Chapter 2

A Pointless Past

Damn clock is broken again, Kai thought as he gave the clock on his nightstand his famous glare of doom.

He hadn't fallen asleep until two 'o clock, and now the clock read midnight. Either someone broke into his house, and was playing a lame prank on him, or the clock was broken and running backwards.

Now before you decide to ruin Kai's reputation by saying he stayed up till two in the morning, because he was scared about the ghosts coming to visit him, you're wrong. Kai is a high school student who takes every advanced course his school has to offer, in other words, he has a mountain of homework everyday that can take up to seven hours at least.

Throwing the blankets off, he stretched and moved lazily toward the door, opened it, and left the room. He was suddenly very thirsty, so he headed toward the kitchen. Once there he grabbed a glass out from one of the many wooden cupboards, and placing it under the sink nozzle, poured himself a glass of water, before drinking it greedily.

"I went to you're room, and you weren't there."

Unlike most people who would freak out at hearing another voice, when supposedly they are alone, Kai turned around calmly and stared at the blue-eyed blond. The blond looked very childish with his overly bright and unmatching green and orange outfit. The pout he was wearing at the moment didn't help either.

Kai raised an eyebrow at the teen, or pre-teen, for if weren't for the blonde's height, he would've thought him to be a child. He than glanced at his wristwatch.

1:00

Kai stared at his wristwatch before promptly deciding that his wristwatch was a broken piece shit like the clock in his room.

"Didn't Tala tell you I was coming?" The ghost asked worriedly.

"Yeah, but I'm guessing he forgot to tell you to bring a gift."

"Huh?" The childlike ghost tilted his head to the side.

"Never mind."

Nodding his head, the frown that had been on the ghost's lips was replaced with a smile that made Kai want to smack the blonde's face into the ground until it disappeared. Maybe Kai's counselor was right about him needing anger management classes?

"My name's Max," the ghost introduced itself, "and I'm the ghost of December past. So are you ready to see your December past?"

"If it's the past doesn't that mean I have already seen it, so I shouldn't I not have to see it again?" Kai asked, trying to avoid spending another second with Max. The boy was too hyper. Weren't ghosts supposed to sullen and vengeful?

Max laughed, not realizing Kai was serious. "Sorry, but you have to watch your December past."

"Are you going to be there with me?"

"Of course!"

"But then it's not my past, because the last time I checked, nowhere in my past was there a December past," Kai reasoned. "Also if you had been there, it would be the present during that time, and since you're a ghost of the past, you wouldn't be there even though supposedly you are."

Max narrowed his eyes at Kai. "First off, I have no idea what you're saying, but either way you're going to watch your past and you'll like it!"

"Not if you're there," Kai mumbled under his breath.

"Now let's go!" Max proclaimed, grabbing Kai by the wrist and dragging the boy to the window, but before they reached it, Kai pulled out of Max's hold.

"I'm not jumping out of a window! For all I know, you're part of strange cult that likes to act out A Christmas Carol, which means we'll both die when we jump out of the window."

"We weren't going to jump out of it," Max stated, a tint of bitterness in his voice. "We were going to phase through the wall and fly."

"So says the insane guy."

Giving a sigh of frustration, Max snapped his fingers, and the kitchen transformed into Kai's living room. The room was dark with the only light coming from the fire burning in the fireplace. Across from the blaze was a small red couch made for two, maybe three if the third member were a child. On the couch lay six-year-old Kai reading a book.

"I hope you're happy," Max griped, crossing his arms over his chest in the process. "Instead of making you visit the past, you're now having a flashback."

"What's the difference?"

"A flashback requires no bodily movement."

"So why are we visiting me when I'm, what? Six? Seven? Years old?"

Max studied the scene before them, and gave a puzzled frown. Pulling a notepad out of his pocket, he thumbed threw the pages, and stopped when he came to the page he had been searching for.

As he read, he let out a hum of approval. He looked up at Kai and smiled innocently, "It turned out you were happy this one December day, so it was on our visitation list, but other than you being happy there's nothing else here to see."

Kai could slap the blond, but resisted. If this was indeed the ghost of December past, then Max had access to some excellent blackmail on Kai. "So we came here for nothing?"

"Yup! You were only happy because you were alone, and that won't teach you a lesson now will it?" Max didn't let Kai answer, instead answering his own question. "Nope. It'd only reinforce the part of you that says you can be happy by being a jackass to everyone else."

Rolling his eyes heavenward, Kai tapped his foot impatiently, waiting expectantly for Max to get on with the next flashback.

With another snap, the scene changed once again. This time the scene showed a fourteen-year-old Kai with a shorter tan teen with blue shoulder length hair standing at a cash register. The two of them were staring off into space, though if you looked closely you'd notice how their eyes were aimed at the clock hanging on the wall.

"It's snowing outside," The blue haired male said in a monotone voice.

The past Kai nodded his head.

"It's snowing outside. Bet it's really cold."

Past Kai grunted, and gave the other teen a look that said "You're a dumb ass if you just figured that out."

"My brother is coming to pick me up after work. Want a ride?"

"Fine."

Meanwhile, as the scene unfolded, the present Kai was getting a headache. His headache was either caused by the stupidity of this flashback, or that damnable smile of Max's.

"So did you learn anything?" Max asked hopefully. His eyes shinned with excitement as he waited to hear Kai's answer, obviously expecting to hear something good, the poor fool.

"No."

"No?" Max asked, looking crestfallen.

"No."

"No?"

"NO! Now get on with the next flashback!"

"Alright! Alright!" Max held his hands in front of himself in a surrendering position, showing he meant no harm, not that Kai cared. As far as Kai was concerned, someone needed shoot Max.

There was a snap, and like the other two times the scene changed. The Kai in this flashback wasn't much older than the pervious one, and he was standing in what he recognized to be his high school's hallway. In front of him was a girl around his name with tears in her eyes.

"We're through Kai," She sobbed.

Past Kai had the decency to look baffled.

"I'm sorry, but you're such a cold hearted person!" She shouted and ran away crying.

The past Kai stared after her as if she were crazy.

The present Kai however was about to kill someone. "What the hell was that!" He screamed at Max, who looked at him in confusion.

"I was told to show you that scene so you would see what happens when you act like a jerk," Max explained.

"First off, I never dated that girl! In fact she was a stalker of mine! Her so called 'breaking up' with me thing, was really her finding out that I had a restraining order on her!"

Max's jaw dropped in shock. Why hadn't any told him that? That just made this flashback completely pointless!

Kai wasn't done though. "Secondly, if she had been my girlfriend, how would remembering that my girlfriend dumped me in December help me like December!"

Max smiled sheepishly, while taking two steps backward. "You know what? I think you need some time to yourself." With that, Max snapped his fingers and Kai was back in the kitchen by himself.

Huffing, Kai put the cup he had been drinking water from previously in the sink. "Coward. At least Tala was willing to argue."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

Some of the flashbacks are random, but if you do know the story "A Christmas Carol", then you'll understand where they come from. In fact the second flashback is a combination of two of them, but more weird.

Thank you everyone who is reading this.