Working the holidays has become something of a tradition of mine over the past few years. I don’t have family that I need to run home to and the pay is really not that bad all things considered.

Plus best of all, typically most people don’t call us this time of year. Sure there’s the occasional drunk driver or something but for the most part we can have a small office party and chill without too much stress.

This year I didn’t anticipate much to be different, there were about six of us handling incoming calls on Christmas Eve and it looked like cold weather would be hitting the area soon so we did anticipate a few calls from stranded motorists. Maybe the occasional ice slide or something.

Marty, our shift manager, bought us all Domino’s pizza and Coca Cola. I popped on my headset and waited for the calls to come in.

First few hours were mundane, just as I had expected. I’m not going to bore you with the details.

Let’s skip forward to about fifteen hundred in the evening.

This call came in about that time, I remember because I had just come back from break.

There were only five of us left, I think somebody had to drive for a while and the weather was getting worse so the calls were beginning to increase.

And then, I pick up the receiver and talk to an old lady. Probably in her late 90s and I’m just saying that to be fair.

“Hello? Is this Daniel?” she asked in a confused voice.

For a split second I was tempted to promptly tell her that she had the wrong number but training kicked in and I realized she might be suffering from dementia and in need of aid.

“This is 911 ma’am. Are you in need of assistance? Can you provide your address?” I asked.

“Daniel, I'm trying to set up the Christmas tree. The darned thing keeps tipping over,” she mumbled. I heard cats in the background and something that sounded like pots banging together.

“I see. Is anyone else there with you ma’am?” I asked slowly as I typed up a short response on my computer. I didn’t expect this to be a lengthy call at all.

“You were supposed to be here. But you never came,” she said in a harsher tone than I expected.

“How will I ever explain to the children you weren’t here to open presents?” she whispered.

“So there are children in the house?” I asked.

“Not yet. But they will come. They always do,” the woman replied cryptically. In the background I heard what sounded like a man laughing.

“So there is someone there with you?” I repeated my first question to which I heard her shuffle to her feet and mutter something.

“That was the tv. Why are you asking so many questions? Are you coming to help with my tree or not?” she barked.

“This line is for emergencies only, I hate to say that Christmas tree alignment isn’t our department,” I told her and added, “You should try to call Daniel tomorrow and get some rest tonight ok ma’am?”

I noticed that for some reason the call wasn’t being picked up on our maps. The signal kept bouncing around in the rurals, making the likelihood of me being able to send officers out for a wellness check very unlikely.

There was a short silence as though she was processing my words and then she whispered, “But if you go… who’s going to help me? The presents aren’t even finished yet. This will be the worst Christmas ever.”

I sighed and tried to be patient with her. Already my phone was buzzing with other calls and I had to move on.

“I’m sure it will be fine. Didn’t you say that there were going to be children coming by? They won’t care about the wrappings and such, just the gifts, and of course being with you,” I commented.

“The gifts have to be ready before they come! Have you forgotten everything Daniel?” she barked back.

Then I heard the doorbell ring in the background. “They are here. No. I’m not ready…” she mumbled. There were a few confusing sounds and then the line went dead.

I sat there for a few moments, a bit perplexed by the incident and then finished up the short report and tried to move on.

Once I got a short break, I turned to my coworker Matt and said, “Got any crazy calls tonight?”

“A few. Are we taking score?” he asked with a smirk. “Just trying to figure out this one I got. Old lady sounded like she had dementia. I couldn’t pinpoint her call though.”

Matt looked at me weirdly.

“Wait. Did she mention something about a Christmas tree? And a man named Daniel?” he asked.

“Yes! Oh my god you got her too?”

“Last year. Listen, I know this sounds weird but next time she calls just hang up,” he told me.

“Wait what. Is she some kind of troublemaker?” I asked. Before he could respond the next call came in and I turned back to my desk.

“911 what is your emergency?”

“Daniel, the Christmas tree is all decorated now. I don’t have any gifts for the children though.”

I sighed and remembered what Matt had told me but didn’t want to be rude.

As gently as I could, I told her she was mistaken and had the wrong number.

