Chapter 32
The next day, Max opened the advent calendar door to DEC 24th, revealing an eerie illustration of Santa himself. Even though it was daytime it was still dark. Now almost completely swallowed by snow drifts. Gnarled icy trees crackle like bones. It might be morning but it's still completely dark out, as if the sun itself has died. The fire crackles. No one can sleep. It's too cold and everyone is too scared. They don't know if what they did to Mary worked or not but they knew there was a good chance it didn't. A grandfather clock quietly ticks away. Exhausted from crying, Linda leans against Sarah. Tom and Howard keep watch at the windows, but Howard is still devastated, clutching his son's tiny shoe. Shivering from the cold, Aunt Dorothy wraps her scarf around the baby. "There you go, like a fat little pig in a blanket - oink oink oink." The baby laughs. Dorothy suddenly catches Sarah staring. Surprisingly, Sarah smiles warmly... and Aunt Dorothy returns the gesture. A silent but meaningful reconciliation.
Still in shock, Stevie and Jordan look up to find Max holding a bag of candy. "From my Halloween stash. There's no way in hell you're touching my sisters." A peace offering long overdue, the girls take some though Max was still bitter about what happened to his twin sister. Tom is lost in thought, staring at the Christmas stockings. At Beth's and Mary's in particular. A long quiet beat until-POP! Everyone jumps and grabs whoever's closet for dear life... But it was just the firewood cracking. Tom looks at his arm: Howard is still clinging breaks the tension with some bad news. "We're almost out of firewood." Tom solemnly nods, then notices something: the Grandfather Clock has stopped ticking. Tom looks at his family, on the verge of falling apart. With grim determination, he heads for the kitchen...
In the kitchen, Tom rummages through a junk drawer and pulls out a street map. Sarah pads in and pours some very cold coffee, hands trembling so badly she spills it all over the counter.
She starts wiping it up when Tom stops her and takes her hands in his. "When they took Howie... what did you see in there?"
Sarah stares into her coffee, unable to say it out loud. Her mind still struggling to make sense of it. "You believe her, don't you? That story?" Tom doesn't answer, but his face says he might. "I...I'm going out there to find Beth, Tom. I have to. I don't care if I die trying, I can't sit around here-to it."
Tom said, "I know. Grab Howard and Linda. I have an idea."
In the attic bedroom, Linda sits on the attic floor, sorting through the charred Christmas gifts salvaged from the living room. Some need fresh wrapping, others are melted into goo. Linda fights back her despair while Chrissy gurgles nearby. "That's right, honey, there's still hope." Linda then comes across the parchment-wrapped ornate gifts, the ones that were on the porch when the FedEx guy came. They're half-burned but she optimistically keeps them.
"Linda?" Linda turns to her sister, trying to stay upbeat.
Linda asked, "Hey, do you have any superglue?"
Sarah replied, "Yeah, maybe... Hey, could we talk to you and Howard for a second?"
Linda asked, "Can it wait? I really want to rewrap these. For the kids."
Sarah said, "It's important."
In the living room, Max translates as the girls fire off questions. This is the most attention Omi has gotten from her grandkids in years. Jordan asked, "But what if you were good all year?"
Stevie asked, "And you leave out milk and cookies and do everything else right?"
Omi replied, "Es ist nicht das, was Sie tun, aber was Sie glauben. Was Sie schon aufgegeben. Hier."
Max translates. "It isn't what you do, but what you believe. What you've given up..." He points to his heart. "In here." Omi looks right at Max when she says this... and Max notices.
Stevie said, "But can't we make him go away? We send Mary to him."
Omi answers but Max has trouble understanding. Jordan asked, "What's she saying?"
Max answered, "I'm not sure, she—"
Aunt Dorothy says, "She says we're fucked."
Omi shrugs in confirmation. Max asked, "How'd you—"
Aunt Dorothy said, "Because I'm old enough to know when life is comin' at you with its pants down and dick out." Then she sighs. "And after what we did to Mary, we deserved it." Kids look at each other - gross.
In the kitchen, Tom plunks keys onto the counter. Howard recognizes them. "The snow plow?"
