Why Danny Doesn't Like Scary Movies
AN: Yes, this is another co-written story and you WILL like it, ha! Don't forget to review, so we know what you want for the next one, and there will be a next one!
It was a dark and stormy night as Vlad Masters's limo drove up to the Fenton home.
Vlad smiled, his signature smirk of pure evil intention, knowing that what was about to occur would indeed be amazing.
Jack, Maddie, and Jazz were all out of town, leaving Danny all alone.
Vlad smirked to himself.
This would be perfect.
Vlad had plans, oh yes, perfectly evil plans of what to do with the young boy.
You see, young boys like to watch scary movies when they are home alone in a dark, quiet house.
Vlad had the ingenious idea of scaring the bejebus out of the boy, just for the fun of it of course.
Climbing out of the door of the limo, Vlad closed it silently and walked over to the first floor window.
Sure enough, there sat Danny, seated with a fist full of popcorn in one hand, remote in the other.
'This is gonna be good,' thought Vlad.
Danny, who was indeed engrossed in the horror film, didn't realize the predicament he had so precariously placed himself in.
Vlad, however, knew all too well about teen's and their misspent hormones.
Danny was paranoid, and if he didn't know it now, then Vlad was going to make it painfully clear to him in the next few hours.
Vlad walked back to the car, opened the car door again, and pulled out a large, black box.
Its contents were as followed: an alarm clock, frying pan, high powered magnets, a white sheet, butcher knife, and tomato sauce in case he wanted an order of fries…and rope.
He couldn't forget the rope.
As stealthily as he could, Vlad ducked into the alley that led to the Fenton's back door.
Beyond that door was the kitchen.
The fun had just begun.
Danny paused the movie, listening to the sudden quiet.
He could have sworn he heard the back door open.
Danny shook his head, choosing to ignore the sound.
He flipped on the TV and continued his viewing.
"Damn cat," Vlad hissed as the feline took off down the alley.
"When did they get a cat?" Vlad questioned as he rubbed his head.
The "damn cat" in question had ran out of the house just as Vlad opened the door. This in turn had startled Vlad, causing him to slam the door shut.
However, what Vlad had forgotten was that his head was on the inside and in slamming the door; he had effectively slammed the door on his head.
Upon feeling pain, he had quickly reopened the door. In doing this he had set the cat free, which had sprinted down the alley, far from the wrathful Vlad.
All of this had occurred without the realization of Danny.
'That was a close one,' thought Vlad as he removed the cap from the ketchup and his fancy leather shoes.
Pouring the ketchup on the soles of his shoes, Vlad smirked again to himself.
It was a pity to get ketchup all over those new shoes, but Danny's screams echoing into the night would definitely pay off.
After parading through the kitchen, Vlad phased out of the shoes, picked them up, and threw them out the open window.
Vlad smiled in appreciation as the yowl of a cat met his ears.
Danny paused the movie for the second time that night as he heard the ominous screech of a cat outside.
He took a deep breath and looked around.
Everything was as it should be, or, so he thought.
'It must be nothing,' thought Danny, turning the movie back on once again, 'I hope.'
Vlad looked at his handy work and smiled.
"Is this what zillionaires do in their spare time?" questioned Skulker from the doorway.
Vlad looked at his watch.
"You're five minutes late," said Vlad, looking up at the other ghost.
"I was delayed," replied Skulker with a smirk.
"At the library researching a gorilla," stung Vlad.
"Maybe," mumbled Skulker.
Vlad looked around.
"Where're Ember and Freakshow?" asked Vlad, noticing the absence of the other ghosts.
"Coming," answered Skulker, helping Vlad with the sheet.
"Well they better hurry," hissed Vlad, "it's almost midnight."
Oh yes, midnight, the famed witching hour.
You guessed it; Danny was terrified.
Strange noises had been echoing through the house the entire night.
Danny had responded by turning up the volume on the TV.
This approach however would no longer work due to Vlad's sinister plan.
At eleven to twelve, Ember and Freakshow made their appearances.
