DANG IT! I missed the SNL appearance. I'm never going to forgive myself for this. :o( Oh well, here's the next part of ACC, which is what I was doing instead.. Hope you enjoy. :o) - Mageuzi =========== A Christmas Carol (Part 2) =========== Eventually I come across the place that I call home. It is a modest place. Warm enough in the winter to keep me happy and cool enough in the summer to allow me to sleep peacefully. It is actually an apartment complex with about four or five different tenants. I hardly see these other residents, however, and have no desire to see them. I walk up the steps which are suprisingly stable considering how slippery things can get when there has just been a snowfall. I approach the door and am about to open it when I hear a voice. "Taaakaaa.." I quickly turn to look up at where I think I hear the sound coming from. I quickly turn to the..door knocker. "Taaakaaa.." Is that his lips that I see moving? The lips of the brass lion door knocker I see before me, moving like any living lion would to talk? And yet.. his face looks vageuly familiar. It doesn't quite look like the knocker I'm used to seeing. Then it dawns on me. "M--Mufasa?" "Taaakaaa.." Scared at the idea that my brother could be back from the grave, I quickly run inside and shut the door behind me. Out of breath, a little scared, I look back and gather myself as I convince myself it is just nerves, and perhaps the after shock of letting Simba have the day off tomorrow. With these thoughts, I walk upstairs to my room. In deep thought, I almost didn't hear my paws walking on the steps. But as I listen more carefully now, I hear other pawsteps.. in the distance.. not of my own. I quickly turn to find nothing. Not a lion, not an animal, not a soul. I start walking up the stairs again, a little quicker now, worried as to what tricks my mind could be playing on me. There it is again! The haunting sound of pawsteps that do not resound when your own paw hits the floor. The sound of a silent breath behind you. The breath that you can't hear, but know is there because you feel the eyes of the being behind you bore a whole into the back of your neck as they watch for any sudden moves you make. I turn around. Still nothing. Yet I can still feel that presence around me. Quickly, I run upstairs and, fumbling with key in mouth, shaking half to death, I open the door to my room and run in, shuting the door quickly behind me. Not two seconds later do I quickly bolt every lock on the door which I can reach. All except for a top one do I lock, since the top one is much too high for me to reach, and always has been. Yet, with all the other locks firmly in place, I do not suppose that this one, spare lock, would make much difference to the overall reinforcement that the door would need. Without the burning eyes behind me anymore, I quietly and slowly walk over to the fireplace and start to pile some logs in the alcove to provide a source of warmth on this particularly cold night and to perhaps cook some dinner. I am shaking all over with fright. I light the fire and silently walk over to my large chair a few feet from the opening of the fireplace. I jump up and start to curl up, trying to wrap myself up, not only to keep warm, but also to try and escape the terrible fear that is currently surrounding me. And for a moment, I succeed. But it isn't long before strange things once again surface. The fire, in one pitiful flicker, goes out and the room gets swamped with darkness that doesn't seem to want to break to any light. The silence is so overwhelming that I no longer have anything to conentrate on. My ears desperately try to find something to listen to, but only finding silence to concentrate on. The silence begins to take its own, fearful noise. A screech, a desperate need for something to once again disrupt the air around me and create a comforting noise, to know the world has not ended and left me to suffer. And then it came. It came to break the unutterable silence that had mercilessly taken hold of my room, but was by no means a comforting sound. It had the emptiness of a thousand poor people's pockets and the coldness of the harshest winter nights. "Taakaaa," said the sound, seeming to come from outside my room, "Listen too meeee.." I was downright scared. The voice was certainly not of the living, and I no longer knew what to think. I was desperate, yet thought that if I stayed in my room, as quiet as possible, I might not get discovered. But I didn't know the abilities of the deceased come back to the living. Suddenly, the voice was in the room. "Taakaaa...where are youuu?" I thought strange thoughts at this moment. Like, whether I could make myself dissapear into the air and not be found, even by this spirtual being, or perhaps, even if I had locked that top lock, none of this would have happened. The thoughts were ludicrous and unrealistic, but at that moment, I would have done anything to save what I thought were the last moments of my life. Then, however, in the curiosity that posesses even the most frightened of soles, I peered behind my chair at the doorway. My lord, what a shock! Could it be? I took another quick glance, only to find that the ghost, now staring back at me, was my late and dear brother.. Mufasa! I quickly turned away, realizing both these facts at the same moment, and now twice as scared, wondered why my brother had returned in this form, at this supposedly wonderful time of year. I couldn't avoid this act of nature or of the devil, however. For as soon as I got my thoughts together, my brother, or some form thereof, moved to the side of my chair and looked at me with empty eyes, and with a voice to match, spoke to me. "Taka.. it is great to see you." "Mu..Mufasa? Is that really you?" "Yes, Taka. It is. But I have come for a reason." "You have?" "Yes. You may think that I was a good lion. Being good to those who need help. Lending them money and bringing their lives together." "You aren't wrong there, brother! You were one of the best!" He started to shake his head slowly, as if something were stopping him from doing