Hello there!
This story is a rewrite of "The Tape", a story I wrote two and a half years ago. I have been planning to rewrite it for a while, as the grammar and execution of the original was very bad.
I hope you enjoy the story!
An average day.
For Danny, at least. After all, ghost hunting wasn't seen as a normal activity by most. But then again, Danny himself wasn't normal either.
He's a ghost.
But it's not like everyone knew this specific secret of Danny's. And Danny intended to keep this secret, no matter what. Because, who knew how he, or the town for that matter, would end up if anyone were to find out. Life isn't a game and neither does it always have a happy ending.
But not even someone like Danny, or perhaps especially Danny, could stop what Mr Lancer's new homework assignment would cause.
To prepare the students for their future studies and careers, the assignment was to make a video in which a parent or guardian would either show or explain their work. The tapes would be shown in the next home room class.
But because of his duties, Danny was asleep in class once again. He only found out about the assignment the evening before.
Tucker was nice enough to inform the black haired teen. It may have been indirectly, by asking Danny what he was planning to show in class, but that doesn't mean it didn't help. He informed him about Mister Lancer's annoyed attitude the other day as well.
Danny knew it wouldn't end well if he decided to bring nothing to class again. He was well aware of the fact that he had made a negative impression on most of his teachers.
That evening, Danny was tired. Even he he'd had enough time to make a video together with his parents, he wouldn't have. His parents could be very tiring to listen to. So instead, he asked them where the tapes of the security camera were.
"Oh hello, sweetie! Why do you need those?" His mother Maddie asked her. Her son had never shown any interest in their work, so her being surprised wasn't that shocking.
However, what was shocking, was the reaction his dad had to the whole situation.
"So..." he began quietly, before increasing his vocal volume to one that could probably cause some serious damage to the human eardrums.
"You finally show some interest in ghost hunting! I've finally found a sidekick!"
With a bit of guilt clinging at the back of his mind, Danny told him that was'nt the case.
Disappointment clear on his face, his father gestured to the suitcase positioned on the ground that had been gathering dust for quite a while.
"Thanks!"
He took a random tape out of the suitcase and ran to his bed. He fell asleep instantly, his hand still holding the tape he'd picked.
The previous night had been quite an adventure. A very boring and annoying one.
Because, of course, the most annoying ghost in possibly the entirety of Amity Park just had to come back every 5 minutes or so. Danny had even thought of leaving him be.
As if that was going to work. The Box Ghost's shenanigans resulted in the night being even longer than usual.
Which resulted in Danny being asleep in class once again, to the dismay of his home room teacher.
"..ke up th...stance!"
It was then that Danny realized he was in class.
"Wake up this instance, or I'll have to give you yet another detention!"
Those words were more effective than an alarm or something close to that would ever work on Danny. Another Detention? He really couldn't use that on top of the pile of things he still had to do.
He didn't even say a word. He just glanced apologetically at his teacher and kept his head low for the rest of the explanation.
"Miss Manson may start!"
A few students could be heard snickering in the back of the class. Faster than what should be possible, the middle aged teacher turned his head to the latina in the back of the class.
"Is there a problem, Miss Sanchez?"
She took her bag, which she had placed next to her desk, and took out a small white envelope with a pink flower pattern. She then proceeded to walk to the front of the classroom and handed the envelope to Mr Lancer. Confused, he quickly opened the envelope.
He closed it even faster than he'd opened it. Not being able to even utter a single word, he angrily and almost violently pointed his finger at the exit. Paulina obeyed the order without saying anything.
"Anyone who was planning on doing the same must leave the classroom this instant!"
No one else stood up.
"Well then" he continued "as I was saying, Miss Manson may go first."
Dash and Kwan, who were sitting in the back of the class, were muttering things about how Sam's video would probably contain dead bodies and the like. Tucker smirked, as he saw this as an opportunity to gain some pocket money.
"Wanna bet?" He asked them.
Disgusted glares from Dash and Kwan soon turned into sly grimaces. They had so much confidence in the bet that they each put in 150 bucks.
Star simply groaned, wondering how Dash and Kwan could forget Tucker is basically Sam's best friend. Then the tape began playing.
This time is was Sam's turn to groan. Without saying a word, she let her head fall on the desk with a quiet 'thud'. That the others had to see it didn't mean that she would have to.
The most happiest of parents appeared on the screen, happily smiling and cheerfully waving to the camera, which Sam was probably holding.
All color drained from the A-lister's faces as they proceeded to take money from their wallets.
