Eugene Harold Krabs had been watching his phone with anticipation since the moment he entered his office. It was the last day of business before Krabs closed up shop for the holidays, and he couldn't wait to hear from his darling daughter Pearl. She had just completed her first semester of college, and she told Krabs she'd call him as soon as her plane landed in Bikini Bottom. Krabs couldn't wait to spend Christmas with his daughter since her leaving left a void that all of the money in the ocean wouldn't fill. The lonely nights at home had taken a toll on the old crab, and he hoped Pearl's return would put a spring back in his step.

Krabs' heart nearly stopped when he heard the first ring, and he was quick to wrap his claw around the phone and pick it up.

"Pearl?" Krabs squealed.

Pearl didn't sound nearly as excited as Krabs.

"Daddy, I've got some bad news," she said.

Krabs frowned. "What happened?"

"The plane had to stop somewhere in Bass Vegas due to bad weather. I won't be coming home tonight."

"Will you at least make it home by Christmas?"

"I don't know. It's pretty bad out there. People are saying it's the storm of the century."

"Well…you just stay safe out there. Okay?"

"I will."

Krabs hung up the phone, heartbroken.

"Storm of the century!" he huffed. "Out of all the years it could have happened, it had to be this one!"

Krabs looked at a photo at the corner of his desk of him and a female crab holding a baby whale, and he turned it over. He walked out of his office and saw that the restaurant was empty.

"Where are all me customers?" Krabs wondered.

"They're probably Christmas shopping. Christmas is in three days, you know," Squidward reminded him.

"All of those fancy malls with their fancy food courts are takin' all of me business! To make up for the lost income, we'll be working every day this week!" Krabs declared.

"Even Christmas?" SpongeBob peeked out of the kitchen window, concerned.

"Especially Christmas," Krabs said. "I'll be putting up posters everywhere. The Krusty Krab: Open even on Christmas day! Imagine all the extra money it'll make me from the people too lazy to cook their own food during the holidays!"

"Your greed has officially gone too far!" Squidward shouted. "There is no way I'm working on Christmas! It's bad enough having to work for you the other 364 days!"

"And 365 on leap years!" SpongeBob chimed in.

"Shut up, SpongeBob."

"If you don't come on Christmas, don't bother ever coming to work again," Krabs said.

"Gladly!" Squidward responded, throwing off his Krusty Krab employee hat and leaving the restaurant.

"Oh no! Squidward quit…again!" SpongeBob exclaimed.

"We're better off without him," Krabs said.

"I'm sorry, but he's right. We can't work on Christmas. I'm having my parents over and I was really looking forward to spending time with them," SpongeBob said.

"Not you too! This is mutiny, is what it is! If I don't see you here on Christmas, you'll be spending the rest of the year in the unemployment line with Mr. Tentacles!"

"No! Please don't do that! I'll just have to tell my parents I'll be coming in late that day."

"Good!"

Krabs, feeling good about himself, returned to his office and spent the rest of the day listening to KRUM and counting money. Money, the one thing in Krabs' life that was consistent, that never left him, that never betrayed him.

Krabs was still counting money in his room that night. Once he started to feel tired, he lay down on his hammock and began to close his eyes. Suddenly, his window flew open and the breeze caused Krabs to shiver. As he approached the window, a green mist came out of the floorboards behind him. He slammed the window shut, turned around, and saw the culmination of that green mist.

"The Flying Dutchman!" he gasped.

The Flying Dutchman cackled. "Here in the flesh! Well, not in the flesh, but you know what I mean."

"Are you here to take me soul?"

"Nah. I've gotten enough headaches trying to do that. Right now, I'm here to warn ye. You've been a scrooge, Krabs, and it's high time you paid for it!"

"Paid for it? How?"

"You will be visited by three – count 'em – three spirits! One tonight, one tomorrow, and one the day after!"

"Can't I just do them all at once?"

"No! That's not how it works! After the spirits visit, you'll be given a choice: change your nasty old ways or suffer the consequences!"

"Consequences worse than being haunted by ghosts?"

"Much worse!"

Krabs trembled as the Flying Dutchman's scream echoed through the room.

"My work here is finished," the Flying Dutchman continued. "Expect the first ghost when the clock strikes one!"

The Flying Dutchman disappeared in an explosion of green mist. Krabs rubbed his eyes, not believing what he had just seen,

"Spirits? What a load of barnacles," he muttered, laying back down in his hammock and falling asleep minutes later.

Author's Note: This is my second SpongeBob story on , after Cyberpunk, which wrapped up a couple of months ago. This story won't be as grim as Cyberpunk, but it will definitely go to some dark places, as you'll see next chapter. It also won't be very long, probably novella-length compared to Cyberpunk. I've just always wanted to explore Mr. Krabs' backstory, and I figured a Christmas Carol-type story would be the perfect way to do so. Plus, Christmas is right around the corner, so there's no better time than now. After I'm done with this, I'll start work on a much longer fanfic, so if you're disappointed that I'm only back for a few chapters, I won't be gone for long. Stay tuned for more on that, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this story.