A Primeval Christmas Carol
“Are you going to keep this up all night?” Lester asked with a tired sigh as Connor climbed silently into bed.
“James, you are making everyone work tomorrow. Christmas day. It would be one thing to have a couple of people in to monitor and have everyone else on call, but you demanding the full team come in just like it was any other day? It’s just mean. You could have let them spend the day with their families.”
“There’s work to be done.”
“So you keep saying. Good night James. Happy Christmas.”
Lester sighed again as Connor pulled the duvet up around his chin and rolled over, turning his back and signalling that the conversation was very much over.
Glaring at the back of the man’s head for a minute Lester huffed and got back out of bed again. He hadn’t gone to bed because he was tired, but it looked like that wasn’t happening so a large brandy and an old film would have to do instead.
Pulling on his robe he stalked back out to the living room and headed straight for his liquor cabinet. He unstoppered the decanter and poured a healthy measure into a crystal snifter. He turned around and with a startled yelp dropped the snifter; the delicate glass shattering as it hit the floor.
Leek looked at the spreading pool of brandy and crystal shards and then back at Lester.
“Well that’s got to be annoying for a man that likes neatness so much.”
Lester’s look of surprise turned instantly to one of annoyance.
“I must be more tired than I thought. I’m seeing things.”
“You’re not seeing things James, I’m really here. Well, as real as a ghost can be.”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts.” Lester scoffed.
“Like there’s no such thing as a portal to different period in time?”
“You know, I liked you more when you were a simpering sycophant.”
Leek grinned. “See, talking to me like you believe in me now.”
Lester pouted. “I categorically do not believe that you are here and that I am talking to you.” He paused for a second, a look of doubt coming onto his face. “Where’s Connor? Why didn’t he hear me drop the glass?”
“Because all this is happening for you James. Connor hasn’t been able to hear anything since I arrived. I’ve been sent to warn you. It’s been noted that you have effectively banned Christmas this year and making your staff work through regardless. While I of course applaud this stance, those in charge are not taking kindly to it.”
“Those in charge?” Lester managed to mock the very idea with nothing more than his tone of voice and one eyebrow.
“Yes James, there is someone higher than the Prime Minster. And they will send three more ghosts to you tonight in an effort to get you to change your ways. I have told them it’s a waste of time, but there’s no talking to them.”
“I’m not listening to this anymore.”
“I shall try to be surprised at your disdain. Look behind you.” Leek added suddenly.
Without thinking Lester turned around…and saw nothing. Turning back there was empty space where the vision of Leek had been a second before. He looked down at the floor only to find it spotless. Then he realised that he was still clutching the full snifter in his hand.
With a scowl at himself he shook his head and moved to the sofa. He sat and scrolled through the TV channels until he found a black and white film to occupy him until he went back to bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Lester didn’t remember dropping off, but suddenly found himself waking with start. He was slumped on the sofa, the empty snifter dangling in his fingers. And standing in front of him, a wry grin on his face was Nick Cutter.
“Oh, now I know this is a nightmare.”
“Och, don’t be like that. You could at least pretend to be pleased to see me.”
Lester’s face was hard. “This isn’t the first nightmare of mine you’ve been in.”
Cutter gave a nod of acknowledgement. “This isn’t like those. This memory will be good one. I’m going to show you a Christmas from your past. When you still remembered how to enjoy yourself.”
“Good grief. Are you actually claiming to be the Ghost of Christmas past?”
Cutter gave him a lob-sided grin. “If I’m not, then how are we here?”
Lester looked around him and noticed with a start that he was no longer in his flat.
“Where am I? Where are we?”
“Don’t you recognise it?”
“Wait. This is our first flat. We moved in just after we were married. Had our first married Christmas here.”
As he spoke he saw a younger version of himself spill into the room, his arm around his young wife. They were laughing happily and carrying a very burnt turkey. Still laughing James put it on the small dining table. He hugged his wife.
“We’ll have to do better next year. When we’ve got kids.”
“Oh hush James. That won’t be next year. Soon though. And then we’ll be a proper family and have a proper family Christmas. And every Christmas after that will be just perfect.”
James hugged his wife close to him. “Family is what Christmas is all about.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Let’s go and see what damage we managed to do to the potatoes!”
Laughing again the pair ran back to the kitchen.
