Page 5 of Scary & Bright
I didn’t even entertain her with a response. Considering how busy we had actually been, we weren’t empty by any stretch of the imagination. I just stared down the woman, hoping she could feel my angry glare burning into the back of her head, but there was no such luck. She continued to walk up and down the walls of the store, occasionally stopping to pull the cap off something and take a sniff.
Then she stopped in front of a vacancy on the wall.
“Oh, what a shame!” she said in a raised voice. “I told myself if you all didn’t have the adment calendar, that I would buy myself a little treat, but it looks like you’re all out of the Sweet Cider Sunrise shimmer-mist body spray I love so much.”
“Yeah, it’s like you said. We’ve been busy!” I laughed, feeling like this back-and-forth was becoming too ridiculous to be real. “Guess that’s just the way it goes, sometimes. Maybe you could ask Sherwood Square if they’ve got it in stock when you call about the calendar?”
The woman turned to me, and I swear I could see a glimmer of otherworldly possession in her eyes. If anything other than a farewell left her lips next, I was absolutely going to lose it. Not only had I reached the end of my rope, I was dangling off the end of it and swinging over a pit of hot lava. I had not a single fuck left to give.
Then, as if she could sense the fiery red anger seething just under my skin, she asked, “Do you think you could run and check the back for me really quick? I just really love that Sweet Cider Sunrise, and since I’m already here and all…”
The sight of her lipsticked smile and clumpy mascara shooting me the phoniest fake smile I’d ever seen was the cherry on top of the garbage sundae that had been this entire interaction. My nostrils flared, and I closed my eyes as I shot my arm out to the side and pointed toward the exit.
“Absolutely not. Get the hell out of here, lady,” I said, finally letting the bubbling anger within me rise to the surface.
“Really? You can’t talk to me like that!” She snapped back just before she began fishing through her massive bag in search of what I assumed was her cell phone. “In fact, I’m taking your picture, Holly, and sending it to your boss! They’ll hear all about how you refused to help out a paying customer.”
“You haven’t bought a single thing, ma’am,” I said in a mocking tone. If she wanted to get bitchy, I was ready and willing to get even more bitchy. “So, you’re hardly a paying customer.”
I threw up a peace sign as she squared up her phone before her to snap a photo. If she wanted to show my boss, I was at least going to live it up the best I could. The woman dropped her phone back in her bag as she marched toward me, her heels clicking against the clean tile of the store.
As she moved to pass me and return to the nearly closed-up, dimly lit mall, she grabbed my arm and gently squeezed. I pursed my lips and stared her down, unwilling to let this obvious crossing of a professional boundary send me to jail.
“It’s too bad you couldn’t find any of the Christmas Spirit this evening… A little kindness goes a long way this time of year.” She snickered, her voice cutting up and down in octaves like a warped vinyl record. “Unfortunately for you, your name was written plain as day on the Naughty List. And you know what? It’s time to pay the piper, Hollis Nash.”
Then, in an instant, the image of the woman peeled back, revealing the unnerving sight of a stark blue, transparent man dressed in old-fashioned night clothes. Fear locked my breath in my lungs, and I went absolutely rigid as the ghostly vision raised its free hand and snapped its fingers, sending us both into a spinning vortex of lights and sounds.
2
KRAMPUS
“Isn’t it just lovely to have the opportunity to see the sun like this?” a tiny voice said to me from inside the hood of my cloak. “To think how lucky we are to see the world like this—from the very absolute bottom of it all. The South Pole has truly outdone itself this day.”
“Whatever you say, Mister.” I shrugged.
The teddy bear pulled himself onto my shoulder and took a seat, resting his plush shoulder against my head, just below one of my horns. Mister Bear, as he was formally referred to, had been the reason I reluctantly left the castle to see the sun in the first place. This time of year, the sun was out all day, every day, but dim, like the light just before dawn. On a day like today, when the snow stopped raging, the sunlight sparkled on the snow. It was beautiful, but it also wasn’t enough to truly make anything better or to truly make me feel any better.
“I’ll never be able to understand how such a marvelous sight can go unappreciated.” Mister Bear sighed. “Honestly, Kramp, it’s like you wake up every morning and choose to be an absolute stick in the mud. It must be exhausting to be so miserable.”
“Who said I’m miserable?” I asked, rocking my shoulder just a smidge to give the bear a hard time. “I’m absolutely awestruck at the sun. Really. Such beauty, such wonder. Wow.” I kept my tone as monotonous as possible, knowing quite well that Mister wouldn’t be able to take the light banter. As much as the plush creature tried to portray himself as this beacon of lighthearted positivity, he sincerely could not take even the slightest hint of a joke.
I felt his plush bottom plop back into my hood.
“You know what? Fine,” Mister Bear lamented, sinking into the darkness of my cloak to mope. “Stay inside the castle forever, for all I care. Rot away with loneliness and depression year after year. Doesn’t matter to me. It’s no fray in my stitching. I try to be nice and get you out of the castle, invite you for a walk, and you choose to be a popped seam.”
I wasn’t going to admit it, but the teddy bear was right. As usual. The entire month of December was always difficult. The loneliness was staggering as I imagined the goings-on at the North Pole. I could picture Santa and his wife giggling over hot chocolate, the sounds of bustling elves, and the warm, fuzzy feeling of love and brotherhood filling the hearts of the entire community. The thought made my life of near solitude in the South Pole that much worse.
Mister had known me long enough to identify the ebb and flow of my inner turmoil and knew when it was time to push me to get the hell out of the castle—even if the only real place to go was a sleigh ride up to the ice cliffs to enjoy the view.
My hands absent-mindedly grasped the iron collar locked around my neck as I took a deep breath, looking into the precious, months-long sunrise. The weight of it had become as much a part of me as my own horns. It, just like my entire existence in the bleak, icy wasteland, had become a daily reminder that the course of my life was on an endless, repeating cycle. So, really, what was the point of appreciating a sunrise? What was the point of appreciating anything?
The castle below was a black, stony interruption on a sheet of thick, dusty snow. It was the only evidence of my presence here or anywhere, and I’d done my best to make it at least relatively comfortable. Although I was the only thing living in it that was truly and entirely alive. Of course, Mister Bear was there as well, along with all the other well-loved but discarded toys, but none of them seemed to have much in the way of complaints.
“You know, for someone who didn’t have much of an interest in admiring the beauty of our world, you sure are taking your time,” he groaned from inside my hood, still obviously frustrated with my attitude. “I thought getting out of the castle might be good for you, but if you’re going to be such a grump about it, we can head back. There is a book and a comfy chair calling my name whenever you’re ready.”
Before I could even come up with something snarky to say in return, the tarnished bell that hung from my collar jingled its dull jingle, and I felt the ice in the air penetrate my heart.
“Oh. Oh, dear,” Mister stuttered, hoisting himself back up onto my shoulder with as much urgency as the little stuffy could muster. “Seems a bit early this year, doesn’t it? I could swear they’re pushing it earlier and earlier in the month.”