Nina And Other Stories | ✔

Something's Amiss in Fair Hurst - Part Three - The Fun Begins

"You are absolutely going to enjoy this gingerbread," grandma was saying as she broke off a piece for each of them.

The only other reason - aside from creating humongous trouble - that Amy enjoyed her grandma's house was the freedom to eat as many sugary things as possible. At home her mother would watch with thinly veiled disgust while she took another pudding cup, eventually she'd be forced to still her hand over the third one if only to wipe the look from her mother's face. But her grandmother encouraged her to eat more as she took in her 'gangly, thin figure'.

"Thanks a lot grandma, but Riley and I would like to explore first."

Riley raised an eyebrow over her mug of hot chocolate and Amy deduced her look to mean 'if you think I'll follow you, you're crazy'.

"Oh, no. It's far too late. Tonight is Christmas Eve, the reverse Santa prowls," Grandma's voice was thick with warning.

"The what?" Riley swallowed. Even though she was black Amy could see the color drain from her face.

Amy chuckled and tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

"Yes dear. Our own little town of Fair Hurst has its own legends too. One of them is the reverse Santa." Grandma smiled at Amy and her heartbeat quickened.

That green glow again.

As grandma turned her face to Amy her blue eyes were surrounded by the same greenish glow she thought she'd imagined in the neighbours eyes.

Amy promptly removed her legs from the table. Reaching over, she tried to nudge Riley but the other girl was rigid with fear.

Rolling her eyes, Amy tried to forget her fear and her wildly beating heart and concentrate on the story.

"The legend of the reverse Santa says that roaming in this very town is a Santa Claus that adores naughty children. He finds wayward kids and turns them into his elves forcing them into his gigantic army of darkness, the good kids however get all the joy and happiness sucked out of them and they're turned into mindless zombies and sent to rid the world of all forms of happiness."

Amy barked a harsh laugh but deep inside the story spooked her to the core of her being.

"It's Christmas grandma, not Halloween," Amy patted her grandmother's wrinkled hands and linked arms with a frozen Riley.

Dragging her to the fireplace with a Christmas tree beside it Amy set to fine-tuning her plans.

"So I was thinking ..."

Riley screamed and catapulted into Amy's arms.

"I'm almost starting to regret coming here," Riley whispered into Amy's pink sweater.

Pulling her out she held her at arm's length.

"Pull yourself together, Riley. One spooky story and you're already sobbing! And you wonder why I never took you to see A Thousand and One Deaths!"

"It was named the scariest movie of the year!"

A scraping from the fireplace shut the girls up. Riley held on to Amy as the ominous scratching continued.

"Girls, time for bed! You must be exhausted!" Grandma called from upstairs.

They couldn't have run up fast enough.