"Sorry we were late Vlad," apologized Ember.
"We had a little business to attend to," explained Freakshow giving a cruel chuckle.
"It doesn't matter," replied Vlad hastily, handing Skulker the butcher knife, "do you have everything?"
"Of course," answered Ember, her blue flame hair flickering in the dark kitchen.
"All right," Vlad said, "let's go."
Danny turned off the TV and sighed.
Five DVDs of blood-splattering violence certainly took their toll.
Wind rustled the curtains and Danny stood with a groan.
All night long, strange things had been happening.
Now it was good to finally lie down and…Danny stopped. Was that a whimper?
Danny quietly crept through the house, following the sounds of whimpering until he neared the kitchen door.
'Please don't let it be anything,' thought Danny. As he looked around, Danny found his old little leaguer baseball bat pushed up against the small cabinet that stood by the kitchen door.
With shaky hands, Danny snatched up the bat and made his way back towards the ominous kitchen door.
Creeping as quietly as he could, Danny walked to the door.
The sounds had stopped but that didn't mean anything.
Danny grabbed the doorknob.
"Ah ha!" he cried, pulling open the door and running smack into something hard that looked dangerously like a frying pan.
Danny, dazed, staggered into the kitchen and heard a squish beneath his feet.
When he looked down, he saw what could only be…blood. Footsteps of blood.
"Oh man!" Danny yelled as he ran around the kitchen.
"This is going better than I thought!" Vlad stated with a laugh as he and the others watched Danny run around the room from their hidden position in the pantry.
"Someone help me!" Danny yelled as he ran past the pantry.
"Doesn't he realize what it is?" Ember questioned.
"Obviously not," Freakshow stated as Danny ran by, colliding once again with the frying pan.
"Got to love magnets," laughed Ember, watching Danny get up and continue running around the room.
Danny careened around the kitchen and slid across the floor, slamming into the wall.
"Amazing," Skulker commented.
"You have no idea," Vlad stated with a devious smile.
As Danny stood from the floor, he heard a strange noise from upstairs.
Could it be? It was his alarm clock.
He would have to deal with this later.
Right now, he had to shut that alarm off.
"The alarm clock was a stroke of genius Vlad," commented Freakshow as he and the others watched as Danny exited the kitchen and went upstairs.
"Thanks to our planter," replied Vlad, turning to Skulker.
"Thank you very much," accepted Skulker, taking a dramatic bow.
"He's gone," hissed Vlad, "everyone to your places. Now the real fun begins."
After shutting off his alarm clock, Danny rushed into the kitchen, once again colliding with the frying pan.
"Who put that there?" Danny questioned as he stood up.
"Does he want an answer or was that rhetorical?" Ember questioned.
"Shut up before you give away our places!" Skulker exclaimed.
"We're under the sink. What kind of kid looks under the sink?" Ember asked in disbelief.
"Wait a minute…where'd all the blood go?" Danny demanded as he looked around the room.
"Told you he'd notice," Vlad stated aloof.
"Aw shut up!" Freakshow groaned, handing Vlad the ten dollars.
"It's not my fault," Vlad scoffed.
"Of course not," Freakshow commented, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Boys stop it!" Ember commanded as everyone focused their attention on Danny once again.
The group phased through the floor and into the lab below.
"Everyone knows what to do right?" asked Vlad, pulling on his gloves.
"Ready and waiting," replied Ember, strapping on her guitar and hiding out of sight.
"Ready," answered Freakshow, adjusting the ropes that held the speakers to the wall.
"Affirmative," said Skulker, pulling out the butcher's knife and handing it to Vlad.
"All right," said Vlad, pulling on his mask, "let's go."
Danny stood in the kitchen, completely dumbfounded.
Hadn't there been blood?
It was everywhere and now it was gone.
Danny was torn from his thoughts by…yes it was. Music.
Strange, strange music coming from the lab.
Danny ventured forth and down to the lab.
What he found there was…nothing, absolutely nothing.
Danny shrugged it off, turning to walk away when he heard it again.
