Chapter 10: Socialization

"Danny?" The person asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I would ask you the same thing, Valerie." Danny responded, his voice hoarse, which caused slight embarrassment on his part.

They were in the hallway of the motel right now, and the lights were dim, occasionally flickering. Danny shivered, realizing that he had a sudden fear of the dark that he never had before. He guessed it was because of that horrible night yesterday. He shivered, remembering.

"Danny?" Valerie asked, ignoring Danny's earlier comment. "Are you okay?" She looked at Danny, as if evaluating him. She noticed the dried blood on his body, the green on his leg, and the pain and discomfort in Danny's expression. She'd never seen him like this, and she surprisingly felt sorry for him, despite everything they had been through together.

"I guess." Danny muttered. Valerie could tell he was in more pain than he was letting on.

Danny limped toward the door, searching for a key, but never found it. He knocked on the door and stood there, waiting for someone to answer. Nobody did.

Valerie caught on with what was going on. "You want to stay at my place for a while? I mean, until your family gets home."

Danny's face turned slightly paler. He couldn't believe what Valerie was asking her. Valerie, one of his enemies, but also someone who was very close to him for a while. Danny searched her eyes for any sign of emotion, but caught none.

Did she regret ever breaking up with him?

Danny nodded feebly, and Valerie nodded then began to walk toward her room. They had only walked a couple feet when Valerie opened the door to her room.

Danny realized that he and Valerie were neighbors. He mentally groaned.

Valerie led him to the couch, and Danny sat on it happily. Even though this couch wasn't the best, he was still grateful to be resting on one.

Valerie had headed off to her kitchen and came back with some water and cookies. Danny grabbed the water, but tried not to gulp it down to fast. While Danny was eating, Valerie had gone off to get a first aid kit.

She told Danny to put his leg on the table, which was right in front of him. She then began to clean Danny's right leg with some antibacterial liquid. Danny winced with pain when Valerie smothered it on his leg, and tried stubbornly to pull it away.

"Danny, do you want to get infected or not?" Valerie scolded him, like she was years older than him.

Danny sat motionless, but still feeling the pain the antibacterial stuff was giving him. Valerie was nice enough to help him in his time of need, so he had to return her charity with kindness, no matter how much he hated doing it.

Valerie had finished treating his right leg and turned to his right leg. She began to roll up his jeans when Danny looked at her, his eyes full of alarm.

"You shouldn't do that. You might get sick or something." He told Valerie, trying to say something that would make her stop. He didn't want Valerie to see the ectoplasm on his leg since she might be able to recognize it since she had fought many ghosts before. She had probably seen ectoplasm a bunch of times.

"I don't think so. Now just let me clean this so you don't get sick." She began to roll up his pant leg again, with Danny trying to stop her, but to Valerie it was like fighting off a fly.

Danny closed his eyes, as if closing them would stop time. Danny heard no sound of alarm from Valerie. He opened his eyes cautiously. The ectoplasm wasn't there. Either it had disappeared or Valerie had cleaned it before Danny had opened his eyes. Danny hoped it was the first option.

While she was cleaning her leg, Danny felt his left arm become weightless. He looked at it, and saw no arm. Alarm shot through him and he cursed mentally to himself. There was nothing nearby to hide his invisible arm. Danny focused his energy on making his arm visible again. Slowly from the top of his shoulder blades to the tip of his hands he became visible. Luckily Valerie was too busy treating his leg to notice whatever had just happened to him.

After a while, she finished treating Danny's legs, and he began to feel a little refreshed. Valerie moved up to his bruised and scraped arm and began cleaning.

"Why are you helping me anyway? I thought you hated me." Danny asked her, deciding to make conversation.

She sat there, cleaning his arm for a moment in silence. "I guess a feel a little sorry for you. Whatever had happened to you, it had made you bleeding and weak." She began to rub his arm more slowly with the towel. Danny noticed she was deep in thought. There was more she wanted to say. He nodded his head in encouragement for her to continue.

Valerie glanced at him and began talking again."I felt sorry for you because of your pain, but when I saw you in the motel earlier today I felt more. I guess part of regretted breaking up with you, but the other part is happy that I did it so I could focus on other things. I don't know. I still haven't sorted things out yet." Danny could hear the emotion in her voice and realized that she actually felt like that. He would have said something to her, but he just didn't have the energy. He closed his eyes and began to sleep.

Meanwhile, Valerie was walking getting a blanket for Danny after she had finished treating him. When she found one, a checkered quilt that she had gotten from her grandma, she went over and put the blanket carefully over Danny. She made sure that Danny was as comfortable as she could get him.

Valerie began to leave the room, when she noticed how innocent and cute Danny looked in his sleep. She felt horrible for still liking Danny, if only a little bit, even after breaking up with him.

Valerie stopped and just took a good look at Danny, something she hadn't done in a long time. Suddenly, the blanket that was covering Danny's arm fell off and dropped to the cushions of the couch. She walked over to put the blanket back on and gasped. His arm wasn't there. She closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them. It still wasn't there.

Valerie became worried. She went over and touched the spot gently where his arm should have been. She realized she could feel the soft skin of his arm. Why could she feel his arm, but couldn't see it? Valerie shook her head in confusion. Maybe she just needed some sleep.

Valerie got ready to go to sleep, going through her usual bedtime procedure. Before she went to her bedroom to sleep, she walked over to check on Danny. He arm was there, completely visible.

"Huh." Valerie muttered. "Maybe I'm just going crazy." Valerie walked slowly to her bed, the whole time knowing she wasn't just seeing things. She wasn't crazy.

Something strange was going on with Danny, and she wanted to find out. No, she was going find out.