Peace opened up the horror book and on the first page, it wrote:

"This is the life's tale of Kristokulos, the demon that haunts the spirit of Christmas in its anger of being separated from his own family on Christmas day. He infects your mind and uses the things you love as a weapon against you, showing you your deepest fears and bringing them to life."

.

"Go on! Keep reading. We have to find out more about this thing and what it wants." Jennifer told Peace and she continued reading and flipped the cover to the next page.

"But Kristokulos wasn't always an angry demon. He was once an ordinary man who loved his family but his one moment of weakness and desperation condemned him for all eternity, making him the monster that he is today."

THE STORY BEGINS

Once upon a time, in the days of old. There lived a hardworking woodcarver name, Kristopher. He had a wife named Nalia and two beautiful daughters and they were his entire world. Kristopher was not a wealthy man so he had to work really hard to provide for his family. He was a good father and a great husband.

On the Eve of Christmas day, the landlord of the house where Kristopher and his family lived came to collect his monthly rent but Kristopher didn't have the money.

"Please, Mr Vandal. Just give me a little more time and I'll get you your money." Kristopher begged the landlord.

"You have until tomorrow morning and if you don't have the money by then, I'll throw you and your family out on the streets." Mr Vandal said with no sympathy.

"But tomorrow's Christmas. You can't throw us out on Christmas!"

"I can and I will. So you'd better have my money or else, you'll have to build an igloo in the snow as a shelter for your family." Mr Vandal said and walked away.

"Kris, what is it? Who were you talking to?" Nalia asked from inside.

"Oh, just the neighbours dear! Wishing them a merry Christmas in advance." He lied.

"Come in then. It's almost time for dinner." She said to him and he went inside in turmoil, wondering how he'll prevent his family from being homeless.

Later that night, Kristopher told his wife that he had to deliver a client's product to them.

"By this time? In this blizzard?" His wife asked because it was already snowing and it was so late.

"I'll be back before you know it. The client's home isn't that far and he paid me to deliver it today but I forgot to go earlier." He told his wife and she reluctantly let him go.

He took the small wooden box that he had carved and left the house.

Kristopher wasn't entirely honest with his wife. The box did belong to a client but he wasn't a man and he didn't have to go tonight but he had to because the landlord would come tomorrow morning. 

He powered through the storm until he finally made it to the huge house in the middle of the woods. He knocked on the door and was invited in by the butler.

"Hello, Carl! Is Madame Constance around?" He asked the butler for his madam.

"Yes Sir. She's in her quarters and she's been expecting you." The butler informed him.

Kristopher climbed up the stairs and went into the woman's room to deliver her box. He found her in her lace robe, lying on her bed. She was a woman in her late fifties but she was still very appealing.

"Kristopher! You're here which means you've finally decided to accept my offer." She said seductively and got out of her huge bed.

Madame Constance had been obsessed with Kristopher from the very first day she saw him. She had tried to seduce him many times and even offered him a lot of money if he would sleep with her but he always refused. But now, he was desperate and decided to sleep with her to save his family from being homeless.

"I've decided to do what you want in exchange for twice the amount that you offered," Kristopher said.

"Money is not a problem. You'll get what you want but for now, take off your clothes." She ordered and watched him undress.

He reluctantly unbuttoned his shirt but Madame Constance couldn't contain herself so she went to him and began kissing him hungrily. He kissed her back but he wasn't enjoying what he was doing until he couldn't do it anymore.

"No no no! I can't do this. I have a wife and I love her." He said and began buttoning his shirt.

"You can still love your wife while you please me!" Constance whispered in his ears but he pushed her away and she fell on her bed.

"This was a mistake. You can keep your money. I don't want it anymore so stay away from me." He told her.

She grabbed his shoulders and tried to kiss him again but he pushed her once more and began saying awful things to her. As she fell, she ripped a piece of his shirt off and had it in her hand.

"Let go of me, you old hag. I don't want you and I never will."

Madame Constance became very angry and she felt humiliated. "You think you can embarrass me this way and not face the consequences. You've just made the biggest mistake of your life." She said angrily and he left.

She got up and grabbed the box he made for her. She took the piece of cloth, held it over a candle and said some incantations.

She put the cloth into the box, took a dagger and cut herself, letting her blood drip into the box and she locked it and swallowed the little key.

"I curse you this very night Kristopher. I trap your humanity into this box and seal it for all eternity. And if anyone were to try to open this box and free your soul, you'll be forced to devour their minds and bodies forever. This is the punishment you get for shaming me." She placed the spell and took the box downstairs, hiding it underneath a hole near the fireplace.

As Kristopher walked home, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He fell to the ground and screamed in pain as he transformed into a soulless monster. He became deranged and wild, like an animal and ran deeper into the forest, never to be seen again.

                                THE END

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"What? That can't be the end!" Nelly protested.

"There's a little note on the back, written by the author." Peace said to them.

"Well, what does it say?" Jennifer asked impatiently.

"It says - ' The beast found its way into Madame Constance's home and devoured her, thereby trapping itself in her home to serve as its prison for all eternity. Whoever awakens this angry beast must know the only way to break the curse and free its soul. You must destroy the cursed item and remind the beast of its humanity. This is the only way to break the curse.' "

"Who wrote this book?" Darryl asked and Peace looked at the cover page.

"Written by Carl Worthington." She said,

"Carl? That's the name of the woman's butler!" Nelly pointed out.

"He must have witnessed everything that happened and wrote this book to help anyone who unleashes the monster to break the curse," Samson said.

"But what happened to Kristopher's family? Does it say?" Jennifer asked, wondering what indeed happened to them.

