A Monstrous Christmas
Chapter 6 in The Series: The Justified
December 31st, 2025 / µ
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Certain long-standing institutions, agencies, and public offices are mentioned, but the characters are entirely imaginary. The opinions expressed are those of the characters and should not be confused with those of the author.
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“We have to plan the Christmas shifts,” Bernard said, standing in a room by the monsters termed HQ; in other words, a basement room in a private home owned by Danes who didn’t care about the law but who looked forward to looting the Unwanted’s house.
“Given that it hasn’t confessed and it isn’t dead, we have to ask our people to work on Christmas,” Bernard said.
“Well, I am sure people will understand –” Walter said.
“This cause does not require understanding; it requires absolute loyalty!” Bernard thundered.
“Of course, Bernard, but people have families -” Walter tried.
“Until this Unwanted kills their family!” Bernard exclaimed, angry to a degree that even surprised Walter.
The fact that this Unwanted was so resilient was a source of frustration for everyone on the team, but most of all for Bernard, who regarded the targeted woman’s perseverance as a failure on his part.
“Right,” Walter said, feeling a bit sorry for the old man. “What’s the game plan? I might be able to work a shift on the 23rd and 25th, but –”
“The game plan is that everyone accepts without hesitation that we cannot leave an Unwanted unobserved for even a minute. Our noble cause should not have to be explained or justified!”
“Right, right you are, Bernard,” Walter said. Noble cause? The Unwanted was not a noble cause; It was a lab rat. But Walter knew that in order to continue his research, he had to play along. So, he said:
“Why don’t you let Oscar and Berta do Christmas Eve, Bernard? Their religious group does not celebrate Christmas, so they won’t have family that needs an explanation,” Walter said, remembering the extremist religious group Oscar and Berta belonged to – mostly due to Berta’s continuous talks about The Antichrist, which seemed to be every version of Jesus she didn’t like. And even if that was disturbing to listen to, the truly unsettling fact was that the religious sect the two of them now belonged to wasn’t in the least as extremist as the sect Berta had grown up in, in some remote and dark corner of Jutland.
“That’s a good idea, Walter – yes, you are right, given the very secret nature of this noble cause and mission, it could be dangerous to let people come up with individual excuses for not being home for Christmas. My wife and I, Herbert, Oscar, and Berta, you, and perhaps Lisa –”
“Lisa, right, yes, she can pretend to do the Christmas Eve shift at the station. Plus, I don’t think she even has a family,” Walter said, realizing that he had never heard Lisa mention anyone or anybody.
“Kirsten?”
“No, she has the kid. They are spending Christmas with her sister at home.”
Kirsten’s home was an apartment she had set her eyes on years ago – a perfectly located city apartment. When Kirsten decided she wanted this apartment, a woman who had no intention of selling her home to Kirsten lived in it. So, Kirsten convinced Herbert and Bernard that the woman who owned it was an Unwanted.
It hadn’t taken much effort to convince the two old men. After all, the bitch was not from the public sector, and she was single. And so, Herbert and Bernard responded to the danger immediately.
The team set up camp in a neighboring apartment occupied by good, decent Danes, who understood the threat the woman posed. Due to their tireless efforts, the help of the rest of the building, and the pulling of all the strings their team had in the region, the woman had been completely isolated, financially run down, and, even if not known to her, defined as a problem citizen in numerous public sector internal reports. In the end, she had been so tired and frustrated that she gave up and put her apartment up for sale.
The woman had had her run-ins with Kirsten in the building, had heard their team’s crazy gatherings in the hallway, telling the most absurd of lies about her to the people in the building – anything from radicalized Nazi to drug dealer to prostitute - and she knew that Kirsten had broken into her home on numerous occasions. But all that meant nothing, because it would be the word of Kirsten and the rest of the team, Danish everyday heroes with friends in the police force, against the word of a problem citizen. It wasn’t even a contest. And Danish law had ensured that the woman didn’t know that it was one of her tormentors who had bought her home before it was too late. The bitch had tried to stop the sale, but she couldn’t.
They had all enjoyed witnessing an Unwanted being chased out of her home, only to have to hand over the keys to one of their team. It had filled the entire team with true bliss to create such a stomach-turning situation.
Their team had, of course, continued to harass the woman after they had chased her out of her home. As per usual, they had broken into her new home, spread lies about her, threatened her, and surveilled her 24/7. But it had all come to an end when the woman had vanished, and not by their doing.
Herbert and Bernard had been very frustrated, had searched high and low, and had used every connection they had to find her. But she was nowhere to be found in the EU. So, despite the danger of letting an Unwanted escape and perhaps tell the truth about them, they gave up searching.
But the failure weighed heavily on Herbert and Bernard. It was also a question of professional pride. Kirsten sympathized with the two old men, but she got what she wanted, and that was all that mattered to her in the end.
“So, just the six of us, and maybe the same people on New Year’s Eve?” Bernard said.
“Sounds like a good plan, Bernard,” Walter said. “And the family in this house, are they home?”
“No, they will be away from the 23rd until the 28th of December, so we have the house to ourselves,” Bernard said.
“Okay, that’s good, I guess. But why do we need to be here on Christmas? Is It at home, or do you want to go in?“ Walter asked.
“It is at home. It is celebrating Christmas with two other individuals, according to one of Its phone conversations,” Bernard said. “Herbert followed it around the other day, when it was shopping for Christmas, even if this was highly traumatic for him, given the amount of money It spent on ridiculous things and food. Disgusting perfumes and overpriced foreign wines, and foreign foods he had never even heard of! Herbert, being the remarkable investigator he is, managed, though in shock, to write everything down. And It even had a Christmas tree delivered! These welfare clients have no respect for money!”
“Well, It is not technically a welfare client,” Walter said
“It is what I say It is!” Bernard said.
“Sure thing, Bernard. Sure thing,” Walter said, hoping he would not have a shift with Oscar, given the stench of the old pervert!
However, when Walter arrived on the 25th to relieve Herbert, Bernard, and Bernard’s wife of their duties, Oscar and Berta had already arrived. So, Walter spent the next 24 hours listening to Berta talk about The Antichrist, how whores should burn in Hell in all eternity, and tried to ignore the stench of Oscar’s farts.
Clearly, Lisa did have somebody. Or maybe she did have to work Christmas. Walter didn’t know, and in the end, it didn’t really matter. All that mattered to Walter was the groundbreaking research that would one day make him world famous. And if that meant enduring Oscar’s farts and Berta’s crazy talk, so be it.
All rights reserved © 2025 by Annette My Grandjean Rønne
Thanks for reading! I hope you found it worth your time! Until next time, remember to get your facts straight, and that whatever good times you have won’t come back as bad times!