An Averyverse Holiday Special
(Originally Posted December 2023)
Stillwater Bay was twinkling with lights and music as the holidays were right around the corner. The town felt festive, the people were jolly, and there was joy and kindness in the air. However, far from Stillwater Bay, deep in Malevolent Mountain, there was someone who did not feel jolly.
Laura was playing with Lego, and had built a shark tank with her two sharks swimming in it. Just as she was finishing placing a terrified looking Santa minifig, suspended above the tank, she laughed to herself and said “Ugh…holidays”, and smashed the Lego on the floor.
“JEFF!” Laura screamed suddenly while climbing into bed.
“Yes boss?” Jeff replied, popping his head into her room.
“I want to go to sleep, but I’m not tired…do something about that” Laura demanded.
“Oh, perfect timing!” Jeff said with a smile. “I was just about to read my favorite holiday story”.
Jeff ran off, and returned quickly, holding a book. “It’s a Dickens story”, he said proudly.
“Oh good”, Laura said with a sneer. “It’s boring, I should fall right to sleep”.
“We’ll see about that”, Jeff replied, and started reading.
He only made it to the third paragraph before Laura was asleep…
…and dreaming…
Snow fell on Stillwater Bay as people bustled around the town, running holiday errands. Looking through the front window of Scribe Noir, watching the happy shoppers, Avery stood behind the cash register.
“Since Valerie died, we’ve been working too hard”, Avery said.
Avery was speaking to her business partner, Laura, who was now staring back at her with an annoyed look.
“Maybe, we should start running on holiday hours, so we have more time to be with our loved ones”, Avery continued cheerfully.
“And have the store miss out on valuable money-making hours of holiday shopping?” Laura replied snidely. “I don’t think so”.
At that moment, Dr. Lawrie walked into the store.
“Happy holidays!” Dr. Lawrie said. “Laura, will you be joining us for the Annual Dinner of Lauras this year?”
“Bah!” Laura responded. “Why would I want to do that?”
Disappointed, Dr. Lawrie replied “Alright. Well, if you decide you do want to join us, the invitation stands”, and then she left the store.
“You should go”, Avery said to Laura. “It might be fun”.
“What’s fun about the holidays”, Laura replied, and then walked into the back room.
“Apparently nothing…” Avery said quietly to herself, feeling deflated.
Just as Laura stepped back out of the back room, now wearing her coat, the door opened again.
Salty Pete entered the store holding a jar and a pile of fliers. “I’m collecting holiday donations to the Stillwater Bay Bird Sanctuary”, he said, but before he could say anything more, Laura scoffed, and without saying a word, pointed to the door, indicating for Pete to leave. So he did.
Laura finished buttoning her coat and made her way towards the door to leave. She opened it, started to walk through, and just before slamming it shut behind her, she turned to Avery behind the counter and said “Don’t close early”.
Laura made her way through town, doing everything in her power to avoid the happy people enjoying the holidays. She got home, made herself a tv dinner, and put on “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, except she only watched until Christmas got stolen, then she laughed and turned it off.
Laura put on her pajamas and got into bed. However, before she could fall asleep, the ghost of Valerie, her former employee who died tragically a few years ago, appeared to her, floating above the bed in her room. Laura screamed.
“What do you want?” Laura yelled at the ghost.
“I’m just here to give you a message”, Valerie replied. “You will be visited three times tonight. Hopefully, we can figure out why you hate the holidays so much”. And with that, the ghost of Valerie vanished into thin air.
Laura stared in shock for a few minutes.
Eventually, the adrenaline rush wore off, and Laura slowly drifted off to sleep…
Laura woke to the sensation of something hitting her in the face. She opened her eyes to see the ghosts of two people staring at her. A man with a beard and a woman throwing raisins at her.
“Oh good, you’re awake”, the woman said. “Come on, it’s time to go”.
“Go where?” Laura asked the ghosts.
“We have something to show you”, the man replied. “This is April. I’m Myles. And we’re the ghosts of Holidays Past”.
“He’s exaggerating”, April said. “We’re not ‘the’ ghosts of Holidays Past. We just work in the Holidays Past Department of the Ghost Bureau”.
“What?” Laura managed to blurt out in confusion.
“It doesn’t matter”, Myles replied. “Let’s go”.
April reached her hand out, and Laura took it as she stepped out of her bed. Though Laura had only taken a couple steps from the bed, she was no longer in her bedroom, or in her house for that matter.
Laura realized where they were. She and the two ghosts were standing outside her boarding school on the Island of Misfit Children.
“My parents sent me here when the other children in Stillwater Bay wouldn’t let me join in their reindeer games”, Laura told the ghosts.
“That must have been very lonely for you”, April said as she took Laura’s hand again. They took a couple more steps and were suddenly somewhere else.
Laura looked around and then she knew. “My first job”, she said.
“What happened here?” Myles asked.
“My boss treated me so well, like I was his own child, but he never understood me…I didn’t want to make toys…I wanted to be a dentist”, Laura responded. She looked at the ghosts. “I don’t understand, how is reminding me how sad I was as a child going to make me like the holidays?”
“We have one more thing to show you”, Myles said, and April took Laura’s once more. After a few steps, a new location.
“My first apartment”, Laura said. “My roommate stopped being friends with me and moved out, saying I was too stingy with the heating bill. She called me the Snow Miser”.
April snapped her fingers, and the three of them were back in Laura’s bedroom.
