"Chris!"
"What?" He said, clearly annoyed as he stuck his head out form over the railing next to the staircase.
"There's a letter for you." His mother replied, holding an envelope.
"I'll be right there." He pulled his head back and walked back to the bathroom, still having to put in a band to hold his tentacles together.
He then went down the stairs, not making any haste, even though he was somewhat curious as to who the letter could've been from. He assumed it was just his grandparents having sent him a Squidmas card or something, since no one next to them even sent physical mail, all his friends tended to just message him.
His mother had left the letter, and when he went to pick it up, he noticed that it had already been opened.
"Mom! Did you seriously just read my mail?!"
"It's addressed to you AND your family." He got as a reply, making him once again curious as to who sent it to him, since his parents usually got their cards separate from his.
He picked it up and took out it's content, finding it to not be a card, but a letter, a printed message so well aligned to the paper he was sure it was a business document.
Not yet completely having lost interest he checked the envelope, only seeing their address on it, it too in the same printed letters as the letter had, which seemed odd, since usually envelopes had either an address written on them or printed on a sticker that would be stuck onto them, not printed directly onto the outside.
He focused on the piece of paper again, beginning to read.
Dear Chris and family,
once again a thank you for having me over for Squidmas dinner last year. I would like to return the favour by inviting all of you to have the dinner this year in my residence. You are welcome to arrive after 17:30 and are allowed to stay for the night if you so wish. (I do not have beds for all of you sadly. So some of us will either have to share or spend the night on the couch or a self brought mattress.)
I hope to see you this evening
Marly
He stood there in the hallway, completely speechless for a moment.
"Mom!"
"What is it dear?"
"I… you just…" he stammered, not sure himself of what he wanted to say, and not even sure if he felt angry or embarrassed.
"I read the letter, yes, and I think it's a wonderful idea."
"But I don't…"
"And we are the closest she has to a family. Besides, she rarely visits us."
Chris knew perfectly well why that was the case. He always avoided his own home like a disease when he was with Marly. Whenever his mom was with him when he saw Marly it just felt awkward, like whatever he did would either look stupid or get him in trouble somehow.
"So that is why I decided that the three of us will be visiting."
"Wait… What?!"
"You heard me loud and clear Christofer." She replied with a stern voice.
"But… but what about grandma and grandpa? They always visit us this time of year."
"I already sorted that part out with them, they'll be visiting the morning after."
"But… but what… if maybe…"
"I have decided." she cut him off. "and you cannot change that."
"Then… then I…" He mumbled, only to then practically scream. "Then I'm not going!"
Before his mother got a change to tell him otherwise he ran up to his room, locking the door behind him, and throwing himself on his bed, feeling confused more than anything.
"Chris?" He heard his mother say from the other side of his door.
It had been a few hours now since he had read the letter, yet he still felt conflicted, not just with the situation, but also with himself.
"what?" he said with the most disinterested voice he'd ever used.
"That's no way to talk to-" Her beginning rampage got cut short by his father. "We know you don't like chance, but mom and dad will be visiting tomorrow. And if you want we could even take the decorations we have with us so you can put them there to make it more like home. How about that?"
Even though he tried, which was in stark contrast with Chris' mother, and Chris knew he meant well, his father failed to see the point, the reason he had locked himself into his own bedroom.
'That's not it…" He said just barely audible from the other side of the door. "Just go…"
"Listen here young-!"
"Nathasia…" Chris' father sighed. "Just let the boy be. He'll turn around when he gets himself figured out."
"He better."
"How about I get you some tea and then we leave?"
"Fine." Chris could hear how her mother was lying, yet he didn't care, they'd leave, leave him alone, just like he wanted.
Hearing them walk down the stairs he let out a sigh of relief as he stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. One the one hand he obviously didn't want to decline Marly's invitation, but on the other hand he didn't want to have his mom and her in the same room. Weirdly enough his dad wasn't a problem, just his mother.
He felt his mind drifting off as he lay on his bed, looking over at the clock he saw it was just past four in the afternoon. He'd lain there for about two and a half hours now, yet he still felt like he'd just got there.
The time slowly ticked by, and every time he checked the clock he saw how it had gotten later. It had also gotten darker, but he didn't care much for that.
He tried to assure himself that Marly would understand. While she wasn't always the brightest when it came to the world around her, but she for sure had a keen eye for detail, and he was sure of it she by now had noticed that he prefered not to be with her and then meet his mother. Certainly she'd understand.
Yet he felt doubt. She always took things literally, and still to this day had trouble understanding the underlying thought behind practically anything. Maybe she would think that he didn't want to see her anymore. What if she would think that he didn't like her anymore, that he was done with their relationship.
"Why so said on such a special night?" An old, yet gentle voice spoke.
