A Christmas for Carol ~ A Special Christmas Photostory

     

Ooo. 

Creepier then I was going for, but still... ooo.

Ok, here we go!

Character list: 

Carol Scrooge ~ Taryn

Abbey Scrooge ~ Kit

Mr. Scrooge ~ Charlie

Mrs. Scrooge ~ Claire

Uncle Scrooge ~ Charlie

Ghost of Christmas Past ~ Kit

Ghost of Christmas Present ~ Clarie

Ghost of Christmas Future ~ Claire

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Mrs. Scrooge was fussing with the tree.

Abbey was rolling on the floor and laughing, as she and Mr. Scrooge played some game of their own invention.

"Really, Abbey? Do you have to be so annoying?" Carol asked sarcastically.

Possibly one of my favorite pictures EVER!  

"Come on sis, lighten up!" Abbey called, "It's Christmas Eve!"

"You know how I feel about Christmas." Carol said getting to her feet.

"But you will come down for Christmas this time won't you?" her father's voice sounded slightly strained.

"I don't see any reason this year should be different." she answered, flatly.

"Well sweetie, it has been five years." Mrs. Scrooge said quietly.

"Yes, but that doesn't make it any different." Carol said walking out of the room.

As she walked past Abbey grabbed her hand and whispered,

"It wasn't your fault..."

"Yes it was, and you know it!" Carol hissed, through clenched teeth, "Goodnight."

Carol slipped into the room she and Abbey shared, and changed into her nightgown. As she put her shoes down where they always went, she noticed her sister's shoes were gone.

"She's probably just wearing them." Carol thought dismissing it from her mind.

"Well," she sighed, "I should go look at the tree one more time... I may as well get sick of it before they take it down."

Abbey was sleeping beside the tree as she always did on Christmas Eve... just like Carol used to...

Carol tried to think of the last time Christmas brought joy, not remorse.

Her mother was right, five years ago, tomorrow.

"Carol?" Abbey said, snapping Carol back from her thoughts, "Are you going to sleep by the tree tonight?"

"No way! Sleeping by the tree is for babies." Carol scoffed.

"Carol... it's OK to remember and even learn from the past, but somethings... you have to let go of." Abbey whispered.

"Why do you have to be so annoying!" Carol cried, "I-I-I I hate you!"

She wanted to forget it ... but it still stung so much.

She mean it... she didn't hate Abbey, but she said it, just like everything else she ever said, to give others a taste of the sting she felt every day.

Abbey silently watched Carol climb the stairs.

Carol's words did their job.

They stung.

 Carol flung herself into her bed.

"By tomorrow all this Christmas junk will be over." She mumbled.

And with that she fell asleep.

Until sometime during the night a sound made Carol start out of her sleep.

"Carol! Wake up! I need to tell you something!" The voice said.

Carol was out of her bed in an instant.

She knew that voice.

"It can't be you..." She whispered, "I-I I killed you."

"Didn't I?" 

"Carol. It wasn't you." the voice was firm.

Carol whirled around and gasped.

"You." She cried.

"Me." the man, Carol's Uncle Ebeneezer Scrooge, said.

"No." Carol said firmly, "No no no! You are dead! This is a nightmare! You are not real!"

"Aren't I?" Uncle Scrooge asked.

"Look, I don't blame you for what happened and so neither should you. Now-" He said, but was interrupted.

"But it was my fault! And now you're a ghost, I guess, and that's my fault too! I should have listened!" Carol cried.

"Well if you keep interrupting me, I won't give you your warning." Uncle Scrooge said, as he leaned against the bed.

"What?!" Carol cried in surprise.

"About the three other ghosts that will come tonight." he explained.

Her uncle stepped forward and took hold of her hand.

"They're coming to teach you a lesson about Christmas... just like they did for me."

"What? Teach you about Christmas? What was there to teach?" Carol asked.

He took a step back.

"I have to go now... but remember I don't blame you." he said and he was gone.

"Uncle?! I'm so so sorry." She whispered.

Carol opened her eyes and she was sitting on the ground.

"It was just a dream..." She sighed.

"Wrong."

"Who said that?!" Carol demanded.

"Who do you think?"

"Boo."

"Ahh!" Carol screeched as she jumped up. "What are you?!"

"What do I look like?"

The girl glowed with a strange but welcoming glow.

"Well?" She prodded.

"A-are you a ghost?" Carol whimpered.

"Bingo! I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past." the ghost said.

"Wh-why are you here?" Carol asked a little more confidently.

