The Night Before: A Short Story

Struggling private chef Holly is elated to finally score her first big gig–preparing a Christmas Eve dinner for a wealthy family in a massive mansion.

It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, the kind that could finally get her business off the ground. Given what’s happened in her life recently, she really needs the win.

But when Holly arrives, ready to cook for at least a dozen, she finds the house empty. Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. The lights are on, the place is decorated floor-to-ceiling, but there is not one. Single. Person.

Something is very, very wrong.

Then comes a knock at the door—and it isn’t Santa Claus.

As the sky darkens and snow falls, one fact becomes terrifyingly clear…it’s not going to be a silent night.