“You turned your back on the people who cared about you, and now it’s literally coming back to haunt you”, Myles told Laura with a ghostly smirk. “Get ready for your next visitor”.
Just like Valerie had done earlier, April and Myles suddenly vanished into thin air.
Exhausted at this point, Laura climbed back into bed and very quickly fell back to sleep.
When Laura was awoken again, she opened her eyes to see two more ghosts arguing at the bottom of her bed.
“How can your taste in food have gotten worse after you died?” the woman asked the man, but he didn’t answer, and instead motioned towards Laura.
“She’s awake”, he said.
“Are you also here to show me my sad past?” Laura asked the ghosts, frustrated with her sleepless night.
“No”, the man replied. “We’re here to show you how sad you are now”.
“I’m Dani and he’s Aaron. We’re the ghosts of Holidays Present”, the woman added.
“Are you really ‘THE’ ghosts of Holidays Present, or do you just work in the Holidays Present Department of the Ghost Bureau?” Laura asked with a smirk.
“WHAT?!” Aaron shouted. “Who told you that? The ghosts from the Holidays Past Department?”
“I told you they were telling people”, Dani said to Aaron with annoyance in her voice. “That department is the worst. I’m so glad I got placed in the Present”.
“Me too”, Aaron agreed.
“Hello?!” Laura interrupted.
“Oh, right”, Aaron said, remembering where he was. “Let’s go”.
Dani took Laura’s hand and they started walking. Just as before, they were suddenly somewhere other than Laura’s bedroom. It took Laura a moment to realize they were in the Stillwater Bay Bird Sanctuary. The ghosts motioned to a window, and Laura looked through it.
Inside, Salty Pete was sitting, surrounded by birds of all types and sizes. He appeared to be giving the birds bad news.
“What’s happening?” Laura asked.
“Pete planned an ‘ugly sweater’ party, but didn’t receive enough donations to get enough tiny sweaters for all the birds”, Aaron replied.
Laura looked befuddled, but Aaron took her hand, and suddenly they were somewhere else. It was a house. Through a large window, Laura and the two ghosts could see a group of women sitting at a table, having dinner, and enjoying each other’s company.
“The Dinner of Lauras”, Laura realized out loud.
“That’s right”, Dani answered. “They invite you every year, but you never go. Look how much fun they’re having”. Dani held her hand out.
“One more stop”, Aaron said, and Laura took Dani’s hand.
They took a few steps together and ended up in a new location. She quickly realized the ghosts had brought her to Scribe Noir. They looked through the window at Avery, working quickly to accommodate the mob of holiday shoppers.
“Oh good. We’re busy” Laura said with a slight smile.
“Is it better to be busy, or to have more free time around the holidays?” Dani asked Laura.
“Busy”, Laura said. “We both own this store, so we both make more money”.
“You two are friends. Why don’t you spend the holidays together?” Aaron asked, but didn’t give her time to answer. Aaron snapped his fingers, and again the three of them were back in Laura’s bedroom.
“I can’t wait til you meet the next visitor, he’s a real treasure”, Dani said.
They both vanished, leaving Laura alone again. She wondered if it was even worth trying to go back to sleep, but she was so tired. She got back into her bed and before she could even start to process everything that had just happened, she was out like a light.
Thunder clapped loudly, startling Laura awake for the third time in this night. She sat up in her bed quickly and screamed. A dark figure in a black hooded robe stood menacingly at the foot of her bed. The figure raised its arm and pointed its finger at Laura, uttering a single word, “You”.
“Me what?” Laura replied, feeling frightened. “Aren’t you gonna show me the future or something?”
The hooded figure clapped his hands, and in a flash of lightning, Laura found herself in a cemetery. The hooded figure pointed to a headstone in front of them.
Laura moved closer to the headstone and could read her own name carved into the rock.
“What do you want?” she asked the figure, confused and desperate.
The hooded figure reached up and removed his hood, revealing a man in the black robe.
“Hi, I’m Mark”, the man said. “Don’t be alarmed by how handsome I am, although I understand if you are”.
The fear started to drain from Laura’s face. “So are you the ghost of Holidays Future or what?” she asked.
“Yes”, he replied, pointing at the grave. “And this is your future”.
Laura looked at Mark as he then went on a five minute tangent explaining the symbolic nature of this tableau he had arranged for Laura, and how he thought it should have made her feel, and why he thought it would work.
When he had finished, Laura looked at him plainly, pointed at the gravesite and said, “You know this is everyone’s future, right?”
Mark thought about this for a moment, and nodded. “Oh yeah…but my point is this…if you never let anyone in, you’ll die alone”
Mark clapped again, and in another flash of lightning, Laura was back in her bedroom alone. She again climbed into bed and went to sleep, but without any interruptions this time. After the long night, Laura slept all through the next day, waking up after the sun had set.
Discombobulated, Laura made her way into town and headed towards Scribe Noir. When she entered the store, Avery was surprised to see her.
“Are you alright?” Avery asked. “You never showed up today”.
“I had a very strange night”, Laura explained.
Laura talked about everything she had seen the night before, brushing it off as some weird dream, but went on to let Avery know that it still made a difference.
“From this point on, Avery”, Laura said. “I love the holid…..
Laura jolted upright in bed and looked around. She was relieved to find she was alone, and that Jeff wasn’t able to witness what had just happened in her dream. His book was still sitting on the chair next to her bed, so she quickly picked it up and threw it across the room into the trash.
“I knew Dickens was a mistake before bed”, Laura said before drifting back to sleep.
Averybody Writes 
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