NL: Yeah, I'm not too happy with this chapter. Mostly because I rushed it so I can get this story over with already. Now, don't get me wrong! I love A Christmas Carol! I just feel like writing other stories this Christmas break from school. Oh, well. Enjoy this thoroughly rushed chapter! By the way, remind me to NEVER write a holiday story ever again unless it's a one-shot.
Chapter 8 – Present's End and Presence Revealed
"Where are we going now?" House asked as Bloo snatched his hand once more and lifted him up into the air. House wasn't so surprised, growing used to flying through the cold sky. However, he was slightly curious as Bloo began lowering him once more into a dingy and poor neighborhood with little houses that could just as easily been mistaken for shacks. "Why have you brought me here, ghost?" he asked. "None of these building are remotely familiar to me."
"That's because you never bothered in taking the time to get to know your employee, Kronk," Bloo explained, visibly tired. "Go on. Look inside.
Like the many times before, House looked through one house's window. The conditions inside weren't much better than the outside; it was small and cramped, the furniture was rickety, most of the metal pans were rusted, and everything looked it has been around for years. "Oh, come on!" House said. "They can't possibly be that poor!"
"Believe it, House," Bloo said wearily. "Go, look! Someone's entering the room!"
House saw Kara walk in along with Bart, the sweet Sakura Kinomoto, the witch-with-a-mouth Mystery, and two Warners named Yakko and Wakko. "So that's Kronk's wife?" he asked.
"Yeah," Bloo nodded. "And those are their kids – minus one."
"'Minus one'?" he repeated. Suddenly, the home's door was pushed open as Kronk ran in carrying a little Warner girl on his shoulders.
"Whoo!" she cheered, holding her hands up happily.
"Oh, so that's what you mean."
"Kind of…" Bloo mumbled quietly.
"Have fun going around the park, Little Dot?" Kara smiled lovingly as she set their old wooden table.
"You betcha!" the little girl declared as Kronk lightly lowered her to the ground. "It looks like we're gonna have a white Christmas!"
"Isn't that nice?" Kara said, placing down their dinner – a tiny bird with a few beans.
"That's all they have to eat?" House asked incredulously.
"It's all that Kronk's salary can pay for," Bloo answered. House rubbed the back of his neck, feeling accountable for Kronk's family's lack of food. If he had provided Kronk with a proper wage, perhaps his family wouldn't have had to live so inadequately.
"Oh, wow! Look at all what we have to eat!" Little Dot stated humbly, before coughing severely. House was startled when he saw her pick up a crutch by the wall and limped to the table. "We've gotta thank Mr. House for providing this for us." Kronk and Kara nodded, but frowned sadly at Little Dot's optimism.
"Yes, if it wasn't for Mr. House, we wouldn't have the few things that we have," Kronk agreed.
"Yeah, well, I still think I should give that man a piece of my mind…" Kara growled agitatedly.
"Wow, wouldn't it be awesome to see mom kick House's ass?" Mystery snickered deviously.
"Well, I'm sure she wouldn't have the nerve," Sakura said disapprovingly.
"We'll take that bet!" Yakko shouted, punching in a few numbers on an adding machine as Wakko was reading the ticker tape the machine spewed out.
"Now, Kara, Mr. House has given us so much," Kronk said. "We should appreciate everything he has done for us. Why, he has even given me a day off tomorrow!"
"Really, dad?" the kids gasped, latching themselves on to him.
"That's fantastic," Kara agreed, hugging them all.
House sighed, "They're all so happy, even when they have so little."
"And they appreciate every little bit of it," Bloo said.
"To Mr. House!" Kronk toasted, lifting up a cup. "The man who has made this all possible!" The rest of his family raised their drinks as well, with just as much vigor as he did. "Cheers!" House knew he didn't deserve this at all. This family – it was far too generous.
"God bless us," Little Dot said simply, "every one." But it only took that much to make her break out in a fit of coughs once more.
