My special Christmas 2013 story! Hope you all enjoy it!

Nessarose Thropp sat in her wheelchair in front of the window. The snow was falling, creating a white blanket on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion. It was Lurlinemas Eve, a time that used to bring Nessa great joy and happiness. Now, it only brought her hurt and anguish.

She sighed as she watched the snow fall. She desperately wanted to go outside, but she couldn't, thanks to her hideous chair with wheels.

"Madame Governor?" a timid voice said. Nessa turned around and saw Boq, her servant, standing in the doorway.

Boq walked in, standing tall… or as tall as a short Munchkin could, and took the teacup from Nessa's table.

"Is there something else, Boq?" Nessa asked when Boq didn't leave.

"I was thinking. Since it's Lurlinemas and all, I was wondering if you would allow me to leave to spend Lurlinemas with my family," Boq said, not meeting Nessa's eyes.

Nessa scowled. Boq was trying to leave her. And it wasn't the first time. Boq had asked and tried several time since she asked him to stay with her. She knew Boq didn't want to stay with her, but she didn't care. She loved Boq, but Boq didn't love her.

"No," she said coldly.

"What? Why not?" Boq asked. She was upset. Not surprised or shocked. Just upset.

"I know what you're trying to do! You're trying to leave! I'm not stupid, Boq! I can see right through you!"

"I will come back!" Boq protested.

"No! My answer is no!" Nessa shouted, turning her back to Boq.

Boq bit his lip, determined not to cry. He hadn't seen his family in what seemed like forever and he missed them. Nessa couldn't even let him go to visit them for the holidays. He never should have agreed to stay with her after her sister left and her father died. She really was wicked. The Wicked Witch of the East.

"Madame," Boq said, his voice hard as he left Nessa alone.

Nessa was left by herself. She felt a sudden breeze and she shivered. She looked towards the window, but it wasn't opened. Where was the wind coming from?

" Nessa…"

Nessa's head snapped up, hearing someone call her name.

"Nessa…"

"Who said that?" Nessa asked, her voice rising with fear.

"I did," the owner of the voice said, materializing in front of Nessa. She lad medium length brown hair. Her eyes were a deep shade of brown and her facial features were clear and sharp.

"Who are you?" Nessa asked, wheeling away from the strange ghostly figure.

The ghost smiled. "Nessa, I'm your mother, Melena."

"M-Mother?" Nessa repeated.

Melena nodded. "I here to help you."

"Help me? How?"

"You're lost, Nessa. Lost and confused. You don't like what your life has become. And here it is, Lurlinemas Eve, and you're not happy."

"What are you talking about? I'm fine!" Nessa argued.

"No, you're not," Melena said. "You're so afraid that you will be left alone, that you won't let anyone leave your side."

"You still haven't answered my question. How are you going to help me?"

"I'm not going to. You will be visited by three spirits that will help you."

"Help me what?"

"Expect the first ghost when the bell tones one. Expect the second ghost when the bell tones two. Expect the third ghost when the bell tones three," Melena said, slowly vanishing before Nessa.

"Wait! What are you talking about?" Nessa asked, but it was to late. Her mother was gone. She sighed, deciding to return to bed. She really had to stop eating heavy meats late in the evening!

Nessa was sound asleep. She jerked awake when the bell toned one. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes.

Expect the first ghost when the bell tones one.

Those words rang in her head as she looked at the clock. It was 1:01 in the morning. And still no ghost.

"Maybe I'm going crazy," Nessa thought aloud, lying back down. A flash of pink and she sat up again.

"Sorry I'm late," the ghost said, wiping the extra pink dust from her skirt.

"You're late," Nessa said, not fully registering what the ghost said.

"Fashionably late!" the ghost huffed, placing her hands firmly on her hips.

"G-Glinda?" Nessa asked, getting a better look at the ghost.

"Oh, I'm not Glinda. I'm the Ghost of Lurlinemas past. I was just told to take on the form of Glinda to make you feel more comfortable," Glinda… err, the ghost of Christmas Past said.

"Well, as comfortable as a person talking to a ghost can be," Nessa muttered.

"I heard that! Look, we literally have 59… err… 58 minutes together, so let's try to make the most of it," the ghost said, grabbing Nessa's hand and pulling her up.

"Wait!" Nessa screamed, remembering that she couldn't walk.

"What?" the ghost asked as she continued to tug at Nessa's arm.

Nessa was to tired to continue protesting as she was dragged out of bed. She felt her feet touch the ground, but she didn't fall. She was standing.