It was the light reprise of an original theme that Danny just couldn't place.
"Why does that sound so familiar?" Danny questioned.
Danny stopped dead in his tracks.
He knew that song.
It was the theme from Psycho, the movie he watched first in his movie fest of horror.
He would have loved to just shrug it off, but no.
This was just too convenient.
Suddenly, Danny felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't turnaround," Danny told himself, "Don't turn around."
The stupid beat the sense in his thinking.
Danny slowly swiveled around and saw…a giant man behind him nearly twice his own height.
His marred face looked like something out of Stephen King's nightmares.
The figure wore a blood stained apron and brandished a giant bloody knife.
Danny did what his gut told him to and ran screaming down the hall like a little girl.
He sprinted up the stairs and rushed into his room, locking the door behind him.
He took a deep, calming breath.
There was no way that had just happened.
"Did you see the look on his face?" Ember laughed, climbing out of her hiding place.
"That was priceless!" Freakshow cackled.
"Now on to the second phase!" proclaimed Vlad.
Danny stood with his back to the rest of the room, his hand still resting on the doorknob.
He had to be imagining things.
He stood for a moment while he caught his breath.
Those movies were really getting to him.
He didn't have long to think for as he stood at the door, a hand reached through the floor and grabbed Danny's ankle.
Danny jumped back and watched the hand pull itself across the floor.
The hand would have been enough but the worst part was simply the fact that the hand was moving all by itself.
Danny watched in silent horror as the hand crawled over to his bed, up the nightstand, and onto Danny's bed.
Then the hand drew back the blankets and Danny's stomach.
The bed was not empty.
"Oh my gosh!" Danny exclaimed, jumping back.
Laying on the bed was the bloodied form of a female.
Danny gagged looking at her face of course it looked more like raw hamburger, blood oozed down the side of the neck.
One of her hands lay limp by her side while the other hung over the side of the bed.
"It's not real! It can't be real!" Danny choked.
"Oh it's real Danny. Everything is very real," an eerie voice stated.
"No, this is not happening!" Danny yelled in disbelief.
"Hi Danny!" a voice called.
Danny turned and to his dismay, saw Sam standing in front of him.
This wasn't strange though, it was the fact that her intestines were spilling from her stomach to loop around her feet.
"Don't you want to hang out?" Sam asked with a slow smile.
"No! Go away!" Danny yelled.
"Why won't you hang out with us?" Tucker's voice echoed in the small room.
Danny turned and indeed, there stood Tucker.
Tucker, whose hands were covered in blood, slowly began walking towards him.
The whites of the young boy's eyes had become totally red with blood dripping from the corners and sliding down his face.
Danny gasped in horror.
"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" he asked.
"I thought you liked scary movies," Sam stated taking a slow step forward.
"No! Not anymore," stated Danny truthfully.
"Isn't this great?" Skulker laughed.
"I do pride myself on giving ghost hallucinations," Freakshow stated with a smile.
"It always helps when they want to see things like that," Skulker stated.
"We couldn't have asked for a better set up," Freakshow laughed.
"I must say, Ember is doing great," Vlad commented with a smirk.
"Not everyone can lay perfectly still with raw, bloody hamburger on their face," Skulker nodded.
"Well Danny can barely stand watching it," Freakshow laughed.
"Shh," urged Vlad, quieting the other ghosts, "here comes Jazz."
Danny stood stock still as if hoping the dead woman in his bed and the mangled forms of his best friends would just disappear.
He tried to find a way out of the room filled with horrors.
There were only two exits: the window and the door.
The window led out into the dark, raining night and the door was blocked by the freakish figures of Sam and Tucker.
There was no way out.
Danny was still formulating a plan when there was a knock on his bedroom door.
With the scary Sam and Tucker in front of the front door, he couldn't really open it.
"Who could that possibly be?" thought Danny with enough on his mind.
He half hoped it would be his next door neighbor, Mrs. Kasey, over to check on him.
He was kind of surprised that the fire department wasn't bashing down the door after the whopper of a scream he let out in the basement.
