"Who is that?" A familiar voice echoed through the dark room, bouncing through the shadows in an echo-y whisper.
Danny tensed, holding his breath.
"I know who you are."
His green eyes scanned the dark area in a desperate attempt to see. All he could make out was a desk on the edge of the room, now cluttered with papers that he couldn't make out, and a shadowy figure in the far corner.
"I'd recognize those eyes anywhere."
Danny looked around more frantically now, a recognition clouding his features that was only contradicted by his hopeful doubt.
No, that can't be.
"How could I not?"
Danny drew in a shaky breath, attempting to steady himself. He puffed out his chest in faux bravery, a last-ditch effort to hold onto denial.
"Sh-show yourself..." He demanded.
The voice ignored him.
"I saw them every day."
It is. It is.
"N-no."
Yes.
"It can't be!"
It is. You know it is.
It wasn't the voice itself that chilled him to the bone, but the empty and hollow tone in the voice that made it sound so broken, so lost. If it was the voice he thought it was...
"It's NOT!"
"Every. Single. Day."
"But-"
"In my own reflection." The voice finished, slowly moving into the light and removing all doubt.
Messy black hair sat upon his head, looking as though it hadn't been washed in quite some time. The same could be said for his clothes; the standard white tee was now covered with stains of coffee and blood, and his jeans were ripped and tattered.
But the most terrifying of all were his eyes. Baby blue eyes that met green ones blankly as he approached Danny. They were red and puffy from what looked like weeks of crying on end.
"It's been a while since I've seen those eyes."
"You- you gave up your ghost half?"
"Ghost half? No, it's still here. It's still very much here. I know better than that. It's just-"
The boy scanned over Danny, studying him carefully before returning the gaze to his eyes.
"It's been a while since I've seen them happy."
He looked down at the floor, running his hands through his hair briefly.
"So... past or future?" He asked, looking up hopefully.
"I... I don't know. I was just in the lab with my parents and I- I think they may have built a time machine because I'm... I'm here now. I tried to warn them about how dangerous that was, but I didn't get it out in time." The other halfa had zoned out already.
"Parents..." He muttered spacily, his eyes flickering with emotion for the first time since he had seen him. Emotion that he quickly blinked off. "So you're from the past then."
"Wait..." Realization dawned on Danny. "What do you mean?"
"You have to be from the past. Come on, what day is it?"
"Um, I think it's November 10th."
The older boy froze. "So... today is it then."
"What do you mean by that? Stop scaring me!" He looked across the boy's features. "You're... you're me from the future. An alternate future."
The boy shook his head. "I'm afraid this time, there's no 'alternate' option. The only option is to carry the baggage."
"D- Danny..." Danny said slowly, hesitant to use the name for it would confirm his fears. "What happened to them?"
"Hmm?" He replied, blankly looking up at Danny.
"What happened to them?!" He demanded more loudly. "Tell me!"
"He happened."
"But... but that would mean you were..."
"No."
He walked over to the desk, glancing down at a photo of Danny and his family.
"Your promise was a good thing Danny. It protected you. But it couldn't protect them. You made your decision. Your promise prevented you, or me, from turning into that." He paused and drew in a shaky breath. "But it didn't stop him from returning. He escaped. We all knew he would. Even you. It was only a matter of time."
He sighed and turned toward Danny.
"The day you come from. That was the day it happened."
Suddenly his blue eyes grew cold and distant.
"It was late at night. 11:18, I recall. I was asleep, and unable to do anything. For some reason, my ghost sense didn't go off that time." Suddenly his expression turned to anger, as though he wanted to smash the wall behind Danny. "THE ONE TIME THEY NEEDED ME, I COULDN'T HELP THEM! But... it wouldn't have mattered. I couldn't have beat him. It would have been too late. I was worn out. Too many ghost fights in the hours before it happened. I heard a scream. I walked downstairs, and... and..."
Suddenly the boy put his head to his hands and started to sob uncontrollably. Danny stood in shock, refusing to believe it could be true. The older boy seemed to know what he was thinking, as he suddenly grabbed his wrist and looked him in the eye.
"Danny, it's going to happen. The only thing you can do now is... just get out of there. Leave tonight. Make it easier on yourself. Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to see what I saw that night. You don't want to hear that scream. You don't want to recognize those piercing red eyes. Leave before you can. Just leave."
He picked up a clearly tattered but still operational machine off the desk, which Danny recognized as an aged version of his parents' time machine.
"Just leave."
Danny took the time machine quickly and went home, not a second thought crossing his mind.
Danny found himself unable to sleep that night. Tossing and turning. Knowing what was coming, and hoping that it wouldn't be true.
But he knew it would. And he knew there was no other choice.
11:17.
He ran down the stairs as quickly as possible, dashing out the front door and into the night, and being too late.
A blood curdling scream rang out through the air. Danny ran down the sidewalk as fast as possible, falling tears being dried by the wind slapping against his face.
His decision didn't matter. None of it mattered. What did it matter when he was destined to be alone?
He had changed his future. But not theirs. And now he would have to live with the pain. That much was clear if he was going to keep his promise.
Even if he was too late, he would always keep it, for better or worse.
This is my contribution to Halloween. I can't exactly write gory horror... so here, have some psychological horror that will traumatize you!
I kind of dug into what Danny must have been feeling, then multiplied it by ten because this time, there's no way out and he knows it.
He is on the loose. And he will kill you if he finds you. Nobody can stop him now.
Happy Halloween.