A Night To Remember

P.A Nightmares

A Night To Remember

The nurse enters Tommy’s room for his round of evening meds, she greets him with her normal forced smile and false platitudes.

“Good evening, Tommy, how are you? It’s time for your meds.”

She hands Tommy’s medication to him before turning her back to grab a cup of water. Tommy dumps the pills out of the cup and into his hands, he places the medication under his pillow and puts the skittles that he had saved from lunch that day into the medication cup. The nurse watched as he placed the medication into his mouth and drank his water. After he was finished, she checked to make sure that he had swallowed the meds. The nurse bids Tommy a good night as she leaves the room. Tommy reaches underneath his pillow once the door is shut, he retrieves the medication before walking over to the sink. He drops the pills down the drain and stares at his reflection in the mirror.

“Tonight is the night we are getting out of this place.” He says.

Getting dressed in some warmer clothing to fend off the cold, he lays down in his bed and waits for the moment that the lights will go out and he can enact his plan. Every night they would shut the light off and do a room check to ensure that all patients were accounted for. Tommy’s medication would always knock him out shortly after taking them which is why they were more relaxed when checking his room so he would catch them off guard this time when they open his door and step inside; he is patiently awaiting his opportunity. Finally around ten o’clock that night, the lights went out. Shortly after, the sounds of rooms being checked could be heard echoing down each hall. Each step, and door that opened told Tommy the location of the approaching nurse. She was getting closer and closer every second, the excitement of this moment grew and made it hard for him to stay still and act as if he were sleeping but that was exactly what he had to do. He heard the jingle of keys and the sound of the lock on his door being unlatched before the nurse swung open the door. If the light had been on then the nurse would have noticed his sinister smile that crossed his lips but she did not. The nurse casually approaches Tommy’s bed, like she had hundreds of times before, since he was considered one of the more dangerous patients they had to physically check on him. Complacency had clearly set in when Tommy sat up and wrapped his hands around her neck; she was in such shock that not even sound escaped her lips as he crushes her windpipe, leaving her lifeless body in his bed; he did this so no one would notice his absence until the morning. Grabbing her access card to the building, he slowly makes his way out of the room and to the nearest exit of the facility. As Tommy makes his way to the fire exit, the nurses all use for their smoke breaks. He also knows the alarm would be disabled, making this the best chance of escaping the facility. The barely lit hallways are hard to navigate, but Tommy had practiced this routine many times during the day, so muscle memory took over. He rounded the corner and came face to face with the janitor that was holding a waste bucket and getting ready to dump it into his cart. The janitor drops the waste bucket onto the ground upon seeing Tommy. It makes an earth-shattering noise, Tommy being worried about it drawing attention, but first, he had to deal with the janitor. Trying to make a break for it, the janitor turns around and attempts to run away. However, Tommy being bigger and faster grabs him by his ponytail and smashes his head off the wall. Looking to see what could be used to finish the job, Tommy grabs a funnel and a bottle of bleach. While turning the janitor over, he shoves the funnel into his mouth, pouring the entire container down the incapacitated man’s esophagus. Looking down at the mess causes him to smile.

“Who’s going to clean this shit up now?” He lightly laughs.

Tommy leaves the janitor’s dead body lying in the middle of the hallway while making his way to the exit. It takes a few minutes, but he finally arrives at the emergency exit. He uses the fire escape ladder and sets foot on the frozen ground—the wind whips at his face, the cold biting through his clothing. Tommy got the lay of the land before noticing a little shack that was lit up like a beacon in the darkness. Tommy makes his way closer to the building. The security guard could not hear Tommy slowly approaching over the wind, nor could he see Tommy due to the black clothing that Tommy is wearing; it allows Tommy to blend in with the night. Tommy approaches the guard’s shack, and he quietly knocks on the door, which startles the guard. Not knowing what is happening, the guard opens the door and steps outside. He looks around and notices nothing but the wind blowing freshly laid snow around. Tommy slips behind him and snaps his neck, dragging the guard into the shake. He approaches the gate and swipes the nurse’s access card. The old gate that once stood as a sentry keeping him locked in opens up, granting him his long-sought freedom. Tommy walks through the gate, letting the wind hit him in the face as he enjoys the feeling of freedom for the first time in many years. He makes his way to the road, walking the way he had come from all those years ago, and as luck would have it, a car drives by him about thirty minutes after escaping the institution. Tommy holds out his thumb, hoping that these people will be kind enough to pick up a complete stranger. He thought the car would not stop at first, but soon he realized that the driver was slowly bringing it to a halt. The driver cracks the passenger side window as soon as h beag to walk toward it. Tommy bends down, his elbow resting against the door of the car.