Her parents then told the camera about their jobs as social activists while they were standing in front of an enormous house. It was then that Sam was dragged into the picture with her parents. It seemed that Sam wasn't the one holding the camera after all.
The moment the screen became black was the moment that Dash decided to yell through the class.
"Manson is rich?!"
Tucker could only laugh. Not only did he get them to be shocked, but he'd earned 300 bucks faster than he ever would. With a small hint of anger, the money was handed over to Tucker, who was muttering something about a new game called "Death Teacher".
Mr Lancer spoke up and asked Danny to hand in his tape. Too bad he was asleep. At least he had the tape in his hands...
...which Mr Lancer wholeheartedly took from his weak grasp.
The screen in front of the class turned on once again as it showed the lab in the Fenton's basement.
The video appeared to be some kind of security camera tape. A small red symbol with 'rec' on it was present in the upper left corner. The time could be seen at the upper right corner.
'6-10-2003 6:42:11' it read. The video appeared to have been muted as well. There was no sound whatsoever, aside from a soft beeping.
The video, however, didn't show Danny's parents. There were three people visible, who turned out to be Tucker, Sam, and of course, Danny himself.
Danny's friends looked warily at the screen, and then at Danny, who still appeared to have been fast asleep.
Tucker turned to Sam's desk. "Don't you think this seems too... familiar?" He asked. Sam nodded a bit too fast. She stood up from her desk and slapped Danny in his face.
At this point the video showed Danny walking into the then newly built ghost portal while his friends stayed behind. The ghost portal had been activated.
Danny woke up and in the whole classroom, chaos ensued.
The first thing that happened in the following string of events was Mr Lancer screaming if Danny had picked the right tape.
The next thing was a loud scream, someone begging for the tape to be turned off.
The first thing Sam could think of was picking up a chair and throwing it in the direction of the computer. Not a single time did she hit the computer. The result was the classroom looking like a mess
In the back of the class, Mike sat by Lester, who had seemingly passed out, and tried to get him to wake up again. He did a very bad job at it as he, too, was pretty scared himself.
Meanwhile, the only thing Star was doing was repeatedly making weird facial expressions in response to the, in her opinion, over exaggerated reactions of almost every single person present in the classroom.
Tucker was attempting to get to the front of the class to try and put the tape off. But before he reached the computer, he tripped over a chair Sam had thrown and lay sprawled over the floor.
At this point in time, Danny had run to the front of the class, only to be stopped by Dash, who thought the whole ordeal was too funny to not take advantage of.
Dash ended up with a broken hand.
But the damage had already been done. A very familiar face they all knew appeared from the ghost portal. Danny could only watch and cuss at this point.
Besides ripping the tape out and repeatedly stomping on it, even after it had fallen apart.
An awkward silence, apart from the angry stomping, filled the classroom. The students were uncomfortably looking at each other, unsure of what they should do.
The first sentence spoken was a threat from Sam.
The second sentence was from a pale looking Danny, saying that that wasn't needed. Or else his work of protecting the townspeople would have been for nothing.
The third sentence was a quiet 'what the heck'.
The silence continued on for a short while. Danny quietly sat on his spot on the ground, right besides the tape that lay in pieces. It was only then that someone decided to say something.
"Thank you."
About 28 heads turned around to face the speaker, who turned out to be someone Danny didn't speak with a lot.
"I just wanted you to know that I never believed the rumors they said on TV. Thanks for helping us." Lester told him.
Danny did the only thing appropriate in that situation for a child. He silently sobbed.
Mr Lancer decided to speak up and apologized for not stopping the tape when he figured out something had went wrong.
Dash only looked troubled. "I can't believe I have been wailing on my hero all this time." Looks like he didn't know how to deal with the situation. It would've been weird if anyone did know how to deal with something like this.
Suddenly, the door of the classroom opened, revealing a livid Paulina.
"I called Papa! He's going to fix all of this! When we're done with this, you'll be fire-" Paulina never finished her sentence.
After witnessing the entire classroom in ruins and a situation she wouldn't be able to understand without an explanation, she silently took a fallen chair from the ground and sat down.
At the other side of the class, Valerie stayed silent the entire time. She didn't dare to utter a single word. Even if Valerie knew the truth now, she still still didn't know if she should take her weapon out and get the job over it.
Tucker made sure that no one in the room would say a single word about what had happened in the classroom.
Valerie never got the chance to decide, Danny had already walked away, a small smile present on his face. Perhaps things would be less difficult this way.
Perhaps he'd have a few things less to worry about now.