Danny did feel kind of foolish being so scared, but he didn't have the time to think about it now.
The zombie Sam crouched beside the hinged side of the door while Tucker opened the door.
The door opened to none other than…Jazz.
But that couldn't be. She was staying at her friend's house on Green Street so what was she doing here.
A thousand ideas popped into Danny's head but they were soon distinguished by the look in her eyes.
She looked like a child.
It was hard to imagine, but Jazz's eyes made her look like a little girl.
Danny knew that look.
It only came out very rarely and it only came out when she was afraid.
"Danny?" she asked, her tiny voice out of place in all the mayhem, but before he could answer her, the zombie Sam came out from behind the door, giant knife in her hand.
Danny stood frozen while Sam moved closer and closer to Jazz.
Then Sam's face contorted into a sneer as she drove her giant knife into Jazz's face.
Jazz let out a scream as the knife smashed into her face, burying the blade in her skull.
Sam laughed as Jazz's face spurted blood all over her, Jazz, the wall, and the floor.
Danny finally found himself as he raced over to the aid of his sister whose blood now painted his wall.
"NOOOOOOO!!" Danny shouted, throwing himself at the zombies, but before he could reach them, the blood soaked Sam gave him a ghostly smile and disappeared through the floor, taking Tucker and Jazz with her.
Danny rushed over to see the three heads disappear through the floor.
"NOOO!!" screamed Danny, pounding on the floor.
"And cut," Vlad declared as the hallucinations came through the ceiling into the room below.
"Thank you very much," bowed Freakshow, his staff no longer glowing.
"Don't you think that was a little harsh?" asked Ember who had too entered through the ceiling.
"No," replied the three ghosts in unison.
"Men,' groaned Ember, scraping off the last of the hamburger.
"Shh," hissed Skulker, "time for phase three."
"No. No, no, no it didn't happen!" Danny grunted from his fetal position on the floor.
He slowly began moving, crawling across the floor until he reached the door.
He then pulled himself up and opened the door.
He looked around, expecting something but seeing nothing.
Danny quickly made his way downstairs and back into the kitchen.
In the spotless kitchen was food.
Ah yes, the guilty consumption of food and chocolate that was one main flag to look for in a denial patient.
Danny was a perfect example.
The boy opened the freezer and started randomly withdrawing items to guiltily munch upon.
Closing the freezer, he turned back to the counter that held the precious items and let out a scream like that of a little girl.
Sitting on the counter were no longer average items but those of a more horrific nature.
In a pool of blood lay: an eyeball, a severed finger, and hand (with all fingers attached), a few abstract organs, and a head.
Danny let out another scream before fainting on the spot.
"Well he's certainly never done that before," Vlad noted with disappointment.
"What should we do to him while he's out?" Skulker asked full of glee.
"I've got an idea," Ember volunteered with a smile.
All of the men gulped, each hoping that this plan would not be extremely painful.
When Danny woke up, he was lying, face down, in a puddle of mud.
"Pha," spat Danny trying to get the mud out of his mouth.
He wiped the last of the mud from his mouth, finding that the dirt was bound not by water, but by blood.
Danny jumped up, thinking he was in Connor's, the cemetery just outside of town, but instead, he was on the bank of some unknown creek in the middle of nowhere.
The moon hung high in the sky and the raining had stopped. Stars twinkled overhead, but he knew that something was terribly wrong.
He stared at the little river for a long time.
Part of him knew that he had to find the road and get back to the house and Amity Park, but he couldn't look away fro the shimmering water that seemed to sparkle in the silver moonlight.
Unfortunately, the longer he watched, the more sure he was that there was something in the water.
It didn't take long to make its appearance.
First hair, then eyes, and finally a whole face.
When Danny saw the face, he relaxed.
It was a girl, not more than seven, that looked like she had gone for a swim.
The edges of her lips were tinged blue.
She looked very cold.
She began moving, her eyes unwavering and her lips in an eternal line between a smile and a frown.
