Christmas Horror Story

Ari clicked her pen staring at the clock. Thirty more seconds. She glanced down to her finished stack of paperwork as Reo finally left his office. Right on schedule. She stood as he reached her desk, picking up his quiet good night Ari before he left the building. 8 pm. Always on time to clock out. She ducked down pulling out her street clothes and quickly changing before packing her bag and heading out the door. The holidays were upon them and they had so many thing she would need to get done. She pulled out her phone scrolling to find her list of things she needed to do.

Buy food. 

That could wait.

Buy Reo a gift.

He was somehow the last one on her list of people to buy for.

Reo a gift? She lowered her phone staring out into the streets. Reo a gift…anyone else was easy peesy to buy for. Reo? Ari never knew what to get. He was like a brother to her, she really enjoyed his company and talking to him and now here she was struggling to think of something he would like. A few years back when he first joined the guild he was so much easier to shop for. Now? Now he was so jaded he rarely talked to her anymore. What if she bought him something and he hated it? What if he just threw it away. Ugh. Christmas shopping was the worst. No no this holiday in its own was the worst. Ari took a deep breath bottling up her insecurities before stepping out into the crowd.

She could do this! Ari was born and raised to work under pressure, that’s why the guild liked her so much. Then how hard could a little Christmas shopping be? 

The department store she found herself in begged to differ. The place was chalk full of people doing last minute shopping like herself. Well Christmas wasn’t till a couple days but… this felt last minute enough to her. Ari slowly looked through remnants of fancy watched hoping she would find one that screamed Reo. But the more she looked the less hopeful she felt. Nothing screamed Reo. In fact they all screamed. “Hey Reo already has a watch. He doesn’t need two.” Three actually. Ari corrected mentally with a sigh. Last birthday she bought him one. She was pretty sure the present was still wrapped up in his desk. Her ears fell back, tail ducking between her legs. She was such a failure at shopping for people. Despite knowing them nearly her whole life. The pressure was building up but she had to keep her cool and keep moving. She wandered through the mall for at least thirty minutes just hoping something would scream Reo. But not a single thing popped up to her as perfect for him. What did Reo even need? 

Like herself Reo was well off. Being in this field paid well and Reo never needed anything. In the end he often ended up paying for more stuff for Ari over buying stuff for himself. The amount of times she vaguely mentioned how she wanted something then found it on her desk the next day. Reo cared. In his own weird way. He often pushed himself away but Ari kept fighting to stay put. She missed being his… well..family. That’s what they were right? Well that’s what they were when they first met. Back then Reo got hurt every other day. He was such a rebel in his fighting phase. But that was fine Ari enjoyed patching him up. It helped her improve her healing magic and strengthened the bond between the two. A bond that honestly felt like it didn’t exist anymore. Ari smiled wryly staring at a derpy looking cat plush. If only she could push her way back into his life. She picked it up noticing it had a voice recording option. That was useful and cute! But would Reo like it? Ari hummed to herself before deciding on purchasing that and a fancy pen she found for Reo. Best to get this over with. One Christmas horror all done!

Ari walked out of the store with a bag and snack in hand. A chocolate bar to ease her nerves. Her heart was still racing from all of that. Crowds…her worst enemy. She sat on the steps of the store taking slow bites of her treat as she stared mindlessly at the passing crowds. The sound of Christmas music tinkled out from speakers nearby and Christmas lights danced on every storefront. A quiet sigh as she reluctantly buttoned her tracksuit as it got colder. She hated winter. But that was a lie. She hated having to do the extra step of fully dressing before going outside. Ari huffed thinking about how badly she should invest in warmer clothes. But that was a waste of money in the end. It wasn’t cold all year and she could easily just deal with the weather. Ari was about to take another bite of her chocolate bar as two black shoes stopped in front of her. 

“Hey there cupcake~ whatcha doing out in the cold?”

A familiar voice. A person she absolutely hated and would rip to a thousand pieces if he dared to look at her wrong. She scoffed not lifting her eyes up to the other and focusing back on her to do list. “Why are you out here aren’t you a little too broke to be going Christmas shopping?” Soren laughed taking a seat next to her.

