Dark Shadows Christmas Special: A Cold December

The wind blew harshly against the windows of the house, threatening to rip the roof off the home. Inside the house, a mother and her children sat inside near the fire, wrapped up in blankets. The younger child shivered, her mirrors folding close to her body next to her human sister.

“Momma? When’s daddy coming home?” the small car asked.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. He called before he left work, and that’s the last I heard from him,” the mother responded, “I’m sure daddy is fine,” The mother was trying to convince her two daughters of that, but more so herself of just that. An hour prior, her husband had called saying that he was leaving the police station and was on his way home. The woman tried to calm her racing thoughts.

He probably got stuck in traffic.

Maybe an accident.

The wind is blowing pretty hard, maybe he can barely see and is taking it slow.

What if—

The tv that had been playing quietly in the background changed from its happy commercials to the newsperson saying words that the mother was dreading hearing.

“There’s been an accident in Diemont Metropolis. First responders are on the scene. It’s a five-car accident and first responders have Diemont Highway shut down to one line while they investigate the crash site. Any witnesses are asked to come forward with any information,” the newsperson said.

The mother’s heart dropped just as her phone rang. She looked and saw that the police chief’s name was displayed on her phone. She gulped and picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she greeted.

“Hello Natalie, how are you this evening?” the chief asked.

Natalie chuckled, “Could be worse I suppose. Why are you calling?”

“I wanted to—”

The phone then went dead. Natalie continued trying to talk to the chief, but saw that the call had lost connection. The power in the house went out, leaving the small family into darkness, only the small fireplace illuminating the small home. Natalie began to calm the two girls. She stood up and began to light some candles.

“Why don’t you two head to bed. I’m sure that daddy will be home soon,” Natalie said.

“Read us a story?” the small car asked.

“Oh, I think that can be arranged,” Natalie smiled. They all walked into the girls' bedroom. Natalie sat down on the chair in between the two beds, “So, what story do you want to hear?”

“I wanna hear a story about you and daddy rescuing someone!” the human girl beamed.

“I wanna hear how daddy saved you!” the small car said.

“Hmm… alright. I know a story that satisfies both wants. It started off as a normal day for your dad and me. We were doing paperwork from our last arrest when Chief Soren approached us. They needed us to shut down some roads due to an accident. A car was about to fall off the Diemont Highway and first responders needed the roads below shut down just in case something bad happened. When he and I arrived, we got right to work shutting down the roads until more officers arrived on the scene. A few hours after the other officers got there, we had gotten word that the situation had not gotten any better, and in fact, it had gotten worse. I had gone over to where the car was and watched as humans were rescued from inside the car’s cabin. The last human was just about to come up when the cable that the first responder was attached to snapped. I dashed forward and grabbed the cable, only to slip myself and I started sliding towards the edge. Your father grabbed my sleeve, refusing to let me fall. He was the one to drag us up. When the first responder came up, they had just managed to get the car up from the ledge. Your father was just about to chew me out for putting me in danger when Chief Soren approached and congratulated us on helping the first responders. Your father,” Natalie paused to laugh, “I didn’t think he could be any redder in the face,” “But daddy’s face is already red! How could he be any more red momma?”

“It’s a figure of speech sweetpea,”

“What caused the accident?” the human asked.

“The car was a taxi that had swerved to avoid a distracted car. The taxi was sucked into the slush on the side of the road and he took out the guardrail. The distracted car was charged as such because taxies have to film their work in the event of an accident,”

The two girls yawned and Natalie smiled. She stood up and tucked the two girls into bed just as the lights came on. Natalie rushed to her phone and called Chief Soren again.

“Police Chief Soren speaking,” Soren answered.

“Hello Chief Soren, it’s Natalie calling. The call got disconnected earlier,” Natalie stated.

“I see. Well, I was calling to let you know that Ahlex was at an accident supervising until I got there. I sent him home as soon as I got there which was a half-hour ago,”

Natalie let out a sigh of relief, “Thank god. I was so worried he was in the accident because I hadn’t been able to get a hold of him,”

“Likely because the road conditions are so bad because of that blizzard we got hit with. He seemed really stressed and was itching to get home when I arrived on the scene,”

The sound of a beep was heard at the front door, “Sounds like that’s him. Thanks, Chief Soren,”

“No problem. We’ll see you soon for tomorrow’s evening shift with Ahlex,”

“See you tomorrow,”

Natalie hung up the phone and sat on the ground in front of the couch in their living room, watching the fireplace burn. A Dodge Charger walked over to her and set his head in her lap, feeling all the stress from the day burn away in the light of the flames nearby.

“Hey sweetheart,” the Charger greeted, shutting his eyes as Natalie began scratching his hood.

“Hey dear. Was worried about you,” Natalie said.

“Why’s that?”

“You didn’t call or text saying you were late,”

“Bad weather,”

“Soren called me from the crash site,”

“Yeah,”

“It was only ten minutes from here… what took you so long?”

“I had to stop and pick something up,”

“Ahlex, what would you risk your life for at ten o’clock at night?”

“Something for my wife. Merry belated Christmas sweetheart,” Ahlex said, lifting his chin and backing away to open his door. On the passenger seat sat a small black box. Natalie picked it up and Ahlex took his position again with his hood in her lap, “Go on, open it,”

Natalie looked at him skeptically but opened it. Inside was a silver necklace with a Dodge logo pendant. When Natalie lifted the necklace up from the box, she saw text printed on the back of the pendant. She turned it so she could read it.

Met each other September 26th, 2095, Married September 26th, 2120

“Ahlex… I love it,” Natalie smiled.

“I had to leave that at the shop so they could put the lettering on it. I actually have a second one made up for my side mirror so I can always have it with me,” Ahlex said. Natalie put the necklace around her neck and hugged Ahlex, who pressed his hood against her more, “It’s late, we should head to bed,”

“Yeah, sounds like you’ve had a long day,”

“I have. Are the girls already in bed?”

“Yeah, put them to bed just before you got home. If you wanna go say goodnight, go for it. I’m gonna go get ready for bed,”

“Thanks, sweetheart,”

“No problem,”

Ahlex stood up and walked into the girl’s bedrooms while Natalie walked into their bedroom and got changed. She sat down on the bed and pulled the covers up over her just as Ahlex walked into the room. He went over to the bed and laid down. Natalie threw the covers up over Ahlex’s back and curled around his tire. The two fell asleep instantly, only to be woken up early by their two daughters jumping excitedly on the bed, happy that their father was home safe and sound for the holidays.