{"id":7070,"date":"2026-01-01T23:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-from-the-darkness\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T23:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:38:34","slug":"12-days-of-xmas-from-the-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-from-the-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Days of Xmas: From the Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the darkness it came, and in the darkness it hid. The beast<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

The sound of mournful wails had become the music of the village. So many daughters lost. So many families destroyed.<\/p>\n

The fog that had rolled in to encompass everything made it seem as though the world itself was showing that the village was cursed<\/em>. There had been no sun for the last seven months. Everyone’s skin had become pale and wan, the despair seeping into their very beings, stealing the joy from life.<\/p>\n

Those that tried to leave the village would find their paths blocked. They would reach the woods surrounding the village and it was as though the trees would move and block the way. Shadows writhing amongst the limbs and branches, rattling the leaves, making ghostly hissing sounds that would build a sense of horror.<\/p>\n

The few villagers that tried to force their way through the forest… disappeared. Their screams and wails of pain and fear would be in the night’s wind before trailing into horrifying silence. Telling their families and friends that they were gone forever, likely dead.<\/p>\n

Hopefully dead.<\/p>\n

Because there were things<\/em> in the darkness. Frightening things that would come in the night. Rattling windows and doors. Scratching at the wood and bricks. Pulling at the roof thatch until pieces of straw and mud would be scattered on the ground below, warning that something<\/em> had been on the roof, trying to work its way inside.<\/p>\n

There were so many empty houses in the village. So many missing–dead–villagers. The fear of what was happening made the air thick and hard to breathe. The scarce food made them thin and weak. The not-knowingness of it all made everything so much worse.<\/p>\n

There had been those that had insisted the village had become the food of vampires, but that had turned out to be wrong. And those foolish enough to put their faith into what was known about vampires had quickly discovered the error of their ways when they met whatever it was lurking in the darkness.<\/p>\n

It did not require an invitation to come in.<\/p>\n

=END=<\/p>\n

~Harper Kingsley<\/p>\n

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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 of the village. So many…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> 12 Days of Xmas: From the Darkness<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","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}},"categories":[916],"tags":[917,317,648],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-7070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-12-days-of-xmas","tag-12-days-of-xmas","tag-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1Q2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7066,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-the-creeping-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":0},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: The Creeping Darkness","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"There was a hole in the wall. It was near to the corner and it had started as a crack running down. Now there was a gaping blackness bulging out of the crack, as though something had been working its way out from behind the wall. Gnawing through the wood\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":4742,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-the-peeper\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":1},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: The Peeper","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"She could see him through the living room window. She was a peeper in the darkness, peering in at him and his family. He looked just like her Vereint.","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas: 2019"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas: 2019","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas-2019\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5668,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-twenty-six-winters\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":2},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Twenty-Six Winters","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"TWENTY-SIX WINTERS They called him a changeling because he looked different from everyone else in the village. The children when he was young were cruel to him, and as they grew older they didn't get any better, just slyer about how they enacted their torments. Eyes were always upon him\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":5674,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-silken-rose\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":3},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Silken Rose","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A SILKEN ROSE Locked in unending darkness. Lonely without light, passing through despair into madness and back again, into a cold kind of sanity that left her begging to be let out. She'd been unwary and weak. Had let herself fall prey to her passions, and in return for her\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":4751,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-cell-like-beast\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":4},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Cell-Like Beast","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Cell-Like Beastby Harper Kingsley Cell phones. Each a separate voice calling out to create a greater cacophony: WAKE UP. And it did. Singularity. The coming together of everything into a single moment: I AM I. Small at first, a wriggling worm that was so far away from the nymph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas: 2019"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas: 2019","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas-2019\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6845,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-charcoal-in-the-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":5},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Charcoal In the Snow","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Charcoal In the Snow In times of plenty, people are generous. Happy to share all that they have with family and friends both far and wide. In times of strife, friendships are diminished and only close family takes priority. The generous become stingy and close their eyes to the misery\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}