The Name's Kharma - Miss Reaper if You're Nasty

Chapter 11 - Scrooged

Kharma entered Matthew Roman's bedroom well before sunrise. She was wearing a Tinkerbell costume and her hair was blonde and curly. She was floating above him, watching his dream play out in his head. Even in his subconscious, all he seemed to want was power. His dream took him from barking out orders to having beautiful women catering to his every need.

Just as she was getting sick of the slideshow in his mind, she noticed a woman standing in the shadows. It was an older woman, slightly slumped, watching Matthew with sad eyes. Kharma searched her memory bank for her, and played back the scene of escorting the woman to the Golden City. In life, the woman had been unremarkable -- living out her days in a small house in a small town. Her husband had been a poor provider and so she'd toiled sun up to sun down cleaning other people's homes. Her miserable life should have made her bitter, which typically results in a trip to the warmer option. But this woman had a child and she prayed for him every day, along with sacrificing every comfort for herself in order to save for his future.

That woman, Matthew's mother, had sent her son to college on the back of her hard work. And in return, he'd turned his back on her, allowing her to die in poverty -- of a broken heart.

She raised her hand and delivered a resounding slap across the man's face.

"OW!! What the fuck!!"

It felt so good that she did it a second time with her other hand.

Matthew sat up in bed, sputtering and spitting, which caused a fine spray of blood to cover his pristine white sheets. He blinked his eyes several times as he focused in on her.

"What was that for?"

In her best Carol Kane imitation, she said, "Sometimes you have to slap them in the face... just to get their attention!"

"Huh?" The bewilderment on his face would have been humorous if she wasn't so disgusted by him. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Oh, come on.... Scrooged? Bill Murray? Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present?" Kharma responded while indicating her outfit and wig.

"I'm not much of a Bill Murray fan."

Kharma felt her eyes bug out and she knocked him over the head with her fairy wand. "Well, that seals it. You are a lost cause as a human."

"I'm getting real freaking tired of you hitting me!" Matthew yelled as he tossed the covers off, which caused Kharma to laugh at the irony. And then she laughed at the tighty-whities that he was wearing.

Matthew stalked towards the bathroom and she followed. "You need to hurry. We've got places to go."

"I have to take a shower," he said, turning to shut the door, but faltered at the abrupt change in her appearance. This time she was wearing faded jeans, a Bill Murray t-shirt, and her hair was very short and bright pink.

"No one's stopping you." She raised an eyebrow and then laughed loudly when he slammed the door in her face.

Fifteen minutes later, Matthew found Kharma in his office looking out one of the windows while sipping on a glass of whiskey.

"Did you follow all my instructions?" She asked, back still to him.

"Look around... most of my furniture and all the paintings are gone."

"How much?"

"A little over three million," he replied and she could hear him swallow past the bile that rose in his throat.

Matthew could see the smile that overcame her face reflected in the window pane. "Excellent," she said, and then turned to face him. She pulled a sheet of paper out of thin air and handed it to him. "This is a list of six charities across the globe. Send half a million to each. Anonymously."