Secret Santa
Puzzled she walked in to the house unwrapping the gift. Packaged inside was a small music box that played the 12 days of Christmas. It was beautiful. She looked again at the package and saw it was sent to her at her home. But there was no return address or sender.
The music continued to play almost hauntingly. What had first sounded like beautiful Christmas music, now seemed almost ominous. She suddenly felt like someone was watching her.
She quickly looked around the room and outside through the window. She didn’t see anyone, but still felt uneasy. She closed her blinds and locked her doors. She suddenly felt a little foolish. It was only a music box that played Christmas music. She laughed at herself for being so over dramatic.
The next day when she got home there was a new package on her porch. It looked exactly like the one from the day before. Addressed to her with no return address.
She glanced around to see if anyone looked out of place or was watching her. Seeing nothing she opened the package. This time the box held a note. It was written in red ink and read, “On the first day of Christmas…….” Inside there were an assortment of candy canes. She shook her head and told herself it was probably just a secret Santa gift.
This continued for several more days. Each day she found a new note that continued to count the days of Christmas. She had received some candy canes, Christmas cookies, a dancing Christmas tree, eggnog, fuzzy blanket, a candle, and a poinsettia.
So far the gifts had been pretty basic gifts you might get for anyone. But it was still things she liked and that enjoyed at Christmas. On the 7th day things changed. The handwriting on the gift looked sloppier. The red ink running down the page. It asked if she was enjoyed her Gifts? And was signed Love me. This really confused her, who could it be?
Inside of this gift there was a beautiful sweater. As she held it up to examine it, she realized that this was the exact same sweater she had looked at yesterday at the store. Basically just window shopping to waste time. She had saw the sweater and loved it, but knew it was going to have to wait until after Christmas was over to purchase it. But here it was, in her hands. Who? She thought. No one was with her at the time and she hadn’t mentioned it to anyone either.
That uneasy feeling was even stronger now. Was someone stalking her and what did they want from her? She thought maybe she should contact the police, but tell them what? That someone was sending her gifts in the mail! They would probably laugh at her. So she did nothing.
On the 8th day of Christmas there was a pair of shoes she’d had in her Amazon cart for months! What were they hacking her or something? This was just all too crazy!
On the 9th day, a lace nightgown arrived. It wasn’t her style at all, she did wear nightgowns. And this one was entirely too revealing. It was sheer and absolutely covered nothing. The note read, “I hope you will wear this for me some day soon!”
The note kind of worried her. She was beginning to get really scared. She locked up the house tight and decided to go to bed. It had been a really long day and she was exhausted. She’d contact the authorities tomorrow.
On the 10th day of Christmas, there was a beautiful diamond ring. It was exactly her size and the style she liked. She could tell it was a real diamond with 24 karat white gold. This was not a cheap ring at all. The note with it is what really scared the crap out of her. It read, “with this ring, we will be together forever.”
She finally decided to call the cops. They came and took her statement. They took the notes and pictures of her gifts. They then told her to keep an eye out for anything out of place. Keep everything locked up tight. They told her to contact them the next day if another gift arrived.
The next day when she got up, she was a wreck. The stress and fear was beginning to catch up to her. She functioned on autopilot all day somehow. But as the day ended, she suddenly didn’t want to go home! She wished this person would just leave her alone. She didn’t want anymore gifts.
She was relieved when she arrived at home. She didn’t see any kind of package on the porch. She sighed in relief as she unlocked her door. She walked into the kitchen and that’s when she saw it. It was a gingerbread house kinda. It was made out of gingerbread anyways. But the scene was awful.
The house itself resembled her own down to almost every detail. But there was a gingerbread woman lying on the ground in the house’s doorway. They made the cookie to resemble herself, wearing what looked like the nightgown she had already gotten. But the gingerbread woman had a rope around her neck. It had what appeared to be cuts all over with blood running into a pool right in front of the Christmas tree.
This time the note read, “one the 11th day of Christmas, you betrayed me!” She quickly then realized, someone had been inside her house. Were they still there? She grabbed a knife and sat in a corner and called the cops.
They arrived promptly. They searched her house, found nothing out of place and no one hiding. They tool her statement, took pictures and dusted for prints. They suggested she go stay with someone for a couple days. She refused and they promised to have a police car drive by every hour.
She was still terrified, but wasn’t going to be bullied out of her own house. She took the gingerbread house out to the garbage can. She glanced around and shivered. Something just didn’t feel right, but she could see nothing wrong. She half ran back to the house and began locking and dead bolted the doors. She made sure every window was closed and locked, and the curtains closed. It still didn’t feel like enough. She decided to push the dresser in front of the door for good measure.
Feeling as safe as she could, she turned the lights off and climbed into bed. Her mind kept racing and every creak of the old house, sounded like footsteps coming at her.
She must’ve fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew, the clock was striking midnight. On the 12th chime, she heard the music box begin to play. But this time a hoarse, sinister voice began to sing along.
On the 12th day of Christmas, the gift I give is me! And suddenly he appeared, the most scary thing she’d ever seen. He began to stab her over and over. Then choked the last bit of life out of her. He caressed her face and told her now she was his one and only, and he her only true love…..