“Thank god y’all stopped. I have been walking for what feels like an eternity in this cold. My girlfriend and I had a fight, and she kicked me out of the car. Is there any chance you could give me a ride into town? I would greatly appreciate it.”

Tommy blows into his hands and gives the couple a shy, awkward smile. The couple looked at each other, and the wife opened her mouth.

“Honey, I know we don’t usually do this kind of thing, but it is almost Christmas, and it’s not very far.” She said. The husband looked him up and down and opened his mouth as well.

“No funny business, okay, buddy? I am armed and will not hesitate to end you if you try something. You understand?”

“Yes, sir. I understand. You will have no problem with me.” Tommy puts his hands in the air. Another smile crept across his face, this one more menacing than the last, and made the couple uncommittable, but they figured it was just a trick of three minds, they unlocked the door, and he opened up the door, letting himself in. Tommy could faintly hear the sounds of the alarms going off at his former place of residence. Getting into the car, Tommy was honestly grateful to these strangers for stopping. It was freezing outside, and the warmth of the car was a welcome change of circumstance. They drove in absolute silence. Tommy noticed the husband was continuously checking the mirror to ensure that his unexpected passenger was not up to anything funny. The drive was slow due to the weather conditions, but they made it to the town. Upon entering the town, the husband opened his mouth once more.

“Where should I drop you off at?” He glanced at Tommy. The look he gave him screamed that he wanted nothing more than to be rid of this man. Tommy asked him if there was a motel anywhere nearby. “In fact, there is one close by. This is a small town, and everyone knows everyone. I’ll take you there.”

Arriving at the motel, Tommy got out of the car, and he thanked the kind strangers for the lift. He turned to make his way into the motel after watching the darkness swallow up their headlights. However, he couldn’t make it too far because he heard the sound of a bell. He turned around and looked. He saw a fat man dressed in a Santa Claus outfit across the street. A sinister part took hold; he would kill him, dress up as Santa Claus and punish this town. He had been locked up in a cage-like an animal, so… an animal is what the world will get. Tommy slowly approaches the man to strike up a friendly conversation but not before picking up a small metal pipe he found on the ground.

“Hey there, how are you this evening? Working late, I see, and in the cold like this, you must really be dedicated to helping the needy, huh?” Tommy states with a hint of sarcasm. The man looks up to respond to the new stranger, but before he could speak, he sees the glint of the pipe as the moonlight hits it, and he was struck hard in the windpipe before he had the chance to react. The man dropped to the ground hard as he blacked out. Tommy then realized that the guy had not died. He looks down at the unconscious man. “Well, it looks like I did not crush your windpipe; that’s a shame. Let’s get you inside; I can’t have you bleeding all over my new suit.” He laughs at his own joke.

Pulling the man into the building was far harder than expected, yet he managed to do so and stripped the unconscious man out of the suit. He then changed into the outfit and took the man’s duffel bag that contained his street clothing. The man begins to stir as Tommy walks over to him and brings down his foot onto the throat of the impersonator several times until he is certain that the man is dead; after Tommy is finished, he mocks the dead man.

“Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas.”

After he finishes mocking his last victim, he makes sure to grab the wallet and money the man had on him. Tommy put the hat on to help fend off the cold, made his way into the motel, and checked himself in. Walking inside, he noticed that this wasn’t the nicest building he had seen, but he saw evidence of holiday cheer all over the place. In the corner of the lobby sat a tree that had been decorated with Christmas ornaments. He could hear ‘Silent Night’ playing on the radio. Hell, even the clerk was in the holiday spirit. She wore a green sweater with a hat that you would see on elves in the movies, equipped with pointed ears and all. This brought an honest smile to Tommy’s lips. He nonchalantly approaches the counter.

“Ah, just what I needed, one of Santa’s little helpers.” He says with a bit of chuckle. The clerk seems to take offense as she makes a sound of disgust, but her expression changes when she looks up to see the hat he is wearing. She brightly smiles.

“Hello sir, how can I be of assistance?” She practically sings out.

‘It must be a slow night.’ Tommy thought to himself. He clears his throat before his lips part. “I need a room if it’s not too much trouble. I seem to find myself stranded and with the way the weather is. I figured it would be the best idea to find a place where I can hunker down until morning.”

The woman glances down at her computer, eyes attentively looking across the screen.

“Well, let’s look and see if we can find a place to squeeze you in. As you can tell, we are packed.” She gestures to the empty lobby. She laughs at her own joke while checking him in; she hands over the room key. Tommy begins to walk in the direction of his room. He gives the woman a little wave with a smile on his lips.

