by Aine Dyer
“Was your house this dark when you lived here, Jacob?” Robert asked.
“Yes. It was,” Marley said apologetically.
“Scrooge is not who you need to see, Jacob,” the Spirit said. “This is what you need to see.” The Spirit pointed into a darkened corner of the room where no light would dare to go. Marley froze in anticipation of what he might see come from the shadows.
“Come on out,” the Spirit said to the darkness. Marley saw a gray mass emerge from the corner of the room, slowly like it didn’t want to. But it wasn’t as Marley had remembered. It came out of the darkness only to reveal itself as the spirit of a man dressed in a black suit wearing a chauffeur’s hat. Everything on the spirit moved like he was standing in front of a gust of wind.
“Who is that?’ Robert asked.
“Death, I think,” Marley said studying the look of it.
The Spirit and Death stood face-to-face now when Christmas Present spoke. “I need you to help Mr. Marley here to get Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge to try and change.”
Marley heard nothing in return and saw that Death’s face didn’t move, but Christmas Present kept the conversation going like he could clearly hear Death answering him.
“…”
“Yes…on Christmas Eve.”
“…”
“Yes, it comes from the top.”
“…”
“Look, I wouldn’t be here on my only day of existence if it wasn’t important.”
“…”
“Yes…I know you have a lot to do and your schedule is filled.”
“…”
“How can I know your schedule? You’re around all the time and I only get one day, my friend.”
“…”
“A day off? This is not a negotiation and not about you, remember? Don’t you get enough attention? Fine, I’ll speak to upstairs for you. Yes, I’ll ask for Christmas Day.”
“…”
“Yes, we will need you next Christmas eve. That’s right. I’ll pick you up.”
“…”
“Thank you. Merry Christmas to you, too.” Christmas Present finished the conversation.
Death glided back into the corner fading so much into the shadows leaving Marley to wonder if the apparition had ever really existed in his sight at all.
Marley looked at Ebenezer with pity and concern.
“Death is waiting for Mr. Scrooge. He will take him at the stroke of midnight on December twenty sixth of the earth year eighteen hundred and forty three if he is not saved,” the Spirit said.
“Saved?” Robert asked.
“He will be saved from Death to stay here and further the light,” the Spirit said. “We need as many souls as we can get. That is, if he changes. Also remember, that Death has no allegiance to us. If Mr. Scrooge’s time is before then, there is nothing we can do.”
“If I’m going to save myself, I have to save Scrooge,” Marley said as Scrooge consumed his thoughts. But something jostled Marley and made him look closer at the bottom of the Spirit’s robe. He saw something move under it, forcing it open and exposing two children underneath.
There was a girl and a boy who poked their heads out and smiled an evil smile showing their sharp pointy teeth protruding from their mouths. On the little boy’s forehead the word DOOM was tattooed in black.
“What are those?” Marley muttered in disgust flinching backwards.
“I carry these with me as a reminder of the human condition. This is really what you must save yourselves from.” He pointed to the tiny girl, “this little girl is Want and the little boy is Ignorance. Both things the two of you and Scrooge have known so well. So well, I’m surprised these two don’t fly with you,” Christmas Present said.
Marley and his brother stood embarrassed in silence.
“What will happen if we don’t save him?” Marley asked turning to look at Scrooge.
“Just more of this,” Christmas Present said giving a nod to the children. “If Scrooge is saved, he will add more light to the world making it a better place and making Christmas happier for many.”
The two children chuckled together as Christmas Present covered them in his robe. Marley felt their evil continue to linger in the air.
“Come we must go,” the Spirit said. And in a moment of time – Marley did not know how long – they were back in the land of the gray ones. Christmas Present’s body has begun to shrivel and Marley knew he was close to dying.
“Thank you Christmas Present for telling us what we have to do,” Marley said.
“Good luck, Marley brothers. This will require you to do things you’ve never done. I pray you have the confidence and the faith to do them.”
“Goodbye Spirit.”
And with those final words, Marley and his brother saw the Spirit’s body fade and its light move to shadow.
Chapter 13
How to Be a Ghost
December 21st, 1843
Time was coming for Marley and he was worried about it. Time for failure, time for death, and of course, time for fire. He was unsure of himself in regards to his haunting skills and was doubly insecure about scaring Scrooge. Why would Scrooge be afraid of him? Right at that moment, it was still a mystery in his mind and he was the only one who could solve it.
He would go see Ebenezer again and study him. He decided just being near him might give him a better idea as to what to do.
He turned to Robert frowning. “I feel the need to get back to see Scrooge. We still need practice,” Marley said.
“Then that is where we must go,” Robert said to him. The two of them swirled through the gray mist until they again reached the veil between the worlds and both jumped, each landing in front of the counting house.
Marley stepped again through the door into the front office where Cratchit sat scribbling numbers. Marley stood at his desk watching him trying to think of something he could do for this man. Something that could help him and his family. Cratchit looked up in Marley’s direction but refocused his gaze on a small picture of his family that was on his desk. He picked up the picture and glided his thumb over his small son Tim and sighed.
