POV: Danny
Danny followed Acrylic as she flew past door after door unsure of how far away their destination was. She was becoming more excited as they flew. In the past two weeks Danny had learned that anything involving painting flipped her switch. Transforming her from a calm teenage girl to an art crazed ghost.
Danny didn't mind though. The only thing that bother him was the way she sped through the zone. He still couldn't fly forward very fast despite two weeks of practice. It took all his focus to generate any kind of movement. While his speed was comparable to a brisk walk, Acrylic was easily flying 40 miles an hour.
So every time she doubled back only to speed off again in excitement Danny felt frustrated, and weirdly it wasn't because of Acrylic being somewhat inconsiderate. It wasn't Acrylic he was even annoyed with. It was himself.
He should be able to go faster. He felt like a burden. She had told him about a big exciting project and he had gone with her to help her, not to slow her down and be a bother.
"Danny."
This was her obsession, the thing she said keeps her from dying again, but this time permanently.
And he was slowing her down.
"Hey Danny!" Acrylic shouted.
Danny looked over his shoulder to see Acrylic far behind speeding after him. He stopped flying and she closed the gap between them.
"What the heck Danny? Why did you start speeding away all of a sudden? You flew right past the building." she said.
Danny scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry I uh. I guess I just got lost in thought."
"Lost in thought? For the last two weeks you could hardly float and just now you were flying faster than my top speed without even thinking about it?" Acrylic said, putting her hands on her hips to emphasize her words.
"Was I really going that fast?"
"Yeah," she said, "What the heck were you even thinking about?"
"I don't know. I guess just that I wanted to fly faster to catch up to you. Why?" Danny said.
"Cause the only reason I was going so fast is because I was thinking about painting, about my obsession. That's why I had to keep doubling back. I was struggling to slow down with my obsession on my mind. It's kinda why we call them obsessions and not hobbies or something." As she said this they began flying back towards their destination.
"I gotcha," Danny said as he once again struggled with his flying.
"Conversely though, if I'm not thinking about painting then I can't go that fast without exhausting myself in a couple minutes. My obsession was the thing giving me the power to fly that fast. So since you were flying even faster than me, whatever you were thinking about might be your obsession." Acrylic said.
"So what my obsession is catching up to people? What kind of sense does that make?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's just a desire to go fast or something. I know one ghost whose obsession is boxes for goodness sake. Your obsession making you act like Sonic the Hedgehog is far from the worst out there."
Danny laughed and wobbled in the air slightly as his concentration broke.
"Ok I guess it's not the worst obsession when you put it like that." he said.
"Who knows it might even just be one of your obsessions. Some ghost have multiple and it makes them really strong. There's this one girl ghost who lives here in the Barrens, Ember, she is an obvious example of a ghost with at least two. Everyone knows it too because one of hers is music, and she plays so loud it's kinda hard to avoid hearing her singing. The thing that makes it obvious she has more than one is the way her power swells when ghost actually stop and listen to her music. Any time she gets attention or recognition or something you can visibly see her power flare up. And judging by just how fast you were going, I'd Say you probably have more than one." Acrylic said.
"Oh. I see. How'd you learn all this Acrylic?" Danny asked as he touched down on the floating island hosting a massive white building that glowed softly purple. It has a domed window, lions statues on either side of the front steps, and seemed to be made out of giant books.
"Because I am friends with The Ghost Writer who lives here, and he lets me read his books if I help him out every now and again by doing illustrations." she said as her tail split into legs as she touched down beside Danny.
"Well that's pretty cool. There's so much I don't know about life as a ghost and I'm not much of a reader. I'm also pretty sure a toddler could illustrate a book better than I could. So I'm really grateful I have you to teach me. I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you."
Acrylic beamed at Danny's words.
"Well I used to teach kids about art back when I was alive. So I'm good at working with beginners."
"Wait you remember things about being alive?" Danny asked.
"Some," Acrylic shrugged, "It tends to hit me in flashes. I only really remember stuff that is relevant to my obsession though.
"Then maybe I'll remember something that'll tell me a bit about who I was or clue me in as to what my obsession is." Danny said.
"Maybe," she said, "Now let's greet the ghost writer and let him know we're here already! You've gotten to ask a lot of questions so now let's talk about something important, painting!"
With that Danny and Acrylic walked up the steps and into The Ghost Writer's manor.
Hope it wasn't too short. Kinda just felt like a good stopping point.I'll try my best to get a few more chapters in consistently.As usual PM me if you want to talk and Reviews are much appreciated. The more reviews and follows I get the more guilty I feel if I don't update.So if you want more that's how you get it.All the best,Stonesmith
