Haunting Past
Charles and Brute take a carriage to a dark street.
"Scrooge lived in chambers that once belonged to his old business partners," Charles explained, "Jacob and Robert Marley."
"Want some bread?" Brute asked.
"No," Charles replied, "I'm working."
"Fine," Brute stated, "more for me." As he took another bite of some bread.
"The building was a dismal hip of brick on a dark street," Charles stated, "I must remind you that the Marley brothers are dead, and decaying in their graves."
"That's gross," Brute complained.
"And one thing you must remember," Charles whispered, "nothing that follows will seem wonderous."
"Why are you whispering?" Brute asked in a quiet voice.
"For a dramatic effect," Charles replied.
"Cool," Brute said happily. Scrooge walked up the steps to the home he lived in. He took out his keys and was about to unlock the door. Suddenly, the knocker on the door started to change. Scrooge stared at it, and it slowly changed into the face of someone familiar. Scrooge stared at it in shock.
"Jacob Marley (Silver)," he said in shock.
"SCROOOOOOOOOOOOGE!" it shouted at him. Scrooge jumped back, and Charles fell off the carriage with Brute. Brute goes over to Charles.
"Are you okay?" Brute asked. Scrooge shook off the shock and looked at his door.
"Humbug," Scrooge said under his breath. He then unlocked the door and went inside. Brute was still next to Charles.
"Bear speak to me," Brute stated, "I mean, Mr. Dickens, Charles are you hurt?" Suddenly, Charles sat up.
"To say that Scrooge was not startled would be untrue," Charles stated, "still the moment had past and the world was as it should be."
"He's not hurt," Brute stated, "he didn't even break his concentration."
"What?" Charles asked.
"Nothing," Brute replied. Charles stood up and was heading for the door.
"We should get inside," he suggested, "Brute come on." Brute was looking around the area.
"I dropped my bag of jelly beans," he explained, "I need to find it."
"Would you just come on," Charles stated.
"Fine," Brute said in a complaining voice. Charles reached the door in time to have it slammed into his face. Charles backed away with a angry look on his face.
"Scrooge made his way up the stair case," Charles stated, "not caring a button about the darkness. Darkness was cheap, and Scrooge liked it." The scene shifts to Scrooge inside his house climbing up his stairs with a single lit candle.
"The incident at the door had made Scrooge weary," Scrooge continued, "before he shut himself in for the night, he searched his rooms."
"Alright," Brute stated as we see them outside in the snow, "that does it."
"Pardon?" Charles asked.
"How do you know what Scrooge is doing?" Brute asked angrily, "we're down here and he is up there."
"I keep telling you," Charles replied, "story tellers know everything about their story."
"Sure," Brute said sarcastically, "I'm sure that you are." Charles sighed.
"To make a proper search," he stated, "Scrooge was forced to light the lamps." As Charles said that, the window above them shown light appearing from inside the house.
"How does he do that?" Brute asked curiously.
Inside the house, Scrooge had lit the lamps and was searching the house. With his walking cane ready in one hand and a lit candle in the other, Scrooge entered the next room. After taking a quick look around, he found nothing. Suddenly, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed it, threw it to the floor, and started to hit it with his cane. He stopped when he saw it was nothing but his bath robe.
"It's my best dressing gown," he said to no one as he picked it up, "no harm done." Scrooge then changed into his white pajamas with matching night cap. Also wearing the bath robe he recently pummeled. He started a fire and was treating himself to some bread and cheese. Suddenly, the bell rang. He looked at it and it stopped ringing suddenly. Then, the fire that he had built faded out in an instant. He then looked at the stairs and then went back to his meal. Then, the bell rang again and harder than before. After some seconds staring at the bell, it stopped. Scrooge then heard some sounds coming from the stairs. It was like bubbling water with some chain sounds. He looked at the stairs to see smoke as well. Then, two ghostly hedgehogs appeared form the smoke with their legs and arms chained. You couldn't tell their colors because they were all white. Their clothes, their shoes, their skin, everything was white. The two hedgehogs were laughing.
"Look," one ghost hedgehog (Watts) said while laughing, "it's Ebenezer Scrooge."
