Dirty Christmas
The wind howled outside the old Victorian house, rattling the windows as snow piled high against the panes.
It was Christmas Eve in Willow Creek, and Emma Harper had returned from the city for the holidays, hoping the familiar scents of pine and cinnamon would mend the ache of another year alone. At twenty-nine, she was a freelance illustrator, her life a whirlwind of deadlines and empty takeout boxes. But tonight, with the power flickering out from the storm, the house felt alive in a way it hadn't since she was a kid.