You Better Watch Out

You Better Watch Out is a scary story for Christmas written by a member of this website named Pete (with a little help from Scaryforkids). It’s about a hardened criminal who carries out a robbery at Christmas time.

As Tommy Wilson walked through the main entrance of the mall and into the foyer, he heard the loudspeakers playing “Jingle Bells”. Shoppers were milling around, rushing to buy gifts for their loved ones. It was December 23rd and, after the stores closed that night, there would only be one day of shopping left before Christmas.

He strolled past Santa’s Grotto, where a fat old man in a tattered beard was handing out cheap presents to an assortment of children. Behind him, was a tall Christmas tree, decorated with sparkling lights, shimmering baubles and candy sticks. A train chugged past on a track, going around and around in a circle, carrying a load of gift-wrapped boxes.

All around the mall, there were a large number of mannequins, dressed in santa suits. They stood there silent and motionless as the customers filed past. The strange thing about them was that they all had a very peculiar design. Their mouths were hanging open and Tommy noticed that their eyes seemed to follow him as he walked past. Despite the warm temperature inside the mall, he found himself shivering a little. Something about those weird-looking mannequins really creeped him out.

As the speakers played “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “Deck The Halls”, Tommy went up the escalator and made his way to the jewelery store. He had a contented smile on his face because he was planning to buy an expensive necklace for his girlfriend. This was the first Christmas they were spending together since Tommy had been released from prison. It was also the first Christmas that he was buying presents with money he had actually earned himself.

Tommy had spent two years in jail for breaking and entering. While he was locked up, his girlfriend stuck with him, visiting him at least once a week. She made him promise that he would give up his life of crime and become an uptanding member of society. Tommy was determined to keep that promise and, as soon as he got out of prison, he found himself an honest job that payed a decent wage. It wasn’t a lot, but at least he wasn’t doing anything illegal.

As he entered the jewelery store, Tommy suddenly stopped in his tracks. He was shocked to see someone he had hoped would never lay eyes on again. Willie “The Snake” Marko. Less than three years before, they had been partners in crime. When Tommy was just a teenager, Willie had taken him under his wing and started him on a bad path. He had shown Tommy all the tricks of the trade: How to hotwire a car, how to get past an alarm system and how to always stay one step ahead of the cops.

All that came to an end, one fateful night, when they broke into a warehouse. The police had been keeping the place under surveillance and Tommy was caught red-handed. Willie was waiting in a car outside and, when the cops swooped in, he managed to escape. Tommy was not so lucky. He was arrested, charged and sentenced to spend two long years in prison.

Willie always had a strange look in his eye. The kind of look that told you he was up to no good. As Tommy stood there and watched the older man, he saw the same devious look in his eye. He knew what Willie was planning to do. He had his eye on all of the expensive jewelery in the display cases and Tommy was sure he had no intention of buying any of it.

He sidled up to Willie and gave him a nudge. “Dont do it,” he whispered. “It’s not worth it.”

Willie turned his head. “Well if isn’t old Goody Two-Shoes!” he chuckled. “I thought you were still in the slammer. When did they let your sorry butt out and since when did it become your business to give me advice? Just because one of us went soft doesn’t mean the other has to.”

Tommy sighed. “I’m just warning you,” he said. “If I can turn my life around, so can you.”

“I don’t need no sorry-ass ex-convict telling me what to do,” growled Willie. “Besides, you think I’m dumb enough to carry out this job in broad daylight? You were always the stupid one. If I tried anything now, with all these people around, I’d get nabbed for sure and end up just like you. I’m too smart for that. I’ll come back and do my Christmas shopping tonight, when the stores are all closed.”

Willlie stormed out of the shop, leaving Tommy standing there, shaking his head in disappointment.

Later that night, after all the stores had closed and the workers had gone home for the night, Willie’s van pulled up in the little laneway behind the mall. He quickly bypassed the alarm system and, taking a crowbar out of his van, forced open the emergency exit. He slipped inside and carefully closed the door behind him. Then, he made his way up the back stairs to the second floor.

When he came to the jewelery store, he knelt down in front of the display cases and took out his lockpick. Within a few minutes, he had all of the cases open and was filling a canvas bag with gold and silver jewelery.

Just as he was tossing the last of the items into his sack, he heard the mall’s loudspeakers spring to life and start playing a song.

“you better watch out! You better not cry!”

Willie was frightened and decided it was time to make his getaway. Clutching the bag of jewelery in his hand, he scrambled out of the store and made his escape, running back the way he had come. However, when he reached the back stairs, he stopped suddenly and stared in shock.

“You better not pout! I’m telling you why!”

In the dim light, he could make out somebody standing at the top of the stairs, blocking his way. At first, he thought it was a woman, but when he looked closer he realized it was a mannequin, dressed in a santa suit. Its mouth hung open and its eyes stared at him.

“Santa Claus is coming to town! Santa Claus is coming to town!”

Sensing something was wrong, Willie doubled back and headed for the escalator. When he glanced over his shoulder, he thought he saw the mannequin following him.

“He’s making a list! He’s checking it twice!”

Slowly, the escalator descended and, when he reached the bottom, Willie made for the exit. Again, he stopped in his tracks. Standing in front of each exit, blocking his way, was one of the same mannequins. As Willie tried to make sense of the situation, he thought he saw the mannequins begin to move their arms and legs. He turned to retreat up the escalator, but there were two more mannequins blocking his path.

“He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice!”

Willie cried out in terror as the mannequins advanced towards him. They surrounded him, cutting off any escape routes. As they closed in, their hands reached out and grasped at him, their eyes grew wide and their jaws dropped open, revealing rows of serrated teeth. He tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. They overwhelmed him and, as he collapsed to the floor, they swarmed over him and he felt their cold fingers clawing at his clothes, tearing out his hair and ripping into his flesh.

The last thing he heard was: “Santa Claus is coming to town! Santa Claus is coming to town!”

Bright and early, the next morning, the staff at the mall arrived and began opening up their stores. The employees in the jewelery shop found everything just as they had left it the night before. The display cases were all locked and the jewelery was all in its proper place.

The store had only been open for five minutes when suddenly, terrified screams were heard echoing around the mall. The employees looked out the door and saw a middle-aged woman standing outside, pointing at the display window and screaming her lungs out.

There was something wrong with the mannequin in the display. Blood was dripping down ts torso and pooling on the ground. On the mannequin’s shoulders, where its head should have been, there was something else…

A different head…

A severed human head…

As the store employees gathered around the window and stared in horror at the terrifying sight, the mall’s mannequins stood silent and motionless in their positions and the loudspeakers blared out a merry Christmas tune:

“You better watch out! You better not cry!
You better not pout! I’m telling you why!
Santa Claus is coming to town!
Santa Claus is coming to town!”