{"id":9515,"date":"2024-12-01T03:27:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T08:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/?p=9515"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:46:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:46:44","slug":"two-wintry-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/two-wintry-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Wintry Scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\">\u2019Tis the season of heartwarming holiday novels and streaming rom-coms. But in earlier centuries, the stories told at Christmas were often far darker. Dickens\u2019s <em>A Christmas Carol<\/em> is, at its heart, a rather grim tale. Since much of this blog explores history, I thought it fitting to share two short holiday horror vignettes.<br><br>*Featured image &#8220;Gifts from Saville Row&#8221; is credited to Tyne &amp; Wear Archives &amp; Museums<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"385\" data-attachment-id=\"9518\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/two-wintry-scenes\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c.jpg?fit=800%2C586&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"800,586\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Henk Blansjaar&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Collectie SPAARNESTAD PHOTO\/Henk Blansjaar&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"3117495027_fe04871c92_c\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c.jpg?fit=525%2C385&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c.jpg?resize=525%2C385&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c.jpg?resize=500%2C366&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3117495027_fe04871c92_c.jpg?resize=768%2C563&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>The Institution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are celebrating below. I can hear the plunk, plunk, plunk of the piano. The D and F are out of tune. They have been that way since I was brought here. I wince whenever they are played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rachel is screaming next door. It&#8217;s that time of night for her. Christmas is no exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My roommate, Doris, has turned onto her side, vacantly staring at our sink, her once relentless mind subdued by lithium and a lobotomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am also subdued. It&#8217;s how I survive now. I&#8217;ve learned to be alive in the smallest things. The flecks of snow, falling softly. The gentlest, finest ping when they hit the pane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday, it started snowing. Flake by flake, the exercise garden was covered. Now, it is thick like the quilts my nurse used to sew as I, a young girl, arranged my dolls in their house, making sure all my little pieces of furniture were tidy and straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have started singing &#8220;God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.&#8221; It sounds more like herding bellowing cows than caroling. My former music tutor would break at the horror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This morning, a cardinal came to our windowsill and sat there. It peered at me with its luminous black eye. Doris saw it too, raising her head a fraction. I watched it. Vivid red against the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It stayed for almost a minute. A caller, like the ones that graced my mother&#8217;s parlor in their finery. I bid it good morning\u2014quietly\u2014so that nobody could hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then it flew away, and my heart seemed to sink below the snow to the deep, dark, rotting earth, where my sister now lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did not put her there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My stepbrother did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No one ever listens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since this morning, I&#8217;ve been watching the window, silently beckoning for the cardinal to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doris exhales and closes her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon, I shall be like her. A vicious scar beneath my hair where my head was opened, and the truth sliced apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope my mind shall be quiet like the snow outside, and I&#8217;m no longer concerned that the D and F are out of tune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"350\" data-attachment-id=\"9517\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/two-wintry-scenes\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c.jpg?fit=799%2C533&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"799,533\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c.jpg?fit=525%2C350&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c.jpg?resize=525%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c.jpg?w=799&amp;ssl=1 799w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c.jpg?resize=500%2C334&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/51255482678_9aa1f656d5_c.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Tree Lights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The neighbors\u2019 Christmas tree lights flash in a pattern. I can see it in the front window of their ranch home. Those fat old-fashioned bulbs in gaudy colors. The left side of the tree lights up, and then the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tree is marching. Did they plan it this way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn&#8217;t sleep last night. Or the night before that. I read about a family in Italy with a sleeping sickness. They die miserable deaths, unable to sleep. I know that death or near-death feeling. Your brain running like a dull gray, fluorescent rod. Your lids heavy, your lips thick, but that droning deep in your mind. Droning that won&#8217;t let the engine of sleep turn. Just start and start and start like a broken car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My father&#8217;s blue sedan. A Honda. The back seat was stained with ketchup and chicken-nugget grease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;The mind that can&#8217;t rest knows no time. Its memories flow with no coherence. My brain like the neighbors\u2019 blinking Christmas lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s 3:27 according to my bedside clock\u2014my nightly companion. I won&#8217;t sleep. I lie in my bed and watch with burning eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What happened to that sedan? Oh, yes, it was totaled at the corner of Broad and 14th. My father veered and smashed into a pole. He lived. The car did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then he got the gray SUV used from a friend at work. I hated that car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There it is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can hear it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dammit! I know I heard it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That scratching\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I told the pest people. I <em>told<\/em> them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They had stared at me. I was tired. No sleep. It&#8217;s not how I usually look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Left. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just above me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can hear it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scratching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right. Left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2019Tis the season of heartwarming holiday novels and streaming rom-coms. But in earlier centuries, the stories told at Christmas were often far darker. Dickens\u2019s A Christmas Carol is, at its heart, a rather grim tale. Since much of this blog explores history, I thought it fitting to share two short holiday horror vignettes. *Featured image &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/two-wintry-scenes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Two Wintry Scenes&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[29,150,558,556,557,555,151,554],"class_list":["post-9515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-susannas-books","tag-christmas","tag-gothic","tag-isolation","tag-literary-horror","tag-psychological-horror","tag-short-fiction","tag-short-story","tag-winter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Two Wintry Scenes - Susanna Ives\u2019 Floating World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/two-wintry-scenes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Wintry Scenes - Susanna Ives\u2019 Floating World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2019Tis the season of heartwarming holiday novels and streaming rom-coms. But in earlier centuries, the stories told at Christmas were often far darker. Dickens\u2019s A Christmas Carol is, at its heart, a rather grim tale. 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Susanna Ives\u2019 Floating World","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/susannaives.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/two-wintry-scenes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Two Wintry Scenes - Susanna Ives\u2019 Floating World","og_description":"\u2019Tis the season of heartwarming holiday novels and streaming rom-coms. But in earlier centuries, the stories told at Christmas were often far darker. Dickens\u2019s A Christmas Carol is, at its heart, a rather grim tale. 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