Lester turned to Cutter, laughter in his eyes. “I remember that. We burnt it the next year too. In fact we never really mastered it. But once I get promoted in the Ministry we could get caterers in to do it for us. We had a lot more mouths to feed then of course. Us, the children, the nanny. But then I had to start working more and more Christmases and…” the laughter faded instantly as his words dried up. “Oh very clever.” Lester’s face set into its more familiar scowl once more. “I see what you’re trying to do. Well, as fascinating as this little trip down memory lane has been, given the fact that you are little more than a brandy induced dream, it means nothing. Now if you could please just go so I can wake up.”
Cutter’s eyes widened in surprise. “You really think you’re still asleep?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then how come you’re standing up in your pyjamas in your flat, alone?”
Lester looked down at himself, seeing his familiar lounge floor beneath his feet. He looked back up again and Cutter was no longer there. Lester looked around him with a gasp. He was indeed alone and standing up. He shook his head.
“Never slept walked before but first time for everything.” He straightened his pyjamas and headed for the bedroom.
Connor didn’t stir as Lester slid into bed beside him. Lester considered waking him up, but decided better of it. Instead he lay down, tried to clear his head and after a while fell asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Oi.”
Silence
“OI!!”
Lester jerked awake.
“Finally. Come on, get up, we’ve got places to be.”
“Hart?”
“You else were you expecting?”
“It’s the middle of the night Hart and you’re dead. I wasn’t expecting anyone.”
“But you know how this goes surely Lester. After the last two you knew there would be two more. Me and the big scary that comes after me.”
“You’re sticking to this charade then?”
Stephen laughed. “Still don’t believe us? Well get up and I’ll show you some more.”
“I don’t really think so, do you?”
“Fine,” Stephen grinned, “we’ll do it your way. I warn you though, the landing could be rougher.”
“Landing? What landing?” With that, Lester felt the ground suddenly hit him rather firmly in the back. It was cold and wet. He had landed in a lot of snow.
“Ow!” Lester sat up and scowled at a still grinning Stephen. “Was that strictly necessary?”
“No, not at all, but it was a lot of fun. Few people get the opportunity for revenge against their bosses after they’re dead so I’m taking full advantage.”
Lester’s scowl remained as he struggled to get to his feet in the snow. “Where are we then? I may as well play along until I wake up.”
Stephen’s face turned serious. “Just so you know, I’m not going to enjoy this bit.” He pointed to a window next to them.
Lester peered through the window. Inside were his three children, his ex wife and her new fiancé. They sat around an open fire in the ski cabin, a decorated Christmas tree in the corner. A finished Christmas dinner sat on the table and all five laughed and joked as they swapped Christmas presents. It was a picture of domestic bliss.
Lester found himself unexpectedly choked up.
“Don’t they even miss me?”
“They started missing you at Christmas a long time ago. Now they just don’t know any different.”
“I wanted to be there, I did, but there was always work to be done. Always work. If I wanted to be successful, to make a life for them, I had to work.”
“You were so busy trying to make a life for them, you forgot to keep living it with them.”
Lester’s eyes swam with tears. “I’ve had enough now, so if you’re done being sadistic, can you take me back home now please?”
“I told you I take no enjoyment from this bit. And does that mean that you now believe that this isn’t a dream?”
“It means nothing of the sort,” Lester snapped back, “I just want to wake up.”
Stephen paused. “I’m supposed to show you more…but I think you’ve had enough. Lie down.”
“What?”
“Lie down.”
“It’s snow. I am not lyi…”
Lester was interrupted as Stephen’s hands connected with his chest and he was shoved backwards.
“Okay, that bit I enjoyed.”
Lester braced himself to hit the snow covered ground again, but instead hit his mattress.
“I will warn you though Lester; this is not the worst it’s going to be.”
“What do you mean? How can it get worse?”
“Like this.” Stephen clapped his hands in front of Lester’s face. Lester blinked automatically and when he opened his eyes Stephen was gone.
But someone else was in his place.
“Captain Ryan?”
“Sir. Nice to see you again.”
“You’re not exactly what I expected. Isn’t the third one supposed to be an Angle of Death-like spectre?”
“I’m all in black and have a big gun. Is that not good enough?”
