For once, never before seen in an Austy Quinn novel, we have international coverage! I know, right?! The world, little by little, is becoming more red and black. Or Finnish. Both work.
Roosa smiled as she woke up in her host family's house. She had a wonderful dream, so her joy carried over to the next morning. She was about to experience her first American Christmas, and it was amazing.
She rushed down the stairs. "Ovatko he kaikki hereillä (Are they all awake)?" She thought to herself. She didn't see anyone downstairs, but everything was lit. Every Christmas light was on, every ornament was in place. So where were they?
She spotted a long, skinny box addressed to her, adorned in red-and-black. Such an exciting thing to see! She quickly unwrapped it, and opened the box. Inside was a nutcracker, embroidered with the Finnish flag on it alongside the American flag. She smiled as she maneuvered it. Just like any other Nutcracker. But she loved it.
She put it on the counter, which was a great place to put it.
And so, Roosa waited. Surely, she was just early. The others would wake up and everything would be normal.
But something about that nutcracker seemed...odd. Like it was...looking at her. She would turn her head and she would just see the nutcracker sitting there. It was a weird feeling. Maybe it was just excited paranoia. She didn't know. But it wasn't too important.
She made herself breakfast, and sat at the bar eating a fresh stack of pancakes. But still...that nutcracker had something off about it. And she didn't like it.
It wasn't an ordinary nutcracker. It was feminine, with olive green skin. She had long, flowing blonde hair, and her features were very slim, yet cold. As if she had a vendetta against the world. What was even more peculiar about her was her legs. No, not human legs. Instead, it was as if it was stitching together a woman and a snake. Why did that seem so familiar to her?
She didn't really think too much about it. But it stayed in the back of her head all day. It stayed in her head when she would tend to the houseplants, how...dark they seemed. Or the tree. Or the plants covered in snow outside. They all seemed dark. And bigger. It was...unnerving. And it was all because of that nutcracker.
She walked back inside the kitchen, where the nutcracker stayed, motionless. Watching like a viper. She picked it up and analyzed it. That was all there was to it. Why did she have such a bad feeling about it, then?
She gasped when she saw the word "AJATAR" scrawled onto the bottom of it, and it fell out of her hands.
For those of you who need context, in Finnish mythology, Ajatar is a female nature demon, and especially not one to be trifled with.
Roosa saw how the plants started overgrowing. And it scared her how fast it was. She had to get rid of the nutcracker somehow. She ran up the steps, avoiding some overgrowth of ferns, rushing to her host parents' bedroom. She couldn't get in, it was covered in thorns. Crap.
She had to think quickly. What should she do? The only thing she could do, with a wooden statue...
She ran down the stairs to the kitchen, closing the door from the plants. She made sure she was secured in the room before she turned on the oven and placed the nutcracker inside. She watched as the oven quickly heated up, starting to darken the statue. She noticed the plants were covering the windows, and most likely the door. She didn't have much time.
She watched as the statue finally started to melt, and it let out a hiss-like scream, like plastic melting. She closed her eyes and knelt to the ground, hoping it would stop once the statue was gone.
...
After what seemed like forever, she opened her eyes. She looked in the oven and saw nothing. That...was oddly relieving. She looked out the windows, just snow on the street. The door had no vines on it, all the plants were normal, and quite luscious. Was any of that real?
She didn't know. But she had quite the story to tell once she went back to Finland. America truly was a strange place. But nothing was stranger than her culture colliding with American culture.
End of Chapter 22
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Austy Quinn's Christmas Special I
AdventureA Very Austy Quinnmas! The long awaited Austy Quinn Christmas Special! This is the first in the annual series, and was written in 2017 by me. Names have not been changed since then, everything has stayed exactly the same. This was written as a Chri...
