The Christmas Cracker

This Christmas, there will be blood. Welcome to the dark world of the “Christmas Cracker”, a crude nickname daubed by the Police in their hunt for notorious serial killer, paedophile, internet chatroom stalker, and kidnapper of female teenagers around the country. For the last six Christmases a teenage girl has gone missing, only to be found sometimes days later, displayed hideously in an act of sheer depravity. As Christmas is just days away, the authorities are nervous. The missing persons numbers are relative to the time of year. The question is, who and when will the next Cracker victim appear? Frustrated, and with little idea of the identity of the twisted individual, the forthcoming storm and blackout in some areas of the country only increases the tension. As the wind and rain swirls outside on this cold, long December, a stranger enters an old rural tavern to take shelter. The howling angry gales, a mere precursor to the events that will unfold. As the teens across the country say:“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re online. He knows your password and IP address; yule be a corpse by Christmas time.”