any more than that. "No, I wasn't, brother. I thought that, but I have since been shown the evil of my ways. We never have done good. Certainly, we loan money to those who need it. But we also ask for that money back, and at a very severe cost." "But brother, I.." "I don't expect you to understand, Taka. You never see the truth in your living years. I never did. However, if you don't change your ways soon you will get punished, just like me." Suddenly, I realized what he wore in front of me. I had never realized before what my brother bore on his shoulders. But it wasn't just his shoulders.. it was in fact his entire body that bore heavy weights of chains and locks of all sizes. My what pain! It must have been a struggle to even just move.. his head. My brother must have noticed me gawking at the state he was tortured with, since he carried on without any intervention from me. "When I approached the end of my life, I got punished for what I did. I now must bare this weight for all eternity, even if I see the error in my ways. And you, Taka, will experience the same punishment if you don't change your ways before Judgement Day!" Now I was truly frightened. As if a ghostly presence in front of me wasn't enough to scare the life out of me, the fact that my future help such awful promise was like being stuck in a box with now way out, no way to free yourself from the torture that had been bestowed upon me, even now. "Wait.. didn't you say there was a way to save myself?" "Yes, Taka. If you can change the err of your ways." "But.. Mufasa, I don't even know what the errors are!" I felt impending doom stalking me.. and he was winning. "I thought that this might be so. As I said, you usually don't see the error of one's ways until it is too late. However, I have arranged for three spirits to visit you tonight, this very special night, to try and show you how wrong you have been, and how you must now change." "Three spirits?" "Yes. One at the strike of one in the morning, the second at the strike of two, and the third at the strike of three." "Are they like you?" "I cannot say anymore brother, for I must leave now. You have what you need to know. Remember, you need not suffer like I have. Just listen to what the spirits have to say to you!" Mufasa slowly and wearily starts to back away. I'm not sure if it was my imagination, but he seemed to fade as he backed away. "Mufasa! Wait! I beg you! Tell me more!" But it was too late. The presence of my brother and the unearthly glow that had previously illuminated the room so wonderfully dissapeared in the instant of a second. At that precise moment, however, the fire sprang forth out of the fireplace once again, as if finally pushing the darkness out the way and winning a fight that seemed impossible to win. A few hours later, long after the sun had turned itself in for the day, I had finished my dinner and read my book of great and long forgotton cities of the past. I couldn't concentrate very easily, however, since the rumifications of what my brother had told me still lingered in my mind. In a way it was very disturbing. Maybe that is why I decided to put the thoughts to the back of my mind. Maybe I just couldn't be bothered with the idea of spirits, and considered it all a dream. I'm not sure. Whatever the circumstances, however, I decided to put the whole thing down to imagination. I set my bedside alarm clock to seven o'clock in the morning, since I was planning on putting another satisfying day of work into progress. It didn't matter to me that it was Christmas Day. So I turned in as I do every night: pulling the curtains over my windows and around which cover my bed. You feel very protected in this bed, and I will always cherish it. It wouldn't, however, protect me for what was coming in the most extrordianry night of my life. It is always a confusing point in time when you first awake from a long slumber. Your brain is trying to make sense of its situation and once again presents you with as much information as possible to read from your senses. My brain awoke to find something hitting the bells on my alarm clock. I wasn't sure what it was, if it was even just the last reminants of a dream I had been having. But I soon realized when I checked that it was not a dream. I pulled back the curtain that surrounded my bed to find a meerkat. A very small meerkat, standing by my alarm clock, hitting the bells upon it with a single pawfinger. Through my blurry eyes, I could still see his expression.. that of impatience. "It's about time!" I had been expecting a godly tone, that of a symphony of harmonious voices all joining in at once in a lustrious song. But instead, I heard the voice of any common meerkat. Maybe it was at this point that I couldn't care less, and new it was probably a trick. So I rolled over to go back to sleep. "Oh, go away, it's late.." "Hmph!" I couldn't seem him at this point, though I have always assumed that he had his paws on his hips and an utter look of impatience on his face. I do not know, though, for I didn't see this position until after I turned around to look at him. "Do you expect me to believe that *you're* a spirit?" "Hey, we come in all shapes and sizes ya' know!" "Pint sizes?" "Hey! Watch it! You want me to prove it?" "Fine." At that exact moment, when my lips finished uttering that one simple word, he pulled out a medal. A golden medal. It had no band or strap with which to hang it anywhere, and he seemed to pull it from out of thin air. But there it was, shining in the small light of my bedroom. "What's that?" "My medal of identification. Read it." So I looked through strained eyes, but looked at him dissapointingly. I think he got the message for he gave a very big sigh. "It *says*, 'Honorary spirit of things that have been and are as memories'." My brain had not yet awoken. "A what?" "I'm a ghost of the past, okay?!" "Oh." I couldn't help but see humor in this situation. "So what, may I ask, are you going to do? I mean, what if I don't decide to come with you, hmm?" I said with a little laughter in my voice. I'm not sure if it was me, but