A modern day retelling of Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol (with an educational twist!) from our Company Manager, Leticia.
Continued from Part One.
The mist grew thicker until it enveloped Rouge and she could no longer see anything but blue. Just as she was about to scream, the mist vanished! She looked around disorientated and rubbed her eyes when she saw that the source of the voice hadn’t disappeared with the mist.
“Who are you?” she asked again, this time with a little more feigned confidence.
“I said I’m the ghost of eXams past! I can tell you never listened in class,” the being snapped before sinking lazily into the couch by Eberley’s bed. She raised an eyebrow. Maybe this ghost wasn’t so terrifying after all. He certainly was erratic.
“So, what can I do for you?” she quizzed.
“Nothing. You can sit there and listen, and we’ll make this as quick as possible,” he said, before muttering under his breath, “I never used to have to do this nonsense.” Eberley decided it was best not to ask what he never used to have to do, but to wait and see instead. The ghost of eXams past yawned before starting dramatically:
“I’m here to show you what things were like when you were still a little darling. It all began in the spring of 2005, when you were born. Everyone was so pleased to welcome you. Your mother especially had been waiting to meet the child who would carry on the family legacy of brilliance. You lived up to the part too — the teachers loved you, and you always got the best grade in the class.” The ghost paused as he came out of character for a brief moment to say, “Where did it all go wrong?” Eberley scowled. “I’ll tell you where it went wrong!” continued the ghost before she had a chance to interrupt. “When the effort stopped, the progress declined drastically.”
“I never put in any effort anyway.” Eberley resisted the urge to say that she’d always been naturally clever, like her mother.
“Well, that’s exactly it, Rouge. You never put in any effort because you never really needed to. That meant when it became more difficult, you weren’t used to putting in the work required to keep your grades up. So, you see why in the past I never used to have to visit you?” Rouge nodded in response. The ghost continued, “I’d rather not have to keep coming back here. Let this be the last time!” He glared at Rouge before the blue mist came back, eerie as it was the first time, but this time when it disappeared, there was no trace of the ghost and Rouge hadn’t even noticed that the sky had already gone back to its normal hue.
Rouge lay back on her bed, remembering how easy school used to be. She didn’t want to admit that she found things hard now, and definitely didn’t plan on revealing her weakness by going to these revision sessions her school and parents kept trying to force her into. But the ghost had given her a scary warning — this much they had in common: she certainly didn’t want him to come back again either. But how would she prevent this? Cheating was out of the question, and Rouge couldn’t think of anything else. She sighed and resolved to call the ghost’s bluff. What could he possibly do if her grades didn’t improve? Besides, he was way too lazy to come back anyway. Rouge looked at the textbook on the desk at the far end of the room, then at the TV remote control. Easy decision.
Rouge’s third favourite TV show was about to come on, and she wasn’t about to miss this for anything. Just as she started to relax, she heard a low rumble that seemed to shake everything in her room, without affecting the trees she could see from her bedroom window, or in fact anything at all outside. Rouge’s face dropped. Was the ghost from the past back again?
To be continued…
Blog Post Crafted by Leticia
Leticia runs our Admin Team, supporting tutors, clients and applicants. She loves singing and will almost always be seen making a beeline for the microphone at any karaoke night!
Leticia manages the staff on our Admin Team, liaising with tutors, clients and applicants. She is also responsible for processing the ID, Qualifications, DBS Check and References for all our newly joining tutors.