He fled down the long narrow pathway, dragging Shannon, the only light being the ones from the shop signs. "He's making a list, he's checking it twice; he's going to find out whose naughty or nice..." He could hear the echoing singing again, but refused to stop. It seemed like a torturous eternity before he skidded into the hallway containing the stairs that led to the top floor.

He felt relief; all he needed to do now was run up the stairs and out the door and he would be out of this hellhole. Maybe there was even police out the front waiting to save them.

What Jaxon didn't anticipate however, was the figure on top of the stairs.

The petrifying figure of a human dressed in a Santa costume was standing at the top of the stairs. It stared at the young boy with a Cheshire grin too wide to be human, its head leaning sideways as if studying him; its face lit up by the Christmas lights from the massive tree upstairs.

Two shining eyes of red and green, reflecting the famous Christmas colours, stared into Jaxon's soul and his heart felt like it stopped completely. Shannon couldn't breathe.

The figure giggled creepily, kicking something down the stairs towards Jaxon and Shannon. They both jumped back in fright, only to notice something horrifying before them. A body of a police officer, wrapped in ribbon, decorated with a small bow.

Shannon stared at the corpse, but Jungkook looked back up at the figure, which was now right in his face, eye level with him. He jumped back in shock at the inhuman face. "He was naughty." It giggled, creepily.

Shannon was scared.

Jaxon was scared.

If anything they wished that they had just never woke up this morning.

The thing turned to Shannon, smiling and tilting its head to the side.

"What do you want for Christmas?" It asked.

Everything went black for Shannon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shannon awoke to the sound of bells ringing, and a sickeningly hair-raising voice singing, "On the twelfth of Christmas, my true love sent to me..."

Shannon immediately shot up and looked at the shadowy figure above her, noticing she was now on the first level floor, by the big Christmas tree. Her eyes struggled to register the flicking lights on the tree, but when they finally did, her heart stopped. Bodies, hanging from the branches like baubles.

The Shadowy figure paid no mind to her horrified face, and kept singing gleefully. Feeling nauseous, but noticing her loving boyfriend wasn't around; Shannon turned to the thing, and looked it dead in the eye, trying not to back out.

"Where is Jaxon?" She ordered, although scared, her assertiveness was powerful. Something about the way the thing's bauble coloured eyes shone when she mentioned his name however, made her believe she already knew the answer.

It giggled again, before lending out its hand. Shannon looked at its long, slender fingers in disgust. "WHERE IS JAXON?" She asked again, louder this time.

The thing giggled again before skipping like a child over to the Christmas tree, motioning for her to come. Shannon cautiously stepped forward now, knowing she had nothing left to lose, and hoping that her boyfriend was still alive.

It led her under the tree to a large box, wrapped in red wrapping with a gold ribbon, and an innocent looking bow on top. Shannon's heart sunk to her stomach, no, it went further than that. It dropped to the floor. She didn't want to look in the box; she already knew what she would see. The desire to break down and cry and the fear of the creature beside her built up into anger, causing her to turn around and grab the greyish creature by the neck.

"You -!" She screeched, attempting to choke it.

But the creature just smiled evilly.

"Merry Christmas, Shannon."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Officer Min Hoon stepped past the yellow tape surrounding the entrance of the building, yawning in sleepiness. It was 12am on a Christmas morning, but his shift was nearly over and his beautiful wife would be waiting for him at home with a cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows. He could keep going because of that.

Upon seeing his friend, Detective Joseph Thomson beside two large gift boxes, he walked over to him.

"Looks like these were expensive." He suggested to the blonde man beside him.

Thomson shook his head. "Forensics found two bodies inside them. A girl and boy, around late teens. Apparently they're the ones who called emergency services. The bodies are freshly wounded. Barely even an hour old."

He continued, "Four officers turned up not twenty minutes ago. All of them dead, hanging from a Christmas tree. Forensics are still examining the bodies."

He turned to Min with tears in his contact coloured blue eyes, his normal calm front totally gone. "They were too young to die, Hoon." He said quietly. "They were all too young. They had families...lives to live....and on what's meant to be the most joyful day of the year..." He lamented. Officer Min patted him on the shoulder.

Yes, they were police officers and detectives, they had seen these things before, but they weren't bricks and witnessing stuff like this did really do things to people.

"Did they catch the offender?" He asked, hoping that justice would be served for the innocent victims.

Thomson shook his head. "217 lives lost, not a single offender in sight. Not even any evidence, except these stupid boxes." He hissed, glaring at the box as if it was the offender.

Min turned to the boxes, noticing a small piece of paper on one of them. He looked at Thomson. "Did you see this, Joe?" He asked as he pointed to the paper.

Thomson nodded, still a bit overwhelmed by it all. "It's a note, watch out when touching it though, it's written in blood." He stepped closer to Min. "I don't know what it means, but I think these two were a couple." He informed the brunette.

Min walked closer to the box to take a look at the note.

"Now they're together forever, happily ever after."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One year before

"I-I have something to tell you, Shannon." Jaxon said nervously as they sat side by side on the swing set.

Shannon flipped her shoulder length blonde hair over her shoulder, peering up at him with the greenish hazel eyes he adored.

He ran his fingers through his luxurious brown locks. "I-I know we're meant to just be friends, but I-I..." He paused for a minute before turning away from her, "I think I like you...And not just as friends. I-I want to spend my whole life with you, Shannon, marry you, have a family with you, and grow old with you. I...guess you could say I umm love you?"

He looked back at her, redness forming in his cheeks.

Shannon didn't know what to think at first.

Her crush, Jaxon, the muscular boy that all the girls wanted to be with, was looking at her boring self with wide doe eyes, telling her he loved her. She was in shock.

Jaxon took this as rejection. "I mean, what was I saying...Haha." He laughed nervously and gave himself a slap on the forehead before getting up, "you don't like me, just...just forget it-I-"

"I love you too, Jaxon! I've loved you ever since we first met. I think you're very handsome and cool and sweet, and just....amazing!" Shannon suddenly exasperated, "And I-I also want to be with you. Till my last day on earth, and...and even forever after that!"

The boy, who was initially shocked at her words, began to smile widely.

"Yeah. Let's do that."