A Christmas Carol (short)

He was not alone... The clanking and rattling of chains echoed through the corridors. Each one louder than the other. Suddenly...all stopped... Scrooge took a step away from the door... He was engulfed in darkness as his candle died. "Humbug!" growled Scrooge. A wave of deafening silence washed over everything. BANG! The door flew open and an eerie green light glided down the hallway. the noise of metal grinding on wood got louder and louder. Then,  a huge metal box came rocketing through the door along with some others and landed in front of scrooge making a huge bang. There was a chain attached to all of them, leading into the darkness. The  luminous green light got closer and closer. Then the face of Marley faded out of the darkness. He calmly glided through the door and stopped before scrooge, The boxes weighing him down. His waistcoat floated eerily along with his pigtail. Him and Scrooge stared at each other, then, Scrooge broke the silence. "How now?" The figure remained still with a cold expressionless face. "What do you want with me?" Continued Scrooge, without warning the thing spoke. "Much" Its voice echoed and rattled the paintings around it . Its dead eyes were still fixed on Scrooge. "Who are you" Scrooge said trying to hide his fear. The spirit floated closer, "Ask me who I was." Scrooge backed up, "Who were you then?" "In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley" it growled. Its raspy voice made it hard for it to speak. "Can you-Can you sit down?" Scrooge stuttered. It leaned back and Scrooge sighed in relief. "I can"  Marley coughed, "Do it then." Scrooge gingerly demanded. The spirit then made its way over to a chair, dragging the chains miserably. He grabbed the chains and slowly pulled himself down to the chair. Scrooge also sat down, keeping his distance from Marley, who just sat there... staring at Scrooge with his dead eyes. "You don't believe in me."  Marley slowly said as he slowly glided from his chair towards Scrooge. "I don't." silently said Scrooge. The spirit slowly floated silently towards Scrooge expressionless like a body. Scrooge leaned back as Marley spoke. "What evidence would you have of my reality, beyond that of your senses?" Scrooge shrunk in his seat and said "I don't know." The ghost then started to hover from his chair "Why do you doubt your senses?" "Because, a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than a grave about you, whatever you are!" The ghost was motionless... Marley's eyes were fixed on Scrooge's. Scrooge then found a toothpick and held it in front of him. " you see this toothpick?"  "I do." The spirit said with a booming voice. Scrooge sat up and looked closely at Marley's eyes. "You are not looking at it" Scrooge said with a confused tone, "But I see it." it said raising its voice "Well!" replied Scrooge "I have to swallow this, and for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my creation, humbug I tell you! Humbug!" The ghost started to levitate until it nearly hit the ceiling. Suddenly the thing let out a horrifying cry and shook the room, its painful scream echoed down every corridor. Scrooge covered his ears and tried to crawl under his table. Marley started rattling his chains adding to the unbearable  noise. The spirit slowly began to calm itself as Scrooge spoke. "You are fettered, tell me why." Scrooge said while peeking out from underneath the table. "I wear the chain I forged in life."