A Friendly Visit

Berlin, Germany

December 5, 1962

“What do you mean you can’t come?  Today is literally about you. Nicholas isn’t supposed to walk around alone, that defeats the entire purpose of what today is- no one’s gonna care that you forgot to polish your antlers! Mein Gott-oh he’s walking up my driveway- oh- he doesn’t look happy. You better get over here before midnight, I’ve never seen Nicholas look this angry.” A knock rang out through the small house. A plump man with a bright white beard stood outside a small, wooden house. The sound of  a phone being quickly slammed down was heard from the outside. Nicholas huffed before the door swung open, revealing a nervous looking Ethan. “I- uh, I think he’s on his way now. A little problem came up, but I think he got it fixed. Oh- it’s freezing out there, you should probably come in. He should only take about fifteen minutes.”  Nicholas only grumbled a quiet thank you before trudging into the dimly lit house. Gulping, Ethan shut the door before following Nicholas into the sitting area. He almost shrieked when Nicholas whirled around, finally speaking up. “Why was he late? I’ve never seen him miss a second of his own day. He’s always talking about how much he looks forward to it. I can’t imagine what the holdup is.” If only you knew, Nic, if only you knew, Ethan thought to himself. He puffed out some air and shook his head, pretending to grimace. Nicholas only nodded before looking around again. Ethan had only then realized that Nicholas was just standing there. “Um, if you wanna sit down, you can. You do realize that, right?” Nicholas only looked at him and nodded before returning his attention back to the wallpaper surrounding  the room. The two sat in an awkward silence before a loud, frantic knock sounded out through the house. Ethan speedwalked to the door, yanking  it open, revealing his furry friend. He grinned, “Ah, Krampus! Get in here now, Nicholas is angry and he won’t sit down and I don’t know what to do- for the love of God get in here and go I can’t stand it!” Krampus only stared at him oddly before stepping into the house. Nicholas walked into the room, grinning. “Ah, Krampus, my good old pal. How are you? Are you okay, I’ve never seen you even a second late to today.” A string of growls and whimpers sounded out through the entrance hall, explaining the situation to Nicholas, who looked understanding. Ethan was slightly frustrated at how well the two talked together at the moment, he felt a little left out. He then realized they hadn’t seen each other in a year and his feelings dissolved.

After twenty minutes of a small conversation, Krampus and Nicholas left Ethan’s house, off to show their contrast of angelic and demonic to all of Berlin. Ethan sat in front of his radio, switching it on and listening in on the news about his friends. As the night went on, he realized that they had been causing quite the chaos this year. As Nicholas spoke to the children on his list, Krampus would visit his list and either traumatize them or accidentally kill them by sending them into a heart attack. It was at about 12 AM on Thursday morning when the duo got back to Ethan’s house, laughing together. Ethan had about 9 cups of rose tea and was only slightly less tense when he opened the door for the two. He left them to shed their winter clothing- that is if they were even wearing clothing- and made them some hot tea. He came back to the sitting area and handed them both their beverages. He looked at Krampus, “so I heard some kids died tonight.” Krampus only frowned before he spoke in his strings of whimpers and growls, explaining that no children died, only a couple of tourists. Ethan nodded, staring at a drop of blood on Krampus’s left antler, feeling a sense of dread come over him. Nicholas stayed silent, staring straight ahead of him. The atmosphere of the room was now tense, and Ethan didn’t like it. “Um, that’s good. I was a little worried they’d stop doing this if some kids were to um…” Nicholas only nodded, blinking.  

At some point, Ethan turned his radio on and let his friends listen to it while he walked into his room to quietly panic. Had they actually killed people tonight? Was that just some red paint from some kind of Christmas celebration that they might have interrupted on accident? Ethan took his glasses off and rubbed his hand down his face. He stared at the blurry window before putting his glasses on and walking over to it. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, so he sighed in somewhat relief before going to sit on his bed. He sat there for about thirty minutes before he went back down the hallway to where his odd friends were sitting. He peeked through the doorway, seeing his friends, still sitting in utter silence. Nicholas looked a little pale, but a blush from the cold was still prominent on his cheeks. At this point, Ethan figured it was permanent. “Um, do either of you want a snack, I’ve got your favourites.” Only Krampus nodded. Nicholas gave Ethan a look that somehow said yes. He gulped and nodded before he walked to his kitchen, getting them their food before he walked into the sitting room. He gave them their food before stepping back and listening to the radio. There were only two chairs in the room, so Ethan was only able to awkwardly stand. 

They all sat in silence for about ten minutes before Krampus began to speak. He spoke about how a resident had thought that they were intruders and how he and Nicholas were forced to run through town, but then Krampus narrowly missed a bucket of red paint falling from someone’s apartment window. Apparently, they ran all over Berlin, so they were exhausted. Nicholas had seen two elderly tourists fall to the ground when they had seen Krampus, and he had felt horrible that they had to see his friend and had been thinking about it all night. All Ethan could do was sigh in relief. His friends hadn’t murdered someone, they weren’t in some kind of psychotic trance, they were just tired and needed showers. “If either of you wanna take a shower, you can. Same thing for a nap, my couch in the living room is a pullout.” The two nodded before Krampus stood up, heading to the bathroom. Nicholas looked up at Ethan, “may I take that couch offer?” Ethan nodded before leading the man to his living room and preparing his couch to be a bed. He grabbed some blankets and pillows out of the closet and put them on the bed before nodding to Nicholas, who grinned with a grateful look on his face. 

Krampus got out of the shower about thirty minutes later, the red paint on his fur was gone and his horns looked a lot cleaner. He had shower caps on his hooves, though, to protect them from molding. At this point, Ethan happened to be walking by the bathroom, so when Krampus opened the door, Ethan shrieked and ran away from the bathroom. He hit the wall and fell to the ground, panting. He heard Krampus stalk over, looking confused. He looked at his good friend and bursted out laughing. They laughed together before Ethan stood up, fixing his glasses. Krampus let out a string of growls and whimpers, asking Ethan if he had any horn polish. Ethan only stared at him with a bewildered gaze. The demon shrugged before walking back into the bathroom to take his shower caps off. Ethan walked into the living room, glancing at the sleeping figure of Nicholas on the couch before he walked into his bedroom. He shut the door and looked at the clock on his nightstand, it was 2 AM. He sighed and changed into a pair of pyjamas before hopping into bed and sitting glasses on the nightstand beside him. He looked at the clock again before he flipped over and fell into a deep slumber, unaware of the dance battle that Krampus was having with himself in the mirror currently.