Wreath

A holiday-themed horror micro-fiction story

Wreath

By Paige Garland

The woman clipped several branches from the evergreens behind the house. She was going to make a wreath. She shook the snow off the branches and then stuck them in a cloth bag. The chain which she had sewed onto it dragged in the snow; she’d use it to close the bag once she had everything.

She also needed bare branches, to make the wreath’s decorations. She struggled through the heavy snow to the dead trees further back. Once done, she used the chain to close up the bag and made her way home.

The woman’s daughter sat by the fireplace, her mind playing through her next scheme when the door opened. The woman put the bag on the kitchen table, opened it, and took out its contents.

“What’s that for?” The daughter asked.

“A wreath,” her mother replied.

“Is it for Santa? So that he knows to comes here?”

The woman’s mouth curved into a strange smile. She answered, “Something like that.”

The woman made the wreath. For the decorations, she tied pairs of bare branches together and placed them onto the wreath. The girl came to the table and frowned.

“Why does it have horns on it?”

“Because you’ve been very bad this year. You burned all our money. Now your father’s gone because he has to work all the time to re-build our savings. I’m telling Krampus to come for you.”

The girl stood there, speechless. The woman took the wreath and the bag outside, placing the wreath on the door and the bag on the doorknob. When she tried to go back inside, she found her daughter had locked her out.

Hours later, a demonic figure with cloven hooves and horns appeared. She wondered if she was delirious from the cold but knew it was real when he took the bag and kicked her door in. Seconds later, she heard her daughter scream as he stuffed her in the bag.

The woman forced her frozen muscles to move. She went inside and warmed herself by the fire in the now empty house.

Wreath

© Paige Garland, 2024

All rights reserved.