Chasing Ghosts
Chapter Ten: Hiding
Updated: 15.3.2015
Word Count: 2,763
Note: I know it has been months and I truly am sorry, I had a little bit of a block and also a few personal issued I had to deal with that have taken mostly all of my time. I do know where I want this story to go; I'm just having a little bit of trouble getting there. This chapter will not only be in the point of view of Danielle, but Alan and Marko as well. I know the chapter is shorter than what it should be, but I can't seem to write any long ones at the moment.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Boys.

-0-

Danielle Jones had not seen Marko in two weeks, two incredibly long and boring weeks.

As much as she kept trying to tell herself that it was simply nothing and that he was just busy, the more she seemed to tell herself she didn't truly believe it. Not only did she have a very bad feeling about the situation but she also realised quite quickly that she did indeed miss the blonde's company quite terribly, something that she could not deny no matter how hard she tried.

Danielle found with the Marko situation she had definitely grown too attached way too quickly, something that she could no longer really help. Well, she thought it was too quickly, then again some of the girls she had known at her old high school were dating boys after only knowing them for a week or so though those relationships never lasted longer than a month or two in some occasions. She thought of him constantly and being the over thinker that she was 90% of the time, she just knew that she must have done something wrong or something was definitely wrong with him.

Often she thought about venturing out onto the Boardwalk and twice in the past two weeks she had done exactly that, but she had seen no sight of Marko or any of his friends when she did, not even Paul who she seemed to run into every time she had been out in the past. Not only did she worry about Marko, but she worried about the other three boys as well, the feeling of dread in her stomach made her feel like something terrible had happened to all four, that maybe, just maybe all four had been added onto the never ending list of missing people posters that were hung around the Boardwalk. Her thoughts worried her so she often tried to distract herself, with not only books but comics from the shop next door and her sketches and drawings too. The trouble was her mind was growing bored all too quickly, her books lost her interest faster than ever before and the Wonder Woman comics and her drawings were neither a help either.

On the night of the fourteenth day since she had seen Marko, Danielle was working on fish and chips up in her apartment for herself and for the two Frog brothers. Edgar's mood and attitude had not changed a single bit and Alan on the other hand was still rather quiet though improvement had been seen. The fish on the other hand smelt absolutely amazing and she knew it was one of the two brother's favourite meals and was hoping that tonight she could try and find out exactly what the problem was and what she might possibly be able to do to fix it.

Edgar and Alan were sitting behind the counter in the Comic shop with their heads buried in separate volumes of comics when Danielle arrived with two plates full of still steaming hot food, Alan thanked her with a large grin but Edgar only nodded

"I'm just going to go back up and get my plate, I'll be back down in a minute" she smiled

"Told you" Edgar muttered, it was faint, but Danielle still heard it nonetheless. Instead of asking what he meant, she turned her back and went to retrieve her food with a terrible feeling in her stomach, one she was all too familiar with which was screaming that she had once again done something wrong.

Danielle picked at her plate; she had not eaten a bite since the night before which was not all that surprising considering what she was currently feeling. Her moods have always affected how much she ate and it always had, either feeling joyed or saddened.

"You look sick" Edgar stated, eyeing the girl up and down as she took the only empty seat "All pale and what not"

"Maybe I'm coming down with something" she muttered, grimacing as she tried to swallow a bite out of her fish which had now become lukewarm

"I don't want to catch anything" Edgar said harshly, his words cutting the girl like a knife to bread

"Edgar, don't be such an asshole" Alan growled "She obviously doesn't feel well"

"So? I don't want to get sick"

"I'm going to go to bed" Danielle said as she stood from her seat, feeling more awful about herself than she had in a very, very long time "I will come down and get the dishes tomorrow"

Alan Frog shook his head at his brother and collected the two plates that had been left behind, following after Danielle as she made her way back to the apartment building next door. She said not a word and after a few moments he highly doubted she knew he was walking after her at all

"I said I would have gotten them tomorrow"

He guessed wrong, she had known.

