European Winter Tales - First Tale - Down the Chimney They go (??/M)

[FelixSH]

In Europe, winters are cold and long. Snow starts to fall in November, and fills the dark, chilling nights with a calming white. Calming to some at least. Others find it to be eerie, seeing footsteps where there was no one walking, or hearing laughter without a trace of the source. The Cold wraps the land in a sleepy state, where the senses are dulled and slowed. And it is during that time that the Spirits of Old wake up from their slumber and look for prey. Make sure to prepare for them, be it by appeasing them or by protecting your house with magic. Or you might find yourself wrapped up in chains until the end of your days.

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First Tale – Down the Chimney They go

The hut was perfect. Jake knew that instantly, as he saw it for the first time through his car window. Beautiful woodwork, small, cosy. Far away from the next town, only reachable by a long drive on a lonely road. The ground covered by a thick layer of snow, with more flakes slowly sailing down from the white sky.

Standing in front of the hut, Jake could already feel how the reclusiveness made him human again, how it revitalized him. No annoying neighbors, no traffic noise, no horrible smells in the air. Just a small place to live, with space to enjoy the nature around and recharge the batteries. And, of course, the perfect place to ignore Christmas, including all the horrible relatives and their ridiculous fights.

His parents weren't happy with this decision, but they couldn't do anything anymore. He finally could spend the holidays how he wanted to.

Anticipating, he unlocked the door and entered. The inside was as beautiful as the outside, with a chimney in the middle of the left wall, a bed opposite to the door and a table with three chairs on the right wall. A small kitchenette was in the corner, with a fridge on the side. Jake looked around and smiled, the electronic plugs where there as promised. Near the table was another door, leading into the bathroom, even with a shower.

Jake didn't understand how it was possible to have electricity and hot water up here, far away from civilisation, but the guy he rented the hut from told him not to worry. Everything would be taken care of, Jake should just enjoy his stay. This was ok with Jake. Everything for some peace and quite. And for the price he paid, he expected to not be bothered by stuff like making sure the toilette worked.

There was only one condition, and it was a weird one. Fire had to burn in the chimney, from the minute the sun went down, until it finally rose again in the morning. This one rule had to be followed without exception. Horrible things would happen if the fire would burn down during the night. Just three logs every night, that would last long enough, was the promise. Well, Jake wasn't looking forward to freezing to death, so he would make sure to abide by this rule anyway.

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The first few days went by very fast. On the first night, Jake was exhausted from the long drive, so he only made himself a small meal and went to sleap immediately afterwards, after making sure that the fire would burn through the night. The next days were filled by taking walks outside, but mainly by staying indoors, reading books, watching TV and playing videogames with the laptop. All the stress from work and family drama fell off of the young adult, and he soon felt like a new person.

It was during the night of the 21st of December, where Jake felt surprisingly sleepy. He had had no chance to go for a walk, as wind and snow made it dangerous to even go outside. Staying in one room for the whole day, with nothing to do but looking into book pages and screens, was more exhausting than one might think, and so it was sooner time for bed than usual. Dizziness made the young adult even skip his daily shower.

Sleepy, but thankfully not dizzy anymore, Jake woke up some time after midnight, freezing under his blanket. He was confused, as normally the light from the fireplace should illuminate the room, but it was pitch black. It took some time for Jake to realize that he had forgotten to put new logs into the chimney. Cursing, he slowly got up and worked on restarting the fire. At least it didn't take long, so it was soon back to sleep.

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A shining, blue day waited, when Jake woke up. He threw one glance to the still burning fire before getting dressed and stepping outside. Maybe it was only imagination, but the sun felt surprisingly warm. This would make for a nice walk, especially after the last day.

„Knock, knock, knock“ Jake heard the light noise from behind him, and looked over his shoulder. Nothing there. Only the door seemed to be less wide open than before. Or did it? Jake shook his head. Just bad sleep. And maybe the lack of human contact slowly got to him. But no, it was just not enough sleep. Little noises were no reason to question ones sanity.

