Notes: This has been sort of planned very vaguely in my head for...a little while now. Because of the vagueness, I'm not sure how this story will go, but I am sure how I want it to end. I love the Ghostly Trio and their interaction with Kat and Dr Harvey particularly, so this will no doubt centre around those guys, and rest assured no added OC's! Because I'm so foggy on the middle, I'll be happy to take shipping requests! Nothing graphic. This is strictly kiddy friendly. Although X-rated Casper is suddenly perversely amusing to me...Ok, enough rambling, on with the show-
Beyond Earth
Chapter 1
"You Don't Have To Be Mad To Live Here, But It Helps."
Kat looked at the sign hanging just outside her fathers bedroom doorway, rolled her eyes, and decided quite ferociously that she agreed, no matter how cheesy the sentiments.
She would hesitate a moment, listening to see if her dad was actually in, and when the expected silence met her, she'd continue down the spiralling staircase and greet the friendly sort of entity which floated near the banister.
Today's dreary Wednesday morning; a dreaded beginning to another school day, would have been no different, if not for the shrieking noise bouncing off the walls downstairs. It was her father, no doubt, and for a second Kat was concerned, until the shriek morphed into victorious cheers;
"We have a breakthrough! I've finally cracked something!"
"Cracked what?" Kat muttered, continuing a bored walk down the stairs of Whipstaff Manor. She was halted suddenly by the bright white which shot from out of the wall, and then Casper was before her, grinning quite widely.
"Casper," Kat took only a bare second to compose herself. She was quite used to the unexpected these days. She offered the small ghost a weak smile. "What's got into my dad?"
"It's great, Kat," Casper gushed, before tugging her the rest of the way down the stairs. "Oh, looking forward to another day at school?"
Kat cocked an eyebrow, faintly unimpressed. "You're kidding, aren't you?"
"Well," Casper shrugged. "I thought it's only polite to ask." he hesitated, and then; "So, that girl still on your case, huh?"
"I guess," Kat said. "Not just her, though. She seems to have created this entire army of anti-Kat people."
Casper looked sympathetic. "Hey, It'll all blow over, I'm sure."
Kat nodded, vaguely smiling as they entered the kitchen. There sat Doctor James Harvey, Kat's dishevelled looking dad. He was grinning wildly and scribbling notes furiously in a book.
"Oh, you missed it," he turned to his daughter with a flourish. "I think we made some real progress today, honey."
"With the trio?" Kat asked, only partially interested as she helped herself to a drink.
"Er, no," James sounded hasty, "But with Casper."
"Oh," Kat surveyed Casper with amused interest. "So, what did he discover? That ectoplasm feels like that sticky goo you get in toy shops?"
"Nah," Casper looked bashful.
"We got a glimpse of the other side," James explained, unable to keep the excitement from his voice.
Kat frowned. "other side?"
"You know, the other side. The place where ghosts cross over."
"What?" Kat looked apprehensive. "Casper nearly crossed over?"
"No, of course not." James said quickly. "But we did make vague contact with the other side. There was a tiny tear in the world for just a brief few minutes. It was fascinating, Kat. Truly. Imagine if I could call up the plane of my own will. I could exorcise troubled ghosts with ease!"
"It was pretty cool," Casper added with enthusiasm, noticing Kat's less impressed, much more horrified, expression.
"But...you...would Casper have gone to the other side?" she asked slowly.
"Of course not," James repeated. "I had total control, and so did Casper."
Casper nodded in eager affirmation.
"Well," Kat turned away and swallowed down her drink quickly. "I thought maybe you'd be working that sort of stuff on the trio, that's all."
"I'm working on it, pumpkin." James said meekly. "They're just...just...a little resistant."
"A little?" Kat looked at her dad, unconvinced.
"Maybe a lot." James smiled faintly. "But they're getting better, that's for sure. One of these days, I'm sure they'll decide to cross over."
"Ok dad." Kat said, her tone tellingly doubtful. To be honest, she wasn't much bothered by the trio's antics these days. She'd sort of got used to them. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Though she certainly knew, that if she didn't like the ghostly trio, she at least tolerated them.
"Where are those guy's, anyway?" she wondered aloud. It was not unusual on most normal days to be greeted at breakfast time by the trio; complete with rude remarks, gestures and general mischief. Some days she'd threaten them with the dust buster, though she'd never actually had to use it. Yet.
"Out, I think," Casper replied at once. "I think they've gone to the museum to do some pre-school haunting."
James shook his head, "poor kids."
"-guess again,"
Everyone turned to see the ghostly trio floating before them, all wearing expressions of complete contempt. Stretch, taking his cue as the self proclaimed leader, drifted forwards and cast Kat a nasty glare before settling at the breakfast table.
