The Modern Christmas Carol

A girl who has lost her Christmas spirit, is now forced to see her past, present, and future and how others see her. Now if she wants to be happy, she must change her ways.

“… Amen, okay everyone let’s eat,” there were about fifty people at the benefit for the underprivileged musician’s society; this was a big turn out for them. This was their Christmas benefit. 

A few moments latter Maria entered the room, she wore fancy clothes for the event, they looked designer, dressed in black and neon green. She walked towards Emily who was dressed casually and wore no makeup, her blue eyes sparked when she walked over to the table, she had brown hair and was an average sized girl. 

“Hey, Emily, happy Christmas,” she looked around “nice turn out, how many people are here?”

“About fifty, happy Christmas. Did you bring anything?”

“No, sorry, I slept in because my alarm clock didn’t go off, I was going to make my brownies, sorry.”

“Oh, it’s fine, we’ve got a big turn out already, maybe we will have enough to send a few kids to lessons soon,” she smiled.

“I’m going to go try and make some right now, I’ll be back.”

“Okay, thanks,” she walked off to the table and ate some of the deviled eggs.

When she was done eating she walked around telling people about the benefit. Eventually, she ran into Victoria, she wore a dark red dress that had ruffles running up the skirt, this contrasted her blond hair and made her stick out, she was a short person, her body in general looked dainty and frail. “Hey, Victoria. I thought that you would stay home today.”

“No, I figured I should come for the Christmas party, so do you have my present?”

“Victoria, I’m sorry, I spent all my money on the party. It was rather expensive”

“Tisk, tisk,” she said “Emily, you know this is the season of giving, why didn’t you put some money aside for presents?”

Anthony walked over in his customary black sweater and jeans, his face hidden by the black hood he wore, he slouched rather significantly, he had a scar over his hand. “Hey Emily,” he said in a somber tone, “Nice party, do you have any leftover money for food?” he asked.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll manage, it’s almost Friday, I get paid then,” she smiled a little nervously.

“Here,” he pulled out about thirty dollars, “consider it your early Christmas present.”

“Oh, I could never take your money, it seems wrong.”

“Okay,” he said and brushed by her, discreetly slipping the money into her purse.

“Oh, were was I? Oh yes, are you sure you don’t have any money?”

“Yes,” she said, “all I have is enough money to give Onyx lessons, and she is a great guitarist.”

But before she could finish, Victoria had taken the money the held in her hand, “Well, it’s not much, but, it’ll do. Thanks,” pocketed the money and waved goodbye as she walked over to the buffet table. It didn’t occur to her that Emily had to work for hours to pay for the food she had cooked.

Meanwhile Emily was talking to Will, who had just arrived, going on and on about how amazing the benefit was going, they had already gathered about three hundred dollars in admissions and hadn’t taken into account the donations.

“Thanks, we worked really hard to put this together,” She said. Will wasn’t in the society because he worked full time to help support his family and no one blamed him he was in a family of twelve so he had to make some money for the family.

“Where is the donation bin?”

“No, not this year, you need to buy something for yourself this year,” she stated blankly, “If you donate any money, I’ll pull it out and give it to your mother to get you something.”

“Fine. I’ll get some food.”

“Good, now go,” she was always getting iterated that he saved his money all year to give to the society, he was too noble.

By this time Victoria had already left.

It was nearly midnight on Christmas Eve when she got home. She immediately got online and had a email from an unanimous messenger. The message read “Victoria, you lack the spirit of Christmas and need to be renewed. You will meet three ghosts tonight, the first will arrive at twelve, the others will arrive in their own due time.” She checked over for spelling mistakes, there were none and she thought that it was Anthony, he was the only one who checked for spelling mistakes. She wrote back and said I know it’s you Anthony. She got on her chat and began to talk with Will. Beginning the conversation with “Hey, Chris.”

“Hey, how are you?”

“Good, so what did you get me for Christmas?”

“Oh, I’m sorry honey. I spent all my money on your party, I didn’t have any left over.”

“Well it’s not Christmas without presents.”

