Speaker 1: Welcome to micro Terrors, scary stories for kids where it's
always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills, and spine
tingling spooks. Micro Terrors are family friendly frights for those
ages eight and up, and while our stories are for
younger years, we are still talking about things that go
bump in the night, and some children may not be
able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended
now for tonights micro terror. The Snowman by Scott Donnelly.
Danny woke up quickly, a chill rushing through his body,
but it wasn't one of fear or excitement. It was
one of anxious anticipation. When he had gone to sleep
the night before, he knew there was a chance of
snow overnight, the weather man made it seem like it
might have even been enough to cause some school delays
or even closings. Danny leaped out of bed and yanked
his curtains apart to reveal the outside world to himself,
and just as he had hoped, the world was covered
by a thick, white blanket of snow. A smile broke
free on Danny's face. He rushed downstairs to check with
his parents, to make sure these schools were canceled, and
if they weren't for some reason, he'd find a way
to convince them. It wasn't a good idea to be
traveling in such messy conditions, but there was no need
for convincing school's closed.
Speaker 2: Buddy. Danny's dad, Doug, said he was still in his
pajamas and sipping on a hot cup of coffee with
hazel nut creamer. Yes, Danny exclaimed, popping up on to
the table and doing a dance that made Doug cringe
and move his bowl of cereal out of the way.
Danny get off the table, his mom said, also moving
aside a flickering peppermint candle. How many times do I
have to tell you this? Do you want to start
a fire? Danny hopped off, Sorry, he said, I'm just excited.
I'm gonna make a snowman today. Well, you'd better get
moving then, you're a little friend across the street. It
has already started one. Doug said, He's not my friend,
Danny exclaimed, rushing through the house and to the front window.
Through the frosted glass, he saw Onyx Barlow, dressed to
the nines and the most expensive and state of the
art winter gear available. He was out front with his
dad building a snowman in their front yard. Dad Danny
called out, will you help me build one? Doug joined
his son, his hot coffee fogging up the window. He
wiped away the fogginess and squinted. Danny knew how competitive
his dad could get, and he could feel it festering
within him. After Doug received a bow and arrow for
a Christmas a week earlier, jax Onyx dad made it
a point show off his state of the art crossbow.
When Doug was excited to meet the local weatherman, Slick Rains,
at the market, Jax made sure to mention how he
had played a crucial role in helping Slick overcome his
fear of lightning back in the third grade, which led
him down the path of becoming a meteorologist in the
first place. He just kind of got me to thank
for his career, Jax would say. Doug didn't like it.
He didn't like it at all. Let's build a better
snowman than they ever good, he said to Danny. Determination
and relentless neighborly rage festering in his voice. Over the
next hour, Danny and his dad braved the cold weather
and heavy snow outside, trying desperately to build a snowman.
Their skills, however, weren't on par with Jackson Onyxes. The
larger the Barlow's snowman got, the more crumbly and lopsided.
Danny and Dougs looked. After another twenty minutes of trying
to fix portions that kept breaking apart, Danny stepped back inside.
Maybe it's time we give up Dad. Danny's Dad's side
as well. He stepped back and gawked at their messy creation.
The bottom of the snowman was flatter than it was
a spear, the middle wasn't even there, and the top
was slowly sliding off centimeters at a time. This thing
is an abomination, Doug said. Together. They looked back across
the street Jackson Onyx. But the finishing touches on their snowman.
It was perfect in every single way. The three body
segments were perfectly round and smoothed all over. The eyes
and mouth were made from pieces of top quality coal
expertly dug from a coal mine. Jacks had the honor
of visiting over the fall. Its nose was a freshly
grown organic award winning carrot and the top hat upon
its head once belonged to the royal family in England,
who Jax had once shared an evening of tea and
crumpets with. We can't beat that, Danny, Doug said, Let's
go have some hot chocolate mix. Danny and his dad
went inside, defeated once again by the Barlows. For the
rest of the day, Danny stayed in his room and
played video games. The failed snowman barely crossed his mind,
but his dad stirred down in the living room. He
sat in his rocking chairking back and forth, drinking one
hot chocolate after another, while the fireplace crackled beside him.
He stared out the front windows all day, focusing his
attention on the perfect snowman across the street, and eventually
what remained of their snowman completely collapsed and blended back
in with the several feet of snow in the yard. Again,
that was the last straw. Daddy's dad downed the last
of his fifteenth hot chocolate, grabbed a fire poker, and
wandered outside and across the street. He stared at the
Barlow's snowman in the face. You think you're so great,
don't you, he said to the frozen, inanimate eyesore. He
looked it up and down one last time, and then
at least a berserker style fire poker assault on the snowman.
He was done. The coal, the carrot, and the hat
were laying atop of the small mound of disheveled snow.
After dinner, the sun set and the snow began to
fall again. Danny was tucked in for the night, and
his parents retired to their bedroom as well. His mother,
unaware of the snow assault that had taken place shortly
before dinner, had fallen asleep quickly. Doug, more than satisfied
with the assault, was asleep even quicker. Danny, however, lay
wide awake in bed now thinking of the snowman he
and his dad tried to build earlier in the day.
