That evening, Martha remained quiet at dinner. Her parents quickly took notice.

"Martha? Anything exciting happen today?" Her father, Mortimer, asked.

"I made some new friends." Martha replied bluntly.

"Oh, that's good." Felicity said. "Anything else?"

Martha paused, remembering the bullies and the dare they had given her. Martha was always honest with her parents, but she couldn't tell them what she had been dared to do. Who knows what'll happen?

"Nah, nothing much. We just played a few games and got to know one another more." Martha lied.

"How nice." Mortimer said.

After dinner, Martha and her parents got ready for bed. Just as Martha climbed into bed, Felicity came in.

"You know Martha, if there's anything that's bothering you, you can always come to us." She said.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm fine, really." The little girl said.

"Well… okay, if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Okay. Goodnight, sweetie."

"Goodnight, mommy."

Felicity gave Martha a quick kiss on the cheek, tucked her into bed, and turned off the lights just before she went out the door. The moment her mother was gone, Martha hopped out of bed and checked the clock on the wall; it was just about 10:00. She grabbed her backpack and camera and quietly snuck out the door to get her winter clothes and anything else she'll need. She grabbed a flashlight and some chocolate bars and stuffed them into her bag before grabbing her coat, hat, scarf, and boots. Martha then went out to the garage and grabbed the sled she brought with her along with a hockey stick, just in case she needed them. And then, she was on her way.

Martha rode her sled through the streets of Whoville, hoping nobody would wake up and see her. Then she made it to Mr. Bricklebaum's house and noticed that the lights were off; she sighed in relief, realizing he was asleep. As quietly and carefully as possible she snuck past the house, but it was rather difficult to stay quiet with all of the snow crunching under her feet.

'Wow. This is probably the loudest snow I've ever heard in my life.' She thought just as she safely made it across.

Martha then looked up and saw the mountain in front of her; it was much bigger than she thought it would be. She took her flashlight out of her backpack, turned it on, took a deep breath, and with her sled in tow, she went forward. She walked through the snow with her flashlight in hand, looking for signs of anything out of the ordinary.

"Um… Hello! Mister Monster! Yoo-hoo! A nice, plump, tasty little girl right here!" She nervously called out before checking her wrist watch; it read 11:50. "It's ten minutes to midnight! Where are you? Oh! And if you're still hungry, I've brought a few sweets with me. I hope you like chocolate."

The winter wind howled and Martha froze; it almost sounded like a raspy voice. She gulped and continued to walk.

'I'm just surprised there aren't any gates or fences up here to keep anyone out. People could get lost out here… I could get lost.' She thought, realizing the seriousness of her predicament.

She went further and further up, nervously humming a Christmas song to herself. By now, she had taken out her camera and was snapping a few pictures here and there. Then she checked her watch again.

"Hmmm. 3, 2, 1… midnight!" She cried out triumphantly. "Ha, I knew it! I was right! There is no monster! Take that, Tina, and all your ilk! Whatever that means."

Suddenly, Martha jumped and froze at the sound of a stick snap. She turned and shined her flashlight around, trying to find the source of the sound. There was nothing there. Another stick snapped, only it sounded much louder than earlier. She turned in the direction of the snap and saw a red and green plaid scarf hanging from a lower branch of a pine tree. Confused and slightly frightened, Martha reluctantly went over to the tree and took the scarf off of the branch. She inspected it curiously, wondering where it had come from. Coming to the conclusion that someone from Whoville must've lost it up here, she shrugged, put it over her shoulder, and decided to find the owner in the morning. But just as she was about to walk away, she heard a tiny sneeze followed by an unfamiliar voice muttering 'Gesundheit'.

She gasped in fear and took out her flashlight and camera. She looked around before reluctantly looking up and her eyes widened in terror. There, sitting in the branches of the pine tree, was a large creature with green fur that was giving her a deer in the headlights look like she had never seen before. She screamed at the creature; it screamed back at her as the camera flashed, temporarily blinding it. The creature was so surprised that it suddenly slipped and fell down the tree until it landed right at Martha's feet.

She took a few steps back, unsure of what she was actually viewing before her eyes. This Monster of Mt. Crumpit was real; it was really real. The creature groaned in frustration and stood up, shaking the snow from its fur and red and white striped scarf around its neck; a little dog with brown fur suddenly came out from behind the tree and hid behind the creature's legs. The dog barked in Martha's direction and the creature turned its attention to the terrified little girl. It scowled at her.

"A-a-a-a-are y-y-you the-the-the-the-the… the Monster of Mt. Crumpit?" Martha stuttered in a trembling voice.

