"Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings" Oh how Gemma loved that old Christmas movie 'It’s a Wonderful Life' starring James Stewart, she had sat watching it again last night as the child in the story quoted the famous line at the end; Tears streamed down Gemma's face, it got her every time! It was Christmas morning and she was up early to put the turkey in the oven as the rest of the house slept on. She had set the alarm for 5am to make sure that the large bird would be cooked through so she didn’t have to worry about it later in the day, especially if her guests arrived early. Gemma always felt a little bit uneasy this time of the day in her big Victorian home, there were cold spots in the house, and a few times in the past she thought she had seen a shadowy figure, just fleetingly, in the hall.
Once again her parents and in-laws were coming over for Christmas dinner and although she looked forward to Christmas, sometimes she wished that someone else would volunteer to cook, just for once! It was the same every year, she had a house full, her elderly parents, her husband's parents, her brother and sister with their partners, plus her brother-in-law and his girlfriend usually came too. Although Gemma was happy to greet them she seemed to spend the rest of the day in the kitchen whilst they sat chatting in the lounge, sipping their Pims and glasses of wine and having little digs at each other like families do. Her husband Mick and son Johnny weren’t much help either, they just got under her feet, so she packed them off to the lounge as well, telling Mick to make sure the guest's drinks were topped up. Gemma hated to admit it, but deep down inside she resented the family coming to her house each year, she felt very taken for granted and would be glad when they finally went home, leaving her to chill for the rest of the night with her husband and son.
Taking the prepared turkey from the fridge, she placed it into the hot oven and glanced at the clock. It was still early so she decided to open her laptop and log into the virtual game of Second Life to see if any of her friends were there so she could wish them a Happy Christmas. She logged straight into her vitual SL home, a place where she felt safe and happy. She looked at her friends list and there was only one name highlighted as being on-line, it was her best friend Jo, so she was pleased to call her for a chat. Jo was busy at home in real life too, and she and Gemma only talked for a few minutes and then Jo had to log out.
Not wanting to return to real life yet, Gemma thought she would have a look around Second Life's New London Village, it was the ideal place at Christmas, a snowy London site with quaint little shops and beautiful town houses as well as all the famous real capital's landmarks. She teleported over and set her computer to midnight to make the most of the virtual fairy lights in the sim. Gemma headed for the West End area of New London where she could look in all the shops, her friend had a gallery there selling fine art and another friend had a Christmas shop with colourful xmas trees and snowmen for sale. As she got there she noticed someone on the steps of one of the houses. The man whose avatar name was Oscar Pembrose looked a little bit shabby and sad and Gemma decided to say hi.
"Hello Gemma" he said, "I've been waiting for you" "You have?" Gemma answered, wondering what was going on. "Yes" he said "Can you help me please" Gemma was curious now, why had this avatar been waiting for her, she had never seen him before, but there was something familiar about him. "How can I help you?" Gemma asked. "Well" the man said "I'm looking for my family, they always gathered here in this house for Christmas, but you seem to be living here now Gemma and I don't know where my family have gone" He seemed very upset and in trouble, Gemma was taken aback at what he had said. "Oscar I’m sure you will find your SL family have just moved to another place" she said trying to console him. But he looked at her with sad eyes and said "Gemma I can't find them, they were here and now they are gone, I wished I had told them how much I loved them all. I thought they were bothersome when we were together, always bickering and fooling around, but now I realise what a good time we had together and how special they are to me."
Gemma asked gently "Is this your real life you are talking about Oscar?" He didn’t answer, he just opened the door of the house and beckoned her to follow him inside. Gemma climbed the steps and entered a familiar room, the walls, the furniture, the carpets were a copy of her real home. Gemma shivered as she sat at her keyboard "what is this?" she asked Oscar. He turned and looked at her, "This is where they should be, my family, and I can't find them, I miss them so much" he said, a tear rolling down his face. Gemma felt aware of someone standing behind her in real life, turning quickly she could see it was Oscar and she gasped in shock. Strangely enough she didn’t feel frightened, he was just unhappy and needed her help, somehow he had contacted her through the virtual game and here he stood, a shadowy ghostly figure in her kitchen.
Gemma was shaking, but managed to talk to him "What year is this Oscar?" she asked. Oscar replied "It's 1950 of course Gemma" "But it isn't Oscar, it's 2017 and your family, just like you, must have passed on" Gemma had no idea where she had the strength from to talk to this ghost, but she felt so sorry for him, he must be the figure she thought she had glimpsed now and again since her family had moved here two years ago. "Passed on?" Oscar whispered. "Yes" Gemma said "Your family must be waiting for you to join them Oscar, you need to go to them" Oscar's expression changed from a frown to astonishment as suddenly the room filled with an eerie light. Oscar started to fade from view and Gemma noticed that he looked younger and no longer seemed sad. In the blink of an eye Oscar and the light had gone leaving Gemma stunned and shaking. She looked back at her computer screen and Oscar’s avatar had vanished too, the virtual house was empty, not a stick of furniture remained. Gemma looked in the Second Life search menu for Oscar, but she couldn't find him listed. She opened Google and searched for the 1901 census pages. Looking down the list she could see her street and house number and then she looked across to the occupants names. There it was, Pembrose, Mr Eric Pembrose, his wife Emily and their children Oscar and Elizabeth. Gemma made herself a coffee and sat wondering if she had just imagined it all. Then she remembered, she logged all her conversations from Second Life into one of her folders on her hard drive. Opening the 'chat' folder she searched the bottom of the page and there he was, Oscar and everything he had said to her in-world.
Later that day Gemma answered the front door to the first of her guests. As her Mum and Dad stepped into the hall she gave them a big hug and told them she loved them. The draft from the opened front door rustled the branches of the Christmas tree in the living room and Gemma could hear the ornamental bells softly tinkling. Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings, thought Gemma, "Happy Christmas Oscar" she whispered quietly to herself......... this will be the best Christmas ever for me with my family!
The End
(I first wrote this story for Christmas in Virtually London (Lite) in 2010)