Danny watched as she came closer and closer to the shore until finally she stood only a foot away from his feet that lay on the shore while she stayed planted in the water.
At her full height, Danny could look her straight in the eyes while he lay on the shore.
Up close, she looked more like a china doll than a little girl.
Every one of her features were perfect, not an eyelash out of place despite the fact that she had, only minutes ago, been submerged in water.
As he watched, the face, the hair, and the eyes began sinking into the shimmering water again.
"No," Danny called to the girl, not wanting her to leave, but not sure why.
Danny stabbed his hand into the water, trying to pull her back up, but what greeted his hand was not that of a little girl.
It was a strong ghoulish hand that wrapped around first his hand and then his arm, pulling itself out of the water.
When it came to the surface, Danny could see its face.
It was haggard and gray, the skin rotting on the bones.
Its eyes were blood red and seemed to glow like hot coals in the night.
No lips were present. They had been replaced by two gigantic rows of razor-sharp teeth that gleamed with blood.
Its hair was thick and slimy and clung to Danny's skin as he was pulled down, down into the depths.
"A sea monster?" asked Vlad, watching as Danny squirmed, struggled, and screamed against the monster.
"Man you are so old!" exclaimed Ember, "Haven't you ever seen "The Ring"?"
Vlad flushed at her statement while she and Skulker high-fived.
"Now it's my turn," Skulker said with a smile.
Danny couldn't breathe in the blackness.
The thing, whatever it was, had let him go after swimming down a good way.
Danny tried to swim up, but he felt himself remaining stationary.
Danny chocked as the dark water began seeping into his lungs.
'If I had just one more chance…" Danny thought as his eyes closed.
When Danny's eyes opened again, he was lying on the shore again.
Not knowing where he was or how he got out of the water, Danny simply laid on the soft soil, gasping the sweet, sweet air.
When Danny finally caught his breath, he looked up to survey his surroundings.
He was obviously much farther down the river and almost forty feet away was a road.
The road sparked Danny's attention.
If there was a road, there were cars. If nothing else, he could follow the road back to town, wherever that was.
The sound of footsteps in the dark spurred Danny's senses.
It avoid being caught, Danny smacked his face back into the muddy shore, lying perfectly still.
When Danny looked up, he saw a man clad in black.
"Please don't hurt me," Danny begged.
"My dear boy, I was merely wondering if you could direct me to town?" the man asked with a slight English accent.
"Oh, um, I don't know where town is, but there's a road not too far away," Danny stated, glancing nervously from the man to the road.
"Ah, thank you ever so much," the man thanked with a slow smile.
"What exactly are you doing out here?" Danny asked standing up.
"Just looking for some of my friends," the man explained with a smirk.
"How did you loose them?" Danny asked with a laugh.
"Oh, they left me actually,' the man explained.
"Why?" wondered Danny.
"I guess they didn't like my ideas," the man stated.
"What ideas?" Danny questioned as the two began walking towards the road.
"My ideas of what to do to them," the man spoke.
"What are you a stylist?" Danny asked.
"Oh no, far from it," the man said with a wicked grin.
"Well what do you do then?" Danny pestered as they stopped at the side of the road.
"I'm a hitchhiker and I enjoy life as much as I enjoy taking it," he stated with a dark and sadistic smile.
The two walked in silence for quite a while.
Danny's face read pure horror while the man's face was plastered with a wolfish smile.
Danny's mind spun, trying desperately to find a way to escape this crazed man, but nothing came to mind.
He kept his eyes trained on the ground, hoping not to irritate the man by his silence.
Polite conversation is usually the key, but after all that he had been through today and the fact that he had no idea what to expect, Danny found few words and those he found, he stumbled on.
"S-s-so," Danny stuttered, "what's your name?"
"I go by many names," replied the man as they continued down the lonesome highway, "but most simply call me Doctor de Muerte."
Deep inside, Danny gulped.
The little Spanish he knew told him that "muerte" meant death and that he was in serious trouble.
With no where to go, Danny simply trudged on.