“But, I don’t have any left over money, you know I’ve saved all the extra money I have for your party.”

“It’s okay; I’ll get something for myself.”

“Okay, got to go, I have homework.” He said and left the chat.

I should really get some sleep, she thought. She got into pajamas and settled into bed, but before she got to sleep, a bright light right in front of her. It faded slowly and a human figure appeared. “Will? What are you doing here? Oh, I see, is this about the email I got?”

“Hi, Victoria. What email?” he said gleefully.

“Oh, I get it. You think you can fool me. Alright I’ll play along. So, what are you?”

“I’m the ghost of Christmas past,” he blurted quickly “And I’m here to show you your Christmas pasts. WOOO!” he giggled and waved his arms up and down at her.

“Okay, let’s get this over with,” she lifted herself out of bed and stretched closing her eyes.

The ghost of Christmas past took a metal cap out from behind him and shoved it over her head. “OWW! Why did you do that!?” She lifted the cap off her head and saw her school she was in when she was eight, she was walking down the snowy street and saw that she was behind one of the snow banks with a snow ball. She peeked over the snow bank and threw it at her friend, it hit her back and ran to the school. Her friend chased her with a snow ball. She threw it but missed.

“No fair! You threw first!” her friend shouted.

“Do you remember this?”

“Remember, it was the worst day of my life.”

“Why?”

“Well if I remember correctly, then you’ll see soon.” Just as she was talking, a new child walked over in the group. “That’s why.”

The child said hello to the two girls who politely said hi and returned to their snow ball fight.

The new child asked if she could join and they agreed that she should.

“Hey, what’s your name?” one of the girl asked.

“I’m Carol, what’s yours?”

“I’m Halie.”

“Oh, I see now,” the ghost said.

“Yea, that’s why we don’t see each other anymore,” she sighed. But the younger version of her was trying to get her friend’s attention; she was having trouble getting up in her bulky coat. Before she knew it, the metal cap was slammed down on her head again. She was further ahead in the past, this was when Carol and Victoria had a huge fight.

“OH, I SEE, SO IT’S MY FAULT THAT YOU’RE JEALOUS!” Halie had said.

“NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M SAYING, YOU ALWAYS DO THIS, YOU DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO ME, ONLY TO CAROL! WE USED TO BE BEST FRIENDS! ARE WE EVEN FRIENDS ANYMORE?!”

“MAYBE WE AREN’T!” Halie screamed back at the child, she stalked off in the opposite direction while Victoria struggled not to cry, it had finally dawned on her that she lost her best and only friend. She broke down on the snow sobbing, wiping away the tears, she stood, and walked home.

“Conical?” the ghost asked.

“No, I don’t think I could take anymore.”

“Fine. One moment,” the ghost closed it’s eyes and suddenly they were in the ally behind Victoria’s house. “Goodbye.”

“What, no mal-nutrition children under your robe?”

“Eww, no that sounds creepy, but I do have,” he rummaged around in the pocket in his robe “These mariachi dolls,” He held them out “You see this pedophile looking one represents ignorance, and the skeletal looking one represents want. They are both dangerous but of the two, the pedophile is probable more dangerous, ignorance leads to misunderstanding, misunderstanding leads to hate and hate is never good.”

“Okay, so now where do we go?” she looked back at the ghost, but it was gone. She was left, shivering in the night. She began to walk home, but another ghost appeared. This one resembled Will. “Willy? Will? William?”

“Hey, you remembered my name, normally you just call me ‘you’ or ‘geek’ congratulations.”

“So what are you, some ghost of Christmas present?” she giggled a little.

“Yes,”

“Dam!” she muttered under her breath “So what, are you going to slam a chronicle on my head too?”

“No, I’m not into hats much.”

“Okay, well, the email said you would arrive in your own due time, why are you here now?”

“Well, actually, I have a date…” he didn’t finish.

“OH MY GOD, WILLY HAS A DATE!”

“Yea, so can we do this quick?”

“Yea, yea, yea, let’s just get this over with,” she sighed. “So, what do you do?”

