CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - "BEWARE the Animatronic Santa at the Hardware Store" Creepypasta

Episode Date: December 11, 2020

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The first time I saw the animatronic Santa Claus, it was early November. My wife and I had gone to the big box hardware store to pick up some gardening soil and new knobs for our kitchen cabinets. I hate being an adult sometimes. It didn't surprise me to find Christmas decorations already displayed prominently near the entrance. The robotic Santa Claus was sitting there on a throne, greeting us as we came in. Its eyes moved back and forth without any discernible pattern, and it waved at us rigidly in greeting. turning its head to look at us as we approached, eyes focusing on ours for just the second, then moving away.

What a creepy-looking Santa Claus, I said to my wife. Who would ever buy that? It looks like something out of a nightmare. The Santa Claus got more frightening as we got closer to it. Despite its movements looking a bit stiff and robotic, it was a little too realistic for my liking. The way the eyes were moving around, randomly, almost sporadically, looked a bit like a mental patient's skin.

days as they looked around with paranoia. His pale skin was almost human, but not quite, and I once again wondered who would ever purchase such a thing. I assumed it was for sale, but saw no price tag. I mostly just wanted to get away from it. We got out to the garden section and walked by cacti and succulents. Hey, look, they've got moon cactus, just like the one we've got, I said to my wife, walking ones with a pink blossom looking cacti on top.

You know there's just two cactuses glued together. What? My mind was blown. Yeah, they just cut one cactus in half and glue the other one on top. Bam, moon cactus. That's a bummer. Yeah. We got what we wanted and walked back towards the cash registers,

once again passing by the Christmas displays and the creepy animatronic Santa Claus. Geez, I'm glad I don't have to work in this place. that thing really creeps me out. Oh sweet irony, how I hate you. It was early December, and I was standing in front of the animatronic Santa Claus once more. Only this time I was wearing a bright red vest with a name tag stuck to the front.

I couldn't help, but look at the Santa bitterly as it moved his head back and forth, stopping its eyes meeting mine, staring at me for a second, then turning away disinterested. Hey Jordan, move your ass, those Christmas bulbs aren't going to stuck themselves. I sighed and trudged back over to my dolly,

stacked high with boxes of Christmas lights. Working in the hardware store wasn't so bad, I told myself. It wasn't ideal that I'd been fired from my dream job, which I'd only started two years earlier and was now laid off for the foreseeable future. That's 2020 for you. At least I wasn't unemployed, I told myself. Some people had it worse.

I pulled boxes off the dolly and put them up on the shelf, ensuring that they were neatly stacked in perfect straight rows, which would then immediately be torn to shreds by customers once the doors open at 9 a.m. Back in the break room, my boss, Brandon, came over to me. He clapped me on the shoulder like he was an old friend, ignoring the social distancing policies for employees. The guy, who was probably 10 years younger than me, was my supervisor, and a real dick, I have to say. He had a businessman's haircut and a dimpled smile with big teeth. that he liked to flash at you

whenever he wanted you to do something. He was currently smiling at me in just that sort of way, like he wanted me to do something. Hey, Jordan, listen, bud, I know you were saying you needed this Saturday off, but we're actually going to need to keep you on schedule that night, and I'm going to need you to stay a little late, okay?

His toothy smile was bursting at the seams, his eyebrows high with anticipation. Like it practically seemed salivating at the possibility of confrontation, He really enjoyed those He didn't have to admit that for us to see it How late is a little late Like two or three a.m. Tops

You won't get overtime because you're still under house for this week But hey, money's money, am I right, buddy? Yeah, money is money, I thought to myself And I could use the money Even if it was barely above minimum wage It wasn't like I had a choice after all I always loved being voluntold to do things Sure, no problem.

I tried not to grip my teeth. So, I stayed late on Saturday night. I wish I hadn't. There was only one other person left with me in the store that night when Brandon called me into the back room. It was just me and Andy, a nerdy-looking guy, who, like me, was under-employed at the hardware store.