Lester pulled is face into an unimpressed pout. “Well let’s get on with this then. Let’s get the nightmare over with.”
Ryan put a hand on Lester’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Sir, but the nightmare is just beginning.”
Lester blinked and suddenly found himself in an office he didn’t know, looking down on a large room he didn’t recognise.
“Where are we?”
“The ARC. Two years from now.”
“It doesn’t look like the ARC, and I don’t recognise anyone.”
“It’s a new ARC, new people.”
“Well, where’s everyone else?”
“Gone; scattered, dead. Connor, Abby and Danny are lost, lost through an anomaly. They’re never heard of again.”
“And the others?”
“All lost trying to find them.”
Lester swallowed heavily and felt his chest constricting.
“All of them?”
“I’m sorry Sir.”
“Where…where am I?”
“Look.” Ryan pointed and Lester followed his arm to see himself walking into the room below. As his future self walked through Lester noticed that everyone in the room turned away from him or visibly shrank back from him. No one even looked at him as he made his way to the stairs up to the office where they stood.
As the future him approached Lester looked into his own eyes. They were blank; nothing was there. He’d never seen anyone quite so empty.
“Why doesn’t anyone talk to me? Look at me?”
“Sir, you’re not the nicest of people now, but your team sees through that, they still see the man inside, the good inside; so you still have friends. But keep pushing and you’ll lose those. This Lester, when he lost Connor and everyone else, lost the man inside too. They’re scared of you; but don’t even respect you anymore.”
“Then why am I still here?” Lester could hear is own voice breaking.
“You didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Lester choked back a sob. Ryan laid a hand on his shoulder as Lester stared at the man he had become.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. You will still lose Connor, that can’t be changed. But he can come back. He just needs to have a reason to fight and want to come back.”
“He has a reason. He has me.” Lester forced the words through a throat constricting with emotion.
“Does he know that?” Ryan asked gently.
Lester looked up sharply into the soldier’s eyes, for once finding himself without something to say under Ryan’s unwavering stare.
“I…I don’t know….No, he doesn’t. I have to tell him. I have to tell him now.” Desperation was thick in his voice and he flinched as Ryan clapped his hands in front of his face. Suddenly Lester was waking with a start, sitting bolt upright in bed. He gasped, his heart racing and turned to Connor.
The other side of the bed was empty and as Lester laid his hand on the sheets they were cool to the touch. He leapt out of bed and into the living room, only to find it empty. He dashed through to the kitchen, but Connor wasn’t there either. Then he spotted a note on the kitchen table. He snatched it up.
“Decided not to wake you. Abby's giving me a lift.”
Lester groaned. Connor’s notes were never that short and curt; he sounded more like…him. Lester groaned again and dashed to get dressed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Parking his car Lester ran into the ARC. He hurried through the corridors and into the main central room.
“People; your attention a moment!”
His loud call was startling in the otherwise conversationally quiet room. All around the room faces turned towards him. In the centre of the room he saw Connor, Abby, Becker, Danny and Sarah gathered around one of the central tables. They all whirled around at the sound of his voice, guilty expressions on their faces, and they crowded together as if they were hiding something on the table. Lester chose to ignore that fact.
“I want you all to leave. Go home. Go and spend the day with your families, where you should be. Core team, you need to remain on call, but I will man the ARC while you go.”
He paused. No-one moved.
“I don’t like to repeat myself. Go.”
In a flurry of activity people fled from the room, smiling and thanking him as they passed him.
But his main team remained, still crowded around the table, still staring at him. Lester folded his arms across his chest and stared at him.
“I believe I gave you all an order. Leave. You should be with family today; celebrating Christmas together.”
The five faces in front of him broke into grins; Abby and Sarah stepped apart and the boys stood back revealing the table. It was laid ready for a meal to be eaten there, including crackers.
“You’re going to have Christmas dinner here?” Lester asked incredulously. “Don’t you want to go your families now?”
“We are with our family.” Connor said, and walked over to where Lester stood, taking his hand. “And now it’s complete. Come on, come and criticise the table lay out.”
Lester stiffened, but then Connor gave him that smile and tugged his arm. He looked up to see the others all smiling at him too. He smiled back and let himself be led over to the table.
“God bless us, every one.” he muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” Connor asked.
“Oh, um. The forks are crooked, every one. Best sort that out.”