"Oh, please. Don't pretend Scrooge didn't warn you.' the ghost laughed, "He ruined my element of surprise, but I think I still scared you!"

"But that doesn't matter now, take my hand. We have lots to see." She said extending her hand.

Carol hesitantly took the ghost's hand.

Poof

"Whoa. Where are we?!" Carol asked, startled.

"Christmas, nine years ago." The ghost answered.

"This is our old house." Carol whispered.

By the Christmas tree, slept a nine-year-younger Carol.

"This is... a long time ago." Carol mumbled.

"Sh. Watch." The Ghost whispered.

The little girl stirred and sat up.
She gasped. "It's Christmas!"

She jumped up and looked at the bottom of the tree expecting presents, but there were none.

She plopped back down on the ground with a sigh.
But suddenly there was something in her lap.

A small kitten sat in her lap.
"I knew you would come! Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Dad!" young Carol cried.

Then she hugged the kitten close and whispered, "I promise I'll never let you go."

"And you did try not to let go, didn't you?" The Ghost asked, "What happened... it wasn't your fault. You don't need to feel guilty about it anymore."

"I took Fox out on that lake. I was the one who didn't check the ice thickness. I was the one who couldn't swim. I was the one who couldn't hold on to him. I was the one who let him drown." Carol whispered.

The Ghost shook her head sadly and grabbed Carol hand.

Poof

"Where are we now?" Carol asked.

"Just watch." The Ghost answered.

"Come on, come on, come on!" A young Carol squeaked as she led uncle Scrooge by the hand.

"Uncle, can I please open one present while we wait for mom and dad?" Carol pleaded.

"I suppose you could open mine." her uncle said, handing her a package.

The young girl ripped open the package, and pulled out a dress... the dress Carol wore earlier.  

"Do you like it?" Uncle Scrooge asked.

"I love it!" Carol cried as she hugged her uncle.

"You ready to see the next Christmas?" The Ghost asked.

"No! No, not that Christmas! Please!" Carol cried.

"Here we go." She said as she held Carol's hand.

Poof

"Please don't tell me this is that day." Carol said in a very small voice.

"I have something to show you here." The Ghost replied.

A five-year-younger Carol sat beside an empty Christmas tree, alone and crying.

She was holding a cat collar.

"This is just after it happened isn't it?" The Ghost of Christmas Past breathed.

"Oh don't be so delicate!" Carol exploded, "This is the day after I fell through thin ice into a lake, got a cold, my cat drowned, and I gave my uncle the pneumonia that killed him! The day that I killed my uncle!"

"That's why we're here." The Ghost replied softly. "Follow me."

The Ghost led Carol into Uncle Scrooge's old room.
"Why are we-" Carol's sentence ended in a gasp.

Her uncle was already sick.
Younger Carol hadn't come into the room yet, but that could only mean...
Carol hadn't made him sick.
Carol hadn't killed him.

"Y-you mean that I didn't kill him?" Carol stuttered.

"Well, that is what your family has tried to tell you for years, but you're just to selfish to listen to them. So now I guess it all depends on what you want to think." The Ghost answered, "But now it's time to go home."


Poof

Carol blinked and she was back in her room.

"Whew. It really must have been a dream." Carol mumbled.

"Guess again." said a voice behind her.

"Whoa! How do you people keep getting in my room!?" Carol shouted in surprise.

"We're ghosts. Duh. Anyway, I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present." she said.

"Oh, um, right. So where are you going to take me?" Carol asked suspiciously. 
"Down stairs," The Ghost replied, "Come on."

Down in the living room, Abbey sat in the middle of the floor looking at her bare feet.

"My feet are cold but it'll be worth it to see her face!" Abbey exclaimed.

"Yeah right, dummy. I bet you lost your shoes in a creek or something." Carol grumbled.

"Yep. Sold my only pair of shoes to get you, so you better be really good and cuddly for Carol." Abbey explained to someone Carol couldn't see.

"Wait. She sold her shoes?! To get me a present..." Carol trailed off.

"Yeah, who feels like a jerk now?" The Ghost said.
Oh great, rub it in.

"But you'll always be good, right?" Abbey asked.
A small mew came as an answer.

A kitten crawled out of the blankets beside her.
It looked exactly like...

"That looks like Fox." Carol said.

"Alright now. Next day!" The Ghost exclaimed.

Poof

"Well Kitty, it looks like Carol won't be coming down for Christmas... again." Abbey sighed.

Then Mr. Scrooge walked into the room.
"Hey, Abbey." he said.

"Daddy!" Abbey said excitedly, "Is mommy coming down this year?"

