Danny's nightmare ch. 6
by
Mastermindhunter
Caitlyn sat in her recliner chair looking down at her tea sipping it every few minutes or so. Danny had just told Caitlyn his story of how he got his powers. She was still plenty shaken up. Not as much as Danny was though. Danny could feel his soda shaking uncontrollably in his hands. He looked around the library trying to fill the awkward silence.
"So Ca . . . Caitlyn. how did you get your powers?" She looked at her tea then looked at him. She smiled a little bit, putting the teacup on the table next to her.
"Kind of the same way you did. It was before you were even born. I was about your age. Jack and me were playing in his basement. He was sixteen, and I was fourteen. He wanted to show me what he was working on. It was a giant ghost portal. Bigger than what Jack and me have now. We needed to make things very big in order for the power to be enough. Sort of like computers had to be. I asked if I could take a picture of myself in the portal while it was off." she looked at a bookcase behind her chair, and got out to head toward the shelf. She pulled out a scrapbook.
"He took the camera, and stepped back a little. I was sitting right inside the portal, smiling like a fool. That was the mistake." She opened the book to the middle, showing the page to Danny. It showed her as a teenager sitting down, pulling her knees to her neck in the portal. She looked sickly slender. 'Apparently she's always been little.' Danny thought to himself. There were other pictures of her in other poses in the portal.
"That's when Jack's hand accidentally hit the switch outside the portal . . . with me still inside." She sat back down in her recliner. Danny's hands were no longer shaking.
"I'll tell you something Danielle. It might have been a long time ago, but I'll never forget how it felt. It felt like two trucks hitting me on opposite sides at the same time." She reached for her tea, sipping it again. He watched her beautiful face remembering the traumatic experience.
"Do you blame my dad?" he said looking at the picture of her as a teenager in a bed. She looked like she was a bit weak in the picture. It must have been right after getting blasted.
"What?" she asked, putting the teacup down to look at Danny.
"Do you blame my dad for turning you into a ghost?" he asked with a worried look.
"Oh heavens no!" she said looking at Danny wide-eyed.
"We were just kids. It was an accident. It's not like he meant to. He doesn't know about my powers. He just thinks I got the wind knocked out of me. I . . . was sort of afraid to tell him" she trailed off looking at the picture on the table next to her. It was of Caitlyn, Jack, and Maddie, they were a little older than teenagers. It also had Jazz in the picture as a toddler, and Danny was in the picture, but he was only in his mom's tummy.
"You of all people would understand, don't you Danielle?" she asked with a bit of sadness in her voice. He smiled, and got up out of his chair. "Of course I do." he gave his quiet cousin a big hug.
"So what's with the ghost portal?" He pointed in the direction of the closed lab.
"Oh I use that to talk to my ghost friends. You probably know a few of them. Technus, ghost writer, box ghost, Ember, Skulker, know any of them? Ember and Skulker are really nice to me. Especially Ember." she looked at him innocently.
"Yeah sometimes they fight with me. I just send them back to the ghost zone, when they cause trouble." he took a sip of his coke.
"They aren't that bad here in Indiana." she said with a confused look.
"Yeah, that's probably because they all like you. They're always getting out into the real world at home" he said with a grumble. He looked towards the window which faced a bundle of trees.
"You can't blame them darling. Most of them don't know what to do. They just float around miserably without a friend in the world. Have you ever tried to be kind to any of them?" she asked pouring more tea into her cup. Danny thought about it for a while. No he didn't. He didn't answer her. He just looked down with a sad face, trying to avoid an argument. Caitlyn looked at him smiling understandingly.
"You just see things in a different way when you're older. Who knows you just might make friends with some of them when you're my age. Just don't think they're all so horrible and need to be cooped up. That's what someone named Walker thinks. I don't think he makes any sense at all. The one ghost I truly don't like" Danny knew Walker. He was the ghost zones law enforcement. No ghosts liked him at all. Was he truly like Walker?
Danny looked at his watch. It read three o'clock.
"Whoa you had better get ready for your date with your friend, or boyfriend, or whatever." Caitlyn's eyes got really wide, and doe like.
"Oh you're right Danny! I gotta go!" She grabbed her purse from her feet, and turned into her ghost form. "I'll see you at dinner." she smiled. Then she flew straight through the ceiling. Danny had taken the tea to the kitchen, and put it in the fridge. He didn't know much about tea, but thought it could easily be reheated. He almost forgot about Skulker and Ember. They were still in the bathroom he tried to remember his way back. Eventually he found the bathroom with the mirror turned. he turned the mirror back over, Skulker and Embers faces were covered by their hands that they were using to cover their noses. Apparently he must have hit their noses, when he swung the mirror over.
"Thanks a lot dipstick." Ember said with sarcasm in her voice.
"Sorry guys." Skulker and Ember smiled with forgiveness. "Why didn't you guys tell me Caitlyn was a ghost?! She's my second cousin for crying out loud!" he hollered. Jazz heard him scream through the door.
"What? She's a ghost?" Jazz hollered through the door.
"Yeah since she was my age."Danny sulked. Jazz let out a groan.
"Ugh next thing you know I'll be a ghost! Don't let that happen Danny." she ordered. Skulker rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well I thought you would figure it out. Seeing as how we know her. Besides I was trying to tell you but you slammed the mirror on me!" Skulker spoke through his teeth angrily.
"Oh sorry about that, again." he said quietly. "She was talking about you guys."
"What did she say?" Ember asked.
"She said you were guys were her best ghost friends."
"Yes!" Skulker breathed with a smile. Ember just rolled her eyes at Skulker.
"Yeah I'm gunna spy on her date." Danny turned into his ghost form in front of them.
