Short Stories: Horror/Mystery

Krampus

Were you naughty this year?

For your sake, I hope not.

When there is no more belief, he will come.

******

"Have you been good this year Jack?" Hayley asked.

"Yes!" Jack yelled.

"Are you sure?" Hayley asked.

"Um....I." Jack mumbled.

"If you are on the naughty list Krampus will come for us, if you don't believe he will come." Hayley said.

"Who's Krampus?" Jack asked.

"He is the..." Hayley started.

"Hayley! Stop scaring your brother!" Their mom yelled.

"Whatever." Hayley mumbled.

"But I want to know!" Jack whined.

"I will tell you later." Hayley whispered.

*****

It is Christmas Eve and Hayley and Jack's parent went to bed early, trying to get as much sleep as possible before relatives arrive tomorrow. Hayley told Jack to meet her in the basement and she would tell him all about Krampus.

Jack slowly crept down the creaky stairs trying not to make any noise but failing. Every step he took bent the boards and creaked under his weight. He flinched every time they made a sound until he came to the bottom. His bare feet froze on the damp concrete and he was shivering from head to toe, trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

He couldn't see Hayley and started to softly call her name.
"Hayley!"

"I'm over here." Came a reply from the corner.

He sat down next to her on the sofa and wrapped a blanket around himself. Hayley started to tell the tale of Krampus.

"Krampus is known as the Christmas devil. He is the shadow of St. Nick, but a much more ancient spirit. When everyone in the family stops believing he comes for them all. He leaves only one, the youngest, with an ornament with Krampus carved into it. He takes all the others down to Hell in the midst of a huge snowstorm for cover. They are never seen again. Do you believe in St. Nick?" Hayley asked.

"No. I haven't since I was nine." Jack said.

"That was a year ago, and I remember you still writing letters to him." Hayley replied.

"Well I don't believe anymore." Jack said indignantly.

"Krampus is going to come tonight. " Hayley said.

"No you are just trying to scare me." Jack said, his voice shaking.

"Sounds like I did a good job of it." Hayley whispered.

Jack went back up the creaking steps and ran down the hall to his bedroom. He looked out his window and saw that it started to snow. It was just a flurry, not uncommon. He crawled into bed and tried not to think of Krampus, but his mind kept wandering back to him.

He drifted off into a fitful sleep and awoke an hour later sweating and breathing heavily. He looked out his window and saw the little flurries became a full blown blizzard. As he got closer to the window he saw a strange figure perched on the neighbour's roof.

As soon as he got close to the window the figure vanished and he couldn't see anything through the thick snow.

All of a sudden he heard a loud thump on the roof. He knew Santa wasn't real. A thought hit him like a baseball bat, Krampus was on the roof and he was here to take his family. He listened for any more noises but heard only the snoring of his father. They hadn't heard the thump, he decided to go to Hayley's room to see if she heard.

He walked down the dark hall hearing little maniacal laughs in the walls and ceiling. He ran the rest of the way to Hayley's room and burst through the door. Hayley shot straight up in bed and looked around the room. When she saw Jack standing in the doorway panting she sensed something was wrong. She looked out her window and saw the blizzard raging outside, she gulped.

"Did you hear the thump on the roof? Or the laughter in the walls?" Jack asked her.

Her heart was racing and her mind was searching frantically for another explanation but she knew Krampus had come for them all. She started to hear the laughter in the walls and curled up tighter in her blankets.

"Jack, come here." Hayley whispered.

He came over and sat next to her in bed.

"What's wrong Hayley?" Jack asked.

"Don't freak out, Ok?" She begged.

"Freak out about what?" He gulped.

"Krampus is here." Hayley said.

As soon as the words left her mouth the laughter grew to a frenzy and there was scratching all around inside the walls, there was the thumping of hooves on the roof, and the yells of their parents. They ran into Hayley's room and asked what was happening.

"Krampus is here!" Hayley yelled over the chaos.

"He.. He.. Can't be!" Hayley's mom yelled. She collapsed on the floor and a started to cry.

All noises stopped and there was silence. No one dared to move or talk for fear it would all come back. There was the sound of grinding and breaking and then a thump in the family room. The thumping on the roof returned but more softly like performing a ritual.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Hayley whispered.

"What? What is happening?" Jack asked panicked.

"He came down the chimney." Hayley whispered, almost inaudible. She started rocking back and forth awaiting the inevitable.

The sound of footsteps can from down the hall. They came closer and closer until they stopped right outside Hayley's door. They heard their mom screaming and their father yelling from their room. They were being taken by Krampus's elves.

The door flew in and Krampus stood in the doorway, filling it up. He shuffled in the room and stopped in front of Hayley. She started to whimper and plead with him but he didn't listen. He grunted and his elves came in and took her away, screaming.

"No!" Jack yelled.

He tried to run for Hayley but Krampus blocked the doorway.

"Let them go!" He yelled.

Krampus looked down on him and took a box out of his pocket. He handed it to Jack and left as suddenly as he appeared. Jack opened the box, crying, and found an old ornament with Krampus written on one side. He dropped it and started sobbing for his family that was taken because of him. He would never see them again. Krampus, the Christmas devil, had come again.