While trudging through the thick snow with her team, Judy Morrison’s mind was in overdrive. For years, she’d been trying to solve the puzzle of the thirteenth day of Christmas, something mankind had mistakenly taken for granted, and was now almost on the verge of solving the riddle.
Everybody thought that Christmas had twelve days, yet why did the twelfth night of Christmas fall on the thirteenth day?
Jonathan, Judy’s boyfriend, had given her twelve gifts: one on each day of the twelve days of Christmas. On the night he gave her gift number eleven, the night of January 4th, Judy had visions that the team were being watched by a mysterious force. As the clock struck midnight, and the twelfth day of Christmas arrived, Judy woke screaming from a terrible nightmare.
“What’s wrong,” asked Jonathan, rubbing his eyes, as the cold winds battered their tent.
“We’re all going to die on the sixth day of January,” cried Judy.
“What? Don’t be silly. Go back to sleep. It was just a nightmare.”
Several minutes later, Judy found herself counting backwards to December 25th, the first day of Christmas. It still didn’t add up why ‘Twelfth Night’ was on the night of the 6th of January, still over a day away.
The following evening, Jonathan gave Judy the last of his gifts, an engagement ring. Tomorrow, they would celebrate with the rest of their group when they arrived at their final destination, the mysterious village of ‘Twelfth Night,’ alleged to only appeared on January 6th.
As they waited patiently for ‘Twelfth Night’ to appear, Judy Morrison finally solved the riddle. As she turned to Jonathan to reveal the secret of Twelfth Night, the hand of a mysterious force that had been watching them since the first day of Christmas, froze the group in time.
Its secret was safe again from mankind, a species which, one day, it would conquer.
***
Written in response to the Monthly Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt, from Diana, at Myths of the Mirror. Click here for full details.
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Hugh's Views & News 
Dropped by from #BloggersPitStop today but always, always gald to be here, Hugh, cool short – shared! 🙂
Hope the week ahead treats you kindly. 🙂
Thank you, Donna. I appreciate you sharing the shorty too.
Have a great week.
Nice short:)
Thanks.
What a fun little story. Its the perfect beginning of a longer story as it really hooks the reader. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reading it. Hooking the reader at the beginning can be a difficult task, so I’m glad this short story hooked you straight away.
Great picture and ending, Hugh. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Stevie.
Hugh you spooking us? A great write and response to a beautiful picture.
Thanks, Ellen. You know how much I like to ‘spook’ readers.
I may have caught that trait from a writer I once met … oh that will be you Hugh 😃🤣
It was an honour to meet you, too. I hope our paths cross again.
I am hoping to be at the bash this year (fingers crossed).
Wonderful. It’ll be great to see you there and to have a chance for a catch-up, Ellen.
I hope so.too.
Clever story, Hugh. You always know how to hook your readers at the end. Now we will wonder forever about the 13th night. LOL! You are in your element, my friend! 😘🤗
Thank you, Janice. I had great fun writing this short story, but the ending took over three weeks to come to me.
Clever premise. I enjoyed the read and look forward to your entry in February on this challenge. nice dropping in here..
Thank you, Violet. I’m looking forward to seeing the prompt for this month’s challenge. I just need to remember to get my entry in before the deadline.