The Unholy Christmas pt 3

Bills and his friends walked endlessly through the cold while following the bike tracks that belonged to Georgie's bike. The more they followed them, the more they could point out any possible locations Georgie could be in. Suddenly, Bill realized that the path those tracks were leading to were close to his neighborhood. He started putting the pieces together of all the weird things Georgie's been doing for the last few days and realized that this was all planned. However, Bill wasn't quite sure, but the trail and what the guard told him did convince him. But still, he wasn't sure.

"Guys this trail leads b-b-back to my house." Bill said confused, but surprised.

"I know I noticed that too." Beverly spoke observing.

"And if we keep going, we might be heading to the park." Ben suggested.

"But Ale lives there, what does she have anything to do with this?" Richie asked.

"I don't know, but do you think she would have anything to do with this Bill?" Eddie asked.

"I haven't seen her since the l-l-last day of school, but I know Georgie likes to visit her house s-s-sometimes after school." he said.

"Guys I hate to say this, but what if this was planned?" Mike asked.

The group stopped and looked at Mike confused.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked.

"Think about it. Georgie likes to visit Ale after school right? Well what if she said something that would cause him to leave the synagogue? Like...remember the time Georgie told us all about how demons kill twelve people and their families would fight for the bigger pieces on Thanksgiving day? Well what if demons celebrate Christmas differently too? I mean what if they celebrate something so different and dangerous, that it cause Georgie to plan all this?" Mike explained curiously.

"It does make sense." Bill agreed.

"How?" Eddie asked.

"Well... after Georgie c-c-came home from school, he asked mom if we had a extra Christmas tree. When she said yes, he ran into his r-r-room and stayed in there until mom called him out for dinner and help decorate the Ch-Ch-Christmas tree. Then over the past few days, Georgie would insist that he stay h-h-home while dad was at work and me and mom were out sh-sh-shopping for gifts. Then a few days later, he just stopped. Like he started going o-o-out shopping with us and helped get some g-g-groceries to make Christmas dinner. I thought he was just going through some sort of ph-ph-phase since this would be our first Christmas without grandma, but I didn't think s-s-something like this was gonna happen." Bill admitted.

The group kept walking until they stopped in front of Bill's house, and looked over at the footprints and bike tracks to see where they were leading to. They followed the trial until it led them to the back of the house. The group stopped and looked at Bill confused.

"Bill, is there anything in the backyard Georgie could go into?" Mike asked.

"Hmm...there's a shed in the b-b-backyard." he spoke.

"Okay what's in it?" Beverly asked.

"Just some extra t-t-tools my dad keeps in c-c-case if any of them get b-b-broken." Bill said thoughtfully.

The group looked at each other confused. Neither one of them couldn't think that there were just tools in that shed, but then again, no one has really ever been in that shed. They continued to follow the bike tracks and footprints until they reached the shed door. The door was unlocked and it was cracked, but the group realized that there were secondary tracks on top of the footprints. They looked at Bill.

"Bill, is there anything else in there besides tools?" Beverly asked.

Bill thought hard to remember, but he hasn't been in that shed since he was five years old. Suddenly, Bill's mind flickered a small memory; one he thought he'd forgot.

"There's a w-w-wagon." Bill said realized.

"Really? REALLY?! You're just telling us this?!" Richie said angerly.

"I haven't been in that sh-sh-shed since I was five years old. Give me a b-b-break alright." Bill snapped.

While Richie and Bill were arguing and Beverly, Eddie, Ben , and Stanley were trying to calm them down, Mike analyzed the shed to figure out what had happened. He built a mental picture in his head to better understand the whole point of this.

"Okay so Georgie comes around here and gets the wagon. He chains it up with his bike, walks to the road and rides down somewhere, but where?" Mike wondered.

He looks at the tracks and then looks at where it leads to. Mike realized that while he was going around back, he saw more bike tracks leading somewhere down the road. But he needed to figure out what Georgie had in that wagon, then it hit him.

"Hmm I wonder." Mike thought.