“I’ll be seeing you soon.” He quietly says.

It is just a few days until Christmas Eve, and Tommy wants to be well-rested for the night, considering all of the fun activities that he has planned. The door to the hotel room shuts behind Tommy. The first thing he wants to do is take a shower to warm up, and then he will begin to prepare for what could be the best sleep he has had since before being put into the mental institution. Thinking about that time of his life brought back memories that he had long forgotten. Tommy remembers a time when he was thirteen years old, and his grandmother had told him the story of Krampus.

It was Christmas Eve, a lot like this one, cold as balls with the wind whipping around and snowing. He sat by the fireplace, listening to his grandmother or ‘Oma’ as he called her back then; she would tell him all kinds of Christmas tales. That year though, his oma had told him a new one which, up until this point, his mother would never let her tell him. The tale of Krampus and what he did to naughty children. It had been twenty-plus years, yet he remembers the terrifying tale of the half-man and half-goat creature and how he would drag the naughty children to his hellish wonderland. That night when he went upstairs to brush his teeth and got ready for bed, he saw Krampus in the mirror. When Krampus appeared to him, he told Tommy to punish the guilty that he lived with. That night as his family slept, he snuck into his mother and father’s room; he cut both of their throats. However, for his younger sister and brother, who shared a room, he would not kill them, but they must still be punished. He crept outside to the birch tree that had been on that property for far longer than he had been alive and grabbed a very thin yet sturdy branch off of the tree. Tommy had made his way back into the house, up the staircase, and into his sibling’s room. He locked the door behind him before ripping the blanket off of his brother. Tommy viciously beat his brother with the switch. His brother was unconscious, and his back was bleeding by the time that Tommy was finished. He turned toward his sister, said ‘come now, sister dear, it’s your turn.’ His sister tried to run past him, but he struck her with the switch causing him to do the same to his little sister as he had done to his brother. Tommy called nine-one-one claiming that he needed to get his brother and sister medical help after he had finished ‘punishing’ them; Krampus did order him not to let them die after all. Tommy confessed to the crimes once the ambulance and police arrived. He told the police about Krampus and how he was forced to do it. That event is what led to him being incarcerated in the psychiatric facility and not a prison. Reliving that night causes a chill to run down his spine. He had not thought of that night in a long time; the meds he had to consume on a day-to-day basis saw to that. Now his head was clearing up, and he began to feel like himself once more as the numbness faded. Tommy lays down in the freshly made bed; it is so much softer than his last bed. He is transported into another world, one darker, blanketed in snow and harsher than where he came from upon laying in the short bed for a mere moment.

Tommy began to explore this new world; he could hear the tormented screams of what sounded like children coming from a large castle-like looking building. Out of curiosity, he continues the exploration. Once he stepped foot on the concrete landing, the castle door opened up by itself. His eyes widened in fear as he looked at the figure standing in front of him, the horrific Krampus. Krampus towered over him, wicked him up like he was an infant, pinning him to the wall. He hears Krampus speak, but the mouth never moves. It’s like he is in Tommy’s head and knows what he is thinking.

“Oh no, no no, little mouse. You came to my house and scurried around. It is not your time to be here. Go now and make the naughty people in the town pay for their sins. If you do, I may not bring you here to play in the future. However, if you fail this… this is what is in store for you.” Krampus growls. Krampus shows Tommy a vision of him being hung up on a meat hook while he is having the skin cut from his body, but no matter how much was cut away, he would never pass out or die. After Krampus was finished with him, he would leave, and the skin would slowly regrow, and that horrific thing would happen again the next night.

Tommy sits upright in his bed; the sheets are soaked with sweat. He starts to think that it was all a dream when he suddenly hears the sickening laugh of Krampus in his head.

“Hahaha. Don’t forget what I have shown you, little mouse.” Krampus laughs.

Tommy quickly gets out of bed, he walks into the bathroom, and turns on the water to the shower. He hopes that the water’s warmth will help calm his nerves. Hot water cascades down Tommy’s head, allowing him to become lost in the luxuries of this hotel that he never had back at the institution. With Christmas Eve being tomorrow, he needed to plan precisely how he was going to carry out his duty of punishing the guilty in this town to prevent himself from having to go back to that hellish wasteland. Just the thought of that world and what awaited him brings back the fear from last night, causing him to sweat again. Tommy shuts the water to the shower off; he rapidly dabs himself dry with a towel before pulling on his clothes. He leaves the room, the door closing behind him as he walks down the hallway and into the lobby of the motel. He walks up to the desk clerk, the same one from last night. He forces a pleasant smile on his face.

