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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/george2d2 on 2023-12-24 16:23:51.

I had everything a man could ask for. A wife. A son. A roof over my head. A good paying job. And even my health. But I took it all for granted.

“Aw, come on, Dad! Just one more game!” My ten-year-old son called out, as he sat in front of the console, controller-in-hand, waving me back to the living room.

“Hey, you lost, fair and square, Mr. There’s always tomorrow.”

“But I want to play tonight!”

“Tonight’s Christmas Eve, bud. No time for games. Your Mom’s got a packed agenda for us.”

“Bah humbug, Dad!”

“Sounds like you want coal in your stocking.”

I threw on my jacket and a pair of boots, as I walked over to the sliding door that led to our backyard.

“Mom’s got what?” I heard my wife ask from the kitchen, before running over to see me out.

“Little Scrooge over there would rather play video games than decorate the tree with us.” I said with a wink. “You’d think it was the kid’s first Christmas.”

She laughed, before planting a big kiss on my cheek, and asking, “Do me a favor?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I replied, knowing exactly what she was getting at. “Downsize the tree this year.”

“Downsize the tree is right. And you remember why?”

“Cause last year I got a little too ambitious, and it didn’t fit in the house. I got it. I got it.”

“That was funny!” My son yelled out from the other room.

My wife simply rolled her eyes. “And be quick about it! I’m about to make hot cocoa!”

“In that case, I better get to it!” I replied with a cheeky smile, before stepping outside, into the snow…

CRUNCH.

…As I slammed the door behind me…

SLAM.

…And pulled an axe from a stack of logs behind the house, taking it with me.

Nearly a foot of snow had accumulated the night before, and from the way it was falling now, didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.

And so, I set off on my journey, trudging my way through my backyard and into the forest, seeking to fell the perfect tree for our Christmas Eve festivities.

It must have been about five or ten minutes before I finally found it, standing there in all its coniferous glory, about eight feet in height.

Picking up my axe, I cut a hinge on one side of the tree’s trunk, and then began to chop away at the other, until I heard a great cracking sound, and it tumbled over.

I then took the axe and hacked away at what remained of the trunk between the two incisions, before hauling the heavy thing back through the snow and all the way back to the house, before dragging it into the kitchen.

“Smells great!” I called out, spotting two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table, seemingly untouched.

But no one replied.

I looked down to find a present, wrapped up with a bow, that had been carefully placed on the table while I was out.

“Wow, thank you, guys!” I called out louder now, in anticipation of my wife and son hopping out to surprise me.

But I was met with silence.

I stood up from the table, and walked through the house, looking for them, to no avail. I then walked over to the front door, and looked out the window at the driveway, to find both my wife and my cars still parked.

Hmm. Mother-in-law must have picked them up. I rationalized to myself.

Knowing what I know now, had I had the foresight to open the door and look down at the snow, I wouldn’t have seen any footprints leading from the house to the car. But I honestly didn’t think much of it at the time.

Until…

…I saw him.

As I stepped back into the kitchen, I found a man in a black mask, entirely covering his face, sitting at the table, holding one of the cups of hot cocoa.

In front of him, was the very same package I’d seen before. It was at this time, that I realized, that the gift was not from my family, but from him.

“Sit down.” He commanded, ominously.

“Who the fuck are you?” I yelled out, startled to the core, as I looked around the room for an object to defend myself with.

“Sit down, or you’ll never see your family again.”

I did as he said.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

“All in due time. Now open the package.”

I obeyed his command, and unwrapped it.

It was an unmarked cardboard box. Inside it, a heap of puzzle pieces.

The masked man then proceeded to remove a stopwatch from his hand.

“This is the first of five games. Win them all, and you get to see your family again. Lose, and… something worse. For the first game, simply build this puzzle in an hour.”

“Hey, what do you-”

But before I could say anything…

CLICK.

BEEP.

…He had already started the timer.

Not knowing where this was all going, I just did as he said and sat there in silence, focused on putting the puzzle together before the time was up, as he sat there, watching me.

