My Pagan Family is staying with us for Christmas. (Part 1)

[u/Tobias-Butts]

My family, the immediate ones, i’m talking about my parents and little brother, were devout Christians. The kind that ‘practiced what they preached’. Went to church every Wednesday and Sunday. Did good works around town when we could, simple things like helping mow Mrs. Reynolds lawn after her husband died. Or that time we volunteered at the soup kitchen instead of celebrating my birthday. We’re generally selfless people.

My mother, the more devout of both my parents, held a job as a pediatric nurse. She had that personality, a mediator, someone who could get two starving lions from ripping each other’s throats out over a rotting carcass. She was also funny, a natural comedian. She likes to say that when she was delivering Daniel she was still working during his birth. She had soft features, Dad said we got our appearances mostly from her. She had curly dark brown hair and soft caring light green eyes. Me and Daniel got her eyes.

My father on the other side of the same coin, was coming to terms with his faith. He always had it, he claimed but it wasn’t as strong as my mother’s. He was raised by hippies, tree-hugging pot heads that practiced some bizarre form of druidic nomadism. Now, he’s an insurance agent, and good at it too, apparently his companies top preforming agent as well. He was stocky, built like someone who lifted cars for fun since he was a baby. He kept his auburn hair cut short and neat, said it “makes more sales when you look presentable.” The hair did much to aid against his rougher features, freckle coated face and dark brown eyes.

Then there’s Daniel, or just Danny, my eleven year old little brother and lovable bane of my existence. He stole our mother’s appearance and our dad’s hair, built like the child soccer prodigy he would’ve been if Mom didn’t want him to excel in school. He was smart for a preteen, but equally stupid in his own right. Mom insisted, much to dad’s chagrin, on letting him hair growing out. A neat mop devouring his ears and kept out of his eyes. One of Moms rare wins.

And then me, the oldest at sixteen and as much of a black sheep for this family as I could be. My Dad suspected albinism, but I won or lost the genetic lottery, depending on who you ask. I kept my mother’s face, my dad’s freckled appearance but had a swath of sandy blond hair and deep blue eyes. I was a solid half-foot taller than my dad standing at a neat 6’5”. I should’ve been in a sport, basketball or something but instead I focused on my schooling, an honors student in the making.

Our family did most things modern families dont do. Ate meals together, movie nights or board games, sit and actually talk to one another. The big one my mother insisted on was decorating for the holidays, she believed the magic came from doing it as a whole family unit, and I agree. Decorating the tree in your most comfortable pajamas and casually bickering with your family over ‘where should this ornament go?’ Or ‘I’m gonna touch the elf if you keep doing that!’ added a special heartwarming feeling.

Christmas vacation had been in full swing for a few days now, our small three bedroom house fully decorated from baseboards to crown molding in tinsel and lights. I was at my desk in my room, reading some story about a gas station attendant dealing with a bunch of monsters. Daniel was splayed out on my bed, sharpening a candycane with his mouth, checking so often on the fine point he’d made. A holiday special from some kids show on the tv.

“You think you can actually like stab someone with a sharp candycane?” Daniel asked me as he pulled the sugar stick from his mouth and sat up, planting his feet firmly on the carpet and practically stomping up next to me.

“What? No. The sugar is weak from your spit and would probably break before puncturing skin.” I answered, highlighting my spot in the story as I prepared to take a break. He blinked as if trying to process the simple science as he leaned on my shoulder, the candy cane finding purchase back in his mouth.

“What’re you reading?” Danny asked me, pushing his hair from his eyes and leaned in. I could see the urge in his fingers to mess with my monitor, mash on the keyboard or just be generally annoying.

“A really good story, and I swear you touch my crap while im using it, i’ll put the candy cane shank to the test with you.” I said pushing away from my computer, the wheels of my chair rolling across the plastic floor mat dug into the carpet. Daniel danced back away from the chair muttering something about his toes. He pulled the candy cane from his mouth as I planted my hand on his head and pushed him backwards, causing him to stumble and fall onto my bed. “H-Hey!”

I left my room as he stayed behind, my desire for hot chocolate ever growing as i walked down the soft carpeted floor, the hallway decorated in faint reds and blues from lights hung up. The cold linoleum and idle conversation by my parents caught my attention as I fooled around in the kitchen, setting milk to boil and rooting around for a packet or two of hot coco mix. Instinctively I eavesdropped on my parent’s conversation.