Tom said, "It was beat to hell, but if it still runs I can drive it back here, then everyone piles into the car and follows while I clear a path in front of us."
Linda asked, "And go where?"
Sarah points to a map. "The MegaMart doubles as an emergency shelter. That might be why they still have power. If that's empty, we try the police station."
Linda asked again, "And if they're... gone?"
Tom answered, "We keep driving until we see some lights. People, plowed road, somewhere safe for the kids."
Sarah added, " And then we'll come back with help. For Beth and Howie."
Howard looks at Linda, uneasy. But Howard then realizes. "Hang on, you're not talking about going for the plow by yourself, are you?"
Tom nods, eyeing Howard's injured leg. "Shepherd's gotta protect his flock."
In the attic bedroom, one of the ornate boxes starts moving. Something inside throbs and undulates. Other gifts follow, twitching like eggs about to hatch. Outside more snowmen were filling the yard, all more monstrous than ever. All staring at the house.
In the living room, Max uses the binoculars to look for Mary. She wasn't there. Behind him, Omi tends to the fire. Frozen trees... the yard... and then that strange glow on the distant horizon. The same flicking lights of the MegaMart Tom saw earlier. Max stares at the lights, his curiosity growing...he looks at the dark houses across the street until he sees a huge figure perched on the roof. Max gasps- fumbles with the binoculars - but when he looks outside again, the hunched figure is gone. Max blinks, wondering if he imagined it, but knows he probably didn't...
At the fireplace, Stevie reaches into a stocking looking for something to eat. Nothing. She moves to the next stocking, not noticing that something deep inside is moving. Twisting and turning. Stevie's hand reaches deeper... deeper... getting closer when a hand lands on her shoulder. She whirls around in surprise and points a motorized spinning lollipop at her sister. "WHAT JORDAN?!"
Jordan said, "I think Aunt Dorothy clogged up the shitter."
Stevie said, "So use the one upstairs." Jordan bites her lip, hesitant. "What? You afraid to go by yourself?" She groaned. "Jesus. C'mon."
They grab flashlights and leave - not noticing as something small darts through the shadows behind them... At the same time, something moves through the air ducts, accompanied by the pitter-patter of tiny feet. The thing darts and weaves, following the sounds of echoing voices until it finds the adults talking in the kitchen. The thing spies through the vent as they look over a map of the town. Tom said, "The plow's only three blocks away."
Linda said, "Yeah but three blocks will feel like three miles in this mess."
Howard asked, "And what about that thing under the snow?"
Tom answered, "We hurt it once. We can do it again."
Linda asked, "Have you guys told Max."
Sarah said, "No. Not yet..."
Behind them, a knife rises towards the ceiling air vent, suspended by a long ribbon, hoisted by something unseen. Chrissy spots it and starts pointing, but by the time Linda turns around, the knife has already vanished into the vent...
Upstairs, Stevie shivers, anxiously waiting for Jordan outside the bathroom. Stevie asked, "You giving birth in there or what?" In the bathroom, Jordan was crying as she stares at a photo of Howie eating a cheeseburger as big as his head. Suddenly - PITTER PATTER PITTER PATTER - from the air vents. Jordan freezes. Listens closer, but hears nothing. She finishes and stepped out. "You done?" Jordan nods when they both hear a muffled voice coming from the attic. The words are unclear, but it sounds like... "Beth...?" The girls approach the attic staircase. Listening. "Beth? You up there?"
A long silence. Uncomfortably long. And then. "Stevie? Jordan? What are you doing?" It is Beth. As clear as day. The girls smile, happy to hear her cousin's voice. Head upstairs.
Jordan smiled. "Sacrificing Mary did more than made our vacation better. Where've you been? Everyone's freaking out—" But there's something off about Beth's voice. Unnatural. The girls ascend into the shadow attic. The candles Linda lit earlier are still burning, casting shadows on the wall. "Where are you?"
"Over here." The girls follow Beth's voice to the PILE OF BURNED GIFTS Linda was re-wrapping. Then they notice something odd...the ornate gifts. They're open. Ripped and shredded from within, like something clawed and chewed its way out. "No peeking before Christmassss..." Startled, the girls spin around. And then they SCREEEEAM.
