"Hey there, Dante," called a voice.

It was around five in the morning. I had woken up several hours earlier, and had since amused myself by swinging on the rope I was tied to. It was still curiously warm out, and even Cyborg had fallen asleep.

"Um," I said, not recognizing the voice, "hi."

I managed to swing myself around, but I couldn't see anyone.

"Odd," I murmured. When I returned to my original position, I saw a man standing in front of me that was a weird blue tinge. I'm not talking about his hair- it wasn't 2D- but the man himself was blue and…. No… he couldn't be see-through, could he?

Yes, he did look a little transparent. I would have gotten a closer look but as quick as he appeared he vanished.

Well, my reaction to this was actually somewhat calm. I had been exposed to lots of insane things in the past 24 hours. Guys with blue hair, a cyborg, an island made of plastic, a man who was almost as big as the island itself, ghoul pirates, and I'm sure I could go on. For the sake of my own mental health, however, I'm going to stop there.

I shut my eyes tightly, and tried to go to sleep.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, than the voice said, "Check under Murdoc's bed, man," and then the hand was lifted and everything went quiet.

Check under Murdoc's bed? I wasn't sure that was necessarily something I wanted to do. Besides, I had no idea what I would find under there- it could be anything. Maybe a way out, or maybe a trap set up by Murdoc himself.

I thought for a while, then fell asleep again.

When I awoke the next time, Cyborg was untying me from the pole.

"Breakfast," she commanded, "now."

I walked downstairs into the dining room and sat at the marble table. I ran a hand through my hair and yawned. 2D was already sitting at the table.

"Morning," he said brightly.

Murdoc came in, wearing only boxers and carrying a near empty bottle of rum in one hand.

"Mornin', Murdoc!" 2D exclaimed.

"SHUDYERFACE!" Murdoc shouted, throwing the whiskey bottle at 2D. 2D and I both ducked, and the bottle shattered on the wall.

Murdoc seated himself at the table and started to mumble something about rainbow colored ducks. At least, I think that's what he was saying. I couldn't really tell all that great.

I waited for breakfast to arrive, but after an hour or so I couldn't stand anymore of Murdoc's grumbling, so I excused myself.

"I'm gonna go for a walk, Cyborg can get me when it's all ready," I told everyone. But Murdoc had already fallen asleep, and 2D wasn't really paying attention, so I just shrugged my shoulders and left anyway.

I had just gotten into the lift when it happened. I lost control of my body, and my hand reached forward and pushed the button to the master bedroom.

The lift began to move, and I regained control. I panted heavily, trying to piece together what was happening.

"Check under the bed," said the same voice I heard earlier in the morning.

"Go to hell," I replied.

Great, now I was hearing things. Peachy. Just fucking peachy. Or maybe I was haunted. Who could know?

Four Years ago…

The man charged. Lucky for me, the van doors were open. I pulled out a bass guitar (Rey was going to murder me) and swung it. The bass guitar made impact with the man's lower kneecaps, and he fell to the ground howling in pain.

By this time, people had begun to gather in the parking lot, Shawn and Rey included.

"Dude, what's going on?" asked Shawn.

"Small fight ,no biggie-"

"Is that MY bass guitar?" Rey growled.

"No," I said, putting it back in the van.

"BITCH!" shouted the man, now getting to his feet.

Rey looked at him, grabbed him by the shirt, and lifted him into the air. The man didn't have time to open his mouth before Rey threw him across the parking lot.

Rey turned back to me.

"So what is this about, exactly?" he asked.

"He was… helping me." Said a voice. The girl who the man was tormenting now appeared beside me.

"I owe you my gratitude," she said, bowing to me.

"Um, that's great, but really I'd just like to go get my beer now-"

The girl's name turned out to be Noodle. She was incredibly intelligent, but wouldn't let me buy her a drink. (I wasn't trying to make a move or anything- but what fun was it when you were the only one drinking?) By the end of the night, she had actually gotten on stage and played a song with us- she was almost a better guitarist then me.

Next day, we forgot all about Noodle.

"Fine," I murmured, "I'll check under the bed. Leave me alone now, will 'ya?" I had been talking with the voice for half an hour now. It was extremely annoying- it would just tell me to look under Murdoc's bed, but wouldn't say why. It was really quite rude; popping in every so often to give me commands.

Here, I'll give you an example of our conversation:

Check under the bed.

Fuck you.

It's under the bed, dawg…

No, seriously. Fuck you.

Check under the bed, I'm tellin' 'ya!

And I'm telling you to go to hell.

It's under the-

Will you shut the hell up?

On occasion I would see a figure along with the voice. Only for a split second- all I really got a glimpse of was a gold necklace and a hat. So I really was being haunted. Yippee.

When I finally got into Murdoc's room, I jolted over to his bed. I crouched down, and looked under it. Nothing.

"You happy now?" I asked.

I was about to stand up again when I saw something shiny out of the corner of my eye. I reached around and picked up a key.

The dining room was empty, except for 2D just getting up from his chair.

"Hullo Dante," he said, "sorry, you missed breakfast."

"That's alright," I said, "but um, could I ask a favor?"

"Favor?" asked 2d, "sure, bud."

Bud? Since when were me and this blue-haired, weird-eyed creep friends?

"Um, could you maybe keep an eye out for any weird locks?" I asked, "Murdoc's taken something valuable of mine, so I was gonna try and find it myself."

"Wass' he taken of yours?" asked 2D.

"It's a surprise," I replied.

"Really? What sort of surprise?"

"The surprising kind. So if you see, or already know about a hiding place Murdoc's got, could you please let me know?" I asked

"Sure! Say, you wanna watch that zombie movie tonight?"

"Sure," I said, then mentally slapped myself. But I felt kind of bad- I figured I would just go along with 2D and try to be friendly.

Normally, I don't care about other people. Gotta look out for number one: me. Though, on occasion, I'll do something nice for someone out of pity.

"Well, I gotta get going. Laters."

"Latuh Dante."

Then I set off to find Noodle.