“Still here, huh?”

“Yep, in fact, I am just finishing up with the last few things I need to do before I can go home. Did you need something?” She asks. Tommy swears that he notices a glint of lust in her eyes.

“Actually, I need to get some stuff at the hardware store. I don’t want to be too much of a bother but… would you be so kind as to tell me how to get there?” Tommy gives her a playful wink. The motel clerk returns his pleasant smile with one of her own.

“My name is Amy. I am actually heading that way when I leave to go home. It’s a few miles from here and not out of my way. If you want to wait till I’m finished, I could just give you a lift?”

“That sounds great,” Tommy says with a big smile. He waits for an hour until she comes out of a room.

“All ready to go?” She asks. Tommy notices that she smells nice like she had just put on some perfume before leaving the back.

“That smells really nice,” Tommy remarks.

“Thank you for noticing. It’s a perfume my mother got for me. I don’t recall what the name of it is, but I always loved the smell. Well, let’s hit the road.” Amy blushes.

Amy walks alongside Tommy as they exit the building. She guides him toward her car, where they both get in. Amy pulls out of the parking lot and heads down the road. The trip only took a few moments; they drove in relative silence. Tommy gets out of the car after they arrive at the hardware store. However, he looks at Amy before walking away.

“Will you be working in the evening?” He asks.

“Yes, in fact, I will be there all night,” Amy responds.

“Great. Well then, I’ll see you this evening, you know where I sleep after all.” Tommy says. He playfully winks at her.

“Haha, that I do. I will see you this evening.” She returns the wink, her cheeks blush a light pink color, and drives off.

The bell on the door to the hardware store chimes, the ringing echoes throughout the store, which alerts the owner to Tommy’s presence. A man looks up from the shelf he had just been stocking.

“Ah, well, hello there. I don’t believe I have seen you around here before, have I?” The owner asks. He calmly approaches Tommy with an outstretched hand. Tommy politely shakes the man’s hand and smiles at him.

“Nope, you haven’t seen me around; I’m just visiting for a few days,” Tommy explains. “I am visiting my aunt, and she has some housework she needs to do… I am in need of supplies.”

“Ah well, that’s a good lad. You don’t see many people your age helping out their family like that these days. What is it you’re going to be needing?”

Tommy thinks about it for a while.

“A circular saw, trash bags, hammer, nails, and chlorine, my aunt needs it for around the house. Oh, and if you have any wooden bats, I want to go to the batting cages later. I find it’s a nice way to relax.” Tommy says. The owner listens to Tommy as he speaks; he guides Tommy throughout the store to help him retrieve all of his items. Tommy places them into the duffle bag he brought from the motel. The owner directs Tommy back to the front of the store, where he proceeds to check him out. During the middle of the transaction, Tommy realizes that he doesn’t have enough cash on hand to purchase everything.

Tommy rubs the back of his head as if he is embarrassed.

“It looks like my aunt did not give me enough to cover all of this, and I left my stuff back at home. Let me tell you what... let me get the bat, nails, and hammer. I should be able to get a lot done today, and I can just come back for the rest later.” He says.

Tommy pays the man with what little cash he had one him. He gathers his materials and makes his way out of the store and in the direction of the motel. A thought occurs to him during the walk. He could put the nails into the bat and make what he has to do a lot easier. So on his way back, he looked for an area where he could work quietly. An abandoned farm happens to come into view during Tommy’s walk. He walks to the shed only to find it covered in year’s worth of dust, yet the table has a device that could hold the bad in place, as long as the table does not fall apart, that is. Placing the bat into the machine, he pulls on it to make sure that the bat will not move and will, in fact, stay stationary as he did his work. Happy the bat will not move, he pulls out the hammer along with the nails and begins to work. Hammering one nail at a time through the bat on every side while being sure not to compromise the integrity of the bat. Hours of hard labor passes by before Tommy is satisfied with his work; he places the bat into the duffel bag and quickly makes his way back to the motel. Tommy walks into his motel room, falling onto the bed and back into a peaceful slumber. He awakens around seven in the evening to his alarm clock ringing; he sluggishly pulls on his clothes and makes his way to the lobby once more. As he enters the lobby, he notices Amy, a smile instantly spreading across his lips as he approaches her.

“Oh hi, just the girl I was hoping to see. I was wondering if you could bring some fresh towels to my room.” He says with a little wink; a slight blush spreads across his cheeks. “And maybe hang out for a bit.

“Absolutely, sir, I will be right in with some extra towels.” Amy giggles at the cuteness of the man in front of her.

