The Ghost of Christmas Future

Chapter 6 A Close Encounter of the Fur Kind

She couldn't stay asleep. Looking at the clock. It wasn't even past ten o'clock. She flopped back, waking up poor max. She then got an idea. All these years she had watched the bright lights of Whoville from afar. Although fear gripped her heart, she wated to see the lights up close for herself.

Quietly heading down stairs she glances over at a still slumbering Grinch. slowly approaching him, she poked at his arm and ducked. In response was a loud rumble. He was out cold. Reasured, she tiptoes over to the wall where her cloak hung. Grabbing it, she slipped it on, wrapping it tight before running to the door.  Slowly turning the knob, she was about to open it, when she heard a whine. Startled, she turned around, relieved only to see it was just Max.

"Shhh! Max! I'll be back, I promise!". 

He whined again and looked up at her with sad eyes. Christine sighed. "Damnit. Fine, you can come. But keep quiet!". Slowly opening the door, the bitter cold hit her face.  "Come on Max. We only have a few hours until he wakes up, and I don't wanna deal with him".

When they arrived at the edge of town, her smile brightened. The lights were even more beautiful up close! There were many colors, even some white ones that looked like twinkling stars!

They trotted down the street, taking in the sight of the pretty lights and decorations that coated the entire town. Walking past a building she paused as a warm aroma entered her nose. "Mmmmm Cookies". Her mouth watered. All her time away, all the cookies that she ever tasted were thrown away, sour from sitting in the dump.

' I wonder what they would taste like fresh?'

Picking up Max and placing him on her hip, she walked towards the smell. It was coming from the bakery. Inside she made sure that she didn’t draw any attention to herself. Quickly she grabbed cookies from a small basket then went over to the register.

“ Merry Christmas! “ a dark skinned man behind the counter greeted. “Merry Christmas “ she sang through her covered face as she placed the cookies on the counter. Digging in her cloak she handed over a few silver coins that she had found to the cashier. Thanking the cashier  they exited the bakery and headed home. Hoping that Grinch hadn’t woken up yet.

Taking a short-cut, they found a fairly secluded area to the garbage chute. “ Come on Maxie, let's get these home! “ .  She giggled as the pup let out a series of small barks. They were almost to the chute when suddenly a loud snap came from the woods behind them. Max turned and started to growl. The fur starting from the nape of his neck, trailing down his back stood up. His teeth bared and ready.

Christine froze. They were being followed? How?

Slowly turning around there was nobody there. She looked around. A dark figure dashed behind a tree." Who's there, come out I saw you! " she yells. A hint of fear in her voice. The figure moved from behind the tree. It was a man.  He looked to be in his late twenties - early thirties. He wore a long unbuttoned brown trench coat, revealing a red sweater and some black slacks underneath. The who had a ling gray cap on the top of his head with parts of his short brown hair showing. But what scared her the most was that In his dark gloved hand, he held a sharp small ax.

" I know who you are". 

She was completely paralyzed.  Someone knew who she was?...how?... She could have sworn that nobody saw her face . " I don’t know what you mean?" She asked. Perhaps she can talk her way out of it.

" Don’t play dumb. You're the freak from Mount Crumpit ". 

Frightened, she thought of a way to escape.What would Grinch do in this situation? “ um...LOOK A DISTRACTION!" She pointed behind him. He laughed. "Your kidding? Right? I won't fall for that you stupid  bi-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as ball of snow was thrown at his face. He wiped the cold substance from his face and saw her running away. "GET BACK HERE!" . She kept running until she found the large garbage chute.