Lamp Entertainment presents…
Chapter 21: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
In White's Head.
December 23rd.
The tower seemed to darken around her. White looked up and there stood an enormous figure, even bigger than White herself. It was clad entirely in black robes. Its eyes were a pair of pits deeper than the darkest black hole.
The Winter Shadow.
"What do you want?" White sobbed.
The Winter Shadow said nothing. It only gestured slowly. The tower around them seemed to crumble and fall like a giant curtain. It was night now and the darkness was absolute. No stars in the sky and no moon. All the lights in the city around them seemed so distant and faint to White. Cold wind and snow hit her body and she shivered.
Slowly, the Winter Shadow started walking away. White stood up and followed it. She didn't know why. It felt like her body was moving on its own and she was nothing but a spectator. She still felt the snow between her toes. Oh, how she hated that feeling.
They wandered in silence through the cold streets of Homeworld. Through the windows, White could see groups of gems celebrating with their friends inside their warm homes. She could see them speak, but she couldn't hear them. She could see them, but they didn't seem to see her. She was so close to them yet so far away at the same time.
The snow started falling more and more. The wind howled and making the snow swirl around. The darkness seemed to get thicker and deeper the further they walked. Soon, all lights had faded all around them and White could see nothing. The wind drowned all other sounds. She could only feel the frigid snow hitting her, the bitter wind gnawing at her skin, and her toes going numb.
Yet her body kept on walking, kept on following the Winter Shadow. Even though the dark figure had melted into the darkness, she could still sense it moving and she was being dragged along.
After an eternity of walking through the blizzard, she spotted a light in the dark. A deep instinct flared up inside of her. The light. The warmth. She needed to be there.
She started running towards it as fast as she could, tripping and stumbling through snowbanks.
As she got closer, she recognized the building. It was the Beach House by the Crystal Gems' temple on Earth. The house was lit up by the decorations Steven had put up and that he'd been so proud to show them…
White stopped and kneeled by the small house. The Winter Shadow was still approaching, slowly walking up behind her, getting ever closer and closer. But White didn't care. She peeked in through the windows.
Steven was in there. So was the Crystal Gems. Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot. Steven's friend Connie and his dad Greg were there. So were all the gems from Little Homeworld. So was Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl and Spinel and… Yellow and Blue…
They were in there, with everyone else. They were happy. Smiling. Singing. Having fun. Celebrating Christmas. Without White.
"This is your future," the Winter Shadow said. It was standing directly behind White. It's enormous hands wrapped around her wrists and started pulling her away, back into the cold and dark.
"N-no…" White said. Her lips quivered, and a single tear formed in her eye before it froze to ice. "No…" White said again, her words becoming harder as the despair inside of her was pushed aside by another emotion. Her body started glowing and become hotter.
She could cry no more. Her tears were all dried up. There was only one thing she could do now.
"NO!"
She screamed.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Evil grows in the dark
Where the sun it never shines
Evil grows in cracks and holes
And lives in people's minds
Evil grew
It's part of you
And now it seems to be
That every time I look at you
Evil grows in me