The rest of the day went by as the other ones. Some breakfast, a nice walk, a movie, video games. Only, the noises didn't stop. From time to time, there was a knock somewhere in the room, but no matter how hard he looked, Jake didn't find a source. And things seemed to move on their own, but never in an obvious way. Jake was sure that he had put a knife on the table, but when he wanted to start eating, it wasn't there anymore. He also could have sworn that there was still something left in the pot, but most of it had vanished when he got back.

I was pretty late, when Jake decided to go to bed. He felt uneasy, not quite sure what, or even if anything, had happened. It felt like too many instances of weird things, but there just was no way of knowing for sure. Until he looked for new wood, to keep the fire alive.

There was not a single log left. This made no sense. Jake knew that there was enough for a few more days, but now it was all gone. Someone else was here. But how was that possible? He was inside all the time, except for his walk, and when he came back today he saw had seen that there was still a lot of wood left. This made no sense at all.

And it was a problem. The chimney was the only source of heating for the hut. Had there been a radiator inside anywhere, it would have probably worked like the warm water, but it was a weirdly missing piece of equipment.

Well, it was too late to drive anywhere now, and the fire would hopefully hold out over the night. And than he could drive somewhere to get new firewood. But Jake was too tired to keep thinking about this stuff anymore. He needed some sleep now, weird nonsense be damned.

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It was again during the night, that Jake awoke. But it was not the lack of warmth this time. Something felt deeply wrong, and the feeling intensified as he tried to move without much success.

His legs felt like they were stuck together. It felt like something broad and soft was slung around them. It was the same material that he could also feel around his hands and upper body. The lack of light made it impossible to see in more detail, but it was clear that the material was very strong. He tried to scream, but realized that this, too, was impossible. Something soft filled out his mouth, and more of the material that tied his body had been wrapped around his head. It didn't feel sticky, but it still stuck, and kept his mouth completely immobile.

Panic took hold of the young man. What was happening? Who had done this? Why? He started to thrash around, but the material didn't get any looser. Instead it felt like it tightened up even more. He cried for help, but even his gag seemed to get stricter.

After exhausting himself with struggling, Jake lay silent on his bed. He tried to think. Must be a burglar. Who else would come into some hut in the middle of nowhere, especially without saying anything? Or did he have any friends who would find something like this funny?

Giggling threw him out of his throughts. Ok, it was only a joke. But where were the guys who had done this? As Jakes eyes adjusted to the darkness, it became all the more clear that no one was there.

But the giggling didn't stop. It got only louder and creepier. This was not the laughter of adult men, but the sniggering of small children. Multiple of them. The panic came back. Jake tried to struggle again, fought against his bonds, screaming for help. The laughter had reached such a high noise level and such a weird tone that he just wanted to run away. But there was no way out.

And suddenly the giggling stopped. Even though nothing had changed, it seemed like the room got even more chilling than it already had. And the next noise was even worse than before. The mean cackling of an old woman filled the hut. It was chilling, and replaced the panic with sheer, paralyzing terror. And the cold followed.

Jake started to shiver. This was not from the lack of warmth from the outside. Something drew away the warmth of his body. And with the warmth, hope vanished. So Jake gave up. There was nothing for him to do now, but wait.

He didn't fight the hands that touched him, hands that didn't really feel like hands and more like light currents of air, but were clearly hands nontheless. He didn't fight them when they put his bound body into a sack. He didn't fight as the opening of the sack, too, was bound close, and as rope was wrapped around the sack and himself, constricting him even more. And he didn't fight as he was picked up and moved.

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If one would have watched the outside of the hut at December 23rd, at 2 a.m., one would have seen a brown sack come out of the chimney, carried by some of the 13 little boys that surrounded it. One would also see an old witch coming out of the chimney, shooing the boys to the top of the mountain. And one would think that it would be better to be at home, where one was protected by the fire of the chimney.

[Xtc]

A fine seasonal tale.

[LK3869]

Very well written , a lot of atmosphere. I've been considering skipping christmas like the 'hero' did, think I'll think twice about renting a remote cabin Maybe stoves are the answer to that chimneys "??" problem...

[fratboydanny]

Fun seasonal read [mention]FelixSH[/mention]! It sounds like Jake will make for a lovely wrapped package at Christmas!

[FelixSH]

Thanks a lot for the replies, I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[Chris12]

Very nice! Its distinctive which made it a very nice winter surprise