Chris was left in the dark, literally. His room was only dimly lit by some incoming moonlight, the last of the sun just having disappeared.. It took awhile for him to breathe normally again. Whatever nightmare that was, it was one of the most realistic, and scary ones he had ever had.

He tried to assure himself it had indeed all just been a dream, for it felt so real that it was hard to believe as such. Placing his head back on his pillow and taking a deep breath he tried it anyway, eventually finding the ability to sleep come over him again, having to ignore the peckish feeling he had because of not having had lunch or dinner.

Once again he woke up in his room, it still being dark, meaning he clearly hadn't been napping for that long, which, looking at the clock, he had indeed not.

Stretching his arms he sat up, only to be surprised as on the edge of his bed sat a figure. One not like the previous, who was old and clearly past their prime, this one clearly had a little less life behind them as of yet.

"So you didn't get it the first time, huh?"

"eh… what?"

"The first ghost, the Ghost of the Squidmas Past, told me. Honestly, that oldtimer really puts in the extra few jumps just to sound all official and posh. But anyway, I'm the Ghost of Squidmas Present, but just call me Gea if you prefer that."

Chris just stared at her, able to look at her once she had turned to him, and having to admit that he didn't mind doing so.

"Hey! I know I'm like some sort of pinnacle of beauty or something. Believe me, I heard a lot of that kind of stuff, every time. If I got a coin every time I heard someone compliment me about my looks… Anywho, I've got to take you somewhere, it's kind of my job."

He just nodded, not minding that this ghost was as chatty as she was, for it made him have to answer less.

"So you're coming willingly? Good, that makes my 'life' a whole lot easier." She laughed at her own joke. "Alright, just get up and follow me, okay?"

"eh…" Chris hesitated for a moment. "okay"

She stood up and headed for the door. He followed her downstairs and outside the front door.

"Okay, now close the door."

He checked his pockets to see if he indeed had his keys with him, then when finding them closing the door.

"and now open it again."

He wanted to pick his keys to unlock the door, only to find it opened as he tried to insert his key, revealing not the hallway of his house, but that of Marly's apartment.

"So this is the place your girlfriend lives in? Not really the thing I imagined, but if it works for her…" Gea walked past Chris and headed inside, Chris following suit.

He was surprised to find the apartment decorated with what was an attempt at a Squidmas tree. It was loaded with ornaments to the point one could wonder how it still all stayed hanging from the branches that by a Squidmas miracle didn't snap under the weight.

Furthermore there were some candles dotted around the place, being the only source of illumination next to the lamp that hung from the ceiling, drowning out the candlelight, making them rather pointless.

What was most surprising was that he found Marly inside at the dinner table with his parents and an octoling he couldn't remember having ever seen.

"She sure outdid herself, didn't she?" Gea held back a chuckle as she saw the tree.

"Hey! She at least tries."

"So you care for her, don't you? You mind what others think of her as well, don't you?"

"y-yeah…" He blushed.

"But you're uncomfortable with the idea of having a girlfriend?" She smirked.

"That's not funny!" He blared out, happy that the others he saw couldn't hear him.

"What? Can't deal with your feelings?" She nagged him and sat down on the table, almost hitting a large pot of soup.

"Just take me back to my room…" he muttered.

"What was that? I can't hear you?" Gea was now holding back laughter.

"Just take me back!" He yelled as he felt himself tearing up.

"Whatever you say." She hopped off of the table and walked straight to the front door, walking straight through it.

Chris followed, opening the door out of force of habit, not even surprised to find himself to be in his own room again.

"Just a heads up though, there's a third guy after me."

"What does it even matter? Will they try to mock me as well?"

"Not really… they… well… you'll see, I don't like spoiling surprises." Gea said, only to disappear as he blinked, once again leaving him alone in his room.

As Chris once again woke up in his bed, he was somewhat surprised as he saw the last few rays of sunlight shining on his wall again. Looking over at his alarm clock he saw that it was only minutes after his parents had left yesterday.

His eyes opened wide however when he saw the current date, it being the same as what he had thought to be yesterday. Whatever crazy nightmares he had had, they all had gone by in the span of just a few minutes.

He turned onto his other side, forcefully closing his eyes as he tried to forget about what had just happened. The thought of why he had to endure this crossed his mind more than once, and so did the thought of what was currently going on at Marly's apartment. Whatever it was, he was beginning to doubt his decision of staying home. Maybe that's what the nightmares were about, his own consciousness trying to get him to go.