They must have walked for over an hour in silence before suddenly, Doctor de Muerte spoke.
"Look, a car," exclaimed the doctor, pointing to the pair of shining lights that glowed around a distant curve, "now's our chance."
Danny stared at the on-coming lights, his face indifferent while his mind was tense with horror.
Those people had no idea what was in store for them and for that matter, neither did he.
There was no way of warning them so the least he could do was distract his crazed acquaintance.
"It looks like a bus," said Danny, squinting at the lights, maybe we should wait for the next one."
Danny knew the excuse was stupid, considering the fact that they hadn't seen another car all evening, but that wasn't going to stop him.
Unfortunately, that little hope was squashed when the doctor spoke again.
"No, it's too small," replied the doctor, his ears turned towards the lights, "it's a car."
His voice was one of longing and his eyes sparkled with glee.
It was apparent to Danny that this man was no amateur.
"Now just stay quiet and let me do the talking," instructed the doctor as he pushed Danny to his other side, away from the road.
Danny had no choice but to follow along.
Danny watched with baited breath as the car drew closer and closer.
He glanced once again at the doctor and was frightened by what he saw.
The man was smiling with one hand in his pocket, fingering something that Danny could only hope, was a cell phone.
When the car was only about twenty feet away, the doctor ran out in front of it, waving his arms madly.
"Help!" he cried, "my son needs help."
Danny frowned in distaste.
Of all the ideas he could think up, that had to be the worst.
Danny staggered over to the car where the doctor was fervently explaining the situation.
A few moments later, the two males were riding in the car.
The doctor was sitting behind the driver while Danny who 'was in severe pain' sat in the front.
"So where were you headed," asked the driver as Danny gave a moan of pain.
Danny himself had no idea where he was going, especially since he had no idea where he was so he relinquished the reigns of the conversation of the doctor.
He didn't disappoint.
"Greenville," he answered bluntly as if trying to avoid more questions while his words sent urgent messages to Danny's brain.
Greenville?
That was over 200 miles from Amity Park.
How could he have traveled 200 miles by himself?
So many questions, no answers.
"What do you mean you lost him?" Vlad yelled, his face turning red.
"I left him unconscious in the woods! He was fine! When I came back with the ax, he was gone!" Skulker stated as he dodged the plate Vlad threw at him.
"How could you loose a fourteen-year-old boy?" Vlad screamed, chucking a pan at the ghost.
"I just explained it to you!" Skulker yelled incredulously.
"You mindless, brainless, hunk of ectoplasm!" Vlad yelled, emphasizing each slur with a thrown object.
"How hard can it be to find him?" Ember asked, watching the scene from a safe distance.
"He could be anywhere!" Vlad roared, finally giving up on trying to kill Skulker with the cutlery.
"I'll use my staff to find his location," Freakshow volunteered.
"Sounds genius," Ember nodded.
"If it works," Skulker murmured from his crouched position behind the up ended table.
"Not another word from you!" Vlad growled, blasting the table to smithereens.
"I've got his location!" Freakshow called, causing the entire room to still.
"Where is he?" Ember questioned.
"Madison, Wisconsin," Freakshow stated.
"But that's where I live!" Vlad exclaimed.
"Could this get any worse?" asked Vlad, pounding his fists into the kitchen, leaving huge dents in the dull surface.
"What's the matter?" asked Ember, "Madison's good because you know the town. We can find him and scare him there."
"Yeah," agreed Freakshow.
"What's wrong with that?" questioned Skulker, hoping it was safe to speak.
"You don't understand," replied Vlad quietly, turning away from the other three, then spinning back around, he added, "there's someone in Madison."
"Well duh," said Ember, "There's a lot of people in Madison. That's why it's a city."
"That's not what I mean," Vlad stated, "There's a dangerous person, a killer. He usually hangs out in the outskirts of town."
Skulker and Freakshow glanced at each other and smiled.
"Is he a friend of yours?" asked Skulker.
"Maybe we could drop a call to him," agreed Freakshow with a sneer.