"I really don't mind bringing them up now"

"I don't know what I've done this time, so do you want to tell me?" she asked, Alan only had to take one look at her before he himself too felt absolutely miserable "Because I don't know what I've done, and it makes me feel sad because I really am fond of you and your brother plus the company you give me. Edgar hates me again and you have been really quiet too, which is so strange considering how much you used to talk to me"

"You haven't done anything-" Alan began "We just want you to have your own friends you know, you always hang around us, cook for us and put yourself out for us and it isn't really fair. We have parents that should be doing that for us and it makes us feel guilty as hell. Not only that but you need like, people your own age and I guess since you now have people your own age and it's just been like, I don't know, I'm probably making no sense"

"So, because I have Marko and Paul as friends too I can't have you or your brother?" she asked, her facial features crumbling a little "That isn't fair"

"No, that isn't it – I mean, everything was fine and then you know you started hanging around with whatshisname all the time and it kinda' showed us you have other friends and that, yeah and that it wasn't only us" Alan mumbled

"I replaced you both-"

"No – no! That wasn't what I was trying to say, don't, it isn't like that. You need to hang around people your own age – I don't, actually I'm going to stop"

"It doesn't matter anyway Alan, Marko probably hates me anyway" Danielle sighed "Just, don't distance yourself from me, I just, I can't do that at the moment, it's too hard"

"What do you mean he hates you?" the younger boy asked

"He hasn't been around to see me in two weeks, I mean, he was here every single night for a week straight and then nothing. I know it's something I have done, I just know it"

"Danielle, not everything is your fault you know, like, you know that right?"

"It seems like it though-"

"Well, it isn't" Alan stated, a hard look in his eyes as he did "Stop blaming yourself for everything, no wonder you seem so pale – and you barely ate anything on your plate either. You need to eat, and you need to sleep"

"Looks like you're the one taking care of me now huh?" she asked, her lips curving into a small smile for the first time in days "Go back down to Edgar, don't want to give him an even more reason to hate me"

"He doesn't hate you-"

"I know" she shook her head "it just, sometimes it feels like he does you know?"

"I know, try living with him" Alan grumbled

"No thanks"

-0-

"She thinks you hate her"

"I do hate her"

"No, you don't" Alan sighed

"She thinks she can just take care of us, cook for us and-"

"I thought you got over this problem weeks ago Edgar?"

"I did-"

"Then what the hell is your problem Edgar? Jesus, she feels like shit enough already coz' that blonde guy is now ignoring her and now we're both being dicks to her too. No wonder she looks so pale and depressed all the time"

Alan Frog loves his brother more than any other person in the world and even though they had been side by side since day one his mood swings still managed to confuse the hell out of him on the best of days.

"She just pisses me off alright" Edgar snapped "Just leave it Alan"

"Stop making her feel like shit man, she doesn't need anything more on her plate-"

"Like what?" Edgar scoffed "A nice apartment, work, money – it's not like she struggles for anything Alan so stop pitying her like she's a lost puppy or something"

"You don't know everything about her man, maybe she does have more shit to deal with" Alan glared

"Boo-hoo" The other brother snapped once again "I do not pity her anymore, she isn't worth it"

"Why won't you tell me what the problem is? Seriously Edgar you act like you are still five years old"

"Fine, fine, you wanna' know what pisses me off about the girl? Is that you obviously have some massive, teenage boy fantasy about running off with her and marrying her some day and she completely sees right through it. You know what else, she spent all this time with us for days and days and day after day and then she finds someone better and that's it. It's a shitty thing to do Alan"

"You don't know what you're talking about" Alan lied, refusing to comment more on the matter about his unspoken feelings "So she can't have her own friends, is that what you're trying to say? Jesus, you seem like the one who has these teenage boy fantasies about her talking like you just did, not me"

"That isn't it-"

"Then what is it? She still makes sure we're fed when our own parents can't even give a shit, makes sure we're at school when we're supposed to be, Jesus Edgar last week she offered to make us lunch. She's like the big sister we've never had and now she has friends of her own, that she went out and made herself you're back to treating her like shit? You should start thinking about that man, because that's not the guy I know, that isn't my brother"

Alan stormed out of the comic shop after that, angry and upset with the one person who he had to count on as it wasn't like his parents were just going to one day wake up and realised they cared. Maybe it was harsh and maybe his words had been a little too cruel but in that moment he really just could not bring himself care and it wasn't like Edgar had ever held back when he needed to let out his frustrations. The problem was, Alan knew he had made Danielle feel like shit, and for that he felt truly terrible. Had he been different around her? He knew he had been. He wasn't used to her being with anyone but himself or his brother, the change was sudden and weird that he didn't really know how to breech the subject.