His degree in robotics engineering from MIT had amounted to nothing after a massive layoffs at his company. He was now forced into late-night labour stocking shelves at the hardware store for pennies on the dollar compared to his previous job. I had discovered the animatronic Santa was actually his own invention. He'd allowed the store to use it for display. Andy clearly has some real talent in the robotics department. The longer I worked at the store, the more I realized how sophisticated the technology in the animatronic Santa was. He could actually stand up and walk around, but that was way too creepy, so they told Andy,

to get it to sit on the throne and just wave in a friendly manner so as to not frighten the children. Jordan, come to the back office, please. The voice was loud over the walkie-talkie. I wished I could have said I hadn't heard it. Andy would have vouched for me, but Brandon was a vengeful sort of boss, and I didn't want to make him mad.

I'd seen others make that mistake, and he always found creative ways to punish them. Less hours, worse assignments, bathroom cleaning duty, being forced to work weekends and holidays, He had a whole arsenal of tricks up his sleeves for retribution Without it ever looking like retribution So I went back to his office

The grin on his face was wide and toothy And I knew without a second thought that this was going to be bad news Okay, I know you guys are going to hate me for this Yeah, and But I'm going to need you to stay a little bit later after all We got a shipment in of those inflatable Christmas lawn decorations And I need you guys to get them on the shelves before we open in the morning.

I had to get up in the morning at 8am to go do my other job. I was already scheduled to work until 3am and now he wanted me to stay even later. Sure, I said, deflated. I knew he was pointless to argue. Whatever I said would only result in something worse happening to me in the end.

I just knew it. He was that kind of boss, eventual sort, as I've said. I just need to be out of here by 7 a.m. at the latest so I can go home and change for my other job. I need to be there at eight. You got it, bud. You're the boss.

I'll put you down on the schedule until 7 a.m. No later than that, all right? I'll catch you later. I'm out of here for the night. He was up and had his coat on already, heading out of the door. Oh, and don't forget to tell Andy, he's got to stay too, okay?

I didn't have time to break the bad news to him, all right. You guys have a good night. He went into the employee bathroom closing the door quickly shut behind him before I could say a word. He always liked the change before leaving the store. God forbid anyone saw him in his uniform outside of here. I went out and told Andy the news.

His face was a mask of anger. He wasn't happy about being told to stay here and the chicken way our supervisor had made me break the news. I told him Brandon was in the back getting changed if you wanted to catch him before he left. Let that dick of a supervisor talk to him for himself, I thought. it wasn't my job to break the bad news to employees that they had to stay late.

That was not part of my job description. Andy marched back to the staff room to confront Brandon, and I was left alone with the Christmas decorations, now with a lot more work lying ahead of me than before. The weird thing was, Andy never came back. I finished the shift alone, feeling like something bad had just happened, but what it was, I couldn't figure out. That morning after work, I went home and quickly.

showered, dressed in a different uniform for a different minimum wage job, and trudged off to that place, half asleep. My other job was running the cash register at a burger place, since the hardware store usually didn't have enough hours for me, and, even if they did, I still found myself short on cash,

hence the 80-hour work weeks. The next shift I had at the hardware store was a couple nights later. When I went inside, everyone was acting weird. The police were waiting for me when I walked in, and said they wanted to ask me a few questions, since I was one of the last people to see Brandon. I told

him about Andy, in the best light possible, but said that he had been upset, and I assumed they'd gotten into a bit of a confrontation, and that I hadn't seen either of them after that. The police told me that Andy was also missing. The rest of the questioning was uneventful. I explained everything I knew, which wasn't much. It sounded like Andy was a person of interest in the investigation, since they were asking a lot of questions about him and his background. I said I knew he was into robotics and that he'd recently been fired from some high-paying job in that field, but other than that, I didn't know anything.

The police were dissatisfied, but left after that. Once again, I ended up staying late to stock the never-ending supply of Christmas decorations, and this time it was a different manager announcing it to me with an infuriating smile. Fine, I said, gritting my teeth, despite my best efforts not to. 3 a.m. rolled around and everyone else had gone home. I was once again left by myself to work extended overtime. The large store was well lit, but creepy nonetheless,

since I was the only one in it at that late hour. I finished with the boxes I had and was taking the dolly into the back to get more. When I walked past the animatronic Santa on his throne, the thing was moving around still, but I could have sworn I had unplugged it. I walked round to the extension cord hidden beneath some white felt that was meant to look like snow. The extension cord wasn't plugged in, and yet the Santa was moving around as if it was. Weird, I said out loud. I figured it probably just had a battery, but unplugging it had always turned it off before.

