Author's Note: So this was based off a dream that I had about myself and my two best friends, but I thought I would work it into a Danny Phantom story~ Obviously it is set before Danny was turned into a ghost and in an alternate universe. (I don't think I ever saw a Costco in the cartoon, haha.) The first chapter is really short—I'm kind of testing the waters with this one. If enough people want me to continue though, the next chapters will definitely be longer. :]
Chapter One
Ghosts. Are they real? Do they even exist or are they just made-up being used in Hollywood to scare people? Personally, I was never one to believe in ghosts myself. I believed in the afterlife and that everyone passed into it when their time on Earth was done. The fact that people believe that ghosts are just lost souls who for some reason or another can't pass in to it are what I like to call crazy. Ghosts are made for stories, ones that you tell on nights when you have nothing better to do.
It was exactly this that I was doing with my two best friends, Sam and Tucker, one evening while we sat in Sam's living room. We had all the lights turned off and the only light that illuminated the room was the soft ember glow of the crackling fireplace that she sat in front of.
We all sat in a circle on my floor and I swallowed uncomfortably as Sam told the story about this girl named Molly and her possessed doll. I had heard the story a hundred times over and told it numerous times to scare my sister Jazz, but the way that Sam told it sent shivers racking up my spine. In her hands she held a flashlight and like in typical ghost story moments, the beam of light was shining directly up at her, casting shadows under her already dark eyes.
"Molly…" she said in a high pitched moan, and then paused and grew serious. "I'm going to kill you."
At that moment, she quickly changed the direction of the flashlight and shone the beam straight on the face of a gothic porcelain doll that was atop of one of her many book shelves. Combined with the way the doll lit up and the already freaked out mood I was in, I let out a small scream and grabbed onto Tucker who shoved me off of him with a laugh.
Sam laughed. "You get scared of that story way too easily, Danny. You've heard that story how many times?" she asked, rolling the flashlight towards me.
I scowled and glared at Tucker who was snickering quietly to himself at how much of a wuss I was. I shivered. "Enough times," I said, picking up the flashlight. "It's still scary though, and you know I hate dolls."
"That's what friends are for," Sam winked and I took the empty pop can beside me and threw it at her with a laugh.
"I love hearing ghost stories," Tucker said, then chuckled. "Especially your guys' reactions when I tell them."
"You guys bore me half to death with yours," Sam said good-naturedly, yawning to add effect. "All of your stories are really lame."
"Shut up!" Tucker and I both laughed in unison and ducked out of the way as Sam threw the empty pop can back at us. I retrieved the flashlight beside me.
"Alright, whose turn is it now?" I asked.
"I just told mine, so it's…yours," Sam said and moved beside Tucker so that they were both facing me now.
"What? You know I suck at telling stories, especially scary ones," I groaned.
"Sucks to your ass-mar," Tucker quoted from Lord of the Flies and he and Sam hi-fived.
I scowled at both of them and set the flashlight down beside me. "Okay, fine then. It's not really a story, but it's just a rumour that I heard from my sister. Wanna hear it?"
Both Sam and Tucker nodded eagerly.
"All right… You know that my sister works at Costco, right? You know, the big warehouse type place? Well, I heard from her that they've got a ghost lurking around there. Apparently some teen girl wandered off and found the giant frozen food isle. She wanted to get some ice cream so she opened up the freezer and actually went inside of it. She managed to get locked inside of it though, don't ask me how, and she froze to death. The maintenance workers found her a week later frozen to death and customers have been scared to go down that isle because they keep hearing eerie moans and strange noises Everyone's convinced that it's haunted by her ghost… And that's that."
Tucker blinked once. "Wow, that's kind of spooky. Wouldn't somebody have heard her though trying to get out? Or have seen her?"
I shrugged. "That's the thing. Nobody saw her or even knew she was missing. It wasn't until after closing when her friends noticed she was missing."
"Some friends, but now I'm really curious. Hey, Danny, do you think we could go down there tomorrow?" Sam asked.
Tucker gasped. "Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking!"
I chewed on my bottom lip. "Seriously, you guys? It's only a rumo-"
"So it's settled! After lunch tomorrow, we'll go down to Costco," Sam chirped while I continued to stare at them like they had gone off the deep end.
"Oh come on, Danny," Tucker said after a moment, giving me a playful shove. "Like you said, it's only a rumour."
I laughed nervously. "Maybe after a good night's sleep you'll be thinking straight again," I said, stifling a yawn.
Moments later, all three of us were in our sleeping bags and I wedged between Tucker and Sam. But hard as I tried to fall asleep, it was hard not to listen to my two best friends excitedly chat about tomorrow's Costco trip and the girl who died in the freezer…