"The landlord must have kicked them out and they ended up on the street, probably froze to death in the night's cold," Nelly said.

"That's why Kristokulos is so angry. He was cursed and he lost his family. We have to break the curse and free his spirit." Peace suggested.

"It says we must destroy the cursed item which has to be the piece of his shirt locked in the box. But we lit the box on fire and destroyed it." Darryl reminded them.

"If that was the same box from the story, then that means this is the same house that belonged to Madame Constance." Jennifer pointed out.

"You're right. It's all real. Thankfully for us, the box never got destroyed. It's right here and it's still in very good shape. Doesn't even have a little burn mark on it." Nelly told them with the box in his hands.

"Where did you...? It doesn't matter! Now, all we have to do is open it and destroy the cloth." Samson said.

"If fire can't open this box, then nothing can. We're gonna need that key." Nelly remarked.

"But it says in the story that Madame Constance swallowed the key." Jennifer pointed out.

"Yeah, and the beast devoured her which means the key is probably lying in her remains somewhere inside this house and we have to find it," Darryl said and they all stared at the dark and unexplored parts of the house, knowing that they'll have to enter into the darkness to find the only thing that could save them; The Key!

The guys all sat by the fire and deliberated on how they'll go about getting the key and which of them will go get it because they all couldn't go at the same time.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Nelly asked and looked at all of them.

"We can't all go so some of us will have to volunteer," Samson said.

The look on Nelly's face would suggest that he was considering volunteering. He was obviously also scared but he summoned the courage to finally say the words.

"I'll go." 

"Are you sure about that Nels? You're not exactly the bravest warrior in the land." Jennifer asked and teased him a little.

"Haha! Very funny Jenny. I started this by lighting that box on fire and I should help fix this. I have to." Nelly said with seriousness.

Darryl nodded in approval and offered to go as well.

"But Darryl...?" Jennifer began to protest.

"He can't go alone, he'll never make it back. I have to go with him." Darryl explained to her.

"Then I guess I'm coming too." Samson offered as well.

"No! You have to stay here and watch over the girls. We'll be fine on our own." Darryl said to Sam.

"Okay then. I'll stay here with them but if you guys take too long, I'm coming after you." Sam told Darryl who nodded in agreement.

Darryl grabbed the flashlight and picked up an iron rod and handed it over to Nelly. They both stood up and looked up the stairs that they had to climb.

"Let's go, Nels!" 

"Wait, guys! The creature will surely come after you so you need to find a way to take the fire with you." Peace suggested.

"You're right, Peace. If we have fire with us, the beast can't attack us." Nelly agreed.

Samson walked around and found another rod. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around the rod and lit it on fire.

"This should stay lit for only a few minutes. You'd better get going." Sam said and handed the makeshift torch over to Darryl.

"And take this with you, as a last resort," Jennifer said and handed him the lighter.

They were finally ready and they both began climbing the staircase until they got to the upper portion of the house. The path ahead was very dark and Darryl and Nelly were trying their hardest to stay brave.

The floorboards creaked as they walked on them which added to the spooky feeling the house had already caused in them.

"Madame Constance's remains must be in her bedroom but which one is it?" Nelly whispered to Darryl. 

There were so many doors around them, leading to different rooms so they had to enter them one after the other.

"We're going to have to search every single one of them."

They opened the door to the first room and slowly walked into it. As they entered, the door slammed shut behind them. Nelly immediately went to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't open.

"It's locked!" He announced aloud. "What do we do now?" He asked, already panicking.

"The demon can't harm us physically because of this fire," Darryl began to say, "so it must be using its ability to attack you mentally which means we just have to keep a cool head and find that key before the flame burns out."

"So, you think the monster is playing mind games with us right now?" 

"It probably is! I mean, take a look at the lock of the door. It's not locked but the door refuses to open which means it's already making us see what it wants so as long as we remain focused, we'll be fine." Darryl said with assuredness and they searched the large bedroom for Madame Constance's remains but it wasn't here.

"I don't think this is the room the beast killed her in," Nelly said.

"Yeah, you're right. We should check the others." Darryl said and tried to pull the door open but it wouldn't.

"How do we get out of this room then?" Nelly asked him.

Darryl thought about it hard and he came to a theory.

"When the demon first entered our heads, it made us see things that weren't there. We lived through those visions before we managed to come out of them. I think the same needs to happen now. We have to let it affect our minds and fight our way out mentally." Darryl finally said.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Nelly asked, feeling very confused and nervous.

"By letting it get closer which means," he said and held the torch closer to his face, "putting out the fire."

"Are you crazy? That fire is the only thing keeping us alive. If we turn it off, we're as good as dead." Nelly protested.

"If we don't turn it off, we may never be able to get out of here. Is that what you want?" Darryl answered back, a bit angry.

Nelly thought about and with a sigh of resignation, he agreed.

"This is a bad idea." He said.

Nelly blew out the torch and they were quickly engulfed in the darkness.

"Turn the flashlight on man, I'm freaking out," Nelly said in the dark to Darryl but he didn't answer.

"Darryl, are you there?" He called out but still no response from Darryl.

Suddenly, the electric lights in the room came on which should not be possible because the house wasn't connected to the town's power grid.

Nelly now realized that there were cockroaches all over him. He began to scream and run around, trying to get the roaches off him.

"They're not real! They're not real!" He repeated, trying to calm himself but they felt very real. Nelly tripped and fell on the floor. The cockroaches all got on him and began crawling into his body through his nostrils, mouth and even his eyes. He screamed as they entered into him and he became buried under the river of cockroaches.