Disclaimer: “The Pretender” and its characters don’t belong to me they belong to TNT and NBC and are being used without permission. Please don’t sue because I have no money.

 

Author’s Note: Okay, here’s Jarod’s part in this Christmas Carol fic. Sorry I said it was A Wonderful Life, but I think it is actually A Christmas Carol. I usually don’t like writing more to a story if it is one page because it is usually not as good as the first one. Thank you to Katecats, Me, and anamchara for the wonderful reviews.

 

 

Past, Present and Future

Jarod

 

Jarod tossed and turned sweat streaking down his brow whispering the word No in his sleep. Suddenly he woke himself up screaming in the night. He blinked his eyes and wiped the sweat from his face. He got up and made his way to the bathroom sink and turned on the water. Cupping the water in his hand he splashed some on his face. He then turned the water off and grabbed a towel to wipe off the water. He turned to the bed and knew that he would not go to sleep for a while. He made his way to the kitchen and made himself some coffee and he grabbed a silver pack that held two pop tarts and put them into the toaster. He ate the pop tarts and sipped the coffee as he drank his coffee he looked at his phone and thought about calling Miss Parker, or maybe Sydney, but thought better of it. He wondered what his parents were doing? Where were his father and the boy? Where were his mother and what about his sister Emily? He wondered if he weren’t born his father, mother and brother and sister wouldn’t have been torn apart. His family would have still been whole. His brother would have still been alive. They couldn’t even have Christmas together. No Christmas lights, Christmas lights, presents, or being with his parents around the tree, or the table as they ate their Christmas dinner.

 

~~~~*~~~~

 He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes. He opened them when he heard knocking at the door.  He got up and cautiously made his way to the door. When he opened it he stared at the apparition in surprise.

 

“Hello, big brother.”

 

“Kyle?”

 

“Yes, big brother.”

 

“I don’t understand.” He said not used to saying that.

 

“I am here because there are three ghosts that are going to be here. They are the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you need to see what would have happened to other people if you were never born. You big brother have made a mark on the world and in a good way. You may not know that, but you helped a lot of people.”

 

“Who have I helped? If I weren’t born Gemini would have never been born. You wouldn’t have died by Lyle’s hand.”

 

“You will see big, brother. You will see.” Kyle said as he disappeared.

 

Jarod shook his head and turned and stopped when he noticed another presence.

 

“Don’t worry Jarod, I won’t take you anywhere except the past.”

 

“You’re the ghost of Christmas past, right?”

 

“Yes, I am. Now let’s go.” The ghost said as he put his hand on Jarod’s shoulder.

 

~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

 

They were inside the Centre watching a young Miss Parker and she was crying. She was huddled in the corner of the sum lab that he himself had done his Sims in. He wondered why she was crying. He turned to the ghost.

 

“Why is she crying?”

 

“When her mother was supposedly killed her father made her stay here. He had her trained as a pretender because as you know she was tested too. Her father never sent her away because of her friendship to you. The sim that she just did was very hard for her.”

 

The door opened and Sydney and another sweeper came in. “Time to take her away.” He nodded to the sweeper as he spoke.

 

“Why is he doing this?”

 

“He never had you to take care of therefore he never got to meet Miss Parker even when Mrs. Parker was killed.”

 

“What about her father? Why would her father do this to her?”

 

“Because it was her mother that fought her husband into turning their child into a pretender and so he didn’t. Plus when he found out that you two were together he had to send her away, but with you not here to help her she was used as a test subject like you were.”

 

He couldn’t believe that Miss Parker would have been used in Sims like he was. He should have expected it because of Mr. Parker though.

 

The ghost put his hand on Jarod’s shoulder again and appeared somewhere else. A little boy was huddled in a cell and then it shifted again. A little girl was huddled in the next cell.

 

“Who are these children?”

 

“The boy is Kyle and the little girl is Emily. Since you were never born they grabbed Kyle and then when Emily was older she too was stolen and taken to the Centre.”

”No.”  He screamed. He couldn’t believe that his little sister could be here in this place.

 

The ghost grabbed Jarod’s shoulder and they disappeared back to his latest lair.

 

