A Christmas Horror Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

added.
    ‘No electricity?’ Katie echoed.
    ‘No TV.’ Jake munched on his cereal. Milk dribbled from his mouth.
    Katie flicked a light switch. The bulb ignored the clicking from the switch.
    ‘Did you check the fuses?’ Katie asked.
    ‘Yes, because that was the first thing I learnt in electricity school.’ Emily raised her eyebrows.
    ‘OK,’ Katie sighed, ‘I guess the heating is not going to work, so I’ll get some firewood. You two, get dressed up warm with lots of layers.’
    ‘Can I wear my Christmas jumper? It has reindeers.’ Jake munched.
    ‘Why not,’ Katie replied. ‘Why not.’
    Katie dressed in her thickest winter clothes. Fur boots, padded black trousers and a green jacket. It took several tries to open the back door to the garden as something heavy was pushing back against it. Finally Katie forced her way outside , squeezing as tightly as she could through the doorway. The cold outside was bitter as it pricked her cheeks. When her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight and her lungs to the crisp air, she took in the scenery. The garden, the pathways, the roads and the hills beyond were covered in a deep snowdrift. With only slight speckles of grey; the horizon had disappeared under the weight of the weather. Snow had buried one side of the house itself. The old cottage building had very nearly been hidden with the drift and only the tops of the trees poked through the snow in the garden. The firewood would have to wait. Now Katie was seriously worried, not for herself but for her mother. Negative thoughts swam in the dark waters of her nightmares. What if her mother had been caught in the snow and her car became a coffin? She held on to the wall of the house to keep steady. Emily had come to the doorway, followed by Jake.
    ‘Whoa, what’s happened?’ Emily asked, gasping at the weather.
    ‘There’s been a snowstorm; it must have stopped the electricity.’ Katie composed herself.
    ‘The freezer has broken,’ Jake joined in. ‘All the food is ruined. The ice cream is on the floor. It tasted funny.’
    Katie thought for a moment and pulled her phone from her pocket. It was out of power and there was no way to charge it.
    ‘OK, get your boots and coats. We’ll walk into the village and get help.’
    Moorside was a remote area of Glossop that was very much a slave to the weather. Set against hills and farmland, it was frequently attacked by vicious grey winds in autumn that swapped for cold, biting snow in winter. Katie’s home was set against a large acre or two of shrubs that Dad always promised to turn into a riding stables for horses, once he took a well-earned rest from the police force. That never happened. Mum now seemed content to stay in Moorside, commuting to the city hospital and back. Katie couldn’t blame her; Moorside coal mine was an abyss that was the last resting place of her father’s body, along with the two hikers he’d been searching for. Katie supposed staying here was part of the mourning process. But she couldn’t wait to be away at university, or maybe travelling around Europe. But watching Emily and Jake wrapped up in garish winter clothes, hats and scarves, Katie sighed. She would never leave. Not while she had responsibilities.
    The snow was deeper than Katie had ever seen it. So much so that just leaving the house and negotiating the few metres of driveway was a trek in itself. The three attempted to dig their way out until they made it to the road. Emily mostly complained, as Katie shovelled chunks of the snow using a coal scuttle and creating a tunnel. Jake helped by making snowballs to launch into the air.
    ‘It’s freezing; what are we doing?’ Emily asked kicking up snowfall and waving her hands around.
    ‘
We
are not helping.
I’m
trying to dig us out of here. I think we need to find someone from the village.’.
    ‘There’s no point. Look at the road. There’s at least a hundred feet of snow,’ snapped Emily, and although she exaggerated the