“Cratchit, those reports done?” Scrooge’s nasty voice reminded the man of his position. Marley watched him frown still staring at the picture.
“Just finishing up, sir,” Cratchit said picking up his pencil and resuming his frenetic scribbling.
Scrooge must have known about Tim’s condition. Or maybe he didn’t. Scrooge only spoke of numbers and amounts with Cratchit, not family. Marley decided right then that Scrooge must see the little boy and he would request that of Christmas Present. But even if Scrooge did see the little boy, would his illness touch his heart? All Marley could do was hope. Then he breezed in through the door to Scrooge’s office to see the man more miserable than ever. Marley walked up beside him and watched.
Just then Scrooge looked up, his face contorted in fear from some eerie whistling from outside of the building. Marley froze knowing that there was no way someone could be outside because the counting house was attached to the property next door. The whistling got louder and louder and echoed though the building. Marley poked his head back though the door noticing that Cratchit wasn’t bothered at all by the chilling sound and decided that the man must not hear it. But inside Scrooge’s office it got louder and louder like it was going to start to shake the entire building. Marley, frightened, pulled back from the door and absentmindedly molded himself into a wall trying to remain unseen. Scrooge dropped his pen and cupped both of his ears in agony. The frozen old man cowered behind his desk and then called in a scared whisper “Cratchit! Stop the whistling!”
“I’m not whistling, sir!” Cratchit’s voice called timidly through the door.
Finally, when Marley was sure that the whistling couldn’t get any louder, a frozen breeze blew all of the paper off of Scrooge’s desk and onto the floor. Marley stayed as still as he could waiting only to wonder how he would get out and back to the street. Fina
lly, Robert poked his head through the one of the book cases making Marley jump.
“Robert!” Marley winced, “You scared the dickens out of me!”
“Sorry! It’s kind of a new skill,” Robert said laughing and pointing at Scrooge’s frightened face.
Marley motioned Robert to follow him out past Cratchit and onto the sidewalk in front of the counting house.
“Scrooge is afraid of ghosts!” Marley declared excitedly.
“Yes, did you see his face?” Robert stopped to laugh. “That was funny. The man was frozen right to his seat!”
Marley thought for a moment. “But why is Scrooge afraid of ghosts?” Marley asked. “Truly, the only thing that man is scared of is running out of money.”
“He might be afraid of dying,” Robert said. “Men at his age start to feel the end. And especially because Death visits him! He should be feeling all of that.”
“He may be afraid of not taking it all with him,” Marley said.
“He won’t be able to take his money,” Robert said. “No one ever does.”
“But how can I scare him? That was a neat trick with the whistling but it’s me he needs to be afraid of.”
“He can’t see you, though,” Robert said floating steadily along.
“But he could hear your whistling. How is it that humans can see the dead anyway? People talk about seeing ghosts all the time.” Marley said.
“Do they really ever see them or do they think they see them but they actually see something else?” Robert said.
“Let’s find out. Let’s roam to the human side and scare someone!” Marley said. Still crowded with Christmas shoppers and seasonal revelers, Marley considered why he had never been excited about anything except his job. The moment had come that maybe - even in the afterlife - that he should become excited about the possibility of something good. Something warm. Something worthwhile. And the fact that Scrooge was an old miser, the possibility of helping Scrooge become excited about the same things fueled Marley’s ambitions. He and his brother floated along Lime Street, crossed Leadenhall and proceeded onto St. Mary Axe where they eventually stopped in front of St. Andrews Church.
“Okay, who should we start with?” Marley said.
“Um, I don’t really think that the Christmas Present would appreciate us haunting the sidewalk in front of a church. Have you learned nothing? Let’s cross the street,” Robert said and then declared, “That is the kind of stuff that probably gets gray ones in trouble in the first place.”
They stood perfectly still waiting for someone to see them, but people walked right through their spectral bodies only noticing a small shiver as they passed.
“Are we in the same dimension? It feels like we’re somewhere else,” Robert said.
“There’s somewhere else?” Marley said incredulously.
“In order for them to see us we have to be over there. I don’t know if we’ve ever been totally on the human side.” Robert said.
“Let’s see if we can find a ghost and ask them,” Marley said.
They roamed through foggy alleyways and shaded streets until they came upon a translucent man with a spectral light all around him.
“That’s a ghost,” Robert whispered.
“Are we not the same as him?” Marley asked edging ever closer.
“No. We are the gray ones often referred to as the shadow people on their side,” Robert said.
Marley looked down at himself and noticed that although there was a grayness to his skin there was still some spectralness and translucence to his body.
They watched the ghost for a moment and then saw him disappear.
“Wait, where did he go?” Marley yelled rushing towards the spot where the ghost had been. Rounding the corner they could see the ghost floating up a series of steps and creeping outside a doorway. After a few moments a young woman opened the door, screamed and ran away. The ghost laughed hysterically, walked down from the stairs and right into the Marley brothers.