Climbing up to the platform to where the thing was seated, I got close to the robotic Santa and began to feel under the red suit for an off switch. He was moving back and forth, jerkily. The face suddenly turned, and the eyes met mine as I was reaching to try and turn it off. Usually, the animatronic centre would do this and then look away. This time, though, he locked eyes with me and stared at me. His head cocked slightly, as if he was thinking, studying me. Ho, ho, ho, he suddenly bellowed, sending me reeling backwards, terrified.

I screamed in surprise and fell off the platform, landing hard on the floor. floor. My tailbone screamed out in sudden pain like a lightning bolt. Screw it. I got up rubbing my backside and walked away, leaving the thing on. It was way too creepy to mess with when I was alone at the store at 3 o'clock in the morning. I figured I'd just let the battery die. I stacked the dolly high with boxes and, after a few minutes of the back room, I went back out into the store. I pushed the dolly back towards the seasonal display area. The sight of the empty Santa Throne stopped me. in my tracks.

The animatronic Santa had been there not five minutes before. Now it was gone. Ho, ho, ho, I heard from down one of the aisles near the back of the store. In the silence of the store, I heard footsteps walking in the distance, boots moving quickly on the tile floor. I was supposed to be alone. Hello? Is someone there?

There was another night stalker who sometimes came in at odd house. hours, but why would he take the robot Santa? Maybe they were moving things around. It was the only explanation I could think of. The store was quiet once again. Maybe it's not Teddy. Maybe it's someone else.

Part of my mind began to race with questions to which I had no answers. I began to imagine the robot Santa Claus up and walking around the store, a large knife clutched in his hand, waiting around the corner watching me. Ho, ho, ho. The sound was much closer.

It was impossible for it to move so fast. It sounded like it was on the other side of me somehow, in the seasonal section where I was headed. I forced one foot in front of the other and continued to push the dolly forward. The part of my mind, using what I thought was common sense, told me not to be worried. This was a prank or a misunderstanding,

not something else, not what I already knew it was. Turning the corner in the seasonal section, I found myself alone once again. I heard footfalls once again on the tile floor behind me. Ho, ho, ho, ha, he. Shaking, I turned around and met the eyes that was so close to being human, but not quite. The animatronic Santa Claus stood, watching me, blocking my exit.

An axe was clutched in his hands, a price sticker still on it. Blood poured from his mouth as he continued to chuckle. I saw now that our old superiors. supervisor's head had been hidden in plain sight all along. Santa's pale face had just been a mask, covering the horror beneath. The mask had fallen off, revealing Brandon's face, with metal wires pulling on the corners of his mouth and eyes to create expressions. I couldn't help but wonder where Andy, my former co-worker, was now, hiding in the shadows

with a remote control in his hand. I assumed he was looking to take me out. The robotic engineer turned psychopath killer was using his macabre invention, to try and murder me. The robot stalked towards me, and I saw Brandon's toothy, dimpled grin stretch wider as he approached. The blood beard was no longer white, but stained crimson red as his suit, hanging ragged from his face. Ho, ho, ho. I screamed and did the only thing I could think of as he came towards me, axe in hand.

I reached over and pulled with all my strength, collapsing the tall shelf next to me and bringing hundreds of carefully stacked Christmas items down in an hour. have lunch. The shell fell on top of him, and he collapsed. The dismembered head of my old supervisor popping off and landing on the floor near my feet. The eyes rolled over and looked at me. The head, without a body, looked for a moment longer, then blinked. I ran away from him, screaming, leaving the store empty as I fled from there. I haven't been back since. They've been calling and calling, but there's been no mention about an animatronic killer Santa Claus roaming around the store.

They just wanted to know if I want to come in and work extra hours. The new manager says all the night staff keep disappearing on him abandoning the place mid-shift and some of the Christmas decorations have been going missing as well.