Tommy heads back to his room, where he awaits the arrival of his guest; not more than ten minutes pass by until he hears a knock at the door. He hollers for the person to come in, the door opens, and Amy walks into the room with fresh towels in her hands.

“Set them over there.” He points to the table. The instant Amy turns her back is when Tommy lifts the baseball bat and cracks her on the back of the head; the bat gets stuck, causing Tommy to place his left foot to her back and pull the bat free. He watches as her limp body falls; Amy lands on top of the white towels she had brought to the room. However, she is still alive; she moans in agony while her body twitches. Tommy delivers three more strikes to her head to ensure that she is good and very well dead. The once eggshell white towels are now stained deep crimson from the blood they absorbed, one from the brutal beating that just occurred.

“Well, let the games begin.” He says aloud.

Tommy gets another hot shower, changes his clothing, and cleans himself off before leaving the room; he cannot walk through the lobby covered in blood because that may raise some questions. He places his new friend in the duffel bag, leaves the room, and locks it while putting the do not disturb sign on the door. Tommy leaves the motel in a bit of a hurry; he gets a reasonable distance away from the motel while enjoying the crisp and cool winter air. He sees an older man, maybe in his fifties, walking on the other side of the road. Tommy smiles; he crosses the road after getting out of the man’s sight. He hastily walks up behind the older man.

“Hey, old-timer. You got a light? Mine seems to have died, and I would appreciate the help.” Tommy says.

The older man slowly turned around; his age clearly made it hard for him to move quickly, and about halfway through turning to face Tommy, he spotted the bat with nails protruding out of it. His eyes grow wide as Tommy quickly lifts the bat, taking his stance and swinging the bat into the temple of the older man’s head. The hit caused the older man’s skull to crack, and he limply fell to the ground; he was not struck again. Tommy leaves the body just lying on the ground and continues on his night of merriment. Walking further down the road, he comes to a small house and decides that this makes for an excellent first stop. He turns the doorknob which easily opens the door without any noises.

‘Of course, they have the door unlocked. I doubt anything worse than a guy Jaywalking had occurred here.’ Tommy thinks to himself.

Tommy makes his way up the stairs; he notices that this house belongs to a family of for upon creeping toward the unsuspecting family. A grin forms on his lips as he notices that the husband in the pictures is the hardware store owner.

“Well, it’s time to show him how much I appreciate the products that he sold me.”

There are three rooms on the second level of the house, the bathroom where the door is wide open, a room that had a card that said ‘Merry Christmas, mommy, and daddy. Love you!’ and the door that led to the mother and father’s bedroom, that is his first stop. Quietly turns the doorknob of the parent’s bedroom and carefully opens the door where he sees both of them soundly sleeping. Creeping closer to them, he whispers, ‘Merry Christmas’ as he brings the bat down on the husband’s head. The wife is awoken to the horrifying sound of skull-cracking, she hysterically screams, but Tommy delivers a savage blow to her as well. Tommy is covered in blood, and the walls certainly had a new paint job by the time that he was finished murdering the parents. He looks around the room, satisfied at his handiwork.

“Ha, looks better this way. Now to go and check on the kids.”

He walks toward the room where the kids lay sleeping. However, a sudden voice speaks to him.

“Leave these kids alone. They are not guilty and have done no wrong. You will NOT harm a hair on their heads. Do you understand, little mouse?” Krampus asks.

“Yes, I understand.” Tommy nods. He notices the flashing lights bleeding through the parted curtains on the windows as he makes his way down the staircase. Tommy exits the house, covered in blood, only to be greeted with the sight of four police cruisers which is when he notices the sign in the yard of this house, proclaiming that it is protected by home security. “Shit, well, this is fucking perfect.”

One of the cops yells at Tommy to lay down his weapon. A wicked grin creeps onto Tommy’s face as he charges the line of officers. The second he starts to run, the officers open fire which causes him to fall before getting within ten feet of them. Krampus appears behind Tommy as he lay there bleeding out. Krampus reaches out, and he grabs hold of Tommy’s jacket collar before dragging him to the hellish wonderland of his nightmares. Krampus drags Tommy back to that wicked castle and down to the dungeon where he promised Tommy would end up if he had failed. Tommy has the meat hook thrust into his back; it protrudes from his chest.

“You have failed me, little mouse. It is time for us to play.” Krampus says.

Krampus starts to cut into Tommy, one piece at a time. Tommy is startled awake due to the sound of his own screams. Those screams for help are swallowed up by the darkness surrounding him. His limbs struggle beneath the leather straps that bound him to the bed; recognition slowly takes hold of Tommy as he comes to the realization that he is once again in his room at the mental institution.