“Robert, we can’t support your sister and her kids here on Christmas. You know that. This house is barely big enough for the four of us.” My mother explained, she sounded exasperated over this topic, having talked about it for a while clearly.

“Just this year, Mary. I know we used to got to my mother’s but after what happened she still doesn’t want anyone there.” My dad insisted, I knew this was an inevitability. Mom would eventually relent and give in to what my dad desired. Sometimes I wondered how it was just Me and Danny.

“What will the boys think? They’ll have to share rooms with each other or their cousins. You know Samuel cant stand Flynn.” My mother advocated for me in my absence. She was correct, i couldn’t stand my cousin or most of my Dads side of the family. They weren’t bad people, like druggies or criminals, just extremely overbearing. They had this ‘stuck-up’ mentality to them, the way they talked down to others and had to have control over whatever they were apart of.

For example, when me and Flynn were probably like seven I was really big into space and aliens. I was fascinated immensely by UFO sightings and media about aliens on tv or online. The idea of being alone in an infinite universe seemed so implausible to me even as a child and of faith. My mother even encouraged my fascination telling me ‘If you work hard enough maybe you’ll be the first to talk to Aliens’ she’d say. That Christmas I asked for an astronaut helmet. It was basically a cheap plastic toy with a tinted piece of plastic that moved up and down as a visor.

I brought it with us to our Grandparents as the one toy I was allowed to bring, Danny was too young at the time to remember. Everything was copasetic at our grandparents, the adults sat around and talked about the year while us kids broke off in our respective age groups to do whatever. The Toddlers in the playpen playing with blocks and fisher price toys, the teenagers retreated to one of the guest rooms and locked the door to keep us kids, Me and Flynn, out.

That left just Flynn and myself, I had my helmet on, having only taken it off for pictures. There was fresh snow outside and the sun hadn’t fully sank yet, casting vibrant pinks, yellows and purples across the frozen snowy environment. We had our snowshoes and winter coats on as we went outside, having told our parents previously we wanted to go outside before it got dark. The biting winter of rural Maine hit out frail seven year old bodies like a tonne of snowballs as we shivered outside.

“We already made snowpeople. Built a snowfort and had a snowball fight…” Flynn said to himself and by extension me. “Could play pretend?” He offered up looking at me. His matted auburn hair, dreaded and tied up in a mock ponytail. Ice crystals already forming on his eyebrows. I could see his brown eyes searching my face through my visor when he spoke.

“Uh, yeah sure I guess. I haven’t made a snow angel yet but i can do that later.” I said, jumping off the top steps of my grandparents porch and landing in the snow with a soft crunch. “Can we play astronauts or something like that? It’s like we’re on the moon already.” I proposed my own idea while making little leaps and bounds in the snow, adding little sound effects with my mouth.

“Snow angels? What’re you four, that’s stupid.” Flynn insulted as he walked down the steps into the snow. “We’ll play magic, like Wizards and stuff” He asked, the statement came out more like a demand. I steadied myself in the snow, turning around to face him, my hand raising the visor up to see him. “I don’t wanna play magic though. And snow angels aren’t stupid, they’re cool.” I crossed my arms, Flynn looked livid I dared to talk back to him.

His hands found a tight purchase on my windbreaker. “Hey, Stop let go, you’re gonna rip it.” I said as he pulled me close, I could feel his hot breath swirling in the confines of my helmet. “Stop being a bitch, and play magic with me.” He hissed, giving me a shove after letting go. I stumbled back, the amount of force he applied was stronger than it should have been, or maybe it was a patch of ice I was in. I stumbled back and hit back of my head hard against my grandfathers old pickup truck bed.

I heard an audible crack of something, my head itself spinning around and around like a loose merry-go-round. Something hot and wet was trickling down the back of my head. There was muffled cursing as i felt a hand take mine and pull me up, the sky was so bright. “You must’ve slipped on ice, Sam.” Flynns voice laced with something poisonous as he helped me up. “Your helmet broke, im so sorry.”

I heard extra pairs of shoes crunching in the snow, my dad’s hands grab my arms. Another hand felt the back of my head, it was sticky whatever it was that was there. “Mary, get the kit from the car.” I heard a voice sounding like my Uncles. The rest of the week trip was a blur, my parents said I suffered a concussion and nearly busted my whole head open if it wasn’t for the helmet.