“AAAAAHHHH!!!” The ghost’s scream echoed through the fog when he turned and saw the two shadows staring at him. “What…what do you want? Get away from me!”
“Kind sir, we are only here to ask how you have the ability to be seen and heard by the living,” Marley said.
“What? The ability to haunt?” the ghost said obviously still not convinced that Marley and Robert weren’t there to harm him.
“Yes, I guess that’s what you would call it,” Marley said. “A haunting…,”
“You can’t do that? Why, I thought every spectral entity could do that.”
Marley looked at Robert. “Can every entity do that?”
“I’ve never tried. I think I’m too quiet,” said Robert.
“I am not quiet,” Marley said. “I’ve been to the human side and humans could not see me. Feel me, yes, but not see me.”
“Well, looking at you, sir, with all your clanging metal and chains and a good guttural groan, you would probably scare anyone to death.” The man said floating around Marley. “You must concentrate when you’re over here to be seen by humans. I’ve been doing it for so long it’s hard for me to remember what I did when I first began.”
“Could you show me how?” Marley asked.
“Yes, I don’t see why not. Would you like to come too?” The man said to Robert.
“I’ll come, but I won’t scare anyone,” Robert said shyly.
“Then come through this wall,” the man said, “can you do that?”
“Coming through,” said Marley.
When they landed on the other side of the wall they were on a dark street in London in the middle of a busy sidewalk.
“Watch, I used to live here and I can’t stand the way they’ve changed my flat. I’m waiting for the owner to come home. This might take a while but watch what happens,” the ghost said smiling.
“Can I haunt people I don’t know?” Marley asked.
“Why would you want to do that?” Robert asked looking uncomfortable.
“Because I can practice that’s why. How can I scare Ebenezer the way I need to if I can’t practice?”
“Sure, you can haunt anyone but usually ghosts go to something that they know. Whether it’s a home that they once lived in or a person that they knew, that’s the best kind of haunting I think. You get a much better reaction. Here, watch me,” the ghost said and popped out of a wall and stood directly in front of an unsuspecting woman as she approached the door. Somehow, and Marley wasn’t sure how he did it, the ghost of the man shrunk down until it was exactly the size of the window inside the door with his head stretched out the length of the door showing his horribly ugly mouth. The woman stopped at first, looking strangely at the door like something must be out of place or different. She seemed to be fine but all at once, Marley thought she probably realized what she was looking at, she screamed, backed up slowly with her face all screwed up in horror, turned and ran from the door.
“May I try?” Marley said to the man.
Sure,” the man said.
“Jacob, really? You’re going to scare someone just for the sake of scaring them? “ Robert said.
“Just this once, yes. Robert, I’m probably already going to the fire so why not have some fun getting there.”
He waited until another occupant of the home approached and concentrated on getting himself to fit into the door. This was not an easy task with all of the metal that surrounded him, but Marley decided that his ornaments could actually assist him in his first haunting. He concentrated and shrunk himself down so that his head fit right into the window and his purses and cash-boxes hung on the front of the door swinging and making a tiny clanking sound in the wind. He was having a hard time getting everything to fit in the door and ended up having one arm sticking out of the door like he was just waiting to shake someone’s hand. And his face, as much as he concentrated, didn’t fit correctly in the window leaving it floating in the center of the door. The resident stopped for a moment and tried to figure ou
t the ghostly creature in front of him. He was actually about to shake Marley’s hand when he caught a glimpse of his face and Marley seized the moment.
“Boo!” he yelled and followed it with one of his best groans. The man yelped in terror, turned, and ran quickly away.
Marley stepped out of the door and walked over to where Robert and the man were standing.
“Thank you, sir, for helping me,” Marley said.
“You’re welcome. Remember most ghosts start out haunting what they know - their home or a friend who did them wrong. Good luck to you. Looking the way you do you should be terrifying!” The man said and disappeared.
“Looking the way I do?” Marley repeated “How do I look, Robert ?”
Robert pointed to a mirror on the inside of the house and Marley took a look. “Ugh!” was the only word he was able to muster. His gray hair was so wild and matted on his head that he wasn’t sure if he could ever be brushed again and his clothes were ripped and torn, showing graying glowing putrid skin beneath. His eyes were black with no shine and his skin drooped off his bony limbs as if it was an ill-fitting costume.
“How’s this?” Marley looked at Robert with absolutely no expression on his face and his eyes big and black.
“Terrifying,” Robert said.
“Yes, I see,” Marley said. “I think I should haunt the place I know the best. ”
“Where Scrooge is now?” Robert said.
“The exact place,” Marley said with renewed hope.
Chapter 14
Ringing the Bell
December 23rd, 1843
Most of the time the Devil will seek you out at your lowest moments. Marley felt that time was leaving him and in some way, his being knew the feeling was real and it was troubling him. Without paying attention he had drifted off into a dream while roaming, but this time he faded off into something different. It wasn't the dream of a memory. It was a dream about the fire.