Dr. Tan awoke with a start, and after finding the nearest clock, was aware that it was one in the morning. He wondered to himself if the most recent events were nothing more than a dream. He would have been willing to forget the whole ordeal if it weren't for a surprise visitor in his room.

"Hey doc, are we going to get this haunting started or what?" Dr. Tan suddenly found himself face-to-face with a girl with a yellow baseball cap, perhaps about twelve years old, who seemed to be glaring impatiently at him.

"What- how did you get in here?"

"Didn't Eliot just finish telling you about this? You being haunted by three spirits and all." Dr. Tan rubbed his eyes, and seeing that the girl was still there, resigned to his fate.

"And I suppose that makes you one of these 'spirits' then?" The girl smirked in response.

"You got it. I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past." Dr. Tan sat there stoically with his arms crossed.

"And what exactly are you going to do to me? Annoy me until I change my ways?" The girl rolled her eyes at him.

"Well first of all, I'm going to take you to the past, before you became an old grump."

"Like time travel? This is ridiculous."

"Not as ridiculous as having a bunch of ghosts telling you to get your act together. Now let's go." She grabbed at his arm and he soon found himself floating above his body.

"What is going on here?!"

"Just be grateful I'm not making you walk doc. Alright, here we go!" In that instant, the scenery around them began to change. They found themselves at a large building, the very same building that would eventually become Tan Corps. As for the moment however, it was Tan-Min Inc., a recent start-up he and Eliot had started after graduating college. Dr. Tan had filed some patents for his highly-advanced robotic prosthetics, and Eliot had been his right-hand man, taking care of the marketing and accounting. It was the start of a bright future, or so they had thought at the time. The spirit motioned to him and the two of them could observe a much younger Tan and Eliot standing in front of the building.

"We've finally made it big, huh Richard?"

"We sure have. I couldn't have done it without your help of course."

"I barely did anything, you're the master inventor here."

"I couldn't have gotten this far without your support Eliot. It means a lot to me."

"Anything for a friend. I bet Bernice will be thrilled when she hears about this." Dr. Tan perked up at the mention of his wife, or rather girlfriend at the time of this event. They had met after he started school at Harmonix University, and they began dating soon afterward. Indeed, the company had been a huge success, and even helped fund their wedding a couple of years later. The doctor couldn't help but smile in reminiscence. The young girl spirit soon interrupted his train of thought.

"You had a good thing goin', didn't you doc?" Brought back to reality, Dr. Tan returned to his usual bitterness.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that." Seeing as the vision before them had played itself out, the Ghost of Christmas Past prepared to move on.

"I think it's time we fast-forward a bit." With a blur and a flash, the scene had changed to a hospital room. Dr. Tan inspected their new surroundings, and found that he remembered this place quite well. How could he not, for this was the night his son was born, on Christmas even! Sure enough, there he was again, slightly older than in the vision before. His wife held their newborn child as she lay in the hospital bed.

"He's our little Christmas miracle, isn't he dear?" Bernice said, looking endearingly at her son.

"He surely knows how to make an entrance," Dr. Tan responded. "Welcome to the world, Oblio."

"Hold up a minute," the spirit suddenly interrupted. "You mean to tell me your kid was born on Christmas and you won't even spend time with him?" She practically glared daggers at him. Dr. Tan was not perturbed.

"It's not like I forgot or anything. I already got him a gift. Surely he's old enough to handle being on his own for his birthday." The Ghost was not amused.

"Mm-hmm. See, last time I checked, Christmas was about spending time with your family and loved ones," she replied, her emphasis being very clear. "I think I can make my point during our next stop." With a snap of her fingers, they were back at his home. Or at least, some past version of it. The tension was heavy as the younger Dr. Tan and Bernice were in the middle of an argument.

"You need to spend more time at home Richard, Oblio is going to forget your face at this rate."

"Bernice, I'm doing this for you- both of you. My business is growing larger by the day, and I have to be there to manage it."

"I don't care about the money, one day wouldn't hurt."

"And here I thought you understood me. Do you know how hard Eliot and I worked for this?"

"You've changed Richard. I dare say you're not the man I fell in love with."

"Don't you say that Bernice. Everything we have is thanks to the company."

"Is the company more important to you than me? Than our family?" The present Dr. Tan watched the scene in visible discomfort. He glanced over to the spirit, who said nothing, but her look of disapproval spoke volumes.

"I take it you remember what happens next?" she finally said. Dr. Tan nodded solemnly.

"Sometime after that, she left me, and took our son with her. I tried to look for her, but she obviously didn't want to be found. I didn't see them for years until Oblio came back to tell me she had passed away from illness." He glanced at the spirit, who only gazed at him with scorn in her eyes. "I tried to make amends, but he rejects anything that could be associated with Tan Corps."

"Speaking of which, what happened to Tan-Min Inc.? Thought you two were friends, doc."

"Well, since you seem to know everything about my past I think you would know. After Eliot died suddenly, the business began expanding to full-on robotics. I needed more funding and decided to re-brand the company. I meant no disrespect... I thought Eliot would have understood. Anyway, I've had enough of this. Take me back immediately, spirit."

"Yeah alright, but you realize you've got two more spirits headed your way right?"

"Surely nothing can be worse than this nightmare. Let me leave." Without another word, they returned to his bedroom and Dr. Tan found himself back in his body.

"Looks like my work here is done. Happy haunting doc." She then vanished without a trace. Fatigued from his ordeal, Dr. Tan could do nothing but fall back to sleep in wait for his next ghostly visitor.

End of chapter two. If you haven't noticed yet, all of the main dancers will be making cameos in this story, some more obvious than others. See if you can find them all as you read on.