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That’s horrible!

Bryce heard the notification sound from his phone. He rolled over in his bed to pick it up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Krampus Strikes Again!

“Oh, no!”

He jumped out of bed and brought the news up on his desktop. The picture showed police and EMTs at a dark street corner. The victim. Oh, no, they’re saying ‘victim’. Say it wasn’t her. It’s not Veronica. It can’t be her! Her name is being withheld until family can be notified. Family? Luz! Veronica!

R U OK?

He waited. It was excruciating. Was she not answering because she was still mad at him or because she was the unnamed victim? How would he ever know?

“I’ll get a shower. Yeah, I’ll get a shower and that will give her time to answer me back. That’s what I’ll do.”

He went and got showered and changed. Still no message. He tucked his bed away into the sofa and put the cushions back on. Still no message.

“Come on, Veronica. I don’t care if you hate me. Just tell me you’re alive!”

He put the phone down. He couldn’t think. He was too worried. What to do? What to do? He’s supposed to go shopping today.

“What? Am I nuts? It’s two days til Christmas. Even the stores I go to for deals will be as crazy as a mall on Black Friday.”

He pulled up his online calendar. He had already figured this out. He had put the title, ‘Don’t go shopping today’ on the first line. So, what had he planned to do? ‘Stay in and binge Christmas movies’.

“Really? That was my alternative to business as usual? I’m really boring.” His pocket vibrated. “Oh!”

Fine
Let me sleep in

He held the phone like a newborn baby, reading the reply over and over again. He began laughing and crying and laughing some more.

“She’s fine! She’s fine! She’s just sleeping late. Wait. Sleeping in?”

He looked at the time in the upper corner of the phone. It was 5:30AM. He was cleaned and dressed at 5:30 in the morning.

What the heck kind of dancing is going on at this time of the morning? He looked at the news article again. The victim had been at a dance marathon for charity.

“That’s horrible! What kind of psycho kills someone for dancing for charity?”

At least it wasn’t Veronica. If she wasn’t still mad at him for what happened at Marv’s party, she was going to be mad at him for waking her up at 5:30 in the morning.

“But at least she’s alive! She can be as mad as she wants to be as long as she’s still safe and alive.”

Safe and alive. She’d be both if he could get her out of the city. Marv said about meeting her parents. Maybe he could get her to invite him to meet her parents in Plattsboro.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, man. You don’t even know if she wants to see you ever again.”

Read this later
I need to see you

He hesitated to press send on the message. If she was still mad, this might be the final nail in his coffin. Send.

Her phone buzzed again. She thought seriously about throwing it against the wall and smashing it into a million pieces. She read it instead.

“Are you kidding me? I told you to let me sleep!”

I read it now!
Let me sleep in
I’ll hit you later

She turned the phone off and tried to go back to sleep but it was once too often. There was no going back to sleep now. She checked the phone again. 5:33AM

“Dude! What possessed you to text me at five thirty in the darned morning?”

She flopped back down in bed but sleep wouldn’t come. She groaned in frustration and headed for the shower. She got back to the room and checked her phone.

“So, now he listens to me. What’s that exclamation point about? Are we expecting snow or something? “

She pulled down the menu for notifications.

Krampus Strikes Again!

“Oh, no! He probably thought I was dead!”

OMG
Sorry
Up now

She finished getting dressed and headed down to turn on the news. Her phone vibrated in her hand.

Sorry
Saw the news
Didn’t check time

“He did think I was dead. He actually loves me.”

She couldn’t stop smiling until she found the news channel. Police and EMTs were at a dark corner. People standing at the police tape were crying and hugging each other.

“Ronni? Why are you up? What’s the matter?” Luz called from upstairs.

“Luz! It’s Krampus. He got somebody and Bryce thought it was me.”

Her cousin trudged down the stairs. “He got somebody? Does that mean he’s done with you?”

“He hand stamped a leather tag with my name on it, Luz. I don’t think he’s going to let it go. He’s on this whole Nine Ladies Dancing trip this year.”

“What?”

“Bryce figured it out. This guy has been doing this stuff for the last eight years. He’s doing all these crimes about the Twelve Days of Christmas. Last year he was throwing milk at maids and housekeepers and stuff.”

“So this year he’s after dancers. So, why does he have to ramp it up to murder after all this time?”

“I don’t know, he’s crazy or something.”

“Wait. Bryce thought it was you? How do you know that?”

“He texted me.”

“He’s texting you at 5:30 on a Monday? That’s not love, Ronni. He’s as crazy as that Krampus guy.”

“He said he saw the news and didn’t realize what time it was. He was worried about me.”

“I wish he’d worry about me. I’ve got an hour of sleep coming before I have to get up and go to work.”

“Well, go back to bed.”

“How can I sleep knowing a murderer is after you?” Luz clamped a hug on her cousin. ”Who’d he kill?”

“Some lady who was dancing for charity at a dance marathon.”

“That’s horrible!” Luz gaped at the TV. ”What kind of psycho kills someone for dancing for charity?”