“Me? Christmas shopping? I only have one thing to get on my list and it’s you~” 

Ari had to catch herself to keep from smiling. That was cute. She sighed breaking off a bit of her chocolate bar and holding it out to him, “it’s nice to see you too, Soren.” Soren happily took the bit of food. The way he ate was similar to her. Her eyes slowly returned to her hands. The quicked hurried movements. Movements that only kids like that would’ve learned growing up. She looked back to her phone pushing that aside for a moment. Next on her list. Figure out where she’s going for the holidays. Right. Tomorrow was the start of their week off. And she would have to go… hm… where would she… Soren noticed her staring off into space and glanced to her phone as she did. On that little screen was a to do list. Starting all the way from her morning routine to now… Christmas shopping. His name was on her list of people to buy for. Really? Him? Soren's tail slowly wagged side to side before laying on top of Ari's. The last item on her list now. Find out where to spend Christmas. Did Ari not have a family? Why did that never hit Soren. Come to think of it he never once saw her talking to anyone that seemed related to her. Other than Reo he guessed. But he also never really pried into her private life. Another piece of chocolate was held out to him which he took remembering to say thank you this time.

“So. If you aren't Christmas shopping. What are you doing out here.” 

“Hehe. I was hoping to score with someone tonight since it’s supposed to snow. As much as I like snow I don’t wanna freeze to death.” Soren admitted rubbing the back of his neck. Ari almost laughed wanting to say that he wouldn’t freeze if he learned to put a shirt on. But she held back standing up and checking over her list again. Still had that one last item. And then she needed to get home and wrap things. Her fingers ran through her hair and tail slowly tucking between her leg again. This was so stressful for what?? If Reo celebrated Christmas she would’ve asked him but Reo was a master at keeping his work and home life separate. But what if he was like Ari? Someone that didn’t have a home life. She sniffed rubbing her eyes. She just wanted this holiday to be over with. All this stupid preparation for no reward. Braving crowds and struggling to find gifts when she never got anything in return. She hated Christmas. Ari turned back to tell Soren to stay safe but to her dismay she found he had already left. Oh… he probably has someone to spend Christmas with. Ari took a deep breath about to step forward as snow touched her nose. Ari slowly looked up to the sky snow falling onto her face as she did. Her ears tilted back and forth. Snow. A small break from the horror that was her Christmas list. She smiled catching a snowflake in her hand and watching it melt. This was the only part of this holiday she could endure… if only it was a little warmer. Her prayer was answered as a fluffy jacket was laid on her shoulder. Ari looked back to see Soren standing beside her. 

“Ah…whode corpse did you steal this off of?” Ari asked with a small laugh. She zipped up the jacket feeling much better with some actual clothes on. 

Soren however laughed at that. “Eh! I bought that for you! You looked cold. You’re welcome cupcake.” Soren pretended to be upset huffing and crossing his arms. Ari smiled and laughed with him. Ah perhaps she could…

“Hey. It’s supposed to get cold tonight. You wanna crash at my place? We can.. we can spend Christmas together… if you want.” Ari asked tapping her fingers together. She wasn't typically a nervous girl. She held herself well and was often stuck in whatever she believed was right. Soren blinked but smiled giving her a tight hug. Ari froze almost dropping her bag of Christmas presents and other goodies but somehow she managed to hold on through the shock of Soren touching her. 

“Thank you so much Ari.” Soren whispered pulling away. “I promise I’ll be a good kitty! You won’t even notice I’m there.” Soren nodded shutting his mouth before Ari found any reason to change her mind. 

Ari smiled shaking her head back and forth, “Alright then. I have one more thing to do on my list then we can go home. And remember this is just for this week so you're going to need to find someone else to crash with after all of this.”