Time suddenly seemed to stop as Alan noticed bright blonde hair out of the corner of his eye which distracted his thoughts about his brother and Danielle completely. There standing across the street was Marko, in plain sight for everyone to see and the image not only made Edgar confused as he recalled what Danielle had told him not even ten minutes before but it also made him even angrier than he already was – which was strange because it's usually always Edgar who's the angry one. From what he was told Marko hadn't been around in weeks and now he was just standing there, across the road staring up at the apartment he knew where Danielle was.

-0-

Marko could not see inside of her window and could only imagine what Danielle Jones could possibly be doing – though he already had a faint idea. Closing his eyes he thought back to all of the times he had watched her read one of her thick books that looked like they were falling apart at the seams, to the nights she had sat up until she could barely keep her eyes open trying to finish the last details of the latest drawing she had conjured up and the many, many nights she had cooked amazing dinner that had left him more satisfied than he had been in years. He smiled as he relived the memories behind closed lids but soon frowned as he tried to think of a possible explanation that could use to explain his absence for the past two weeks.

When he had eyed her all those weeks ago in Ichi-Ban he had absolutely no idea how important she would grow to be and truth be told it still shocked him quite a little. Danielle has done what no other has done before and after a long two weeks of deep thought and hiding in the shadows across the street he now knew what he must do, but getting there is a completely different story

"Where I am even going to start" he muttered to himself "Wish Dwayne had a book about how to deal with this"

"Hey! You -"

Marko opened his eyes to find one of Danielle's neighbours standing not two feet away from where he stood and he didn't have to read his mind to know that he was ten kinds of pissed off

"What?" he asked, his frustration seeping into his tone "Make it quick kid, I don't have time-"

"What the hell do you think you're doing huh?" he demanded, taking a little step closer "Where the hell have you been?"

"I don't think that's any of your damn business" Marko snapped "Who the hell do you think you are anyway and last but not lease why fuck would you care?"

"I could not care less about you, or any of your friends. I've seen you around, with your friends running amok and causing havoc on the Boardwalk for years now and the last thing I want is Danielle getting mixed up with that-" the boy began and Marko fought the urge to growl at his words "-but for some, strange reason she likes you and you haven't been around and now she blames herself for you disappearing out of her life all of a sudden"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, eyes narrowing slightly as he turned to face the boy he guessed was Alan face on

"You've been gone two weeks without a work, you know her well enough by now - or so I would like to think, she blames herself and thinks she's done something wrong to scare you away"

"Well she's wrong-"

"And now you are here, standing out in the street like the past two weeks haven't gone by at all. I might be younger than you and you're right, I don't know shit about anything, but I swear if you lead her on like you have all the other girls I've seen you with before I will not stop until I seriously harm you" Edgar murmured "She deserves so much more than that"

"She does" Marko muttered "She deserves more"

"You can't just get up and walk away without thinking about who you're hurting in the meantime, you have no idea how bad it's been watching her grow pale and thin because she won't sleep or eat"

The thought of her being any less than what she was made Marko feel sick and the fact that he was the one at fault made him feel three times as worse. Turning hadn't felt this bad and turning was pretty fucking bad.

"I didn't know what to say" Marko muttered, making eye contact with the kid once more – he didn't look as pissed of as he had been, but he was still pretty mad and for all the right reasons too.

"Figure it out" Edgar demanded and with that he turned around and walked back towards the comic book shop, leaving Marko with a swirl of dark thoughts.