We all know the story of "The Nutcracker" with Claire, the mice soldiers, and, of course, the Nutcracker. It was my favorite child's book and play. I wasn't able to get the music out of my head during Christmas time, and as the new holiday was coming around the corner, I wanted nothing more than a Nutcracker.

I was about sixteen years old, and I was excited about Christmas day and all the fun that I want to have with my family. On Christmas eve, I had begun decorating our table-top tree with red, blue, green, and silver bulbs, Christmas lights that wrapped around each branch and flashed as they were being turned on, and, finally, silver tinsel that sparkled each time it got caught in the light. I wore my classic pajamas of bottoms with evil clowns that had their hands reaching out to whom ever looked at them and a grim reaper shirt that had a blue glow around the skull. Ironically, I got the shirt and pants around Halloween and decided to wear them at Christmas. Let's face it, some people prefer white, puffy snowmen while I prefer clowns reaching out for me and skulls of death.

Anyways, as the final day was upon me, I kept hoping I would get my Nutcracker. Before that though, we had our pizza dinner on this Christmas eve, my dad, my mom, and I.

I am like a little girl when it comes to the holidays. I am the one in my family that loves to decorate and bake, no matter what holiday that was near. Of course, I would go off to bed early, yet I didn't go to sleep right away. Who does that on Christmas? Despite how much my body wanted to refuse, I curled myself underneath my tan, fuzzy, soft blanket, forced my eyes to shut, and dozed myself to sleep.

Truthfully, I only slept for about four hours, but I managed to fall in a deep trance, lost in my head with various dreams that were very random. I honestly cannot remember what many were about.

I woke up around 7 a.m., and tiredly slumped my way downstairs to our little tree. When I made it downstairs, I saw that my mom was already up. My mom was standing near the tree, smiling at me. We wished each other a Merry Christmas, and started to open the gifts. I remembered the brightly colored wrapping paper that was covering the box that contained it. I smiled widely as I took the package from her, and laughed with joy because I forced her to open a present that I made her. I quickly tore the wrapping paper right of the box, tape and all, and opened the blank brown box. I froze as I gently pulled it out of the box. A Nutcracker! I never felt happier. It was silver and white with a battle axe and incredible wooden shield. It had stripes going across its chest and beautiful, shiny gems as buttons. It wasn't just a Nutcracker; it was also a music box. Across the box was the word 'JOY,' spelled with all letters capitalized as if it knew what I felt. Of course, the music was the most famous music from The Nutcracker.

The rest of the night was full of food and music. I was constantly played the music throughout the night, but had to stop because my dad was starting to get annoyed. We had dinner around 2 p.m. and invited my sister and brother over for food before everyone had to go to work. We had delicious honey and pineapple ham, garlic mash potatoes, cranberry stuffing, green beans, grilled corn, honey buttered biscuits, and my famous Peanut Butter Blossoms.

After we ate, everyone pretty much left. My dad lean down to kiss my mom before she went off to work mainly because my mom is super short and my dad is pretty tall. I am somewhere in the middle of the two. My brother and my sister left to go back to their homes and I did nothing but dishes and eventually went onto the internet. I finished out my night watching horror Christmas stories before I went to bed.

I took my Nutcracker upstairs with me. That was about 10 p.m. since my mom had just come home and went to bed as well. My dad slept on the couch, so he doesn't go upstairs with us. I gently placed the Nutcracker on top of brown dresser right next to my bed. I smiled with warmth as I laid down for the night. Everything was perfect, at least I thought it was.

I woke up around 3 a.m. My room was made my body froze, especially my feet and hands. As the cars drove by my windows, my room lite up with shadows of the trees. The branches' shadows looked like evil faces across my wall. My eyes shifted back and forth between the ceiling and the wall, my back facing away from the Nutcracker. I tried my best to go back to sleep, but my body just kept refusing to do so. Then, it seemed as if the Nutcracker became alive.

The sound of the music box had begun to play right next to my right ear. The sound of the sweet melody filled the room, and as it did, my arms and legs started to release the tension. I sprawled outward and relaxed my body, for I felt safe. For about ten minutes, the music was nice and soft, much like the music that belong to the play. I smiled and closed my eyes, for I had felt like I was at peace. Then, the sound changed. The music started to go off key, more eerie and harsh to the ear. I opened my eyes and glanced around my surroundings. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the strings of box move slowly up and down. I force myself up to examine the Nutcracker. Its sharp, crystal blue eyes glared into my hazel eyes. Its morbid tone lasted for a couple of minutes and then it stopped. I laid back down and turned over on side, with my back facing the Nutcracker once more.

