Convalesce- Chapter 1

This was very fun to write, and I'm making a multi chapter thing! That isn't just a bunch of one shots! Yay!

The RV rumbled up the pristine driveway to the facility. The moon lit the field around the windowless building. It stood about two stories tall, and was painted a bright, obnoxious white.

The facility was known to be an animal testing facility. The first floor was a few labs and a front desk. The second floor was a mystery. The Public was not allowed and when asked, the managers only said 'Offices'.

That was our target. The mysterious second floor where illegal testing and experiments might be going on. We were supposed to go in, free the test subjects on the first floor and investigate the second floor, freeing anything we come across. There wasn't any night guards, and we'd already disabled the security system.

We were to take the cages from the facility and put them in the RV and bring them to the nearest Humane Society.

So, obviously, when we got there, the plan went to pot.

There weren't any animals on the first floor. There were signs that there had at one point been animals there, strands of fur wedged into corners, the smell of wet dogs, a rubber dog bone thrown into a forgotten corner, but no animals. Nothing.

The second floor, however was very interesting.

It was a labyrinth of bright white walls and curious machinery. There was no signs of animals ever even being there.

We walked cautiously through the hallways, creeping deeper into the building.

We stopped when we heard something thump against a door. The door was made of cold steel, the walls surrounding it were an even white.

Something behind the door shuffled away and the noise abruptly stopped.

Mom jiggled the knob and twisted it, pushing the door open as she did. The thing in the room whimpered and cowered in a corner.

Wait a minute.

That's not a thing. That's- that's a person.

What

I- I- What?

There was a small person hiding in the room. He looked to be a few years younger than me with big blue eyes and very short hair. His hair was shorter in some square patches than others, what would be obvious evidence of surgery or experimentation in an animal at a facility like this, but, a teenage boy?

His clothes were filthy gray scrubs. He held onto a dirty yellow towel like a lifeline. His eyes flicked wildly from Mom, to Dad, to me.

He started stuttering "W-who are you?"

We blinked and looked at each other. Mom answered.

"We- we're here to help. What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

"Well, we guessed that. But why?"

"I don't know."

Mom sighed in growing frustration.

"We're here to free you. We're gonna get you out of here."

"What is 'free'?"

Mom froze for a moment

"It's-it's when you can do what you want when you want without anyone stopping you."

The boy pondered this for a minute before creasing his eyebrows and shrugging.

"Do you have a name? Something they call you by?"

"They call me lots of things."

"Anything that you like?"

The boy's face twisted into a perplexed expression and he looked down at the ground a moment.

"The first handler they gave me called me Daniel. I think he quit, but I'm not sure. I liked him."

He said the last bit like the words were foreign.

"Do you want to be called Daniel again?"

Daniel nodded.

"Do you want to be free, Daniel?"

He paused before slowly, he nodded again.

"Come with us. We'll get you out of here."

She offered a hand to help him up and he took it, standing up. Mom pulled him into the hallway and motioned for me and Dad to follow. We stepped after her and walked behind her and Daniel.

We made our way back through the building. Mom asked Daniel if there was anyone else like him in the building and he shook his head no.

We finally got to the front doors when Daniel stopped.

"Daniel? What is it? We're almost out."

"What is that?"

He pointed at the windowed front doors with a worried look on his face.

Mom furrowed her brows and looked at the door before her eyes widened and she explained.

"That's the outside. It's where we're going."

"Is it safe?"

"When you're with us it's safe."

Daniel shuffled closer to Mom and she grabbed his arm, pulling him out the door.

Once we were all outside, we started towards the RV. Daniel stayed back. He stood transfixed.

The sky was turning a dark orange in the east, and the west was a deep black. Thousands of stars dotted the sky. A warm breeze rustled through the well kept lawn and green, leafy trees. Daniel's jaw had dropped and his eyes tried to look everywhere at once, he sucked in more of the sweet outside air and sniffed at the earthy smell of dusty wind.

"Do you like it Daniel?"

His gaze stopped on Mom and he smiled.

"Is it like this everywhere?"

"Sometimes. It changes every day."

His eyes bugged out of his head.
"How does it change every day?!"

He was baffled by the science of having a varied day. Mom chuckled and answered.

'I don't know. It just does."

She motioned for him to come after us and he quickly obeyed.

"Oh, dear. I forgot to introduce us. I'm Maddie-" she pointed at herself "-this is my husband, Jack, and this-" she gestured at Dad and then to me "-is our daughter, Jazz."

"What's a husband? And a daughter?"
"Uh- They're very important people that I love very much."

Daniel only looked more confused.