"…You've heard of me?" The creature asked; judging by the voice, Martha could tell right away that this creature was male. She nodded, taking another step back. "You're not from here, are you?"

She shook her head.

"I can tell. I recognize pretty much every face in this sickeningly sweet town and I've certainly never seen you before. So who are you? Why are you here? And what do you want?"

"I don't want anything, I promise. I-I-I-I was just, um…"

"You were what? What are you doing on my land? Answer me."

He took a step closer to Martha; she took another step back.

"I was… looking for…" She trailed off before looking at the green and red scarf; she had a horrifying thought. "…What did you do?"

"Give it to me, it's mine." The creature demanded, holding out his furry hand.

"No! Stay away from me. I know what you want."

"Ugh, just give me the scarf."

"NO! I'm not falling for your tricks. You can't scare me."

"Oh really?" He paused and smiled a wicked smile at her. "…BOO!"

Martha screamed, causing her to stumble back and fall onto her sled. Somehow, the plaid scarf had tangled itself around her arm and it managed to get caught on the sled… and Martha's abrupt movements caused the sled to move and slide down the snowy mountain; the girl screamed as she rode down and down. The stranger paused and watched the out of control sled go over bumps as it went down.

"Well… that worked out nicely." He said smugly. "Come on, Max. Let's go. Looks like our work here is finished."

Before the creature could walk away, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right leg. He looked and saw the dog, Max, biting his right ankle… and the little guy was holding on tight.

"What are you doing, you stupid dog?! I'm not a chew toy!" The creature yelled as he tried to make the little canine let go. "Stop it, Max! Get my foot out of your mouth! You have no idea where it's been!"

"HELP ME! Somebody, anybody!" Martha shrieked in the distance.

The creature looked down at Max who was looking at him with big pleading eyes; he paused again before letting out an annoyed groan.

"I cannot believe you talked me into this." He said as Max let go; he went over to another pine tree and with his own bare hands, he ripped a huge piece of bark off of the trunk like it was nothing. He then proceeded to use it as a sled to ride down after little Martha; Max quickly jumped on behind his owner.

This was the ride of Martha's life and she didn't like it one bit. The first push felt like the initial drop of a roller coaster; her stomach flew into her throat, she felt weightless and out of control as well as trapped. She screamed louder than she had ever screamed before and she tried to stop and get herself free from her restraints, but it was all in vain. The scarf was wrapped tight around her arm and the sled and it was picking up even more and more speed.

She started to cry.

"Why did I even come up here? Why did I have to be so cocky? Why did I have to take that stupid dare?!" She wailed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I was just going to ask you that!" A voice yelled.

Martha's eyes flew open and she saw the stranger and his dog riding the tree bark right beside her. She gasped at the sight of him.

"Gimme your hand!" He called.

"No!" Martha objected in fear.

"Ugh! Kid, this is no time to be difficult! Just give me your hand!"

"I can't, I'm stuck!"

"Then untie the scarf!"

"I can't reach it!"

The creature then leaned to his right and reached out his hand to try and grab the scarf, but Martha pulled away from him.

"Don't touch me! I'm not letting you take me up to your cave so you can eat me!"

"I don't want to eat you! I'm trying to save your life!"

"Liar!"

"I don't have time for this! Just—"

Before the stranger could finish his sentence, Martha's sled suddenly hit a huge bump in its path and it sent her flying into the air. Martha screamed even more as she went higher and higher, but she managed to untangle the scarf from her sled and she was finally free. Thinking fast, the creature turned the piece of bark around and held his arms out wide open, hoping to catch her. He was so caught up in trying to help the little redhead that he didn't even notice his dog had jumped off and safely landed in the snow. Martha flew through the air and closed her eyes, waiting for the worst. But instead of crashing into a pile of snow or a tree, she landed right in the creature's arms. She opened her eyes and looked up at her savior in shock, unsure of what to say. Then she took a quick glance behind him and gasped.

"Watch out!" She cried.

"Huh?" The stranger asked.

"No, behind you!" Martha yelled, pointing a finger behind him.

He turned his head and his green eyes widened the moment he saw a huge slope just near the frozen lake… and they were heading right towards it. They both screamed in terror as they flew into the air, over the lake, dove right through an open window, and crashed into a huge pile of boxes, tissue paper, and bubble wrap. They landed in the Whoville Post Office. Max went around the lake and ran into the post office, to see if there was any trace of his owner. After sniffing around, Max jumped back when he saw his owner and the little girl emerge from the wreckage they caused. Martha heaved a heavy sigh.

