"Spirit, wait!" Scrooge called out. "I need that bed ride home! You can't leave me here!"

But all he could hear was the wind howling as snow started to fall.

"Fine! I'll walk home, then!"

So he stomped off, muttering to himself. "Stupid ghost, leaving me out here in the fog."

But then, Scrooge stopped where he was and said. "Wait a minute. I don't recall the weather being so...foggy."

Realizing he was not alone, Scrooge turned slowly to see the fog shift away, revealing a phantom with glowing yellow eyes, walking slowly towards him.

Once he got close, Scrooge asked. "You're the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, aren't you?"

The phantom nodded in silence.

"And I suppose you're here to show me shadows of things that have not happened but will happen in the time before us. Is that right?"

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come nodded again.

"Ghost of the Future, I fear you more than any specter I've seen." said Scrooge. "But like the last two, I know your purpose is to do me good. I am prepared to bear you company."

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come just stood there, staring coldly at Scrooge, who asked. "You don't say much, do you?"

Without a word, the phantom turned around and walked away.

"Oh, of course, the night's waning fast." realized Scrooge. "Lead on, then."

He quietly followed the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to a stock exchange, where they stopped to see three men engaging in a conversation.

"I don't know much about it," said Mr. DiMaggio*. "Except for the fact that he's dead."

"Eh, when did he die?" asked Mr. Norris*.

"Last night, I think."

"What was the matter with him?" asked Mr. Alazraqui*. "I thought he'd never die."

"Eh, who knows?" answered Mr. DiMaggio, who only shrugged.

"But what's he done with his money?" asked Mr. Norris.

"Hasn't left it to me." said Mr. DiMaggio. "That's all I know."

"Well, it is likely to be a CHEAP funeral." said Mr. Alazraqui. "Come to think of it, I'm not sure anyone will go there."

"I don't mind going..." said Mr. DiMaggio. "...if lunch is provided."

As he watched them laugh, Scrooge turned to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, asking. "Don't they have any respect or tenderness to this man's death?"

Without saying anything, the phantom walked away from the exchange.

Scrooge caught up, asking. "There's a connection to all this, isn't there?"

Not a word was spoken when they came to the next stop; a snowy yard, much to Scrooge's confusion.

"What are we doing here, Spir...Whoa!"

While helping himself up, Scrooge saw that he had tripped on...a tombstone, which stunned him upon reading an old familiar name.

"Marley?"

Scrooge, then, looked up to see that he was in...a graveyard.

Fearing the worst, Scrooge turned to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, pleading. "Spirit, tell me Tiny Tim isn't around here."

But the phantom only turned, looking out onto a nearby hill.

Scrooge did the same and, to his horror, he saw the Cratchit family and Belle standing there...in front of Tiny Tim's grave.

As the other Cratchits sadly left, Belle gave Bob a comforting pat, saying. "Such a delicate thing, your son was."

"But he had the biggest heart." Bob added tearfully, grasping his beloved son's crutch, which he placed by the grave.

Recalling those words, as he watched, teary-eyed himself, Scrooge dropped to his knees in grief and guilt, saying to himself. "It's...it's all my fault."

He turned to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, asking. "Spirit, isn't there some way to reverse this...so that Tiny Tim could still live?"

Without saying a word, the phantom looked down.

Scrooge looked down too and saw that he was standing on a gravestone, which read...Ebenezer Scrooge.

"No. No!" he gasped, backing away with fright. "Spirit, hear me. I'm not the man I was. I will not be the man before all this. Why would you show me if I'm past all hope?"

Just then, Scrooge heard something crack.

He turned to see his gravestone cracking open.

"Spirit, assure me that I may change these shadows you've shown me...by an altered...LIIIIIIIFE!"

As he pleaded, the stone had given way.

But as Scrooge started to fall in, he grabbed a hold of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come's robe, pleading once more. "Spare me, Spirit, and I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year."

The phantom just stared at him coldly as Scrooge went on, saying. "I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three will strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

Suddenly, Scrooge heard a rip coming from the Ghost's robe he was holding onto.

"Tell me it's not too late, Spirit!" he asked frantically. "Tell me I can still erase the writing on that stone! Tell me I can still...CHAAAAAAAAAANGE!"

The cloak had torn loose, sending Scrooge falling into the dark hole of his grave.

Author's Note:

*Like Ed Wynn, Jerry Colonna, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury, Mr. DiMaggio, Mr. Norris, and Mr. Alazraqui are references to John DiMaggio, who voices Mr. Grouse in the Nickelodeon show, "The Loud House," and Daran Norris & Carlos Alazraqui, who respectively voice Mr. Turner & Denzel Crocker in "The Fairly Oddparents," another Nickelodeon show.