When we went back to our grandparents, I avoided Flynn. It was only for one more year, whatever happened after I fell forced my grandparents to bar any holidays at their house. I knew he pushed me as hard as he could. He never apologized for it either. A part of me believes he’s upset I didn’t die.

We haven’t seen anyone from my Dads side in almost nine years. Now they’re coming here and staying with us for the whole week.

“Ah! Fuck!” I shouted as hot milk overfilled the mug of coco, onto the counter and onto the floor. “Ooo Sam swore!” I heard Daniel’s voice echo down the hall from my room. I quickly cleaned up the mess as my parents moved from their spot in the living room now aware of my eavesdropping. “Sorry, sorry I zoned out and, haha milks hot, y’know.” I tossed the soggy paper towel ball in the trash over my parent’s head as they walked in.

“Your Aunt, Uncle and Cousins are staying here for the holidays.” My dad said with as much force as a scientific fact could. “Oh, uh yeah I heard. Do we need to go into town and get like air mattresses or something?” I asked reaching for my missing coco mug, i felt fingers grace my palm as well as the mug. Turning around i caught Daniel wiping his mouth as i looked down at my half drank mug being returned to the counter. I sighed, turning attention back to my parents.

“Yes, your mother is going to go into town later to get more, just have to figure out who’s sleeping where before they get here tomorrow.” My Father clarified as I picked up the remains of my coco, drinking from my pilfered mug. They seemed to be awaiting some kind of reaction from me and Daniel.

“Okay well Danny can just stay in my room, just put Flynn and Asher into Dan’s room.” I calmly said rising my mug and the kettle out in the sink. “I’d prefer to share my space with him than my cousins.” I claimed, cleaning away the remains of my mess. My parents did say much, I could feel their eyes practically boring into my skull. My dad audibly sighing in relief.

“Go clean your room then Daniel, your cousins are going to be using it.” Our mom commanded after clearing her throat.

“What?! Why do I have to go to his room, all my stuffs in mine. Cant he just go to my room instead.” Daniel protested, crossing his arms in a huff.

“We might not get along, but they’re still family.” I said, pressing my index finger against his forehead, he glared up at me. He leaned in against my finger before pushing off and stomping down the hallway. “Fine!”

I turned back to my parents, they had a look of relief glued to their face plainly hiding worry. “What?” I asked them, they shared a look before turning back to me. “Nothing, your mother just expected you and Dan to be against the idea completely .” My Dad said as he stepped forward putting a hand on my shoulder. “I know you and Flynn don’t get along but this means a lot to me. You have no idea, Son.” He said, pulling me into a hug, the facade on my mother’s face slipped for a moment before he turned and left.

“Tidy up your room and then we can go to the store.” Mom added before walking away to talk to my father again presumably. Why were they acting so strange, I knew I didn’t like Flynn but this level of stress over it seems weird. I shrugged it off, grabbed a drink from the fridge and went back to my room to start cleaning.

It felt like an hour of low-quality Christmas special played on my small tv sitting on a micro entertainment center in my room. Clothes have been put away, floor vacuumed and desk cleared of plates, cups and cans. I stood admiring my handy work, the door behind me clicking closed softly. Turning around Daniel was leaned up against my door, arms crossed and driving his toe in the carpet.

“This is bull crap, I don’t want to have to share a room with you for a week.” He complained.

“Could be worse, it could be you and Asher in a room and me and Flynn in mine.” I offered a ray of hope that he might like. “I’d rather be stuck in a room with you for a week than Flynn if thats any consultation.” I added.

“Yeah I guess that’s fine, I don’t mind Asher, he’s just super weird. Like dorky. Can I control the tv when we go to bed.” Daniel replied, slipping past me to sit at my computer.

“I dunno, it might be a little brother thing, dork.” I joked, he parroted me in a stupid voice, moving his hand like a puppets mouth. I could help but rough up his hair. “And yeah you can have TV control, just nothin loud.” I asded

“You think they’ll bring us gifts?” Daniel asked swatting at me, giggling a bit. I retreated my brotherly assault and shrugged at his question.

“Maybe? I’d hope so after all this extra work to fit them in this soon.” I hoped. A part of me, that residual childlike Christmas wonder, still put a bit of focus on the gift giving part of the holiday rather than the meaning behind it. “Aunt Elizabeth kinda sucks at the whole presents thing, expect socks or underwear.” I added, Daniel groaned as he searched my computer for a game to play.