“If you leave me now; I don’t think the children will like it,” she whispered back.

That sounded odd so I asked, “I thought they already came by?”

“I told them the gifts weren’t ready so they gave me more time. But I lied. I don’t have anything. They’ll know I’m lying,” she mumbled.

“Ma’am you aren’t making any sense. Who are these children?” I asked.

“I don’t know damn it. Daniel, you’ve seen them! Their horrible faces and their razor sharp teeth. They come every year. I just don’t have the energy to stop them this time,” she muttered.

I leaned forward, hearing the man laughing in the background again and I asked, “Ma’am are you trying to say you are in danger? If so, just respond with the phrase I need more time. Okay?”

There was silence again and the sound of scratching. It was either on the door or under her feet.

“I need more time,” she whispered back and then the line went dead.

Taking my headphones off I quickly sent a transcript of the call to Marty and messaged him to come over to my station.

“What’s up Gail?” he asked, glancing at the screen.

“Is there any way we can figure out where this call is coming from? I think this elderly woman needs help immediately.”

“Might be difficult. I reviewed the call though, there isn’t much to be go on, he told me.

“Something isn’t right. Matt said she calls every year. And apparently these kids harass her? They might be taking advantage of her mental illness,” I told him.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.

As he walked away, Matt swiveled his chair toward me. “Don’t tell me you are still talking to that woman?” he asked.

“Doesn’t this strike you as odd that she calls in regularly on Christmas?” I asked.

“All I know is when she called me it freaked me out. First she started talking about Daniel but then she wasn’t making sense at all. It frightened me to be honest;” he said.

“And you just chalked it up to what? Madness?”

“Gail, who knows? But clearly she isn’t in any danger if she is doing it again. Don’t let her get to you and just forget the whole thing,” he advised me.

But that didn’t happen because twenty minutes later she called again. This time when she called me Daniel I corrected her.

“Oh that’s right. Daniel is dead isn’t he?” she muttered sadly.

“He was a good boy. Always did what he was told. Helped me a lot around the holidays…”

I was beginning to form the picture that this Daniel probably also died around this time of year. Maybe that was why the holidays were harder for her?

“How did he die?” I asked her.

“The same way they all die I suppose.”

There was a lump in my throat because of her response.

“Ma’am, I’m going to need you to explain what you mean by that.”

“I told you before I didn’t have gifts to give to them. I had to give them something,” she snapped.

“So you let them have Daniel?” I guessed.

She didn’t respond. Instead I heard the strange scratching again and the laughter.

“What am I supposed to do? They won’t leave me alone,” she said.

“I need an address. I will send someone out there,” I told her.

“You can’t come! No they’ll just kill you!” she insisted.

“Please. Please let me help you,” I told her.

“Only Daniel could help me and he’s gone now. Gone forever.”

The scratching was growing louder and so was the laughter. I realized it sounded like children playing.

“Then let me be Daniel for you, I can be Daniel,” I offered.

I wasn’t sure what I was saying made sense to her. But after a another moment of silence she said, “You would do that… for me?”

I told her yes and finally got an address. “Now I need you to stay on the line with me I’m going to get professionals there as soon as possible…”

Suddenly she screamed like she was being attacked.

“What’s going on? Is someone else there?” I asked. The laughter was drowning out her screams as I heard the children excitedly crying out. And then I heard awful sounds like they were the ones hurting this poor old woman.

I snapped my fingers to Matt excitedly and jotted a quick sticky note for him to tell dispatchers to book it. Despite his misgivings from earlier, he obeyed my instructions.

“Ma’am are you okay? I can’t hear anything? What’s going on there?” I asked.

The screams were making my ears hurt.

Then just when I thought I couldn’t take any more the line went dead.

I tried to reconnect but suddenly the line was out of service. Whatever was going on there, I was in the dark.

I didn’t find out much until the paramedics returned. Marty called me into his office.

“Well? What did you learn? Was that woman okay?” I asked.

“I’m not sure what kind of prank this was Gail, but it was weird. That was a long drive out there for nothing.”

“For nothing? What do you mean?” I asked.

