Blanket Disclaimer: Do I look like my name is Butch Hartman? Do I look like a boy? No, I didn't think so.
Inspired by a "What If"
"Diamond! How good to see you again, dear!"
"You too, Granma."
"Is school okay?"
"Yeah."
Then Matthew asked, "Mother, how are you?"
"Matt, son, I missed you! And Jackie, you look as lovely as ever, dear."
"Thank you, Lucy."
"Hello, Granma," Diamond's older brother said.
"Jase, dear, you've grown so much!" Lucile exclaimed.
"It's only been a month."
The family set their bags down and gave Lucile Fenson hugs. They were planning on staying at her house for the weekend to give the old lady company. Diamond's parents claimed she was "unstable," due to her belief in ghosts.
"Diamond," Lucile said, "have I ever told you about your great-grandfather?"
With a sigh, Diamond replied, "Yes, Granma. Many times."
"When he was your age," Lucile continued, "He was not only human, he was half ghost. It all started when his parents, who were great scientists, made this machine called the Ghost Portal. Danny, my father, went inside and –"
"That's enough Mom," Matt interrupted. "Diamond's heard this story plenty of times. And, while it's a great story, it's not real. Ghosts don't exist. I loved that story when I was little, but you need to recognize truth from fiction."
"I'm too old for ghost stories, Granma," Diamond added.
"Oh. I understand," Lucile said, disappointed. Then, cheering up, she added, "Why don't y'all come into the kitchen for some apple pie? It's fresh."
"That sounds wonderful, Lucy. We'd love to," Jackie said. The Fenson family entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Lucile served pie and ice cream to everyone, and then sat down with her own slice. "So, Jase," she said, "have you thought about college yet?"
"Granma, that's not for another two years."
"I know, dear, but it's never too early to start thinking!" she said in an almost sing-song voice.
Jase sighed.
Jackie asked, "So, Lucy, what have you been up to lately?"
"Oh, lots, dear, lots! You should see my roses! They're absolutely gorgeous! I've got this one called Chocolate Rose, and it smells positively divine. This other one is named Voodoo, it's pink and yellow, and the blooms are huge! But my favorite is Bloodblossom; it's been in the family for generations! It supposedly wards off ghosts, hurting them if they get too near. However, if someone eats it, it no longer affects them. My father, Danny, learned that the hard way when he went back in time to defeat his arch enemy, Vlad. Apparently, though, it can't hurt halfas in their human form because Vlad –"
"That's very interesting, Lucy," Jackie cut in, "but what else have you been up to besides tending your roses?"
"Oh, yes, of course. I almost forgot. I was down in the basement to see if we could clean it out when I found some shirts Jase might like. Diamond, honey, why don't you go get them? They should be at the base of the steps, on the old table." Lucy stood up, collected the plates, and set them in the sink. Diamond stood as well, and said, "Okay, Granma."
She went through the laundry room, down the flight of stairs, and opened the creaky old metal door. Dust became unsettled as she stepped into the room and turned on the light. She coughed. Diamond quickly spotted the old oak table, to the right of the door. Its leg was broken, propped up on some old piece of metal. Diamond grabbed the top box after checking its contents. As she did so, something clattered to the floor. She picked it up. 'What's this?' She thought.
The device was old, she could tell that much. It was metal, probably steel, and shaped like a rectangle. It had a bright green blotch with a worn "F" etched into the side. The thing was hand-held, with a screen, red light bulb, and a mini satellite dish. A large antenna stuck out of the top.
Diamond flipped it over, and to her surprise, a compartment on the bottom had a screw that took a Philip's head screwdriver. She looked around, and spotted a tool chest. Grabbing a screwdriver, Diamond fit it to the screw and forced it open. Much greater surprise came when she discovered the thing took AA batteries.
She picked up the box of shirts and carried both back up to the kitchen. Setting the box on the table, she wandered into the living room, where her parents and grandmother were talking.
"Mm-hmm. Sounds fun. Oh, Diamond, did you find the shirts? What's that?" Lucile asked.
"Yeah, I found the box pretty easily. As for this, I'm not sure."
