Quote:
Caroling has been a tradition for years, so it’s really no surprise when you hear a soft chorus from outside. What is a surprise is the fact that it’s three in the morning, and the moment they start singing you feel a chill in the air. It’s a song you’ve heard a hundred times before, but something about this version makes you go cold. If you move to the window, you will find no carolers, but the song is loud enough that you know you should be able to see them. They sing one song, and then there is silence. An eerie chill lingers, and your dreams are haunted by strange voices. You’ll probably never be able to hear that song again without feeling a chill.
It was something like five days before Christmas, and all through the house not a person was stirring- not even Catstor and his new mechanical toy mouse. The stockings were all hung, and the garlands were too, and their three Christmas trees were oh, such a view. Aidan and Zora and Lucas and Michael, Jada and Vainey and Giulia and... okay, well, she was running out of things to rhyme with Michael unless she came up with something like a tricycle. OH! They were nearing the middle of their sleepy night cycle. There, that was good. Well, for everyone but Giulia, who wasn't actually asleep at all, but was staring at the clock in the corner, and the little ballerina night light. The fireplace, cheerfully crackling the sweetly-scented wood in her carefully-grated fireplace, so she could not accidentally get into it, or throw something in that should not go there. How could she sleep, with so many she loved who were so very close to her? Maybe she should go slip to Aidan's room, and curl up with him? Or maybe Jada would be awake? Would Lucia be awake this late, and want to meet up with her as Ara?
She was curled up there, warm and toasty, when outside her window, she heard the hum of a song. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas / Just like the ones I used to know / Where the treetops glisten and children listen / To hear sleigh bells in the snow As the words drifted through her room, it seemed almost as though the fire seemed to lose its cheer, the ballerina dimming. The room grew cold and uncomfortable, and she curled more tightly into herself, tugging the blanket around and turning to face the window. Oh, it wasn't strange to hear a caroler, she supposed- they came about in the movies all of the time. But never did they come around at this late in the night time- and never did they seem to be singing right outside the second-floor window. So there was that. And the song wasn't right, either.
The song was supposed to be singing about being merry and bright, but it seemed like it was a sad song, with lots of flat notes and bits that didn't sound quite like they did when this song was played on the radio. It sounded creepy, and not very fun to listen to, and her toes curled in the sudden chill that seemed to fill up the air around her. This song wasn't scary, but the way that it was being song was like there was something broken, and she didn't know what was happening. Or how they were singing- and she was too freaked out to go look outside her window. It was like... that Nightmare Before Christmas movie, and there might be scary ghosts outside who would try and do bad things! But almost as soon as it had started, the song seemed to end, and then there was only silence. The chill that had come with the song lingered, and Giulia buried her head under the blanket, trying to huddle into what little warmth was left, hiding from the strangely dimmed light in her room.