"Well," the ghost said, taking a step back. "Taking the wheelchair would have made this trip longer, and we are already very behind schedule. Let's go!" she said, grabbing Nessa's hand and taking to the skies.

Their first stop in the past was Nessa's third Lurlinemas. Nessa watched as the younger version of herself sat on her father's lap, a small doll under her arm as she opened another one of her presents.

"You used to love Lurlinemas," the ghost said.

"I did," Nessa whispered.

"Papa?" a new voice said. Nessa looked up to see Elphaba, about six years old, standing in the doorway.

"Fabala!" small Nessa smiled.

"What do you want Elphaba? If it's not important, go back to your room!" Frex yelled at his eldest daughter.

"N-Nothing," Elphaba said, running back to her room, scared to ask her father if she got any presents.

"Elphaba," Nessa whispered brokenly.

"Now, if anyone had a reason to dislike Lurlinemas, it would be Elphaba," the ghost said. "Come on, we still have more to see."

"There's nothing else to see. All the Lurlinemases after this are pretty much the same," Nessa said.

"Really," the ghost asked, clearly not expecting Nessa to say that.

"You didn't know that?" Nessa asked. "Aren't you supposed to be the ghost of Lurlinemas past?"

"Well, in my defense, I was just notified about this yesterday. I didn't have time to read your file."

"I have a file?"

"Everyone has a file! Ooh, look at the time," the ghost exclaimed, looking at the big clock. It said 1:58. "We have two minutes to get back!" the ghost said, grabbing Nessa's hand and flying back to the Governor's Mansion. "And we didn't get to see anything else. Shoot! Note to self, next time, READ THE FILES!"

Nessa was speechless as the ghost pulled her through the window and pushed her towards the bed.

"Bye-bye," the ghost said before vanishing.

Nessa blinked. Was that real? she asked herself. She looked at her clock. She had exactly one minute until two o'clock. She leaned back against her pillow and closed her eyes.

That one minute past very quickly. The clock chimed two. Nessa slowly opened her eyes and saw the ghost of Lurlinemas present sitting next to her bed.

"You're…" Nessa said, pushing herself to her elbows.

The ghost looked up and closed the book she was reading. "What?"

"E-Elphaba?" Nessa asked, getting a better look at the ghost.

The ghost sighed. "I didn't want to take on this form. I really didn't. But they made me. I told them that I didn't want to, and look where that got me! Ah, well. I suppose I have to give you the famous speech. I'm not Elphaba. I am the Ghost of Lurlinemas present. I am taking on the form of Elphaba to make you feel more comfortable. Yatta, yatta, yatta! Blah, blah, blah! Let's just get this over with!"

"You're very cheerful," Nessa frowned. "Did someone spit in your ghostly poppy seed soup?"

The ghost scowled and growled. "This is going to be a very long night!" she said as she grabbed Nessa's hand and took off.

Their first stop was a small cottage on the outskirts of Munchkinland.

"Why are we here?" Nessa asked. "Who lives here?"

"You mean you don't know?" the ghost asked.

Nessa shook her head. "No."

The ghost sighed. "This is the home of Boq Fitzgerald."

"Boq?"

"Yes, Boq! Pay attention!"

Nessa watched as Boq walked up to his home.

"He'll see us!" Nessa panicked.

"No, he won't," the ghost said in a monotone. "Just keep watching."

Boq walked inside, and closed the door. The ghost and Nessa followed him. Nessa reached for the doorknob, but the ghost pushed her right through the door.

"Did I just…" Nessa whispered.

"We're ghost. We can walk through walls. You never knew that?" the ghost smirked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Nessa scowled as she continued to watch the scene.

"Hello, honey!" a woman, Boq's wife, said, running in from the kitchen.

"Hello," Boq said, trying to force a tiny smile onto his face.

"We've missed you so much!" Boq's wife said, kissing his cheek.

"Daddy!" the voices of two little girls exclaimed, running into the room to greet their father.

"Hello, Rilla. Hello, Gratlia," Boq smiled, kissing his daughters' foreheads. "Where's your brother?"

"Kiki is asleep. He'll be so happy to see you!" Rilla smiled.

"Girls, dinner is almost ready. Go and set the table please," Boq's wife said, wiping her hands on a dishrag.

"Yes, mother," the girls said in unison, running into the kitchen.

"Alright, the children are gone. Now, are you really feeling alright?" she asked, giving her husband a concerned look.

"Yes, dear, I'm fine. Just a little tired."

She didn't believe him, he could tell. He prepared himself for her multiple questions, but none of them came. Instead, she just flashed her husband a smile and went to finish preparing dinner.