I was able to go back to sleep for another hour. Again, the music box started to play, except it skipped over the lovely sounds of the play. The eerie music filled my ears, to which I responded by placing the covers over my head in order to block out the song. My eardrums felt as if they were going to burst and all I could think about what to do what keep my ears covered. I could hear my heart racing, pumping the blood throughout my body. My hands started to sweat from anxiety and the continuous hold of blanket. I felt sweat pour from the top of my head and my breath was now rapid. It almost felt like I was having a heart attack.

The music then had lyrics to it. The Nutcracker sung in a high pitched voice, and what it said made my heart sank.

"Oh a little girl went to Hell and she burned with a great big oh and then she couldn't breath or she would go po- oh she never could believe the heat she saw-oh a little girl went to Hell," the Nutcracker kept repeating the song over and over. My mind raced too fast, wondering how in the Hell that it could sing. I wanted to believe it was a dream. I wanted to get rid of that I felt in my chest, I wanted to be calm, neither was going to happen. I never had felt so cornered in my life. I hide underneath the covers, shaking in fear with my honey brown hair dangling in front of my face. I was alone with this thing, and I didn't want to be.

I don't remember how long the song last. All I knew as the Nutcracker sung, the deeper the voice became. It was an unnerving sound. The deeper the voice dropped, the more it sound like Satan reaching out of the damned wooden cracks, trying to coax me into insanity. My head had begun to ache while I listened to the malicious song. Yet, I was too scared to run. I didn't want to know what would happen to me if I decided to face. I clung onto the blanket with all my might.

I heard froze as I heard something smashing right behind. The song stopped, and I bottled down every part of me that wanted to scream. I heard a thump reach my floor. Thump. Thump. It was moving closer to me. As I prayed that the Nutcracker wouldn't notice me, I felt the indent of my mattress. The room went still, nothing move as I dared not to breathe. I wanted to believe it was gone, but my knowledge trumped my desire. I felt a tug on the blanket, and just like that, the blanket tore straight off.

I saw the Nutcracker as it stared deep into my soul. Its eyes were no longer a chilling blue, but instead were a fiery red. I couldn't scream, I couldn't move. I was parallelized with fear as I heard its spine tingling laugh echo into my head. The last thing I could remember is my mom coming into my room, shaking me
awake. The Nutcracker was back on my dresser, looking away from me. I sat up and looked at my mom before I dragged myself out of the bed. My mom smiled at me before she went downstairs to make breakfast. I looked around the room. It must of been a dream, at least that is what I thought at the moment. Then, without looking, stepped on a piece of broken glass.

"AHH!!" I shouted in pain. My mom came running up the stairs, asking me if I was okay. I tried keeping myself calm as I sat back on the bed. My mom brought in the tweezers, and as she pulled out the piece of glass, I looked over to see the spot of blood. Around it was a broken snow globe of New Orleans. The snow globe was on my dresser, right next to the Nutcracker, almost a foot away from my closet. In my mind, I could hear the Nutcracker's evil laugh echo throughout.

In May, a couple of months later, I sold the Nutcracker to an older woman in her forties and her child who was about ten years old. I was glad to get rid of it. I stuck the cursed Nutcracker in my closet, still hearing its dark laugher from the black chest that I put it in. I kept it locked, but when the weather was nice and warm enough, I wanted to get it sold as possible. After I sold it to the woman, I became curious about the history of where I lived. I went to the library to research the archives, and what I found was disturbing. A man died in my house, but not just any man, a man who shot his wife and thirteen-year-old son, along with his newborn daughter. The police caught up with him, and before they could arrest him, he pulled a gun to his right temple, and shot himself. He died instantly. Turns out his wife was going to leave him for another man, but that isn't what caught my attention. He was the owner of a theater two blocks down. He owned the place from 2003 to 2010, seven years until the day he died.

As disturbed as I was on that May day, I couldn't help to look at the sky. It was a bright, sunny day, and I wonder if  I made the right decision selling off the Nutcracker. Its laugh still haunts me to this day, and I can no longer listen to the music of the Nutcracker.