"Oh wait, let me see. Oh, that's just some old Lab equipment. My parents cleaned out most of it, but there's still some junk left over. By the looks of it, that there is the Fenton Finder, one of Jack and Maddie's earlier inventions. It detected ghosts using satellites."
"Oh," Diamond replied. She stared at it for a sec, then asked, "Do you have any AA batteries? I need a few."
"Yes dear, they're in the drawer by the sink," Lucile responded, pointing to the kitchen. Diamond walked off.
She opened the drawer, grabbed three, and went back down into the basement. She flipped over the Fenton Finder, and placed the batteries inside. She put the cover back on, then screwed it closed. Diamond put the screwdriver back in the red tool chest, then turned on the device. Its screen blinked to life. It was mostly a circular red grid on a green background. There was a red dot in the center of the screen, and a red line traveled in a circle, like radar.
Suddenly, an automated female voice spoke, startling Diamond.
"Welcome to the Fenton Finder. A ghost is near. Walk forward."
With nothing better to do, Diamond started walking, until she came to a stack of boxes. 'What now?' she wondered.
"Ghost to your right. Please turn," the Fenton Finder instructed. Diamond followed suit.
"Ghost to your right. Please turn," it said again.
Diamond brushed her hair behind her ear. "Stupid thing," she said, "it's broken."
"Turn around," the Fenton Finder replied coolly, "Ghost is now behind you. You'd have to be some kind of moron not to see the ghost directly behind you."
Diamond scoffed, but turned around anyway. Nothing was behind her, so before it could say anything else, she pushed the "off" switch. The Fenton Finder powered down. She laid it on the table.
Really looking around for the first time, Diamond discovered the basement was larger than she first thought. There were quite a number of boxes piled up, but the ceiling was still a good ten feet away. Diamond remembered her grandmother had told her and Jase the "basement" used to be a fully equipped Laboratory, specially designed for studying ghosts and creating ecto-weapons.
She could see some of the old equipment covered in sheets, like comical ghosts, still behind the boxes. She peeked behind them, and discovered there was Lab stuff all along the back wall. 'That's weird,' she thought, 'Granma said it was all cleaned out.'
Diamond checked the other walls, and sure enough, Lab equipment lined them all. Except one. The far right wall didn't have anything from the old Lab, just boxes collected over the years.
'Huh. Odd,' Diamond thought.
"DIAMOND! Come here!"
Diamond jumped. Recognizing the voice as her father's, she replied, "Okay, coming!" She bounded up the stairs. "Yes, Dad?"
Matt handed her a suitcase. "Go put this in your room," he said.
Diamond took her luggage and headed upstairs. She passed Jase's open door, and saw he was on his computer, his bag open on his bed. "What are you doing?" she asked from the doorway.
"Studying for the history test." He said without looking up. "It's a lot of work, so I need some quiet."
"Oh, okay." Diamond toted her bag down the hall and into her room. She heaved the bag onto her bed, unzipped it, and put her clothes in the dresser and closet. Then she shoved the suitcase under her bed. The fourteen-year-old then put her cosmetics on the dresser and stared in the mirror. She sighed. "What now?" she asked her reflection. The girl in the mirror stared back at her with baby blue eyes, searching for an answer.
Diamond combed her fingers through her hair, separating her white lock from the rest of her raven head. She had always found the natural coloring odd, yet kind of pretty. It wasn't even platinum blonde, just pure white, on the right side of her face. Premature white could be caused by major stress, but she'd had it for as long as she could remember, and her parents said it was there when she was a baby, too. She didn't know what caused it.
Of course, her grandmother would relate it to something ghostly; probably in relation with her great-grandfather. "It's hereditary, and you're very special," she'd say.
Diamond was interrupted from her musings when her father called her to dinner. When she got downstairs, her grandmother was relating some extravagant tale, and her mother was politely listening. Jase was reading a psychology book, and her father was helping himself to some mashed potatoes. Diamond sat down and scooped some green beans onto her plate.
"Diamond, honey, I was just telling how John Fenton Nightingale defeated the witch that fateful year…"
Is my characterization okay? Review please, concrit accepted.