"Daddy," a boy said, coming into the room.

"Kiki!" Boq smiled, walking towards his son and lifting him into the air. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better!" Kiki smiled, wrapping his arms around his father's neck.

Nessa got a better look at the young boy. He looked awful. He was a deadly pale. He looked very fragile and weak. She noticed a crutch under the boy's right arm.

"Everyone, dinner is ready!" Boq's wife called from the kitchen.

Nessa and the ghost followed the small family into their dining room. They sat around a long table.

"Before we began, I would like to make a toast to the founder of this feast," Boq said, raising his glass.

"You mean Mr. Yeticle from down the road?" Boq's wife asked, confused.

"No, dear. To Miss Nessarose, the Governor of Munchkinland."

"The founder of this feast indeed. I'd sure like to…" Boq's wife muttered.

"Dear," Boq warned.

"Oh, fine!" she said, slowly raising her glass.

Everyone was about to drink from their glasses when Kiki had a couching fit. Boq quickly excused himself and took Kiki from the room.

"Will Kiki live?" Nessa asked the ghost.

"I see a vacant seat at the table and a crutch, carefully preserved," the ghost answered in a monotone.

Nessa gasped. No, the tiny boy couldn't die! He just couldn't! It would tear Boq apart. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she cared for Boq, just as he cared for her back at Shiz.

"Come," the ghost said.

"We can't leave now!" Nessa protested.

The ghost gave her the sassiest look she could before grabbing Nessa's arm and dragging her from the room.

"You can scream all you want! We're leaving!" the ghost said, flying back to the Governor's Mansion.

Expect the third ghost when the bell tones three!

"Is it three yet?" Nessa muttered, slowly opening her eyes and finding herself back in her bed. She looked over at her clock. She had one minute to go before she was whisked away again.

Bong! Bong! Bong!

Three o'clock. Finally! Nessa thought, sitting up and preparing herself. She looked to her right and saw a hooded ghostly figure.

"Are you the third ghost?" Nessa asked.

The figure nodded.

"Are you going to speak to me?" Nessa asked, growing more and more scared by the second.

The ghost shook its head.

"Okay, let's go," Nessa sighed, reaching out her hand to the third, and final, ghost.

Instead of taking her hand, the room began to slowly dissolve before her eyes. Instead of seeing her room, she was at a graveyard.

"Why are we here?" she asked, looking around for the ghost, but it wasn't there. "Hello?" she called. This ghost is the weirdest of them all, she thought to herself. She shook all of those thoughts from her head as she watched the scene before her.

Boq was standing over a grave, a bouquet of poppies in his hand. His wife was standing next to him, crying on his shoulder.

"What happened?" Nessa asked, approaching Boq and his wife. She suddenly remembered that they couldn't see or hear her.

Boq's wife continued to cry as Boq placed the flowers on the grave. Nessa took a closer look at the grave and read the headstone.

Kiki Fitzgerald

Beloved son

"No," Nessa whispered, taking a step back. Not Kiki. Nessa looked at Boq, who had started to cry along with his wife. She suddenly remembered that this was the future. Hopefully, things could change!

"Spirit!" Nessa called, looking for the ghost. She suddenly felt everything slipping away.

Nessa bolted upright in her bed at the Governor's Mansion. She looked around. There was a beautiful blanket of snow covering the grounds. She looked at her Calendar. It was December 25. She hadn't missed Lurlinemas.

Boq knocked on her door and entered the room.

"Merry Lurlinemas, Boq," Nessa smiled.

"Good morning, Madame Governor," Boq replied.

"Boq," Nessa said, looking Boq in the eyes. "I've asked you to call me Nessarose. Remember?"

"Yes, Madame," Boq said curtly, practically spitting the "Madame" out.

He was mad at her. Nessa could tell.

"Boq, please forgive me for my behavior yesterday," Nessa apologized, lowing herself into her wheelchair.

Boq nodded, not wanting to look Nessa in the eyes.

"I have come to a decision," Nessa asked. That caused Boq to look up. "You may return home to be with your family."

"R-Really?" Boq asked hopefully.

Nessa nodded. "And I don't want to see you again until the New Year," she added, trying to keep a straight face. She found that she couldn't keep it and a large smile tugged at her lips.

"Oh, thank you, Nessa!" Boq said, wrapping his arms about the wheelchair bounded girl. He ran out the room to pack his belongings.

He finally did it, Nessa smiled. He called me "Nessa".

MERRY LURLINEMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT (OR MORNING... WHATEVER TIME IT IS!)!