Chris froze, he was alone in the house, he was sure of that. Still there was a voice, one he never heard before.
"Why are you not celebrating this holiday with friends and family?"
"Who's there?" He sat up, instinctively grabbing his inkbrush from the little stand next to his bed where he always put it, like it was on display.
"I? I could be called a ghost."
"A ghost?" He tried to keep himself together. it was probably one of his friends playing a prank on him.
"You could call me the ghost of Squidmas past."
"Alright, I get it, you can stop now." he hoped one of his friends would suddenly jump up, yet the longer he thought about it, the more unlikely it appeared.
"Stop now? I haven't even shown you yet what you need to be shown."
"Really, this isn't funny anymore." He slowly walked towards his door, since the voice now seemed to come from behind there.
"It never was. It was a time of joy, not jokes, just getting together with the ones you love."
"Just cut it out!" He yelled as he opened the door and stuck his head out of the doorway, only to be greeted by an empty hallway, his voice echoing throughout the for the rest empty house.
"All you need to do is see what once was." He heard the voice now from downstairs, calling up to him through the stairwell.
"Why won't you guys just come out, joke's over." He stuck his head over the railing to look down, still not seeing the source of the voice, but now hearing noises from the kitchen and living room.
In the kitchen he heard a couple of pots on the stove boiling and baking away. The sound of cutlery being collected to be brought to the dining table in the living room piercing through.
In the living room he heard music, vaguely remembering the song to be one of an old Squidmas album, one he knew they probably still had gathering dust in a high up shelf if his mother hadn't thrown it out with one of her early spring cleanings as she liked to call them.
Hesitantly he took a few steps down the stairs. There wasn't supposed to be anyone home but him right now, and if it indeed were some of his friends that snuck in to pull a prank, they sure went a lot further than he would've thought they would.
Carefully he went down a couple more steps, his ears perked up as he tried to make out anything like a voice that would give away who was down here with him.
He was surprised to say the least to find his dad exit the kitchen. The strangest thing was that he looked just like he did on the picture of his wedding day. Whatever he had done made him look over fifteen years younger.
"Dad?" He walked down the rest of the stairs.
However, his father completely ignored him, instead walking to the living room. He then stopped, not for Chris that stood by the bottom of the stairs, but because the doorbell was rang.
Chris turned around as well. Watching as his father walked right past him and opened the door for Chris' mother and grandparents. They seemed to have had the same treatment as his father.
"Finally, now I can take a seat." The grandfather said as grumpy as he always had been in Chris' memory.
"now John, it was just walking from the car to the door." His fiance said in a weirdly loving voice, not even looking up from something she held in her arms. "It seems our little boy fell asleep during that short trip though."
Chris walked up to them, having realised they probably didn't see him, even though he had no idea why. Looking into his grandmother's arms he could see a young child, it's teal tentacles partially covering it's closed eyes as it lay curled up against her chest.
He gasped, something nobody seemed to notice. Taking a step back while holding his brush in his hand like he'd fall if he let go. He knew who it was in her arms, he'd seen many pictures of that child, and he knew now why they didn't seem to notice him.
Suddenly his father stood in front of him, or rather, he stood behind him, having walked back and straight through him, like he wasn't there.
"How about we put him to bed until dinner is ready?"
"I could keep our little one on my lap as well."
Chris' brain was working overtime, trying to figure out what exactly was happening.
"So, you see it now, don't you youngster?" The ghostly, old voice spoke from behind him.
"What… what is this?!" He turned on the spot, his brush hitting the wall, but leaving no mark.
"This is your family, having a happy Squidmas eve." An elderly figure stood there, right in the hallway, just as much invisible to the rest but Chris like Chris himself was.
"But… How?"
"Follow me, and I shall tell you." The man spoke, turning around and walking into the living room.
Chris stood there for a moment, but seeing how his family seemingly followed the figure into the living room he did so as well, only to find that each and every family member somehow already sat at the dinner table when he entered the room shortly after them, even having put the young child into a baby chair.
Looking at their plates they had already eaten their first plate of food, his grandfather and his father both filling their plate again whilst his grandmother, under his mother's watchful eye, was spoon feeding the kid.
"Do you see it now?" The voice asked from right behind him, making him turn around only to once again find the figure behind him. "They are having a happy evening dinner. You are having a happy evening dinner."
"So they… this is a memory?"
"Not exactly, but that is not what matters."
"Then why am I seeing this?"
"Maybe you need to see the other side as well for it all to make more sense." As the voice said this the lights around them suddenly turned off, leaving him in a now dark room, the people having disappeared with the light, leaving not even the smell of food behind.
