Jason Ruins Christmas

Home Sweet Home

    Inside the house, the couple got cozy in the warmth and sorted through their purchases.
"God, we spent so much money." said the woman.
"Yeah. He'll love it though." said the man.
"He better. Have you checked on him, by the way?"
"Who, Jakey?"
"Yes, dummy. I was afraid he would get up while we were gone."
The man looked upstairs.
"I don't hear him doing anything."
"Go check anyway."
The man sighed, and walked up the carpeted stairs to the bedrooms. He opened his son's door a bit and peeked in.
A beam of light from the hall fell on his son's sleeping face, his blond hair falling across his forehead over one eye. The dad smiled.
So innocent, peaceful. He's going to be so happy with his presents.
His son mumbled something.
The dad paused to listen, his brow furrowed.
Huh. Weird.
Jakey stopped talking and returned to a light snore, and his dad crept back down the stairs.

                                      2

Mom was on her knees opening a roll of wrapping paper, a tall glass of wine beside one knee.
"How was he?" she asked, taking a big sip.
"He's ok."
"What is it, what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"Something happened, I can tell by your face."
The man shrugged.
"Tell me." the woman said, a little more sternly than she meant to.
"Nothing. He was just talking in his sleep."
"Huh. That's weird."
"Yeah."
"Has he ever done that?"
"Not that I know of."
The woman started wrapping a Lego set, looking worried.
"Well, what did he say?" she asked.
The man paused, thinking.
"He was reciting a Christmas thingy.."
"A what? A song?"
"A poem."
She smiled. "Awwww, which one?"
"Uh, the Night Before Christmas."
"Aw, so sweet! Our little boy. I didn't know he knew that one."
"Well, that's the thing. I don't think he does. He got the first part right, but then started making up his own words."
Her smile faltered slightly.
"What do you mean? What did he say?"
The man looked at her.
"I uh...didn't hear most of it."
"TELL ME."
"He said...he said it like this.
Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the City
Not a creature was stirring
They were dead by machete."

Her knee spasmed, nearly knocking over the wine glass.
"Jesus! Where did he learn that?"
"Not from me." he said, defensively.
"That's it.."she said, "no more YouTube. He must be watching those stupid scary videos again!"
"I don't know. I guess."
"Tomorrow I want you to go on his laptop and restrict his apps to parental approval only. This is ridiculous!"
She gulped her wine down.
Her husband wrapped gifts in silence, sorry for darkening the mood. It was Christmas Eve for pete sake!
"A machete, of all things." she said, shaking her head.

Behind them, something thumped on the front door, hard enough to shake the wood in it's frame.
They looked at each other, eyes wide.
"What was that?" the woman asked, standing up quickly.
"I dunno," said the husband "maybe a kid threw a snowball."
"That was a hell of a snowball."
The door was pounded again, this time flakes of wood drifted down from it.
"Go get the gun." the woman whispered.
The man didn't answer, he just stared at the door with his mouth open.
She punched his arm.
"CHAD. Go get the GUN."
"Jesus, Becka. Why'd you hit me?"
"Someone is trying to break in you dork! Go upstairs and get the gun!"
Chad stood perplexed, trying to reason out the situation, his mouth worked wetly.
"Our SON is upstairs, Chad!"
He looked at her, his eyes big and lost.
Oh fuck it, she thought, some hero! Why did I have to marry such a useless moron.
Becka ran up the stairs, Chad tried to grab her arm but missed.
She burst into their bedroom, and ran over to the closet. She felt around on the top shelf for the gun case, but kept finding useless junk.
She pulled down a Monopoly set, threw it down.
Next an old telescope.
Then a box of old cell phones.
Where are you.....
A HA
She felt the hard plastic box and brought it down quickly, tossing it into the bed.
She opened the lid and looked down and the shiny silver revolver that she had made Chad buy a few years earlier for self-defense after a few houses on the block had been burglarized.
She had never fired it, or any other gun for that matter.
How hard could it be?
"Becka? What are you doing?" Chad called up.
She fumbled with the cylinder for a good thirty seconds before she found the latch to open it. Then she broke open the box of shells that came with it, spilling the bullets on the bed.
She grabbed a handful.
Below, she heard the door crash open.
Jesus, it sounded like it exploded!
The noise startled her into dropping the shells. A few hit the floor.
Oh god
She tried to load the cylinder, but her hand was shaking like a flag in a high wind.
After much effort she got one loaded.
Below, she heard the voice of her husband. It was too low to hear what he was saying, but it sounded like he was asking a question.
Oh Chad, you idiot!
She got a second shell loaded.
Her hands were clammy with sweat, and shaking worse now.
Something thumped down below.
She tried to focus on the gun. She didn't want to think about how that sounded just like a human body falling limply down on carpet.
She slid a third bullet in.
She was sweating so profusely now that she was getting the cylinder wet. Her bangs hung damp in her eyes. She wasn't surprised find that she was also crying.
Jakey appeared in the doorway, and she had to fight the impulse to turn around and start shooting.
"Mom?" Jakey said sleepily.
"What, baby?"
"Someone is coming."