The Christmas Lights

I do love the lights. The blinking lights you see during the holidays. They fill my heart with glee. I may sound childish, and maybe I am, but there is not a happier feeling than waking up on Christmas morning and tearing open the presents under the tree.

But today, the glee was different. My pulse screamed in my ears. What was this? This want. No, this need.

The clinking of a utensil against a glass pulled me away from my thoughts. "I thank all of you for coming tonight." Mr. Christopher said. The CEO of the company, I have always felt out of place in his presence. I'm surprised he even hired such a nobody like me. Mr. Christopher stood in the middle of the room.

What was usually the poorly decorated employee lounge had been transformed into a dining room, with white table clothes that cost more than the skyscraper itself. Christmas lights had been hung around the room and a large pine tree was sat in the corner.

"Now, in inviting you here, I had another motive besides getting to share the holiday spirit with my employees. I believe this would be a good time to share some news which may be quite sad for some of you, or perhaps quite happy.

"No matter what you may think, this is a time of change." I tilted my head, intrigued by the solemn tone painting his voice, "After nearly 40 years of running this company, I have decided to retire." A gasp ran through the crowd, and some began to sniffle while others grinned triumphantly, "I know this is some sudden news, but I believe that my daughter, Victoria, will do a wonderful job filling my place." A young woman with flaming red hair stood and nodded her head, almost bowing to her father, the king of a twisted business.

"Now with all of that out of the way, I invite you to have a wonderful time. Let's party!" Large music began blasting out of the speakers on the sides of the room.

The news was indeed startling, but it still couldn't distract my from the urge in the back of my head. I could feel the beads of sweat on my collar staining my little blue dress. I turned to the large cut of steak on my plate. The dinner knife to my left felt so natural in my hand.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" A hand was placed gingerly on my shoulder and I turned to see Victoria standing over me.

"Yes, o- of course." I mumbled. Before I knew it screams were ringing through the air.

I stood, Victoria was on the floor, clenching her stomach. Ink stained the floor around her. The people in the room seemed scared of me. Why were they afraid? What had I done to earn their fear?

Before I could ask what was going on, Mr. Christopher had joined his daughter on the ground. I held some of the Christmas lights torn from the wall in my hand. He was still on the floor and had agitated red marks on his neck. He looked peaceful, sleeping.

The screams were louder now, and soon, three others had joined them on the tile. The blinking Christmas lights had begun to flash. Blue, red, blue, red. The pattern repeated. But the need was gone.

All I could feel now was the cold metal bracelets on my wrists and the eternal imprint of the knife on my palm.