"What the…!!"
If not for Kramps recovering from his beating during the day, he would have jumped out of his chair and run. Seeing your reflection was no big deal, but seeing your reflection looking straight back at you, grinning from ear to ear with eyes of pure evil intent…that was just damn scary.
"How the… Who are you?" Kramps asked, visibly shaking, his heart hitting hard against his ribcage.
'What do you mean? I'm you.'
"Me…you some demon sent to torment me?" Seeing the reflection on the table talking back at him was almost driving him mad—almost.
'Really, Krampus… Since when did you get so wimpy?' The reflection retorted, sounding like a mother who was disappointed in her teenage child for committing baby sins.
A lot of thoughts were spinning in Kramps' head at the moment, his brain doing useless calculation upon calculation, almost threatening to split his mind in two.
He had seen a lot of weird things in his life, but this was by far the weirdest he had seen.
"Do you have magic?" Kramps blurted, not even knowing why he asked that.
'Uh…awkward, but yes, we do have magic.'
"We?"
'Yes, we…we are the same person after all.' The reflection stated as a matter of fact.
'But if I were to be honest with you, I'm the better version between us both.'
Kramps didn't reply, just staring at his talking reflection. This held on for a full five minutes before he spoke.
"Look, I don't know what demon you are or what part of hell you came from, but there's no way I'm going to let you mess with my being."
He stood up from the chair, his expression serious but his mind bewildered at seeing that the man in the glass didn't even copy his actions.
"Even if it means me going for an exorcism…then so be it."
Kramps walked away, not looking back, half expecting to get called back, half expecting to not. He was opening the door to exit the bar when the minimum glass part reflected him, looking back at himself with pity.
He ignored it and walked out. His gaze moved towards a group of guys sharing a drink with a harlot by the side of a snow-covered, rundown car.
'I would've liked that margarita, but…'
Kramps directly ignored them, walking past like they didn't even exist until…
"Merry Christmas, homie!"
He paused.
'Merry… Christmas… What the hell is there to be merry about? You lot managed to buy a cheap can of margarita, and now you could call that merrying?'
He became conflicted within; what's there to be merry about when he didn't even know the reason for his existence? What was there to be merry about when all he does for a living is to rob and kill for money and daily bread? There was nothing merry about that!
Kramps turned, his gaze locked onto them with murderous intent, a twisted feeling brewing in his heart.
'I should just kill you now.'
That voice again… But this time he didn't refute it but acted on it. He walked towards the jolly group of three with a forced smile.
"Ah, would you mind if I got a glass of margarita?"
"Sure, sure… We did have to save up money to get this, but it's worth sharing."
'Sharing…what twisted form of sadness is that?'
John, the one who replied to him, poured him a glass of the cheap margarita. Kramps took it with no sign of appreciation, just staring into the reflective liquid, his eyes meeting with himself.
"Hey, couldn't you even say thank you?" Brad, the other male in the party, complained.
"He's right. At least you could've shown some gesture of thanks, since you're the one who begged us." Yori backed up John.
Kramps didn't even pay them any mind, just staring into the cup, his mind doing communications that no one other than himself could hear.
Brad was already losing it. "Is this asshole crazy or something? He's just staring into the margarita like his whole being was made up of it!"
"That's what happens when outskirts kids come along begging for a drink; they can't even be grateful. Too bad this one doesn't have a mom." Yori sighed.
Kramp's gaze finally looked up from the glass, his gaze cold, visible pressure coming off him that made the others unconsciously shudder.
"What the hell did you say?"
His voice portrayed his emotion. The kind of voice that makes you not want to act funny around him, like you could lose your life at any second.
"Look, friend, we know you may be going through hard times, so there's no need for hostility." John interjected, trying to calm the tension between both parties.
"It would've been better if you could've shown some gratitude at least, since we helped you out with your problem."
CRASH
Brad, Yori, John… None of them saw him move, yet John got smashed on his head with the very same glass cup Kramps was holding. His body slowly fell, his eyes dimming from the impact.
Just like that, John was dead, and by nothing other than a glass cup.
"He…killed him… The shithead killed…him!"
"What the fuck did we ever do to you?"
"You're going to die, you bastard!" Brad jumped at Kramps, his arms targeted at a single point.
"Die, you say?"
"Huh?"
Kramps just lazily side-stepped the strangle attack, his hand moving with quick precision, slicing the throat of Brad.
Brad fell like a lifeless corpse, blood spurting from the deep gash in his neck, tainting the white snowy floor red. He convulsed twice before he breathed his last.
Yori couldn't even move, her eyes locked onto the bodies of her two companions, now dead. It was just meant to be a jolly snowy night but has now turned into a bloodbath. What went wrong?
Kramps lazily raised his head from looking at Brad's corpse, his attention fully on Yori.
Yori instantly got on her knees. "Please…forgive me… We just wanted to have some fun, that's all… If we knew this would happen, we wouldn't have annoyed you." She begged, tears and snot freely flowing from her pretty face that showed experience in many things—like those things.
'Not the reaction I was expecting, but who gives a shit?'
"What was that you said earlier? That I begged you guys for a drink? Now look who's begging now."
Kramps erupted into maniacal laughter, filling the cold night with cold noise. When he felt that he was through, he faced Yori…
"You see, I have no plans of letting you live, you see, so why don't you just die along with your friends? I promise I'll make it quick."
"No…please…please!!!"
***
Kramps calmly walked away from the death scene, his eyes extremely focused.
'Next target Shawl…'
"...and Merry Bloody Christmas."