The Ghost of Christmas Future

Chapter 5.2 sweet dreams are made of this

After an hour, Christine’s eyes fluttered slowly open. Yawning, she attempted to rise, deciding to retire to bed for the night. She found it quite difficult however as something was weighing her down. Looking over she found Grinch’s arm had a firm hold around on her waist. Her cheeks turned a deep scarlet and slowly lifted his arm, moving it to the side. Creeping away, making sure not to wake him, she made her way to the bathroom where inside she brushed her teeth, then grabbed an old blanket and covered Grinch with it.  But before she left for bed she pecked the middle of his forehead.

“ Goodnight, you big grumpy green bean “.

Going over to Max, who was eagerly waiting, she scooped him up into her arms and carried the small mutt upstairs to the bedroom. She found over the years she couldn't get a decent amount of sleep in bed alone. Placing Max in the empty spot on the bed, she snuggled right next to him under her quilt. A few minutes, then an hour went by and she was still wide awake. Staring up at the ceiling.

It's almost Christmas. The holiday her roommate most despised. He didn’t mind her celebrating it, but took absolutely no part of it. She enjoyed the other holidays, but Christmas was her favorite. She didn't care about the presents, what she loved most was spending the day with her best friend. Though, she secretly wished they were more than just friends .

She had fallen for her best friend, the Grinch. But she could not have him, this she sadly knew, for he already had a crush on a very different Who. She had seen, many a times, him staring away, Down at Whoville; down at Martha May Whovier. But even if he didn't love her, she knew he was still her friend and she would be his until the very end.

Yes she had a crush, ever since they were kids. She couldn’t tell him, as she was afraid that it would ruin their friendship. sighing, she did the only thing that helped her clear her mind. She sat up and hugged her knees.

"Where are you, Christmas?
Why can't I find you?
Why have you gone away?
Where is the laughter you used to bring me?
Why can't I hear music play?"

Looking over her old green stuffed elephant from when she was little, rests on the nightstand. Picking it up she stared sadly at its goofy face.  She could already feel her eyes begin to sting.

"My world is changing, I'm rearranging.
Does that mean Christmas changes too?"
Where are you, Christmas,
Do you remember the one you used to know?
I'm not the same one; see what the time's done.
Is that why you have let me go?"

She couldn’t help but let tears fall. After a few moments she laid back and filled her head with memories. One stook out from the rest.The time when she practically just moved in. It was seventeen years ago, a couple months since she had left her old life behind to live up on Mt. Crumpet.

17 years earlier

She was sitting outside, several feet away from the edge. Since her time here up on the mountain she got to know about her new friend a lot more as he almost always had a sarcastic remark, spoke of the Whos in a bitter tone, and always gritted his crooked yellow teeth at the mention of Christmas.  Despite that he knew how to make her laugh, and was always up for a prank or two. He taught her so much as well, like how to pick locks and power a generator. But most importantly, how to smile. It was evident that he cared about her, as much as he would deny it with a grumpy childlike scowl.
While looking around, she could barely smell the garbage dump nearby and noticed a separate pathway that she presumed led to said garbage dump. The girl grimaced as she remembered her friend telling her, offhandedly, that he ate garbage.

“ how can he stomach it? He’s got a stronger stomach than me”. She sat there, looking out into the distance. She turned her head, looking behind her. Once she was sure that she was alone, she stared up at the clouds floating gently above. Smiling she then softly started to hum, which later turned to her singing.