“The address you gave us was a smoldering pile of ash. Old fire probably from three or four years ago. Nothing there but debris. And certainly no old woman,” the paramedic told me.

“That’s impossible, I talked to her only an hour ago. Maybe she gave the wrong address?” I asked.

“Who knows? It looks like it was pretty bad though. Several small corpses inside too. It might have been a children’s home or something back in the day,” they said.

Children? It lined up with what I had heard. Had I been speaking to a ghost…?

“Thanks for at least checking it out,” I told them.

I returned to my desk and told Matt what had happened.

“Not surprised. I knew it was a prank.”

“Something doesn’t feel right about it though. I can’t put my finger on it,” I admitted as I placed my headset back on and started taking calls again.

“911 what is your emergency?”

No response.

Then I heard heavy breathing. Like someone was struggling to get words out.

“Daniel… Daniel you didn’t come,” the voice whispered.

A chill ran down my spine as I became filled with dread. It sounded like she was dying. Or perhaps she was already dead.

“What’s happened?” I whispered.

“I stopped them. All of them. They’re dead now and so am I. Maybe I can protect others from their evil this way…?” she asked as I heard her cough and vomit.

“You burned your house,” I said.

“Won’t be long before I’m forgotten. And so these wicked little creatures will be gone too. All of them down back to hell,” she coughed again, her voice becoming weaker.

“Why did they do this? What do they want?” I asked her.

The line went dead again and I realized it was the end of my shift.

I grabbed my keys and decided to take a drive out there and find out the truth for myself. It took almost half an hour and the weather was more brutal than I expected, but when I made it the image was not exactly what the paramedics had claimed. There was no fire, just a quaint little house that was remote from anything else in these woods.

Instead it reminded of the storybook workshop you might see in a Christmas tale to be honest.

I parked my car and zipped up my coat, walking to the door and knocking loudly. I could hear children inside.

An old woman that looked like she came off of a Norman Rockwell painting came to the door. She appeared to be blind and crippled.

“Who is it at this hour?” She whispered.

“It’s… Daniel,” I lied as I peeked inside the home.

It was dark. I could faintly see a Christmas tree and some food on a table and I kept hearing laughter.

“Oh dear. Please come in! I’ve waited for you!” she whispered.

I followed her into the cramped corridor toward the tree. Something smelled awful. Like a rotting corpse was hiding under that spruce.

“Do your lights not work?” I asked as I felt the children get uncomfortably close to me. Their hands felt dirty and old.

“Hush now, we need to begin our festival,” the old woman told me. Then she lit a match.

I opened my mouth to ask what she doing but then tossed the match onto the Christmas tree, igniting it in seconds.

As the flame blazed, the room around me became clear. All of her children, if you could even call them that, were naked and resembled old men, growling and snarling as they began to attack me with jagged teeth and twisted nails.

The old woman laughed madly and I saw an older man in the background his belly carved out probably from a previous meal given to these little demons.

I managed to pull myself up and push the tree down, the mighty spruce hitting the old woman harshly before I dashed toward the door. The demon children were right behind me, cackling like wild animals as the fire spread.

I made it back to my car and watched as the tiny home went up in a blaze, fulfilling the words that my coworkers had claimed they saw.

I made sure none of those awful lads made it out of the home and sat there gasping for breath in the cold as the fire died down until only ash was left.

I cranked up my car and called it a night, my body still numb to the entire experience.

The day after, I had a morning shift and some of my coworkers were asking about the call I had but I didn’t want to even bother to recall the incident.

I sat down tiredly beside another dispatcher, saying a prayer that the nightmare would end. Then I heard them answer their phone and repeat what I had said to the old woman the night before.

Snatching the headset off I disconnected the call before they got roped in as well.

“What was that about Gail?” they asked.

“If that lady calls in again, don’t answer it…” I paused and realized that would likely mean that others in the office would be in danger too. “Tell anyone if a woman calls asking for Daniel.. forward the calls to me,” I ordered.

I sat back against my chair, skin bristling with pain as I waited for the call.

I just have to make it past the holidays, then she’ll stop until next year, I told myself.

I hope I can make it.