Disclaimer: The author would like to say-oh forget it. I don't own anything.
29. Happiness
A week.
That's how long it had been since the accident, a week since he'd unknowingly stepped into the portal and turned it on. A week since he'd died.
Shuddering, Danny dispelled the last thought. He was not dead, he couldn't let himself think that, it was just too repulsive a thought to consider for even a moment. He wasn't dead, he wasn't a ghost, and he most definitely wasn't sinking through the floor.
Wait-what?
Danny yelped and leapt up instinctively, willing himself tangible the second he pulled his limbs from out of the floor. Goosebumps traveled up and down his arms at the bizarre sensation of shifting from one state of existence to another, it was almost like being doused in ice water only more distant, less noticeable. But still creepy.
It'd been a week, and he still had absolutely no control over the bizarre powers he'd been granted with several days before. Why him? Why not some other random kid from off the street, someone whose life wasn't already freaky enough? Oh, right, because he was the one with ghost hunters for parents, and because he'd been stupid enough to goof off around one of their more dangerous inventions.
And because of his lovely little mistake, now he was dead. Well, perhaps dead wasn't the best term for it, half dead maybe? Danny wondered briefly, thinking it best to conclude he was half ghost. Half dead, half alive. He could live with that. Nothing too abnormal here, just a living dead freak, that's all.
Yeah, perfectly normal.
Sighing in defeat, Danny climbed the stairs to the Op Center, carefully and quietly as to not wake the other members of his family. He needed time to think, a place to relax, and that's exactly what the mountain of metal and machinery perched upon his roof offered.
Unbeknownst to the other residents of his house, the Op Center had always been his place to relax, his safe haven. A place to hide during fights with his sister, a place to escape his insane parents, a place to look up and watch the stars.
In part, it had been the view from the Op Center that had first inspired him to someday become an astronaut. When Danny was younger, Amity Park was much smaller, so the skies had been clear enough at night to get a decent view of the stars on any given night. Had it not been for this early exposure to space, not to mention technology via his parents, Danny might still be pursuing his childish dream of driving an ice cream truck for a living.
Smiling slightly at the memories, Danny reached the top step, clambered onto the top of the building, and looked upwards towards the sky. However, the heavens above the Op Center were no longer the same, he couldn't help but be upset that the view he'd come to know and love was no longer visible behind a thick layer of light pollution. When Axion Labs had opened up an Amity Park branch, the population exploded, and now you were lucky if you could find more than two or three lights scattered amongst the night sky.
Despite the ruined view, he still couldn't help but be entranced by the vast expanse of space and wish he could simply jump into the sky and fly away from it all. Life was just too stressful at times and he'd often find himself needing a break, but Danny had the sneaking suspicion things were only going to get worse due to recent events involving a certain ghost portal.
Casually lying back, Danny couldn't help but wonder why the few scattered stars seemed slightly closer than they had been a few minutes ago. His answer came when he fell over backwards and flipped over completely, slamming face-first onto the steel roof of the Op Center.
What the...? How had that happened? Mystified and curious for an answer, Danny rubbed his head lightly in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain before looking downwards.
And then immediately wished he hadn't.
He saw the roof beneath him, just as it should have been, the problem was that he was floating several feet above it as opposed to sprawled out directly on top of it. Miraculously suspended in midair over the building, Danny's eyes widened to an almost comical degree as he silently hovered for a good thirty seconds or so before the gravity of the situation began to sink in.
He was floatingHoly crap, he was actually floating! Did that mean…he could fly? Trembling faintly, he willed himself forward, shocked when his body actually responded and sent him gliding over the town at a lazy pace.
All apprehension, all fears, all worries simply vanished out the window as Danny hollered with glee, spiraling higher and higher still into the air, effortlessly drifting across the city's skyline. He'd dreamed of this for years, maybe under slightly different circumstances, but still. (so the spaceship was missing-so what?) So enthralled with his fledgling flight, he never even noticed the fact that he'd switched into the spectral form he'd acquired when the portal had electrocuted him a week prior.
A far off part of Danny's mind quietly reminded him that this was most likely a ghost power, and that it would come with as many downsides as it did advantages, but at the moment he was too blissful to care. He'd worry about it later-for the time being, his mind was too busy concentrating on the sheer sense of freedom that came with flight.
Maybe being a ghost wasn't that bad after all.
A/N: R&R if you wish to do so, all reviews welcome. Constructive criticism gladly accepted, unhelpful flames however will be ignored. Thanks for reading!