“It’s simple, all you have to do is HUG Me!” he said loudly.

“You have to be kidding me,” but he hugged her. “You’re not kidding,” she sighed.

The world swirled around them, it gathered around them. They appeared at Anthony’s party, Anthony was wandering about, trying to find Victoria. But she was not there, Carol walked over to Anthony. “What’s wrong, Anthony?”

“Nothing, it’s just I spent all my money on this party for Victoria, and she didn’t even show up. I’m start to wonder why I’m with her, all she dose is hurt me.”

“That’s why I told you to break up with that crazy b***h, you deserve better.”

“Yea, I know. Half of me loves that crazy b***h, but the other half hates her.”

“Well, you still deserve better.”

“I see where this is going, you’re going to make me feel guilty, I’m going to break down and confess, and then you leave me to my ghost of future. Let’s get this over with.” She her out her arms, ready for the cold embrace. He stood there, wondering what she was doing. 

“What are you doing? It isn’t time to go yet.”

“It isn’t? Dam, okay lets get this over with.”

“Come here,” she followed the ghost.

They went over to the street. In the street, they saw a family, “Come,” he wisked over, and said, “This is a family you have affected. They have very little food, and the father can’t keep a job.”

“Oh, give me a break, how is this my fault?”

“You’ve never heard of the butterfly effect, have you?”

“No, why what is it?”

“It is the thought that, as its name implies, a butterfly flaps its wings, and it starts to rain. It’s kind’ a scary to think about but it’s amazing in a way. Isn’t it?”

She pondered what he had said for a moment, and then said “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, now that you know about this, that is all I can teach you, bye,” the ghost said, she had almost forgotten that he was a ghost and wondered what was happening when he faded into the back ground.

She looked at her watch and saw the time, it was not even four. She looked around and wondered where was, she looked at the nearest street sign and saw a dark figure, it was in a cloak. She walked over to it and noticed that it was Anthony, he turned to her and said “Hello.”

“Anthony? What, are you the ghost of Christmas future?”

“Yeah, I guess that they were thinking ‘sure, put the dark kid in the ghost of Christmas past’s place.’ Dam stereotypes, well let’s get this over with,” he sighed.

“Wait, isn’t the ghost supposed to be silent?” she tilted her head in a mocking way.

“Fine, dam establishment,” he raised his hood and pointed at a man, about twenty three.

“I don’t understand, what’s going on here? No swirl of the world around me? No candle snuffer?” he walked closer to the man and pointed at his face, it was… Anthony. The world shifted quickly to an office.

“Where are we now?” he pointed at the same man and a woman. The woman looked familiar too but she couldn’t put her finger on who it was.

Anthony said in a deep voice “Hey, Carol. What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing, just thought I would bring you some coffee,” she giggled when she said this.

“Thanks, hey, I was thinking, why don’t I break up with Victoria and we make this official?”

“No, I don’t think that will work.”

“Why not?”

“Well… because I kind’ a like being a mistress.”

“WHAT! HE’S CHEATING ON ME? THAT…” she grumbled on.

“No.”

“So, where am I in this mess?”

“I thought that you had read the Christmas Carol.”

“What, I’M DEAD?!?!”

“No, no, no, I was just joking. Common,” he waved her along.

They arrived at the door of a small house, at the front door. Two people were there. They looked like Emily and Anthony, but Anthony didn’t look normal, he wore clothes that looked normal and wasn’t in his sweater. “Emily?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think that Victoria will be happy to see us, I mean, we haven’t talked since we were in tenth grade.”

“I don’t see why she wouldn’t be,” she knocked on the door.

It opened to reveal a middle-aged woman holding a baby girl. “Emily, Ron, how are you?”

“Good…” they said in unison.

“Well, it has been great but…” she didn’t finish.

Another child in the house shouted “MOMMY, BECCA PUKE IN THE TUB, IT’S YUCKY!”

“I’LL BE RIGHT THERE!” she shouted back “Okay, I’ve got ’a go, but it’s been nice talking to you.”

“But…”

“Bye!” she turned and sighed.