It was a complete failure, falling apart at the seams
as the Barlow's snowman stood tall and proud, like a
perfect winter specimen that summed up the Barlows. Though perfect specimens,
Danny just had to accept the fact that he and
his family weren't on the same level as the higher
level humans across the street. Danny rolled to his side
and closed his eyes. He tried to drift away to sleep,
but was suddenly interrupted by a scratching sound. He opened
his eyes and listened for it again. It was coming
from downstairs. Danny crept out of his room quietly, tossing
on his robe and slippers. He softly descended the stairs
and into the living room, where the Christmas decorations still
hung on the walls and the tree still stood in
the corner. He was surprised to see his mother had
left one of her peppermint candles lit on the mantel.
She was usually good about blowing them out before bed.
He stopped in the middle of the room and waited
to hear it again. The living room, cast in dark shadows,
was cold and quiet. Danny tightened the belt on his
robe and rubbed his hands together to generate heat. Then
he heard the scratching again. He looked at the front window.
Standing on the other side of the frosted glass, he
saw the Barlows snowman scratching its branchy arms and twiggy
fingers against the outside of it. The coal on its
face was re arranged to display a look of anger,
of rage and revenge. Shocked, Danny backed up and collided
with the rack of fire pokers. He knocked them down,
creating a loud clatter. Frantically, he picked one up. It
just so happened to be the same one his dad
used to obliterate the Snowman only hours earlier. Unbeknownst to him,
the Snowman, noticing this detail, wasn't happy about Danny's choice
of weapon and quickly conjured up a supernatural force to
crash through the glass window. The Snowman flopped into the
living room, stood straight up, and began to roll toward Danny,
the angry look now permanently embeded on his face. Danny
held up the fire poker, trying to threaten the Snowman,
but it didn't FaZe him in the least. He only
charged Danny faster. Danny just dropped to his knees, now
willing to just accept another defeat at the hands of
Jackson Onyx Barlow. He let the fire poker fall to
the floor as the hulking shadow of the Snowman grew
over top of him with its cold confines. Danny closed
his eyes. Then a thwip, followed by another thwip and
a whoosh. Danny opened his eyes as a third thwip
and whoosh happened. This time, Danny watched a flaming arrow
hit the snowman in the head. The first two it
had hit him in the base and then the middle.
The snowman stopped where it was is Bonnie, quickly melting
from the inside out from the flaming arrows. After Danny
watched the evil wintery manifestation melt and slosh into a
slushy puddle on the carpet before him, he turned around
and saw his dad standing by the peppermint candle holding
the bow and arrow he'd gotten for Christmas. Without saying
a word, Doug walked over, stepped into the slushy puddle,
and piece by piece tossed the coal into the fireplace.
He then picked up the top hat, once worn by
a member of the royal family and placed it upon
his head. Then he let the carrot limply dangle from
his mouth. I'll be right back, son, he said to
Danny outside. As the snow fell in heavy flakes. Doug
crossed the street barefoot, wearing worn out flannel pajamas, a
royal top hat upon his head, carrying a bow and
arrow and letting a high class carrot dangle from between
his teeth. He knocked loudly at Barlow's front door. A
light upstairs turned on. The living room light was next
then Jax Barlow opened the door in a pair of
silk pajamas and wearing a nightcap. Onyx, wearing an identical
get up, appeared next to him. Jax just stared at
his neighbor with wide eyes. Doug took a big bite
of the carrot, shoot it for a moment, and then
spit its misty orange contents all over the welcome mat
in front of the door, and then, in an arrogantly calm,
yet subtle and threatening tone, he said, I know we
have this unspoken neighborly battle, this silent dogfight of fatherly
one upping jackson. Onyx just looked at Doug, confused, almost
like from their side of things, they had no idea
what he was referring to. Doug took another bite of
the carrot, chewed it up, and spit it out man
He tossed what remained into the snow capped bushes to
his left. The Barlows watched the snowy shrubs shake as
the carrot fell all the way through into the ground,
So whatever that was, Doug continued, pointing over his shoulder,
referring to the supernatural snowman that attacked his son. Expect
some same level retaliation. What are you talking about, Jax asked,
genuinely confused, possibly even concerned for Doug. Doug just smirked
and turned around. Danny had been standing next to him
the whole time, large snowflakes gathering on top of his
moppy head of hair. Let's go, son, he said, grabbing
Danny's hand and walking him back across the street. Same
level retaliation, Danny asked, same level as a mutant supernatural snowman.
How are you going to do that? Doug didn't respond.
He just kept walking, stewing and a growing annoyance. He
wasn't thinking rationally. He was thinking like a suburban dad
caught up in a one sided war with a neighbor,
which meant he hadn't the slightest clue as to what
he was going to do next. Deep down, he hoped
it would somehow involve a supernatural ice monster. But what
were the chances of that happening? Again?
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to micro Terrors join us each
Saturday for another scary story. For more fun, visit our
website at microterrors dot com, where we will also have
spooky games you can print out and play like Wicked
word searches, mysterious mazes, and more. Microterrors dot com is
also where you can find us on your favorite social
media and even send in your own scary story for
us to tell. Plus, you'll learn more about our author,
Scott Donnelly, who has other horrors for both young and old.
I hope you'll join me again soon for micro Terrors
scary stories for kids