"You don't understand," repeated Vlad, "I know him."
The other three exchanged glances.
"Is he your brother?" asked Ember.
"Is he your friend?" asked Freakshow.
"Is he your cousin?" questioned Skulker, all the good options taken.
"NO!" replied Vlad irritably, "I've got a police scanner. You guys should lay off the Lifetime."
Then grabbing his coat, Vlad pulled it on and started out the door.
"We've got to go find him," Vlad stated.
"Why?" questioned ember, not moving from her post.
"Weren't we supposed to scare him anyway?" asked Skulker.
"Yea, this killer might be doing us a favor," commented Freakshow.
"We're supposed to scare him, not kill him," said Vlad.
"What's the difference?" questioned Freakshow.
"There's a huge difference!" shouted Vlad impatiently, but the second the words left his mouth, he knew he had made a mistake.
"Ah, isn't that sweet," said Ember, batting her eyes daintily.
Vlad knew he had to cover himself quickly before he looked like a complete idiot.
"If nothing else, we can save the honors for ourselves," offered Vlad quickly.
The other three looked at each other.
"Okay," agreed Skulker, "let's go."
The doctor and Danny arrived at Vlad's mansion in the afternoon.
The sun had begun the slow process of sinking.
The air was becoming colder and Danny was duct taped to a chair in Vlad's living room.
'Let me go!" Danny yelled as he tried to free himself.
"No, I need you," the doctor stated, opening a small bag that just so happened to be filled with sharp objects.
"I'm a teenager! What could I possibly do for you?" Danny pestered.
"I need you in order to get something I want," the doctor stated.
"What could you want that needs me?" questioned Danny, trying desperately to make sense of this.
"Power, money," listed the doctor, "attention."
"If you want attention, I suggest working on, like, a hobby," reasoned Danny, "I know of a bubble-blowing contest that I think you might be good at."
"Shut up!" shouted the doctor, brandishing his giant knife in front of Danny; the same knife he had used to kill the driver and passenger of the car that had brought them to Vlad's mansion.
Danny pulled away from the knife.
"Did you have to kill them?" he asked, his voice feeling small.
"They outlived their usefulness," sneered the doctor, putting his knife away.
"Besides," he added, giving Danny a crazed smile, "I only need one hostage."
Danny sank back into his seat while the doctor made himself comfortable on Vlad's pristine green and gold sofa.
"How are you going to get your money and power?" asked Danny, trying to concentrate on anything other than his predicament.
"I'll get the attention of someone important," replied the doctor, sipping some brandy from Vlad's crystal decanter.
Danny's eyes grew wide.
"The president?" he asked in awe.
"No," answered the doctor, "someone powerful."
While Danny chewed over what the doctor had said, he realized how hopeless his situation was.
'This sucks,' he thought, watching Dr. Muerte guzzle down Vlad's fancy liquor.
"Could you hurry it up!?" hollered Vlad from the back seat of his BMW as the group drove down the highway to Madison.
"I'm going as fast as I can," answered Skulker from behind the wheel, clad in old lady costume.
"Why are you so worried?" asked Ember, straightening her stick on mustache, "you were the one who said we had to drive."
"I wanted us to blend in," explained Vlad, adjusting his own hat and wig.
"I don't think this is blending in," replied Skulker, trying to fix the dress that covered his exoskeleton, "in case you haven't noticed, little old ladies don't drive BMWs."
"That's another thing," complained Ember, her flame hair glowing under her toupee, "why couldn't I be the girl of this? I'm the best at it."
"That was the only dress size that my cook has," replied Vlad.
"Humph," pouted Ember, folding her arms across her chest and staring out the window, "multibillionaire and he can't afford a dress."
Trying to shift the blame on someone else, Vlad turned to Freakshow who was sitting next to him, clad in Snidely Whiplash mustache and grinning like an idiot, glowing staff in hand.
"Well at least I didn't bring along my giant staff for when we were trying to look inconspicuous," commented Vlad.
"I had to bring my staff," replied Freakshow thoughtfully, his smile fading.
