Chapter 3: Little Ruthie
After the shock of seeing Worthington's ghost, Erik went to sleep, and Erik was suddenly awoken when the bell of the grandfather clock down in his study stroke one.
As Erik got up, he was aware of a bright light and pulled back the curtains to reveal a figure, he was a blonde man with blue eyes and well built. He appeared to be a US army captain from the forties.
"Who are you?" Erik asked.
"I am the ghost of Christmas Past." The man said.
"Long past?" Erik asked.
"No." The man said. "Your past. You can call me Steve for simplicity's sake. Now take my hand."
Erik hesitantly took it, and all of a sudden, they were flying over the city before arriving at a smaller suburb.
"I don't know where we're going." Erik thought aloud. "But everything looks strangely familiar."
"Look upon yourself when you were younger." Steve said as he led Erik to a school house where an eleven-year-old boy with the same black hair he once had along with the same blue eyes as him was alone at a schoolhouse reading a book.
"Do you know this kid?" Steve asked.
"Know him?" Erik said. "That's me."
"Mind if I ask why you are all alone in there?" Steve asked.
"After my parents died, I just took to staying over at the old boarding school full time." Erik explained. "Give myself a chance to… To catch up on my reading."
There was a knock at the door as young Erik finished reading, and he opened it to reveal a brunette girl with dull blue eyes.
"Oh Erik, Erik!" Ruthie squealed in Polish, being that the school was in Poland, having been rebuilt following World War II. "I just talked to Mrs. Xavier, and she said she'd take care of us! We can be together all Christmas long!"
"Really?" Erik asked.
"Yes!" Ruthie insisted. "We're going to have the merriest Christmas ever, and be together always!"
"Right." Erik said with a smile as he walked off with his sister.
"Always a delicate girl who a breath might have withered." Steve stated. "But she had a big heart."
"Yes." Erik said as he began choking up. "She did."
"She died a woman and had children, right?" Steve asked.
"One child." Erik sighed.
"True." Steve went on. "Your nephew David."
"And when Ruthie died, I swore I'd never love anything again."
"But you did love again." Steve said. "Come…"
Steve took Erik's hand, and in an instant, they were off again.
I had to add this. I couldn't resist.