“MOMMY! SHE PUKED IN THE TUB AGAIN! IT’S YUKKY!”

“Okay, come on, time to see onyx.” The world swirled again and they were at a party, there were a group of people, Emily, Anthony, their entire group and Onyx. 

“Come on, Onyx, just one song?” Emily asked.

“Oh, alright, only one,” she took a guitar out of a bag she had slung on her back. She sung a song she had written herself. The others clapped.  

“So, did you get that job with the string quartet?”

“No, they didn’t accept me, because I had no formal training.”

“Sorry.” They had said in unison.

“Well, I’ve got’ a go, bye.”

“Do you realy have to work on Christmas night?”

“Yes, can one of you pick me up at the men’s club?”

“I will. Just wait outside for me, make sure you bring a jacket, it’s coming down pretty hard, I could be late.” Emily said

“Oh thanks. I’m already get money for college.”

“Oh, spirit, are these the shadows of the future that will be or things that may be?”

“Sure, yeah, if you say so.”

She sighed “Okay, Anthony, tell me, who am I?”

“Well. If you ask me, you’re a self centered, egotistic mega-b***h who, if continues on her path, will be used up by the age of 25.”

“Well, thanks.”

“You’re welcome, well bye.”

“What? Nothing? Is there anything you can tell me?”

“Nope, goodbye…” he faded into the darkness that surrounded him. She was left there. 

She gasped, waking from her deep sleep. She felt her body, checking that she was alive. “YES! THEY DID IT!” she got out of bed and went outside, it was snowing lightly. A boy, about eight passed bye. She shouted “HEY, BOY, WHAT DAY IS IT?”

“ARE YOU CRAZY LADY? IT’S CHRISTMAS!” he shouted back.

“What are you doing out here, come inside and warm up.”

“My mom said not to trust strangers.”

“Yes, smart boy, here,” she pulled out about thirty dollars and gave it to him “Go buy your self a warm coat.”

“I’m calling the cops lady,” he pulled out a cell phone and started to dial it. 

“Just take it,” put the money in his hand and got dressed, she was only in her pajamas after all. She put on a ugly Christmas sweater she got from her grandmother, she quite honestly hated it, but it made her grandmother happy when she was alive. 

She ran to Emily’s house and said “Here,” she had pulled out about eighty  dollars, “Give this to onyx.”

“What, how much is this?”

“Not important, and remember, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth!” she shouted as she ran to Chris’s house. It wasn’t far, about a quarter mile. Her party was just beginning, so everyone was there. “Hi Chris! MERRY CHRISTMAS!” she shouted.

“Merry Christmas, what’s up?”

“Oh, nothing. Just came by to say ‘hi.’ But onto different business, “she exhaled deeply “I’m breaking up with you.”

“What, why?!”

“I know that you are in love with Carol. So as much as I like you, I can’t stay with a boy who doesn’t like me.”

“I hate to break it to you Victoria, but I’m in love with someone else,” she said, glancing in Anthony’s direction. “It’s Anthony!” she whispered.

“Sorry,” Victoria said. “Here, take this,” she once again pulled out a large sum of money and said “reimbursement. For, the party.”

“What?”

“Bye.”

Emily walked by and said “Well that was weird.”

Anthony walked by and said “Did anyone else have a weird dream about The Christmas Carol.”

“Yeah,” they said in unison.

Author's Note

Today, I believe that there are three career that influence our life the most.

I aspire to be a renowned author, this career is important to me because it creates entire worlds in the minds of those who read and wright them.

This is my first story posted at all, so it is not going to be my best work.

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

Wonderful :)

[Confuser]

I absolutely loved it from beginning to the very end. How creative you are please continue to write! Well let's see some more since you write not your best work. The true spirit of Christmas, but also a wise adage of giving, not receiving weaved in this fun and wonderful tale. Thank you so much. Your characters, so vivid and descriptive - Thank you so much and congratulation for winning. It is much deserved. I will remember this one. Keep it up!

[Lily]

Thanks! Although I don't think it was descriptive enough, but that's just me.