~~~~~*~~~~~~~

 

He stared in shock as he looked around. His sister wouldn’t have been inside the Centre if he were born. He turned and once again a figure stood there.

 

“The Ghost of Christmas present?”

 

“Yes.” He said as he touched Jarod’s shoulder.

 

Kyle was sitting in the sim lab watching Mr. Raines pace and wondered what was going to happen. The door opened and another person came in it was of a young Emily. She sat at the desk and looked around. She stared at Kyle wondering who he was and then looked at Mr. Raines. She wondered what they had to do now.

 

“I want you to perform a sim together.”

 

“Is Mr. Raines in charge of both of them? Or is Sydney in charge of one of them?”

 

“Sydney is working with Miss Parker and Raines is in charge of Kyle and Emily.”

 

The next scene changed with Miss Parker in one of the cells and she was sitting on the bed and was waiting for her turn to do a sim.

 

“They have tried to get her inner sense to work, but she doesn’t know how to use it.”

 

This one changed to George Harper. He was in front of a headstone and he was crying.

 

“Remember when George was still in the hospital? You helped him get his son back because he couldn’t. The kidnapper didn’t know that George was in the hospital and thought that he didn’t want to rescue his son, so he killed him.”

 

They went to another place and this time it was someone else he helped. It was of Mr. Broots and he too was at a tombstone.

 

“You helped Broots get custody of Debbie when she was a child. Because you didn’t help him Debbie was left with her mother and they moved away. A drunk driver killed Debbie and her mother. Broots had his daughter’s body moved to Blue Cove.”

 

Another scene of another person who he helped and then another. Then they went back to his lair once again.

 

~~~~~*~~~~~~

 

Jarod was standing there for two minutes and another figure appeared.

 

“Ghost of Christmas future?”

 

The ghost nodded and grabbed his shoulder.

 

The scene changed to a tombstone. The only name on the tombstone was Emily.

 

“No. Why?” He turned with tears in eyes.

 

“Kyle didn’t want to do a sim. He was warned before that if he didn’t do the sim that he was told to do then someone would pay. Mr. Raines killed her in front of Kyle.”

 

The next scene was of Kyle inside the sim lab.

 

“I told you what would happen, Kyle if you didn’t finish the sim.” Kyle was crying as Mr. Raines was standing by him.

 

The next scene was of Miss Parker and she was in the sim lab guided by Sydney in a sim. She finished it and was led back to her space.

 

They went back to his lair and Jarod sat on the chair nearest him. He wiped a tear away from his eyes. Not his little sister. He barely got to know her, but he had loved her as a big brother and wanted to protect her the best that he could.

 

“You see, Jarod. Do you see how much you mean to these people?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good. Merry Christmas, Jarod.”

 

“Merry Christmas.” Jarod said to the ghost as he disappeared.

 

He grabbed the phone and dialed a familiar number.

 

“This is Sydney.”

 

“Sydney, I want you to know that I forgive you. I forgive you for everything.”

 

“Thank you, Jarod.”

 

“Merry Christmas, Sydney.”

 

“Merry Christmas, Jarod.”

 

The next number he called Miss Parker. She answered with her famous what.

 

“What?”

 

“Merry Christmas, Miss Parker.”

 

“What’s so Merry Jarod? I work for a terrible place and it is not Merry there.”

 

“Then why work there? Why not leave?”

 

“Like I could leave. They would hunt me like they hunt you.”

 

“Maybe I could help you.”

 

“No, Jarod. I don’t want to help me.”

 

“Okay, I understand. I just wanted to tell you Merry Christmas.”

 

“Merry Christmas, Jarod.” She said in a moment of weakness and hung up.

 

He was very happy to be alive he smiled as the sun was just about to rise.

 

The End