Kat wrinkled her nose and shifted away significantly. "What happened to spooking at the museum?"
"Aw, you know we prefer a big breakfast first." Fatso grinned, wedging himself in the gap between Kat and Stretch. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all." He placed a flabby arm teasingly about Kat, and she batted him away with clear disgust.
"Cutting it a little late, aren't we?" she tapped her watch. "All the little kiddies will be gone by now,"
"Who said anything about scaring the brats?" Stinky asked, joining them at the table.
"Yeah, we're just going for the big leagues today," Stretch directed a knowing smirk at Kat. She glared back. It was almost an instinctual rivalry between them now.
"Boys," James cleared his throat, taking a meek seat at the table, "Wouldn't you like a session today? Just a little one?"
"Eh," Stretch looked apathetic. "I dunno, doc. I'm just not feeling messed up enough for all that psychology."
Kat and Casper scowled at the ghosts sarcasm.
"You know, the more of these sessions you have, the sooner we can be rid of you," Kat said, full of wistful hope.
Stretch looked amused. "You'd miss me, wouldn't you?" he baited.
"No!"
"Aw. And we were all just getting so pally, too." Fatso guffawed loudly, once more wrapping a hand about Kat. This time she struggled to free herself, hating the unbearable coldness of ectoplasm against her skin.
"Ergh. Get off, you creep!"
"Hey, let's behave, boys." James warned, to little effect.
Fatso's laugh bellowed about the room as Kat finally pushed him away. The big ghost collided against Stretch..
"Hey, watch where you wobble, chubby cheeks," he scowled, pushing Fatso back into Kat.
"Ow!" she shrieked, before delivering a hard jab into Fatso's side. "Why don't you sit somewhere else?!" she demanded.
"But I like fleshies," Fatso said, not entirely sarcastic.
At this, both Stretch and Stinky raised an eyebrow at the large ghost.
"I mean, they have such squidgy skin." Fatso shrugged, guilty. "If I were alive, boy would I make the most of that skin. I'd fill it with fat!"
Kat's lip curled, revealing her disgust.
"Don't be a dope," Stretch knocked Fatso on the head. "You get skin, you get a bag of bones too. You don't want that, do ya?"
"Of course not," Fatso looked distraught by the idea.
"Bones make me feel icky," Stinky said with a shudder. He floated round to meet Kat, whereby he raised her arm; quite against her will. "Look, all boney!"
"Get off!" Kat slammed her arm back onto the table with a little too much force. She winced, struggling to hide her pain. Stretch was quick to see it;
"See, that's the problem with fleshies, they're always bumping into things." he observed with faint amusement.
"Luckily I'll never have to suffer bumping into you," Kat snapped waspishly, rubbing her sore arm.
"Aw. You got it all wrong," Stretch floated around to meet her, placing cold hands on the affected arm. "See? I can touch you no problem. Woulda thought Casper told you all about that." he exchanged a knowing snicker with Stinky and Fatso.
Kat was momentarily startled by the relief of the icy touch against her skin; almost instantly curing her smarting arm, though she was much more alerted by the fact she was being manhandled, once again, by one of the ghostly trio.
She shrugged the ghosts grip angrily off of her.
"Get off,"
"Touchy!" the entire trio chorused before collapsing into giggles.
"Please behave, boys," James said, sounding weak.
"Oh no, we've upset the doc, too!" Stinky cackled, floating over to him with ghastly intent. Casper quickly dodged between them.
"Hey guys," he pointed out the breakfast he had laid out, "Happy eating,"
The trio, temporarily sidetracked from their taunts, chorused their delight as they began gauging on the generous breakfast Casper had cooked up.
Kat watched on with unconcealed revulsion. James looked like he might say something for a short second, but as quickly as the thought flashed over his face; it as suddenly disappeared. His shoulders slumped into a familiar resignation.
"Well, maybe another day, alright, boys?" he said finally.
"Sure, sure," Stinky spoke through an open mouth of food.
Kat rolled her eyes. "Of course. That'll happen."
Stretch raised an eyebrow at her, mockingly affronted. "Never have I heard such bad manners at the table," he said, "did nobody teach this bratty bone bag such things when she was a baby, eh, doc?" he flashed a grin at James.
"Er," James looked mildly embarrassed.
"Dad, he's winding you up." Kat snapped. "They're the ones with the bad manners,"
"Well, I do try." Fatso was abashed.
"Honey," James looked at his daughter with heavy patience, "I'm trying to be understanding to both sides, here. Trying to see everyone's point of view."
"So you value those creeps' opinion over mine?" Kat questioned, angry.
