OOM: The ghost of Christmas past

[obligatoryass]

As he wakes up for the second time that night, Logan feels a small, cool hand brushing the sand out of his eyes.

He sits up, more sand falling from his face as he does so. "Uh, thanks. What, uh, what happened? What time is it?"

Not waiting for an answer, he pulls out his phone and checks the time. 1 a.m. Huh. He could have sworn it was that late when he got to the beach...had he missed a whole day? Not likely; the cops would have hauled his ass off to jail if he had been passed out on the beach in the daylight. But the time thing is weird.

When he doesn't get an answer to anything he asked, not even a noncommital, 'No idea, dude,' he looks away from the phone and toward the helpful stranger.

It's a strange thing to see a friend from another world on a beach in your own, but at least she's still alive. Seeing your dead father definitely is hard to top.

When your friend, the Queen of Ambergeldar, pushes back her hood and smiles at you, giving off a soft, glowing light, you might reconsider how you define 'strange.'

"Are you the spirit that was foretold?" Logan asks, stupidly parroting back the lines he remembers from the movie.

Comments

[kitchen_maid]

That same slight tilt of her head.

"In those days, Logan, I wonder if you would even have been able to see me."

[obligatoryass]

Logan frowns, confused. "Why do you say that, Spirit?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Because in those days, you were not trying so desperately to cling to the past, and to what is lost."

[obligatoryass]

Logan opens his mouth to protest, then stops to think about it. "I don't know what else to hold onto," he says.

The past isn't much, when taken as a whole. It's a decidedly mixed bag, in fact, but the good parts? Were really damned good. And worth holding onto.

[kitchen_maid]

"You must find things."

She turns suddenly, as if looking into the distance at something he cannot see.

"My time grows short."

[obligatoryass]

Logan nods. "It is time for the next ghost, huh?" The mocking notes he would have used to refer to the spirits is gone, replaced by resignation and something like respect.

[kitchen_maid]

"Almost."

She smiles very slightly.

"You should try to stop anticipating what will happen, when you meet my youngest brother. You do not know this story as well as you seem to think you do."

[obligatoryass]

Logan scowls slightly at her. "So far, it seems pretty by-the-book."

Or movie, as the case may be.

Of course, it's quite different when it's your past you are faced with.

[kitchen_maid]

"You do not know the story as well as you think," she repeats, kindly, but not inviting argument.

And they're back on the beach, and she's beginning to fade.

[obligatoryass]

Logan waves a hand in farewell, and she's gone.

And he's awake, on the beach, winded for no apparent reason.