he looked at me with such a fiendish look, such a look that would make you want comfort from someone because you feared the most. "Glad you asked, Taka.." Suddenly, he turned, and with a wave of his paw, both the medal dissapeard and my windows burst open with a gust of wind that seemed to arise for just the occasion and blew the curtains as if they were merely hairs in front of its face that it needed to get rid of. Then the spirit turned to me. And in voice that I shall never forget: that of great seriousness, yet excitment.. "Come. We have much to do." Certainly, I was still wishing for the comfort of my bed, but I knew now that this was no meer meerkat.. if you know what I mean. It was like a dream from this point on. All I remember is getting out of my bed, and the shear cold of the floor, and the room. Then.. the impossible.. I walked towards the window, and the spirit ran across to me and up to my back. He grabbed onto my fur and in a matter of seconds, I was lifted above the ground. Only by a couple of inches, but this trivial amount soon grew to a foot, and eventually, high enough to clear the threshold of the window pane. "What the..?" Somehow I didn't quite feel comfortable in the paws of a meerkat who could pick me up. "Cool, huh?" "Well, I don't really think.." "Nonsense! Come, lets go." We drifted out the window, and expecting to fall at any moment, I quickly covered my eyes with my two front paws. I didn't know what the rest of the ride presented to me because of this, but somehow, I truly did end up in.. memories.. I heard voices of past lives and moments drift towards me while I lay in the snow that had fallen the day before.. or could it have been much, much sooner? I no longer knew where I was or what part I played in reality. All I could see was a brightly lit window, and figures. Figures and beings from my past. It is only now, in all this awe, that the spirit is motioning for me to come over to him. In response, I get up from my position, and carefully walk over to his current position which is in a closer proximity to the window. As I get closer, things get clearer. "You see, Taka, you weren't always the way you were." I noticed that there were many people in this room, and they were having a wonderful time. I began to realize that this was a party. A party that took place in my later cubhood. I don't remember much, but with each moment, things seemed to become clearer. I'm not sure how, or by what means this occured, but I began to hear a few voices on the inside of the window. I still remember what these voices said despite the numorous participants.. "You look very nice tonight..er.." said a younger me to a lioness. I must have been very outgoing in those days to have said something like that. I don't think I would dare these days. "Oh, Nala. And you are?" "Taka, mam. Pleased to meet you." "Yes, likewise. So. Tell me about yourself, please." "Oh, I'm not that special, I'm afraid. I have a business that is bestowed upon me and my brother that does very successfully now, and in the future we shall make it the best." "Really?" "Yes, mam. We shall be the richest in the area, and have a lot of fun doing it!" "My, you are the one to hold high expectations, now, aren't you?" "High? No, just what I wish to do with my life, that is all." "You have no idea, do you?" "Pardon?" "Hmm. Nothing. Would you like to..?" "Certainly!" Then, I, or what was once me, danced with the lioness, Nala. Yes, she was still a cub, too. But I shall always remember her as being the most wonderful cub I know of, and much more than just a cub. Now the spirit speaks, finally.. "But this didn't last, did it?" Suddenly, the lights in the once-bright house went out. Shutting the occasion out with it, once again retreating only to memory. "You soon realized that things don't work out the way you plan when you are younger. You eventually realized that you had to make a choice between hapiness with another, or dedication to work, to make all the money and success you had bragged about." "You aren't going to..?" In response, we arrived to my counting house, but many years earlier as to what I had been to earlier that day. I remember the situation vividly, and did not need to relive it. Yet, here I was, beyond my control, compelled to watch the horrible truth play out. I watch as the only true love I thought I had, enters the room. "I *thought* you were going to meet me for dinner, Taka?" "I never said that." How much of a fool I was. I avoided her gaze and continued to count my money. If only I had looked up, perhaps, things would be different. "Yes, you said.." "No, I said I'd make it *if* I were to finish my work. I did not." "What?" "You heard me." "Taka. I want you to choose. Me, or money." I stopped counting as to ponder this choice carefully. Though, I had an answer already placed in my head, I wanted pause, for effect. "Money." She stared at me, open mouthed. We never really became a "couple" as it is called. But we always had the wish to be. I knew, however, as the spirit so rightly pointed out, that I could only choose one love. And my choice was that of money. After she knew I had no intention of changing my mind, she turned around and walked out, quickly, slamming the door behind her. Only then did I look up.. but it was too late. Then once again, the curtain of darkness befell another aspect in the path of time. I was ready to cry. "I have had enough, spirit. Take me home. This is too painful." "Fine. But remember, Taka, you created this past, and you have to live with its consequences always. We may think we can forget the past, but we can't. We can never reclaim what we lose: our innocence. However, we can pretend. We can pretend to lose our innocence, yet keep all hope. How to learn to laugh forever." And in an instant, I was home. It was too much to bare. I thought I had certainly forgotton my horrible past, but now it had returned, and was haunting me. I don't think I could take the other two spirits, if this is what they were going to show me. I didn't want to live any longer. I ended up crying myself to sleep.