He looked around him, not seeing the figure any longer, but noticing how the door to the hallway was no longer there, neither leading to the corridor. Taking a step to it he could make out rows upon rows of beds, standing in a bland, concrete gray room, a floor tiled with grayish brown tiles and a ceiling made out of reinforced concrete, the metal grid showing between the cracks and gaps of the clearly withering concrete.
Looking back around to check if the figure was to be seen he saw how he was no longer inside his living room, but in an equally bland hallway filled with a lot of doors that each looked identical to the one he had in front of him, only differing by small, dull metal symbols that seemed different for every door.
He heard clicking of metal on the tiles in the distance, approaching slowly but steadily. Soon the pair of footsteps were followed by two voices, speaking in a language he didn't know, yet somehow he understood what they were saying.
"I never liked the night shift anyway."
"Me neither, all these young recruits should know what is and is not allowed. Why do we have to enforce that as well?"
"At least scaring them when they step out of line, or bed in this case, is fun to do. That makes up for it, right?"
"Definitely."
He looked in the direction of the voices, only to see two red tentacles individuals walk up to him, and then right past, their black boots with metal soles making the clicking noise with every step they took. He couldn't help but feel scared by their appearance, which, even though to some seen as attractive, to him did nothing more but drive fear into each and every of his hearts. He had seen the attire a couple of times, Marly had even shown him the set she had, telling him who usually wore it, and that knowledge made it all the scarier to actually see some of these cephalopods wearing it.
It took him a bit to realise that they most likely couldn't see him, just like his family hadn't been able to. It was like he was some sort of ghost, watching without actually being there at all.
"What do we have here, an open door?" One of them spoke up as they reached the open dorm, her voice loud enough to be heard all throughout the for the rest silent dorm.
"I for sure hope that none of you have the audacity to be awake at this hour." Their partner said in an equally as loud voice, slowly walking to the door.
Chris' curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the two figures to see what was going to happen, getting a hollow feeling in his stomach as he thought about what he was going to see if there indeed was someone still awake.
It however stayed silent, nobody in the dorm making a sound. Chris stuck his head between the two to have a look inside as well, not seeing anything which he hadn't already seen.
"Alright then. Seems like we are done here." One of the two said, slamming the door closed without warning. "For now…" She added with a chuckle that made every drop of Chris' ink turn cold.
He didn't notice at first, mostly because it didn't occur to him, but he was now sticking his head right through the closed door, just like it was not even there.
Right when he wanted to take a step back, he heard a voice from a couple of bunkbeds away. "Hey… Marly… are you awake?"
Hearing the name, spoken by the young, clearly excited voice, made his ears stand up, his head turning to the sound, only to now see a girl about half his size standing next to one of the beds, clearly trying to wake the one who lay in it.
Carefully he approached, forgetting nobody could hear him if he made a sound anyway. He could make out what was being said, soon enough able to watch too.
"Marly, wake up, I have something to show you."
"w-what?" The voice sounded familiar, yet different, it was clearly that of the Marly he knew, yet clearly this Marly was still far from an adult. "We are not supposed to be-" She stopped to yawn. "-to be awake."
"But I have to show you… this!" The other girl proudly held out something small out to her friend in the bed, who now turned to have a look.
"What is that? It looks like a couple leaves."
"It is a mistletoe." She said as loudly as she could without waking anyone up.
"What would that be?"
"It is something that they decorate their homes with during this time of the year."
"Why would someone place this little thing in their house? And why do you care?" It was more a curious then a sarcastic question, although it was hard to make that out.
"I believe there is a rule that if two people are under this mistletoe thing that they… they must… do 'that' thing…"
"That thing?"
"... here…" She leaned in to put the leaves in between the bars and the mattress they supported, mostly sticking out for Marly to see it above her bed.
"Is that it?" The young octoling asked, not noticing her friend not backing up from her bent over position, now looking at her with a small smile on her face.
Suddenly she bent down a little further, placing her mouth on hers shortly before quickly standing up again, hitting her head against the bars of the bed above Marly's in her haste.
There was a short moment of silence after the noise she had made, she holding her head while the one still in bed looked at her, clearly surprised to say the least.
"Tina… why did you just-" She however was cut short by the voices of one of the two adults who were still roaming the hallway.
"Now we got you, you mischievous, little rule breaker!"
The little octoling ran to their own bed a couple of rows away, barely making it back and in before the door was slammed open and the light turned on. Not that the light was all too bright, but the mere presence of the one who turned it on was enough to make even Chris quiver, despite him knowing he wasn't really there.
Chris sat up, finding himself to be in his bed. He was still in his home, his brush next to his bed, and on the other side he saw the old squid, standing to watch over him like some sort of guardian.
He almost fell out of his bed when he realised that he was there.
"It seems this was not enough to show you, luckily where there is a past, there is a present, and a future." With those words, the being disappeared, fading into the air like smoke that dissipated.