"Mom said that if would come down she could make it, but you know what Carol said." her father answered.

Abbey sighed.
"Why does mommy have to be so sick? This might be my last Christmas with her, but Carol won't come down so mommy doesn't have the strength to come."

"M-m-mom is s-sick?" Carol stuttered, "Why didn't anyone tell me!"

"The signs were all there, dummy. You are just to selfish and caught up in your own sorrows to even notice other peoples needs." The Ghost answered.

"B-but someone could have told me!" Carol shot back.

"They figured since you were too busy moping about the fact that you maybe, could have, kinda, might have, give your uncle a cold before he died, that finding out your mom was sick would be 'too hard on you'." The Ghost answered coolly.  

"Well, could you, um ah um, tell me how sick mom is?" Carol asked, trying to sound humble.

"Nope. You have to figure that one out." The Ghost answered.

"What?" Carol asked in surprise.
But she was already back in her room.

"How many ghosts did uncle say there would be?" Carol asked herself.

"WHOA!" Carol cried, jumping back in surprise.
"A-a-are you the last ghost?" She whispered.

The Ghost didn't answer.
It just took a step forward.

"You must be The Ghost of Christmas Future." Carol guessed.

The only answer she got was The Ghost extending its hand toward her.

"You're going to show me a Christmas yet to come, right?" Carol asked hesitantly.

Once more, The Ghost didn't answer, but Carol took its hand anyway.

Poof

They still seemed to be in Carol's room.

"What now, genius?" Carol asked sarcastically.
The Ghost silently walked out of the room and Carol followed.

The Ghost led Carol into the living room.
"Wh-what's going on?" Carol asked.

The living room was in disarray.

A cat lay beside the tipped-over Christmas tree.

"No." Carol said as she leaned down, "Please no."
The cat wasn't breathing.

Carol stood up slowly.
"Who did this?" Carol asked The Ghost, shakily.

Perhaps, this Ghost was mute, but as an answer she pointed to the corner of the room.

She gasped.
"Not her..."

Abbey sat in the corner crying.
But this Abbey was older.

"Why couldn't you have learned!?" Abbey shouted as she grabbed a doll off the table beside her.

She threw the doll across the room. It bounced off the cat and rolled to the floor under the Christmas tree.

"This is your future." The Ghost rasped.

"What happened? What have I done?" Carol asked, hoarsely.

"Your father died of worry for your mother. You inherited the house and kicked your mother and sister out. Because you are so selfish you can't see past your own nose." The Ghost snapped.

"No. I-I could never be that selfish..." Carol said, looking back over at Abbey.

"No," Abbey muttered, "It is my fault. I should have tried to..."

"At lease mom and I get the house now." Abbey whispered as she walked toward the door.

"Abbey..." Carol said reaching out to hold her hand.
But what Abbey said next made her freeze.

"She deserved what she got." Abbey muttered and she walked out the door.

"Ghost? What did she mean?" Carol asked.

Carol couldn't see the Ghost's face but she could feel its smile.
"After you evicted your family, you began a booming business. You were so unfair in your dealings, so nasty to all your workers, so selfish, that you were killed. No one  knows who did it but everyone is happy they did."

"What!? Someone murdered me?!" Carol cried.
The Ghost just smiled.
Voices began to echo in Carol's head.

Carol covered her ears but the voices still came.
 "I don't blame you.." "I promise I'll never let you go." "I gave my uncle the pneumonia that killed him!" "Who feels like a jerk now?" "Why does mommy have to be so sick?" " You are just to selfish." "She deserved what she got." "You are so selfish."

The tree burst into flames behind her but Carol didn't even notice.
The same word keep echoing in her head.
Selfish. 
"No no no!" Carol shouted.

The Ghost began to laugh.
"You did this!" it laughed.

"NO!" Carol screamed as she woke up on the floor.

"What? Ghosts. Anyone? What time is it?" Carol asked in confusion.

She gasped as she jumped up.
"It's Christmas!"

Carol raced down stairs into the living room.
"Abbey!" she cried, "What are you waiting for? It's Christmas!"

Abbey was just as Carol and the Ghost had left her.

"What? What's going- Carol!?" Abbey exclaimed as she woke up.

"I thought you weren't coming down for Christmas this year?" Abbey said.

"Well, um," Carol faltered, "I was wondering if I could change my mind? I don't really have any presents for anyone but-"

"Merry Christmas, Carol!" Abbey exclaimed, hugging her.
"Merry Christmas, Abbey." Carol answered.

THE END

P.S. Behind the scenes:

Thanks little bro, for the amazing idea! :)