“Alright will do! I promise this is just for the week. I’ll pick up another job by then to pay for a place to stay.” Soren promised to her rapidly nodding his head. Ari smirked rolling her eyes. He was such a big dummy. The bengal cat put her hands in her pockets walking on ahead to navigate the crowds. So many things to do and never enough time. She found the crowds to be the worst part of this holiday. Forget Christmas shopping! Crowds were terrible! Everyone waiting till last minute to grab things. Aha.. just like her right now… Ari paused finding Soren’s hand and letting him take the lead. Perks of having a tall scary companion. Everyone moved out of the way for him allowing quick and finally somewhat easy access to the grocery store. They stopped outside the doors. Ari looked down to her phone then back to Soren. 

“Um… so what does your family eat at the holidays?” Ari asked hoping Soren would spark some idea with what she should buy. Soren half smiled then looked away.

“Hah to be honest I haven’t spent a holiday with anyone in a really long time.”

“Oh… me too.” Ari sighed pulling out her phone again and typing in ‘easy holiday recipes’. Her future downfall. What Ari didn’t think of was their combined lack of cooking skills. But they went through the store buying all the ingredients listed for various things. And then a little more whenever Soren saw something he wanted. The bill wasn’t too bad. Or well not to Ari at least. She let Soren carry most of it as she navigated them back to the office to get her car. To be honest if he didn’t tag along Ari would probably had ordered take out for Christmas. Again. Ah.. last time she had a Christmas dinner was at a work party. Sadly they didn’t have one this year since Reo had ‘plans’. Plans her butt. Bet he was sitting at home or something. They carefully loaded the car before driving to her place. 

Ari was well off. She lived in pretty much a mansion with how big her house was for one person. Well originally she wasn’t the only one there. She was grateful that her father past the house down to her in the will. If only she had the sense to hire some help then maybe the house wouldn’t seem so lonely. She could definitely use a chef or a butler to cook her warm meals. But that seemed like such a waste of money… Now to cook. 

Ari stared at the recipe for a solid ten minutes. Chopping, mixing, baking… how bad could this be? 

That was an understatement. The biggest understatement Ari would ever think. the moment she thought they were done was when the chaos started. She told Soren to finish it up and put it in the oven. Easy right? How hard could it be to read a recipe? Right? Soren could read? Right?? Well she was wrong. Ari had fallen asleep on the couch getting a well deserved nap when she woke up to the smell of smoke followed by Soren panicking about something. Ari slowly got up walking to the sound of chaos but stopped in the doorway. Her ears fell again as she looked at the ruined food. A-h. 

“Soren…” Ari whispered slowly stepping forward and looking at the burnt to a crisp ham. And the probably shouldn’t touch that black apple crumble. 

“Aha Ari… uh…” Soren started. Was she asleep?? Was this a nightmare?? She reached out picking off a bit of the crumble and sniffing. First Christmas with someone was already a disaster. She wanted to cry. But she was too strong for that. No one cries over burnt food! It’s fine they can fix it. They can go out to the store and buy more. Ari started to the door grabbing her jacket and purse only to open the door and a pile of snow fall in. “Are you kidding me.” What a cruel joke this was. Ugh. Christmas. The worst holiday of the year. 

Ari slowly walked back to the kitchen. Her hopes for the holiday were dashed. “It’s ok. It’s just my bad Christmas luck. This holiday never goes well for me.” Ari mumbled into her hands. A sad… sad truth… Soren wanted to comfort her but he honestly wasn’t sure what to say. He swore he only looked away for a second and that happened. 

“Hey Ari…what if we just order in? I’ll pay since I screwed this up somehow ahha.” Soren said rubbing the back of his head. Ari slowly propped her head up before nodding. “And I’ll go pick it up too! You just stay here and keep warm. I’ll be back!” Ari watched him leave before looking back to the mess the pair had made in the kitchen. She sighed slowly cleaning things up before finding one dish had made it. Ari smiled almost laughing. It seemed Soren only knew how to cook one thing. 

“Mac and cheese. Really Soren..” but she smiled finding that cute of him. She may had just lived through her worst Christmas nightmare in the span of a few hours… not like any other Christmas ever went much better for her. At least a couple things had gone ok… for once at least she had some company over for the holidays…