eerieindiana | Eerie, Indiana triple drabble: Krampusnacht (Reply)

Simon awoke to the sound of bells tinkling in the room beneath his. He slipped out of bed, feeling in the darkness for two pairs of battered plimsolls. They were old shoes, little more than scraps of canvas held together by duct tape. Tonight, they brimmed over with snack-sized candy bars, half-crushed cookies inside crinkly cellophane wrappers, and a half-dozen candy canes pilfered from a careless shopping mall Santa.

He inched the bedroom door open, slipping out onto the darkened landing and making his careful way down the uncarpeted staircase. The sweet-stuffed shoes were not heavy, but they were awkward, and he pressed them close to his chest for fear that he might drop them and spill their precious cargo. He could feel the heat of his body start to melt the chocolate bars, could feel them give and squish under the tight pressure of his fingers, and he prayed it wouldn't matter to the thing that lurked downstairs.

There was no Christmas tree in the Holmes' living room. The fireplace was long since boarded up, the chimney filled in, and even if they'd had one there were no stockings to hang by it with care. A paper plate with a crayon drawing of a star sat in the window, the moonlight glinting off uneven lumps of cheap glue and cheaper glitter. Simon moved to the cracked mantel that sat above the dead hearth, setting the shoes neatly beside the fire guard that had rusted in place years before.

The bells sounded again.

"Krampus?" he whispered, his voice the barest suggestion of a noise.

Nothing answered, but in the moonlight, something moved. Something small, and sleek, and night-fog grey.

"Oh," exclaimed Simon in quiet delight. "Where did you guys come from?"

The ghost cats swarmed about him, filling his ears with their spectral purrs.

Holmes Brothers

The End by