On the one hand he argued that he should have expected it, on the other hand was his actual reaction, one of genuine fear. He was looking right at a hooded figure, the inside of the black hood and mantle hidden in what seemed like black smoke.

The figure seemed to be hovering above the ground, a black smoke slowly rolling out from under them like fog. Their arms were folded together and hidden in their sleeves. Whoever was under there clearly tried to hide themselves.

An eerie silence hung over the room as Chris could somehow just feel the figure staring at him, not saying a word, not even when they turned and simply flew through the door like one expected a ghost to do.

He hesitated, but knew that the figure most likely wanted him to follow. He hoped that after that it just might all be over and he could finally go to bed to forget about all of this.

To his surprise the door to his room now opened to the living room where he found his grandfather and some old lady that wasn't his grandmother.

Suddenly it hit him, that woman looked exactly like his mother, but then a lot older. He could only assume that the man was then his father, which meant he looked even more like Chris' grandfather then he could've imagined.

"To think he had to go that way…" He heard his father say.

"Consumed by his own sorrow." His mom continued as the two looked down at a letter.

As his mother wiped away a tear Chris walked up to them to see what was in the letter they were looking at. However, how hard he tried, he seemed to not be able to move out of the doorway, the floor pushing him back like a treadmill, no matter how hard he tried.

"I knew he wouldn't get over it, but this…" She sniffed, getting her husband's arm put around her.

"It's okay, at least we have someone meet us up there once our time comes."

"Don't… Don't say that…" She held back tears.

Chris now tried to walk away, only to find that walking the other way also led him back to the doorway. He was held there to watch what he assumed to be his parents grieving.

"At least it was peaceful." She sobbed.

"It must've happened before he even noticed it." He added, not able to hold back tears of his own.

Chris tried to think. It sounded like someone died in an accident or something. That 'he could've been his brother, although he doubted if his parents cared for him enough to shed tears for his death. Maybe deep down they still loved him, but the fact he wasn't even invited to Squidmas dinner just showed Chris how badly he had ruined his relationship with their parents.

The sobbing faded just like the room as everything got enveloped in a thick, black fog. Once it cleared they found themselves in a dimly lit hallway, one that had a similar brown tile and concrete walls and ceiling layout that he had seen before.

"Why did you want to come back anyway?" He heard behind him, making him jump as he found two octolings, all geared up in identical metal armorents, a pair of black shades with red lighting sitting snugly on their noses.

"It is… let me just say it is complicated." The other spoke with a voice he could recognize from anywhere.

"Oh? Really?"

"Remember me telling you about that inkling?" As he heard the voice again, he was double as sure he knew.

"Marly?" he stammered, only to realise they most likely couldn't hear him.

"I do, what about him is important."

"it… I rather not talk about it."

"But you brought it up, and you know you can trust me with anything."

"I suppose you are right." she sighed. "Well he-"

The sounds once again blurred out as smoke enveloped Chris again.

"Why did you do that?!" He yelled into the void. "Now I still don't know who they're talking about!"

There was no direct reply, but he saw the smoke clear again, and he found he now stood on a graveyard, next to rows upon rows of gravestones, some of them older than his grandparents and others housing boxes of people who hadn't yet died in his present.

"Why are we here?" He asked as he turned on the spot, finding the hooded figure next to a small gravestone that was put there with seemingly little thought.

There still was no reply and he could only assume the figure to still be staring at him. They did however break that gaze, looking down at the stone they floated next to.

Chris followed their gaze down. His breath caught as he saw what was carved in the stone. It was his own name.

"I… that's… my name…." He stammered, getting a nod from the hooded figure.

"so they… they were talking about… about me…?" Chris asked, getting a nod again.

"But… How did I…?" Slowly the memories of what exactly he had heard started to come back to him. "...oh cod…"

Chris sat up in his bed, his face as pale as it could be. Looking at his clock it was still or once again the same time as last time. At this point he couldn't care less for how everything had happened the way it did, but one thing he knew for sure: He had changed his mind.

His mother might scold him for all she wanted and then make a fool out of him, but he wasn't going to back away from an invitation from his girlfriend because of that. He had to face it, it was.