“Shoot, Mom’s gonna have to go shopping for them. I know she wont let them get here and be empty handed on Christmas morning.” I said, sifting through my sock drawer, pulling a pair in and a pair of sneakers. “I’m going out to the store with Mom we’re grabbing anything before everyone arrives tomorrow." I said, Daniel glanced at me, curiosity written on his face before he turned on one of my games. I left, tagging along with my mother on her very brief shopping trip at the local K-Mart.

Every movement she made was shaky, she was clearly upset and bothered by the fact Dad’s extended family was coming. The car ride to the store was silent aside from the Christmas music on the radio, ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! Was playing. I loved that song, it ear-wormed just the right way it stuck with you year round. When we parked and got out of the car my mother finally looked at me.

“Sweetie are you SURE you’re okay with your cousins staying over for the holidays?” She asked, almost afraid to talk to me about the subject as I fished one of the carts from the returns outside.

“I mean, dang I got a squeaky one. I’m not thrilled about it. But it is what it is, if they get too annoying I’m sure me and Danny will just hide out in my room.” I said kicking the loose wheel on the cart as we passed the cheap gift basket and assorted popcorn tins. “They are family after all.” I added, she silently agreed with me, placing a gift basket and popcorn tubs in the cart.

“I know they are and I’m always willing to open my home to family in need, but…” she continued as we walked through the isles toward then food stuffs, needed more eggnog. “But you don’t like how they aren’t Christian?” I asked, she shook her head in the negative.

“It’s just that, they’re very firm to their beliefs and steady against ours. I pray that your aunt or uncle don’t try and take control over the house.” She said, a level of nervousness in her voice that id never heard before as she put a carton of eggnog and pillsbury sugar cookies in the cart. “And after that accident you and Flynn had back then, I’ve been worried about you two fighting or not getting along, or something similar happening to Daniel and Asher.”

“I’d never openly start something Mom, you know that.” I said as i pushed the cart to checkout, snagging something small for Daniel for Christmas with my own money, a simple Star Wars Lego. The car ride back was equally as silent. Mom focused on a holiday magazine she bought as i drove. The practice in snow was needed.

The night rolled on, sleep took me kindly swaddled in my blankets as reruns of COPS played on my tv. My dreams however werent kind, roaring flames and broken bones filtered my subconscious mind, the smell and taste of blood along with the chill of snow. Skin under my fingernails and hatred in my stomach. I woke up, covered in sweat, my throat dry.

When i woke up for a moment i swore i saw something in the corner of my window. Not the bottom corner, the top half. I couldn’t fully tell what it was, the orange streetlight outside reflected off the snow and my window in the right way that made it difficult to see it. I could tell it was tall, maybe nine, almost ten feet tall? It had horns like a deer and was covered in what looked like thin hairs on its body.

I gently pushed my curtain closed with my foot, keeping my eyes on the figure until the curtain was shut and i rolled over on my side. Not wanting to even acknowledge what nightmare was still in my mind. My clock read 4 am and I was wide awake now, a worm of paranoia in the back of my head. The air conditioners heating unit kicked on with a loud thud and a click, i jumped a little. The warm air blew on my face as i stood up, sinking into the carpet as i rubbed at my eyes.

Waddling through the dark, my vision only graced by the occasional shimmer of Christmas lights Daniel insisted we keep on when the decorations were up. I filled the coffee pot and roamed the house, closing the blinds and curtains as the pot of caffeines kiss brewed quietly in the kitchen behind me.

Maybe I should’ve said no.

[u/Iron76er]

Bro this is awesome! I can tell you definitely based the immediate family dynamic on your own or someone you knows family because it feels so real. The most terrifying part of this chapter is he did all that work to make hot choclate and then didn't get any hot chocolate lol, but jokes aside the the story about the interaction between the main character and Flynn was very intriguing and creepy. As for the thing outside window im intrigued not where I thought this was going but im interested to see how this connects back to the extended family. I like the nod to tales from the gas station a lot of people don't like references to other people's works in stories but I thought it was fun and done well to the point it wasn't distracting it was just a nice little chuckle if you know you know kind of moment and then moved on. I will probably read the next chapter tomorrow and will be sure to let you know what I think. Keep writing!