"Whoa…" She muttered.

The creature groaned and stood up before cracking his sore back. He looked at Martha and furrowed his brow at her.

"Give me that back!" He yelled, snatching the plaid scarf from her hands. "Don't you know you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you? What the matter with you? Are you some kind of wild animal? Hmmm?"

"No." Martha replied as she tried to stand up, but she stopped when she felt a small pain in her leg. "Ow!"

"Ugh, what now?"

"My knee hurts."

"Oh please."

"No, really; I mean it. It really hurts. Ow."

The creature rolled his eyes and picked her up before heading over to a nearby table and saying, "Okay, let's have a look."

He turned on a lamp and took a look at Martha's left leg. There was a hole in her pajama pants and underneath was a fresh scrape on her knee; luckily, it was just a little cut, nothing too serious. Rolling his eyes, he picked up some snow from outside and rubbed it onto her injured knee.

"What are you doing?" Martha asked.

"Just cleaning up your wound." He said before tearing off a small part of the plaid scarf and tying it around her leg. "There, good as new. The pressure applied should slow down the bleeding."

"Wow." Martha looked at him in surprise as he picked her up and set her back down onto the floor.

"I know what you're going to say, and don't mention it. Let's get outta here, Max." He turned around and headed towards the door with Max following close behind.

"Thanks for saving me, by the way." Martha said, which made the stranger abruptly stop in his tracks and slowly turn around to face her.

He snarled at her. "Saving you? Is that what you think I was doing?"

She nodded.

"Ah-ah-ah…" He wagged a finger at her before grabbing hold of some wrapping paper from a dispenser from the wall; he approached her with a wicked smile, still clutching the paper. "I merely noticed that you weren't properly packaged, my dear."

She gasped. The stranger ripped the paper from the wall and violently wrapped it around Martha's tiny body. She shrieked and cried out, trying to get free.

"Agh! Hey, stop it!" She yelled.

"Hold still! Max, get me some more tape! And pick out a bow while you're at it!" The stranger demanded; the dog barked and did as he was told.

"Quit it, please!"

"Stop wiggling so much!"

"I can't help it! Your fur tickles!"

At the Whovier's vacation home, the doorbell rang. Felicity and Mortimer begrudgingly woke up and went downstairs to see who it was. When they opened the door they were surprised to see a moving bundle wrapping in shiny red and pink paper and silver and white ribbons wriggling and moving about on their doorstep.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Martha's voice called.

"Martha May?!" They cried as they picked up their daughter.

They ripped the paper and untied the ribbons and Martha was finally free. She breathed and looked up at her parents.

"Mom, dad! You'll never guess what—" She started.

"Martha May, what in the world happened to you?" Felicity scolded.

"How did this happen?" Mortimer demanded, picking up his daughter and taking her inside.

The moment they were inside, Martha told them about the bullies and the dare… and even the creature she encountered. The dare and bullies they believed, but Felicity and Mortimer didn't believe a word about the creature. They thought it was just the bullies trying to intimidate her, so they told her to not listen to them anymore.

Martha tried to convince her parents that the Monster was real, but they were having none of it. They immediately sent her to bed without another word. Martha sat alone in her bed, thinking about everything that just happened to her that night… and all on her first day in Whoville. She then took a little red book out of a suitcase, opened it, grabbed a pen, and began to write.

"Dear Diary,

You'll never believe what just happened to me. I arrived in Whoville and I made a few friends, which is great, but a group of bullies came up and dared me to go up to Mt. Crumpit tonight and take a picture of a rumored Monster. I thought it was just a story meant to scare me, but then… I realized the story was all too real. I met the Monster and he was horrifying. Then I got stuck on my sled and went down the mountain at top speed. I couldn't stop, but then out of nowhere, the Monster just swooped in and tried to save me. Then we crashed into the Post Office, he cleaned up a scratch on my knee, and he was about to leave before I thanked him for saving me. But he stopped and looked at me; I'll never forget that face he pulled. It looked sinister, almost crazy; it really frightened me. And the next thing I knew, I was on the doorstep of my vacation home all wrapped up in ribbons and paper like a Christmas present. I told my parents, but they didn't believe me about the Monster and they told me that I would never discuss it again.

But there's still one thing I don't get. If this Monster really is so bad… then why did he save me? Maybe he isn't so bad…"

She looked at the pictures she managed to rescue before looking out the window at the night sky, not sure of what to do next. That stranger is still out there, and she knew she really didn't want to get on his bad side again if she ever crossed paths with him a second time.