He quickly got out of bed, dressed, and was on his way on his bicycle all within half an hour. Even barely not getting hit by a car didn't stop him for he was determined to arrive as soon as he possibly could.

Once he did, he put his bike next to the door to the indoor parking area, locking it whilst fumbling with the key simply because of how energetic he was, practically panicking as he stepped up to the door and rang the bell.

It took a bit for the door to be opened, not by Marly or one of his parents like he expected, but by an octoling he didn't know, yet remembered having been the one that had also sat at the table when he had those nightmares.

"You must be Chris, right?" She asked, only getting a nod back as he clearly was out of breath from biking all the way in record time.

She then stuck out her hand. "The name is Theorina. However, you can call me Tina if you prefer that."

Chris somewhat hastily shook her hand, clearly not in for any chitchat.

"Please come in." She stepped inside to let him into the apartment complex propper, watching as he somehow found the strength to run up the stairs to the fourth floor, reaching the right door like he had done many a time before.

It was still left open, most likely for Tina to get back inside the apartment after getting back upstairs. From it he could smell the soup that he by now was all too familiar with, for it was one of Marly's favourites, and the faint sound of a radio playing Squidmas songs in the background, overruled by spoons scraping the insides of soup bowls.

As he took a look inside it seemed exactly like he had dreamed it to be, candles with their light ruled out by the lamp on the ceiling, the Squidmas tree that carried enough ornaments for three, and his parents and Marly sitting right where he had imagined them to be.

His father was the first to spot him in the doorway, giving Marly a tap against her shoe with one of his, making her look up, her face turning from surprise to one of joy as she saw the clearly exhausted, teal inkling standing there.

"Chris!" She got up like she had just sat down on something sharp, practically flinging herself at him. "You came!"

"Yeah…" he wheezed. "I… I did…"

He got taken into an embrace and treated to a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.

"I was worried you would come."

"Well… I did show up…" He gave her a loving smile. "I wouldn't want anything to ruin our Squidmas, now would I?"

From the corner of his eye he saw his father giving him a thumbs up while his mother rolled her eyes.

Marly let go of him as Tina came in and closed the door. "Please, pick a place to sit and do so."

Chris, as well as his father, chuckled, the father hiding it better than his son. "I'll gladly take a seat."

"Just be sure to give it back once you are done." she replied as she went to sit in her own place again.

"Chris, may I ask you something?" Marly asked as she was collecting the bowls that had until recently held their dessert.

"sure." He said, handing his bowl for her to add to the stack she then took to her kitchen.

"Why did you arrive late?"

He stayed silent, trying to think exactly why he didn't want to come in the first place.

"I think that's our que to leave." Chris' father stood up, getting a glare from his wife, who found leaving right after dinner to be rather poor manners.

Somewhat reluctantly she got up as well, reaching out her hand to shake Marly's, who still needed a moment to realise that she was meant to shake it. "Thank you for the meal and your hospitality."

"It was a pleasure having you here to enjoy dinner with me." She shook her hand somewhat clumsily, letting go somewhat late, making the handshake last awkwardly long.

"Chris, how about you?" Tina asked, already having crashed down on the couch.

"I w-" He suddenly realised he didn't pack anything, only having the clothes he wore on him.

"If you want, I could drive back to fetch what you forgot." His father jumped in to the rescue.

"... yes please…" He said with clear shame in his voice, looking at the table in front of him.

"Then that's settled. But we're leaving, good night everybody. And of course a happy Squidmas." He waved at the rest before leaving, Chris' mother following suit, closing the door behind her.

"Talking about settling things…" Tina said, like she had waited for the moment the parents left to bring this up. "I'm claiming the couch."

"But where do I sleep then?" Chris replied, not really feeling anything for having his father drag along a sleeping bag. Those things always felt like they tried to envelop and suffocate him.

"You could have my bed." Marly in turned answered Chis. "I have a few spare sheets I could use as a mattress.

"No, It's your bed, you take it." He said somewhat surprised she even considered it.

"But I insist." She was clearly not changing her mind.

"Would you two quit your bickering already?" Tina interrupted them. "How about you just both use the bed, problem solved."

The both of them looked at her, then at each other, both with a blush on their face.

"so… eh…"

"I… I would not mind…" marly stammered.

"... okay…" He replied with a barely audible voice.

Chris had to admit it, this was by far the most memorable Squidmas he ever had, and one he wouldn't want to ever forget.