"Looking older and more wicked than ever," the other ghost hedgehog (Silver) laughed.
"I knew he wouldn't disappoint us," the first ghost hedgehog stated. Then they both laughed for a second or two.
"Who are you?" Scrooge asked in shock.
"In life we were your partners," the second ghost hedgehog stated, "Jacob."
"And Robert Marley," the first ghost hedgehog added.
"It looks like you two," Scrooge stated, "but I don't believe it."
"Why do you mistrust your senses?" Jacob asked.
"Because a little thing can effect them," Scrooge said as he stood and backed against the wall, "a slight disorder of the stomach can make them cheat. You may be a little of undigested beef, a bloop of mustard, a crumb of cheese. Yes, there's more gravy than a grave about you." Jacob and Robert laughed.
"More gravy than a grave?" Robert said as he floated over to Scrooge with Jacob.
"What a terrible pun where do you get those jokes?" Jacob asked.
"Please," Scrooge pleaded, "Jacob, Robert, don't criticize me. You both always criticized me."
"We were always heckling you," Robert stated.
"It's good to be heckling again," Jacob stated.
"It's good to be doing anything again," Robert stated. They both laughed.
"Why to you come to me?" Scrooge asked.
Jacob and Robert:
We're Marley and Marley; abverious and greed.
Jacob:
We took advantage of the poor, just ignored the needy.
Jacob and Robert:
We specialized in causing pain, spreading fear and dought.
Robert:
And if you could not pay the rent, we simply threw you out.
"There was the year we evicted the entire orphanage," Robert said with a happy tone.
"I remember all those little tikes all standing in the snow bank," Jacob stated.
"With their little frost bitten teddy bears," Robert added. They both laughed for two seconds and then shivered in fear. Scrooge looked at them in horror.
Jacob and Robert:
We're Marley and Marley, our hearts are painted black.
Jacob:
We should have known are evil deeds, would be us both in shackles.
Jacob and Robert:
Captive bound, we're double iron, exhausted by the weight.
Jacob:
As freedom comes from giving love,
Robert:
So prison comes with hate. Four chains spring up from no where.
Jacob and Robert:
We're Marley and Marley. (Ghostly howl and the chains shake)
We're Marley and Marley. (Ghostly howl and the chains shake)
"But my friends," Scrooge protested, "you were not unfeeling toward your follow men."
"True," Robert said as he grabbed two of the four chains in front of him, "there was something about mankind we loved."
"I think it was their money," Jacob said as he grabbed the two other chains. Suddenly, some chains appear around Scrooge and then went to the Marley brothers.
Jacob and Robert:
Doomed Scrooge! You're doom for all time!
Robert:
Your future is a horror story, written by your crime.
Jacob and Robert:
Your chains are forged, by what you say and do. Then, more chains appeared attached to locks and boxes.
Locks and Boxes:
So have your fun when life is done, a nightmare waits for you. Scrooge then forced the chains off of him.
"What are these terrible chains?" he asked.
"Aaaahhh," cried Robert, "the chains."
"We forged these chains in life by our acts of greed," Jacob stated.
"You wear such a chain yourself," Robert stated.
"Humbug," Scrooge stated, "speak comfort to me my friends."
"Comfort?" the both laughed a little.
"You will be haunted by three spirits," Robert stated.
"Haunted?" Scrooge asked in shock, "I've already had enough of that."
"With out these visits," Jacob stated, "you can not hope to avoid the fate that we have."
"Expect the first ghost tonight," Robert explained, "when the bell tolls one."
"Can't I meet them all at once and get it over with?" Scrooge asked.
"When the bell tolls one," Jacob stated. Then, they both disappeared into darkness and the fire was relit. The scene shifts to Brute and Charles outside.
"And with that," Charles stated, "the spirits of Scrooges partners vanished into the darkness. Leaving him once again, alone in his room."
"Whoa that's scary stuff," Brute stated, "say should we be worried about the kids that are reading this?"
"No to worry," Charles stated, "this is culture."
"Oh," Brute said as he pulled up a bag in his hand, "jelly bean? They were in my pocket the entire time." Charles sighed.
The carol continues in the next chapter of. . . .