"Really?" asked Ember curiously, "Why?"
"Because they prepare all my meals," laughed Freakshow.
"Ahg!" groaned Vlad and Ember in unison.
"Stupid costume glue fumes," grumbled Ember.
"I don't think there's much up there to mess up," snorted Vlad.
"Shut up," said Skulker, "We're gonna miss the turn."
Two hours later….
"You seriously think that I attract Vlad's attention?" Danny laughed.
"Of course you do!" the doctor exclaimed.
"Prove it!" Danny challenged.
The next instant, Vlad and company crashed through the doors of the room.
"Case and point," the doctor smiled.
"Give me back that boy!" commanded Vlad.
"Let's talk business," the doctor stated.
"Oh please, not another one of you ridiculous carnival freaks," Vlad sighed.
"I take offense to that!" Freakshow growled.
"Sorry, but look at the guy! He's probably some Spanish hack of a doctor," Vlad explained.
"I take offense to that!" the doctor growled.
The doctor turned towards Danny and the chair, his back to Vlad.
"Now let's not be hasty," reasoned the doctor, walking over to Danny and resting his hands on the top of the chair, inches from Danny's head, "I'm sure we can work something out."
Vlad glanced from Danny to the doctor.
"I don't think so," he answered calmly.
Vlad watched the doctor's face, expecting the usual disappointment and confusion.
Instead, the doctor smiled.
"I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this," he said almost sadly.
One hand broke away from the top of the chair and returned moments later with a pistol: pointed at Danny's head.
"Your turn," stated the doctor, pistol unwavering in his hand, "choose wisely: the money or the boy."
"Is this what happens? You'll kill the boy for money?" questioned Vlad, taking a step forward.
"I can and I will," the man said with a smile.
"Do it," Vlad stated walking forward.
"What? You don't mean that," the doctor exclaimed
"I said do it!" Vlad yelled.
"Somebody help me!" Danny screamed in fear.
Bang! The gun went off with a deafening sound and everyone in the room froze.
Then Vlad laughed, the doctor laughed, and Danny cried.
Out of the gun's barrel protruded a stick with a flag that read 'bang'.
"Oh, that was priceless Vladdy!" the doctor laughed.
"You mean you knew him?" the gang of ghosts plus Danny exclaimed.
"Of course," Vlad laughed.
"I don't believe this!" Danny stuttered.
"No joke! After all the plates that you threw at me," Skulker sulked, still in his old lady costume.
"So it was your gang that's been terrifying me?!" Danny asked incredulously.
"About time he got it," Ember laughed, removing her disguise.
"There's hope for him yet," Freakshow sighed.
The doctor brought out his giant knife once more, this time slicing the duct tape that held Danny to the chair.
"What about the guy in the basement/" asked Danny, still a little confused.
"Yours truly," replied Vlad, waving his hand.
"And I helped," added Skulker.
"And Jazz? Tucker? Sam?" questioned Danny.
"All me," laughed Freakshow, pulling off his mustache carefully.
"The sea monster?" Danny said.
"Mine," admitted Ember.
"What about the people in the car?" wondered Danny, turning towards the "doctor".
"Well," he replied, "they did die."
"What!" shouted Danny, in no mood for jokes.
"Just kidding," explained the doctor, "it was just ketchup."
"A lot of ketchup," agreed Vlad.
"But then, who are you?" asked Danny to the doctor.
"I am the Box Ghost," he answered dramatically, "Beware!"
"You have got to be kidding me!" stated Danny, hating the idea that he had been outsmarted by the Box Ghost.
"You're right," the man admitted.
"This is Wilkens," introduced Vlad, "my butler."
"Ah ha!" the other ghosts said in unison, " the butler did it."
"You know, this was a lot of fun," said Ember thoughtfully, "we should do it again sometime."
"Yea," replied Danny, "on one condition."
"What's that?" Vlad questioned, wiping the last of the ketchup off his shoes.
"Leave me out of it," stated Danny to the amusement of the other ghosts.
The End