his stance to block the blow but was taken aback by the sheer strength of Krampus. He couldn't handle his one blow and within minutes Santa was thrown away from the ring. Krampus stood alone, rasping for breath, the arena echoed his name but this time they used his real name, the name he was given at birth KLAUS. Santa saw at that moment that he was Bunny again, with no red clothes, no fat belly, no white beard, and a jolly smile, he was Bunny, the actual skinny little Bunny and he saw Klaus stripped away from his monstrous skin, a man with buffed chest and a glazed brown shine that glycine under the laterns. Klaus looked at himself, human hands, human face, the crowd screamed his name as he dropped to the ground and wept, wept, and wept. Bunny saw everything and for the very first time since he landed in the cursed land he felt true joy, a pure bliss was infused in the night sky. The trapped souls flew away like fireflies twinkling in the foggy night. Klaus stood and watched Bunny, head tilted to his side. Bunny was shocked but he was happy because he thought that he brought joy into the land loosing was the answer he was happy that he lost for he was the actual joy bringer of Christmas but then he saw Klaus who shook his head as if hearing his every thought and again a whisper travel in the breeze 'NO BUNNY'.

The Goddess who watched all of this smiled and as she vanished words from her mouth rang in both the twins' ears

' A curse will follow you every year, it will fill you with joy then will wither you with pain. I will be watching

Klaus looked at Bunny, lines of tears visible on his brown cheeks. He again shook his head and Bunny felt that something was not right, as if he was the cause of joy and misery. The curse felt lifted but he was still uneasy. His head throbbed and throbbed into an immense pain that he fell on the ground and fainted, his hazy eyes saw Klaus turn to Krampus again and the town that was lit with joy was engulfed into darkness, fog, and sadness.