"No, no, that's not what I'm saying at all," James said, flustered. "But you know, these guys, they've obviously got a lot of repressed anger right now. Lot's of bottled up, powerful feelings..."
James's rambling brought a sigh to Kat's lips, though the trio agreed whole heartedly. Stinky flung some food into James's face.
"I'm just full of anger, doc!"
"And lots of other repressed emotions," James continued, nonchalantly wiping the mush from his face.
"Tell me about it," Fatso agreed, zipping before James. "I'm so emotional I'm like an older women getting hot flushes." his transparency momentarily glowed a violent red and he let out a girlish squeal.
Stretch looked unimpressed. "Forget about it. The only emotional wreck round here is her," he jerked a thumb at Kat.
Kat frowned furiously. "I'm a teenage girl, I'm allowed to get emotional." she snarled. "You guys are dead."
"Your point being?" Stretch asked, with false politeness.
"My point being..." Kat blinked, frustrated. "My point being is you guys should just get lost!"
"Now Kat," James spoke tentatively, striving to keep his daughters wearing temper. "I'm sensing a lot of anger here..."
"You're not wrong, doc. She's heating up!" Stretch jeered.
"Like a kettle!" Fatso added, looking elated.
"What do you expect, dad?!" Kat finally snapped. "Everyday I'm subjected to these jerks, I go to some sucky school where everyone hates me, and my only friend is a ghost." she gestured fleetingly to Casper, and did not catch the flash of hurt in his eyes. "No wonder I'm angry!"
James tried to reason; "But honey, you know it's my job to do this..."
"Well I'm your daughter," Kat reminded coldly. She slammed her juice back on the table and stared at it harshly.
There was a small silence, broken with surprising tact by Stretch;
"Er, maybe we should be the ones giving the doc and his daughter the therapy sessions." he looked about him a little awkwardly. "How about it, boys?"
The other ghosts made noisy agreement.
"Yeah, doc," Fatso sided up to James, "have you ever considered a family psychiatrist? I hear they're pretty cheap these days."
"Jerry Springer's cheaper." Stinky pointed out.
"Plus you'll get the publicity," Stretch added.
"Perfect." Kat spoke; a mingling of exasperation and anger. "No wonder I'm growing up insane. My morning breakfast consists of a dad trying to worm some kind of nonexistent psychological angst out of three dead jerks."
"Anythin' else you'd like to get off your chest?" Stretch queried, a notepad and pen morphed into his hand.
"Yeah. How about you guys pissing off and getting sucked into the biggest vacuum in the world?"
"Ooh. Below the belt." Stretch laughed maliciously. Fatso and Stinky joined him.
"Ok, boys," James stood and made to shoo the three ghosts from the room. "If you've got places to haunt why not get to it?"
With murmuring reluctance the trio disappeared from the kitchen, leaving behind an uneasy quiet.
Casper looked between his two human friends with helplessness. He laughed very weakly.
"I'm sure my uncles will come round some time soon," he floated anxiously between Kat and James.
"I'm not so sure." Kat said frostily.
"But Kat, the more I make contact with them, the sooner they'll cross over. And you want that, right?"
Kat sighed. "I wouldn't care what the hell happened to them if they weren't such jerks."
James offered a strained smile. "Honey, I am really trying, and I truly feel like we're making progress."
"Dad," Kat wore a torturous expression, "you say that every day."
"And I mean it." James stood up from the table, with a rare stern face. "Just to prove it to you, I'll start the process today. As soon as they get back from wherever they've been haunting."
Kat folded her arms, sceptical. "You can't make them, dad. They're ghosts. They can do whatever they want."
"I think they're starting to listen to me," James's confidence was not deterred. "And with this new discovery that me and Casper made, who knows, we might get them to cross over tomorrow."
"I don't count myself that lucky." Kat muttered. She stood up, surveying her dad briefly. "Well. I'm going to get myself some sort of education, now."
"Ok, Kat." James grinned thinly. "Have a good day, ok?"
"Not likely."
"Hey, can I walk you?" Casper flew hopefully to her side. "Well...float you, at least?"
Kat smiled. "Sure,"
&&&
Notes: Dr Harvey's discovery of the "other side". Work with me, people. This is going to be elaborated on in the next chapter or so. And really, seriously, I will continue if I get a fair amount of favourable reviews. So, a nice review, pretty please? –puppy-dog eyes--
Credit; "You can't make them, dad. They're ghosts. They can do whatever they want."- this is taken, almost word for word, from Beetlejuice. ;) another great film.
-Lilby
Ps: I'm not sure if it sounds right referring to Dr Harvey as James. I dunno...seems a little weird. Someone let me know what they think.