At one point, he lifted his mask just enough to drink from one of the mugs and took a sip of hot cocoa, before suggesting I do the same.

“Please, don’t let it go to waste.”

But I was too focused on completing the puzzle in time, and ignored the offer.

And, sure enough, at around fifty-five minutes, I finished it.

CLICK.

BEEP.

“Very good.” He said, congratulating me.

There were two more games that night.

First, after directing me to put up the Christmas Tree, he challenged me to decorate it with every one of our hundred or so ornaments, a solo task that was intended for three, without dropping any.

I succeeded.

Second, handing me two old sleds and asking me to carry them, he led me down the street, through the snow, and over to a hill, where he challenged me to beat him in a race to the bottom.

This one felt a bit bizarre, but I wasn’t in any position to question it, and just went along with it, determined to win.

And I won.

When we got back, he told me to change into my pajamas, and go to sleep, claiming that I’d “need to rest up for the remaining two games in the morning.”

Once again, I did as he asked, and tried my best to sleep that night, tossing and turning, while the masked man sat there in the corner of the room, watching me.

Eventually, I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning on Christmas Day, I had nearly forgotten about him, half expecting to be greeted by the sounds of my wife and son opening presents.

But instead, all I heard was, “Get up. It’s time for the fourth game. Since you went ahead and cut down a tree yesterday without me, it’s time to find another.”

And so, he led me outside, into the snow…

CRUNCH.

CRUNCH.

…As he slammed the door behind us…

SLAM.

…And pulled an axe from a stack of logs behind the house, taking it with him.

Nearly two feet of snow had now accumulated on the ground, and from the way it continued to fall, still didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.

And so, we set off on our journey, trudging our way through my backyard and into the forest, seeking to fell another tree.

It must have been about five or ten minutes before we finally found the one he was looking for, marked with dozens of wrapped boxes below it, this time twenty feet in height.

“This one.” He said, pointing to it.

“But that’s gonna take me forever.” I replied.

“We have all day.”

“No time limit?” I asked.

“Not this time.”

Just as I had done the day before, I picked up my axe, cut a hinge on one side of the tree’s trunk, and then began to chop away at the other.

But this time, it wasn’t so easy.

I stood there, hacking and hacking away at the tree, my arms growing more and more weak by the swing, as the masked man stood there watching, until eventually, I heard a great cracking sound, and it tumbled over.

I immediately toppled over from exhaustion and dropped the axe.

“Oh you’re not done yet. The tree’s still attached to the stump.”

I hobbled back over, picked up the axe, and chopped away at what remained of the trunk between the two incisions.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I would never end up hauling this one through the snow, all the way back to the house, and into the kitchen, like I had the other, the day before.

No, this tree wasn’t meant for the house.

“Well done.” He said, as I stood there, hunched over, nearly hyperventilating from exhaustion, gripping the axe. I looked down at it, and then over at him.

“You know full well that you can’t use it on me,” he said, noticing me, “Or else you’ll never see your family again.”

I relaxed my grip on its handle.

“Hand it to me.”

I handed it to him.

“And now for the last game. A simple guessing game…”

I had no idea where this was going.

“…Guess who I am, and I let you go, back to your home. Guess wrong, and I cut your leg off, and leave you here to die.”

But I was too concerned with the fate of my wife and child, to be affected by the threat.

“What about my family?”

“Oh, they’re tied up in the basement. Safe and sound. I was never gonna hurt them. You’ve already hurt one family.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused by the implication.

“That’s a clue. Now… take your guess.”

“I… don’t know…”

“You can’t think of anyone in this world, who might have reason, to make you pay, for something you did?”

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know…”

“Last hint. Does this ring a bell?”

Suddenly, the masked man removed his mask, revealing a face, that I had never seen before. He was a nondescript adult male, about twenty or thirty years of age, with a sad look in his eyes.

I struggled to think back to anyone in my life that I might have met, who resembled the man, but couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know.”

"Sadly, I had a …

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