He tapped Bill's shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey Bill, after your grandmother died, what did your parents do with her belongings?" Mike asked.

"Well my parents sold her f-f-furniture and some stuff they didn't need to charity's and p-p-pawn shops and the stuff we did keep is in the a-a-attic." he said.

"Why?" Eddie asked.

"Think about it. Georgie obviously knew that a wagon was in that shed, so what if he also planned to stay home while Bill and their mother were out shopping and their father was at work? If he knew that there was a extra Christmas tree and decorations, than he must've waited for the perfect opportunity to sneak into the attic to take them. Then Georgie places the decorations into the wagon and waits until Christmas eve to retrieve them. Than he takes the wagon, attaches it to his bike with a chain, takes it to the road and rides off somewhere down the street. Does this whole thing sound like this was planned?" Mike explained curiously.

The group looked at each other, agreeing that the whole thing was planned and that Ale could be playing a part into it. Bill looked down with certainty, but wondered if the whole thing could've been something else.

"It makes sense. We did have to leave out a few o-o-ornaments this year since mom and d-d-dad brought home grandma's C-C-Christmas decorations. There were so many that we had to pick the o-o-ones we really liked and leave the rest b-b-back into the box until next year." Bill said understandably.

"Did you notice any of the decorations going missing?" Beverly asked.

"No I haven't been in the attic recently." Bill admitted.

"So how do we even know if there's any Christmas decorations in that wagon?" Ben asked suspiciously.

"Simple follow me!" Mike instructed.

He signaled the group to follow him and so, they followed him until they approached the road. They looked around to see if anything had fallen out from the wagon until the notice a dark blue ornament in the snow. Bill approached it, grabbed it by the string, and looked at it to see if anything was broken. Luckily the ornament was in one piece. The group got closer to examine the ornament, but noticed that Bill had a surprised look in his eyes and had his hand cover his mouth. After a few moments, he removed his hand from his mouth. Beverly looked at Bill confused and worried.

"Bill, what's wrong?" she asked.

"This...this sh-sh-should've been in the box with all the other o-o-ornaments. Georgie... Georgie has been stealing d-d-decorations, but why?" he asked in disbelief.

"I don't know, but if Ale is involve and if she'd said something that scared Georgie for no good reason, than boy are gonna have a talk about her idea of a joke." Eddie comforted.

Bill stared at the ornament for a long time. Memories of his grandmother doing a special ceremony and placing the ornament in the middle of the tree made him smile warmly and almost shedding a tear.

"You know, whenever g-g-grandma placed this on the tree, she used to tell us all about how this ornament would keep p-p-precious memories. She said that our memories were kept in this ornament like a d-d-dream catcher and that if we ever forgot a special m-m-moment, than it could use its magic to s-s-spark those memories." he smiled.

While the others were comforting Bill, Mike looked ahead at the bike tracks to see where they were leading to. They tracks went down the road and made a left turn. Mike turned back to the group and signaled them over.

"Hey Bill, is there anything specific or remote Georgie would go to?"

"Well there's the park." he suggested.

"But there are so many entrances and exits, it'll take us hours to find him." Eddie argued.

"Not unless we search for the "safe zones" Georgie mentioned. Perhaps he rode through one of those routes since he has a wagon and the wires on the trees aren't high enough for him to avoid them. I suggest we search at the entrance by the quarry." Stanley suggested.

"But that's 20 blocks from here, we'll never get there in time." Eddie argued.

"Don't worry I know a shortcut from here. Bill, do you think you can use your bike to follow the trail?" Mike asked.

"Sure and i'll see if I can find this s-s-safe zone Georgie mentioned." he promised

"Alright it's getting cold and it's getting late. Our parents will be wondering what has become of us." Ben warned.

"Well then come on." Mike urged.

Bill nodded and ran to his bike. Mike signaled the rest of the group to follow him and ran down the street on the opposite side of the bike tracks. Bill grabbed his bike, shook the snow off of it, and got on it. He rode off down the street and followed the bike tracks to see if they lead to somewhere else.