{"id":5664,"date":"2022-12-26T23:41:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T07:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-running-on-empty\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T01:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:55:10","slug":"12-days-of-xmas-running-on-empty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-running-on-empty\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Days of Xmas: Running On Empty"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUNNING ON EMPTY<\/h1>\n

Staying in the motel was becoming a real hardship. Not because the room was especially terrible in itself, but because the neighbors on either side were the sort that believed being loud was a right and not a rudeness.<\/p>\n

The couple on one side loudly made love all night every night, while the couple on the other side screamed at each other and threatened violence at such volume their every word was clearly audible. Both pairs were risking their lives without knowing it.<\/p>\n

She wrapped the pillow tighter around her head and clenched her jaw tightly to keep from screaming at them to "SHUT UP!"<\/p>\n

Her body trembled with the effort of holding herself still. She could feel the madness growing inside her. The need<\/em> to unleash terrible violence on the inconsiderate aholes.<\/p>\n

She was exhausted. She hadn’t had more than a few minutes of sleep for the last two weeks. If she could have left the motel room she would have, but she had promised to stay inside and wait for him to return, so here she was. Suffering from cabin fever and maybe malnutrition from only having delivery food to eat, which in this town had meant food from the pizza place every day.<\/p>\n

She’d promised she would stay in the room, but it was becoming harder and harder. It was only her absolute terror of Them<\/em> that kept her inside.<\/p>\n

He’d lined the motel room with paper charms and hung up carved wooden rune squares. As long as she remained inside she was invisible to the monsters chasing her. The monsters he had gone off to kill.<\/p>\n

The moans on one side were growing louder, the fervent filth they called out growing louder and LOUDER while the couple on the other side screamed such vitriol at each other that she thought she could feel her soul curdling inside her body. Both couples were so LOUD, screaming and panting and groaning and the thump-thump-THUMP of a headboard slamming against the too-thin wall.<\/p>\n

She pressed the pillow tighter around her head, mashing it against her ears. The pain was growing in her brain, the headache having grown so much worse over the last two hours. To the point that she’d begun to fantasize about going to the door and stepping outside.<\/p>\n

There would be the howling screams and They<\/em> would appear. She would be torn apart, she knew it, her blood and viscera splashed so far and wide and horrifying that it would be near to impossible to clean up. The motel owners would have to use bleach and paint to wipe away the mess, and even then the cement would be stained forever.<\/p>\n

But those assholes… They<\/em> would kill her, yes, but they would also kill everyone else staying in this section of the motel. They<\/em> would kill her, but that would not slate their bloodlust, the need for violence and murder.<\/p>\n

Assaulted by the loudness of her neighbors, the continuous torment of their screaming and their lust and the THUMP-THUMP-THUMP<\/em> of that damned headboard… She was tempted.<\/p>\n

All she had to do was open the door and step outside.<\/p>\n

=END=<\/p>\n

~Harper Kingsley
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RUNNING ON EMPTY Staying in the motel was becoming a real hardship. Not because the room was especially terrible in itself, but because the neighbors on either side were the sort that believed being loud was a right and not a rudeness. The couple on one side loudly made love all night every night, while…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> 12 Days of Xmas: Running On Empty<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"12 Days of Xmas: Running On Empty","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[917,648],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-5664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","tag-12-days-of-xmas","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1tm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6679,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-the-real-purge\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":0},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: The Real Purge","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"CW: Revenge THE REAL PURGE There were last preparations taking place before the annual Event. Nobody called it \"the Purge,\" but everyone knew that it was the Purge. It was strange to think that a bunch of rich people had become so enthralled by a movie series that they would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7063,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-fabric-softener\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":1},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Fabric Softener","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The day started off terrible and got worse. She woke up with a laggy feeling, as though some invisible weight was pulling her down. When she ate food, it left her with a vaguely nauseated feeling that didn't get better as the day progressed. Am I getting sick? she wondered.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7070,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-from-the-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":2},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: From the Darkness","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"From the darkness it came, and in the darkness it hid. The beast that had been haunting their town, stealing the young women from their beds with no trace only to leave their bloodless bodies to be found three days later. The sound of mournful wails had become the music\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6844,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-single-glance\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":3},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Single Glance","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Single Glance Darkstar in a Santa hat. Darkstar in a Santa hat. Chloe leaned closer toward the fence, her glossy eyes focused on the supervillain. He was so beautiful that she couldn't even consider looking away. He was a force of nature, unleashing violence upon those that had aroused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5665,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-pleasant-dreams-of-unwary-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":4},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Pleasant Dreams of Unwary Things","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Content Warning: brief but somewhat graphic description of injury. PLEASANT DREAMS OF UNWARY THINGS Beckett screamed in rage before lashing out one final time. Lightning blasted from his fingertips but there was so much blood in his eyes he missed. He knew he missed the second he released. 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