"What's wrong with her?" House tensely asked, looking to Bloo. He nearly jumped out of his skin. Bloo, before his eyes, was aging rapidly as wrinkles enveloped all over his face and looked so weak. House concluded he must not have noticed it before because Bloo was still young and the aging wasn't so noticeable.
"She's sick, House," Bloo answered simply, breath feeble. "If things do not change soon, I foresee an early death for young Dot."
"No…" House whispered softly.
"Why the long face, House?" Bloo asked. "'Decrease the surplus population.' Were those not your words?"
House shook his head, but responded, "I…I don't know." He looked to Bloo. "Ghost, why are you growing so old?"
Bloo chuckled lightly. "I'm going to die this night, House."
"What?" he said in disbelief.
"I think I'll be gone by…" Bloo looked at his broken watch again and shrugged, "…midnight." The town's clock tower bell just then struck once. "Heh, heh," he chortled. "Looks like my time is up."
The bell rang once more. "No, Bloo!" House pleaded. "Don't leave me! You've shown me so much!"
Bloo sighed as the bell rang again, "And there is one more I thing I must show." Raising his arms, he lifted the robe he wore to show a little boy and girl huddled underneath it. They looked to House pitifully with wide eyes as they shivered. "House, these children personify the major causes of suffering in the world," Bloo explained weakly. "'Ignorance' and 'Want' are their names. Beware them both, and all their degree, but most of all beware Ignorance; for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing is erased."
Bloo lowered his robes and hid the children away. "I don't understand," House said as the bell tolled six more times.
Bloo chuckled, slowly withering away into little green and red dust. "You'll figure it out."
"No!" House shouted. "Don't leave! Don't die! You've changed me, you gave me so much!"
Bloo slowly faded away. "Sorry, buddy. But now you must meet with the final spirit…the most terrifying of us three. Good-bye, House." House dropped to his knees and hugged the ghost tightly, unwilling to let gone, but soon felt nothing at all as Bloo vanished.
The bell struck twelve.
---
"Perfect, perfect…" Arthur smiled. "That was just perfect. Now, for the fog to set up the next scene…" House continued sitting on his knees, waiting for the next ghost; however, no fog filled the stage. "What!" Arthur screamed. "Where's that damn fog!" Something moving caught the corner of his eye. Arthur quickly turned around and saw a person in pitch-black robes running away, almost gliding, at greed speed. "The Phantom!"
He pursued after it. "Hey! Hey, you! Get back over here!" The Phantom knocked over a stack of paint cans, which rolled toward Arthur. Arthur hopped over the rolling cans, making a sort of pinging sound every time he jumped over one. After the last of the cans were gone a digital-looking "1-UP" appeared over his head.
Arthur calm to a screeching halt, having lost sight of the Phantom. Looking left and right, he spotted a ladder and looked up to see the hem of the Phantom's robe disappear. "You aren't getting away that easily!" Climbing the ladder, Arthur reached the top of the rafters. "There you are!" There stood the Phantom at the opposite end of the rafter facing him, his face hidden behind a Guy Fawkes mask and robe flowing gracefully in one direction; he looked so grand. Arthur slowly advanced over to the Phantom, taking small steps so as not to fall over. The Phantom, analyzing the area, simply stomped his foot, sending a jolt through the wooden floor Arthur was standing on.
"NO!" Arthur yelled, losing his footing and dropping from the several meter-high rafters. Arthur was so sure that he was going to die; there was nothing down below him to cushion his fall. He yelled again, hoping that someone could at least hear him and catch him before he became a mess on the ground. Arthur realized something, however; he wasn't falling; he was just simply hanging in the air. Looking up, Arthur looked up (rather, down) and saw that the Phantom had saved his life by catching Arthur's right leg with thin rope. The Phantom tied his end of the rope to the rafter boards, gave Arthur a quick gesture, and vanished.
"Oi, this job really isn't worth five-fifty an hour…" Arthur moaned glumly.
