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The Insane Tour Guide
Jake and Josh followed Danny deeper into the tunnel, and got to a cavern that branched out into many clearly artificial tunnels. The place was an abandoned mine. According to Danny, some ghost hunters used to come here to collect a rare substance called ectoranium that had the ability to hurt ghosts. The ectoranium was the odd green rocks neither of them could identify.
Josh caught hold off Jake's eye, and nodding to Danny, mouthed, "He's nuts!" Jake nodded and made the coo-coo symbol in Danny's direction. Although, they both had to admit that Danny was right about it being some sort of mine.
"So," Josh asked. "Why did they shut the mine down anyway?"
"It was too dangerous," Danny replied. "Many ghost hunters were really here in search of an ancient ghostly artifact that could force anyone to stick around as a ghost: the Phantom's Stone. It was rumored to be here in these caves, so when the first fatal accident happened here, they decided it was best to leave."
"Do you really believe these caves are haunted?" Jake asked.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked. "These caves are really haunted!"
So their new guide was convinced that there were ghosts in the cave. This was just another confirmation that Danny was absolutely bonkers. Josh and Jake were mostly quiet for the rest of the tour, and did their best to ignore Danny's occasional ghost-related comment. After Danny's assertion that the cave was haunted, there wasn't much they wanted to talk about with Danny. They did notice, however, that Danny left certain parts of the tunnel out of the tour, like the deeper parts of the tunnels and the fifth tunnel that branched out of the cavern. It was when Danny had finally finished the tour that either spoke to him again.
"I counted five tunnels back in the cavern," Jake said. "We only saw four. What's in the other one?"
"The other one?" Danny asked, suddenly sounding nervous.
"Yeah," said Jake, "the other one. What's in there?"
"Nothing!" Danny said, a little too quickly. "It's just a dead end. Or at least it is since the tunnel collapsed."
Josh and Jake looked skeptical. "Look," said Danny. "I just don't want anyone to go in there, alright? The last kid that went in there was killed."
"Let me guess," said Josh. "That kid's supposed to be the ghost that's haunting this place."
Danny nodded. "It sounds pretty crazy, huh? I know what you've been saying about me behind my back, and maybe you're right. I've been lost up here for months, and I gave up any chance of a rescue. It's possible months of solitude have messed with my mind."
"Months?" said Jake. "I guess they really don't send search parties here all that often."
"No, not really," Danny said. "We might be stuck here forever."
"Forever?" Josh asked. "But we can stay here. We've got to get home!"
Danny frowned. "I think it's time for a change in topic," he said. "So… Who's hungry?" He pulled out some an airtight container of dried strawberries that, when he opened it, looked and smelt pretty stale. "I promise they're still good."
Danny had insisted on standing watch while they slept that night, even though Jake and Josh were sure nothing could get through collapsed tunnels to get them. "What if the ghosts come?" Danny merely argued in response.
"Do you do this every night?" Jake asked. "No wonder why you're so nuts! You're probably seeing ghosts where there's nothing there."
"I'll be fine!" Danny insisted. "Besides, it's not like either of you would know what to do if a ghost did come, and someone's got to stand watch."
In the end, the only way they could get Danny to let himself sleep was to agree to take shifts watching for ghosts and to wake him if they saw anything unusual. This was why Josh found himself awake at some ridiculous hour in the morning, using Danny's lantern that put a strange green glow on everything to look at the tunnel. This would have to be the dullest and most pointless thing Josh had ever done in his life. Surely no one would notice if he went to sleep...
Josh was awakened by a deranged sobbing coming from up the tunnel. It was an unearthly sound, almost as if a banshee had come to the tunnel to lament a coming death. "Jake?" he whispered. "Danny?" Josh sat up. Jake was soundly asleep, but Danny had vanished, leaving his eerie lantern behind. After all Josh had seen of Danny's paranoia, that didn't make sense, but then he realized the wailings coming from up the tunnel sounded like his strange new companion. "There is something seriously wrong with that guy," he mumbled. Unhappily, Josh got up, and crept through the dark tunnel. He wanted to know what Danny would be up to wandering the tunnels without a light.
It was very dark in the tunnel. He could barely make out Danny's silhouette laying the tunnel floor and crying softly now, "Why me? Why me?" Danny then seemed to go back into a demented fit, banging his fists against the cold stone, and shouting at the unresponsive tunnel, "Mom! Dad! Don't leave me! I'll go insane! Insane, I tell you insane! Don't leave me!" Danny curled himself up in a ball. "I'll go insane," he whispered. "No, don't leave me. I'll go insane here on my own. Take me with you. Why me? Why me? I promise I'll be good."
Insane or not, Danny's fit had gone on long enough, Josh decided. "Danny," he called.
Danny looked startled, until he turned around and recognized Josh. He quickly went pale. "How much did you see?" he asked.
"Enough to know that you are in serious need of some mental help," Josh told him.
"I do need help," Danny admitted, not looking quite so fearful. "Badly. I've been isolated in these tunnels doing absolutely nothing to help anyone for way too long. I would have been surprised if I hadn't cracked."
"Come on back to bed. Sleep does wonders for your sanity."
"Good idea. You know, I've felt better than I have for a long time since I got you and your friend for company. I just wish I could've gotten you safely out of the way of that collapse by pushing you outside the tunnels - not getting you trapped in here like me."
"What do you mean?"
Danny crawled inside his sleeping bag. "Thanks," he said, smiling. "Good night." He pulled the edge of the sleeping bag up over his head and was silent.