"What is love?"

Mom's face melted into a look of pity and concern. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"L-love is when- it's when you like someone a whole lot and you want to spend all of your time with them."

Daniel blinked a few times before trying and failing to escape her grasp. She kept holding him, barely holding back tears for the poor boy. Daniel was just very confused.

"Maddie? What is this? What is happening?"

Mom let go of him quickly and backed off, rubbing the tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh-oh, sorry Daniel, it was a hug. It's how you tell someone you like them."

Daniel nodded and walked up to Mom. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders awkwardly.

"Like this? Am I doing it right?"

"Y-yeah, Daniel. That's perfect. Oh, we should get going. We don't want to get caught."

Mom pulled Daniel back in the direction of the RV, while Dad and I looked at each other for a moment and followed after them.

Daniel had been amazed by the car. He kept pushing all kinds of buttons and asking all types of questions about basic things, like 'What is music?' or something like that.

We eventually pulled over into a gas station. Mom told Dad and I to get out of the RV, and Daniel to stay.

We stepped out of the RV and walked around the back so we could talk privately.

"What are we going to do with him? He's, what?Fourteen?"

Dad spoke up "We could give him to an orphanage. They take in kids all the time without any questions."

"Dad, we can't just send him to an orphanage. He's as naive as a baby. He'd never even been outside before today. He could stay with us. We've got that spare bedroom at the house. He could stay there."

"Yeah, but what are we going to do with him? We could teach him how to socialize, but what if he has some kind of strange condition because of the facility." Mom added

"We could ask him. He's bound to know if he needs something or if he thinks he needs something. We could ask him if he could do something his handler couldn't."

Mom and Dad nodded at my suggestion.

"Ok, we'll ask him. But what if he needs something important? What if he was getting a special kind of pill at the facility that isn't found anywhere else?"

Mom sighed after she thought a moment.

"We'd have to give him up. We could give him to a hospital or a police station. That's what people so when they give up a kid. They just leave them somewhere like that and the people there take care of it. It's better than sending him back to that lab or to an orphanage."

We frowned, but agreed.

Dad filled the RV up with gas and Mom and I went in to talk to Daniel.

He was sitting in the same spot where we left him, marveling at having control over the door light. He flicked it on and off over and over again.

Mom cleared her throat and called out to him.

"Daniel."

He stopped turned to face us.

"What?"

"We need to talk."
"Okay."
"Uhm, at the facility, did your handler or whoever ever give you something special to eat or drink? Something you're supposed to have?"

Daniel shook his head no.

'Can you do anything that your handler couldn't? Do you know what they did to you?"

Daniel nodded.

"Really? What?"

"They said I was a human/ghost hybrid. Everyone else said that they were human."

Mom and I stood there, slack jawed, staring at Daniel.

"Wh-wha-really?"

"Yeah."

"Wh-how did that happen? Do you know?"

"No."

His lips quirked up into a small smile before his face fell again.

"Is it going to be a problem?"

"No! No, Daniel, you're fine."

Mom turned to me and got a severe look on her face. She turned back to Daniel and started.

"What does being half ghost mean?"

"I'm half human and half ghost. I am human and ghost at the same time."

"No, I mean- what can you do because of your ghost half?"

"I have a ghost form, I can fly, turn invisible and intangible, the basic ghost powers."

Mom grunted and nodded.

"Can we see your ghost form?"

Daniel straightened his back and a bright ring of light formed at his waist and split into two. One moved up over his head, the other moving down his legs. The rings changed the dusty white clothes turned black, his black hair turned into a dirty white, and his ice blue eyes turned a bright green.

We stared at the transformation in awe. How often do you see someone turn into a ghost?

"How is that possible?" Mom whispered.

"I don't know."

Daniel looked down and transformed back to his human self with those words.

"Sorry."

"Danny, it's fine. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Danny?"

"Sorry, it's a shortened version of Daniel."

Daniel thought about it for a moment before repeating,

"Danny." he paused, "I like it."

Mom blinked.

" Really? Do you want us to call you that?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, Danny it is."

Dad hopped back in the RV and turned the key.

"So, Daniel, do you have anything you like to do?"

Danny corrected him.

"Call me Danny."

"Okay, Danny. But what do you like?"

Danny got a worried look on his face and shook his head.

"What do you mean?"

Danny hesitated before he slowly responded.

"I don't like a lot of things. I don't know what there is to like."

Mom made a small noise of pity and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Danny. You'll find something to like."

Danny nodded and Dad pulled out of the station. We drove for what seemed like hours, heading back home to Amity Park.