I know Sam has been really awful in the last couple of chapters, but to me she has always seemed to be the most stubborn of the group. So that's that. Happy Halloween!
She ran forward and hugged me. "I was so wrong about what you do. I never knew your life was so hard. Please, please forgive me."
I returned the hug, and realized that I couldn't stay mad at her, "It's okay Jazz, I forgive you."
When she pulled away from me I found tears soaking her face and a smile spread across her face.
I looked up my old friends and begged, "Please, just apologize. This is your last chance for forgiveness."
Sam's purple eyes hardened, "I've done nothing you need to forgive."
She and Tucker spun around and limped away into the falling sun.
"Jazz," I turned towards my older sister, "Let's go home."
End Day 2
Day 3:
It feels like forever since Jazz drove me to school. "Thanks for getting me out of being grounded," she smiled at me.
I recalled how I told our parents that I had left my backpack at school, and Jazz went back to get it for me, and that she he only lied because she didn't want me to get in trouble for it. "You know, what I said last night," I sighed, "About the town not wanting me back."
She nodded and I continued. "It's true. I can't be the hero anymore. You understand now how hard it is, but it felt great to know that I was needed."
We pulled up to the school and Jazz tried to appease my worries, "Danny, I need you. These past couple of days proved it. Besides, Sam and Tucker complained constantly about the ghost fighting. They will quit eventually. And when the ghost hunters in this town prove to be incompetent, you can swoop in and save the day like you always do."
My smile was disrupted by a blue mist curling out of my mouth and a chill running down my spine, causing my hair to stand on end and goose bumps to dot my skin.
I exited the car, and with a languid walk, casually made my way towards the fight.
Right before, I turned the corner to see my former friends in their skirmish my sister berated me, "What are you doing?"
"Going to see the fight," I responded.
"I know you're not used to this, but seeing as how everyone here thinks you're fully human, you're supposed to run from a ghost."
"Oh," I sighed, shocked as to how foreign these simple things were to me, "I guess I'll be on my way then."
As I started to amble away, my eardrums almost burst with the sound of a blood-curtailing scream, and I took off running towards the fight.
What I thought was going to be a simple brawl with someone like Skulker or Desiree, to my horror turned out to be a battle with the Fright Night. And what would normally have been a difficult fight became impossible in Sam and Tucker's lethargic state. I dived behind a bush and when I rolled out from it my raven hair was now snow white and my blue eyes gleamed neon green.
I expected my friend to waste their energy on shouting haughty remarks about how "they could handle it" but instead I was greeted by meek smiles.
I was surprised by how much stronger I felt after these two days of rest and my first ectoblast hit right on target, blasting the Fright Night back several feet. This diverted his attention from my old friends and he changed the angle of his sword so that it was coming right at me. My shield managed to stay up and his blade rebounded back towards him. This caught him off guard and allowed Sam to blast him in the back with a wrist ray. This was followed by Tucker knocking the ghost off his horse with one powerful blast from the lipstick laser. "Just like old times," I thought and a smile brushed on my lips.
But while my fighting had enhanced tremendously from the rest, I saw that Sam and Tucker's moves were terribly sluggish. The Fright Night seemed to notice this too as he spent most of his time trying to wear my down, and he was able to easily dodge the next couple of shots coming from my friends… former friends, I reminded myself. And his strategy was working. Sure I had gotten to let myself heal, but I was also out of practice, and I felt a powerful blast rip through my side. Christmas colored blood streamed out, and I did my best to cover it with my left hand. However, the Fright Night took advantage of my momentary pause and came hurtling towards someone who used to mean the world to me.
Sam.
She was on her hands and knees gasping for breath as the ghost charged. Without thinking, I flew as fast as I could in front of her. The Fright Night threw his glowing sword at the same time as I let out my deafening ghostly wail. I felt my insides burn and rip apart, but I continued screeching. The neon green waves were momentarily outshined by a flash of blue, and I didn't even have the energy to care. Another bright flash of blue made me hardly register that the Fright Night was no longer there. Tucker ran up to my falling form, twisting the cap closed on the old Fenton Thermos. Three forms surrounded me. "Danny," sobbed one of them with a female voice.
"What happened?" asked one of the forms, who I could faintly see might have had red hair, but I couldn't tell.
"The… the sword just went right… through him, I… I can't look," stuttered one of them before moving a little farther away.
I didn't understand what they were talking about, but I groggily raised my hand towards my stomach. Instead of the soft feel of fabric, I only felt moist grass. The agony that was around where my hand was started to fade. The forms started to blend together and fade and their sobbing voices sounded like they were coming from farther and farther away. I just wanted to close my eyes. One of the voices came out clearer, "Stay with me, Danny."
A thought registered in the back of my mind, "But you didn't stay with me," as if I unconsciously recognized the speaker and what they were saying.
It didn't matter though. The darkness was closing in, and I didn't even mind anymore. It seemed welcoming. It didn't seem like the darkness that lurked at the edges of nightmares. It was the darkness that welcomed you at night, telling you that you could finally fall asleep after a long day's work. I couldn't find any reason to continue fighting the darkness.
And I was the last to go.
End Day 3
I just love circle endings. I know it might have seemed a little awkward with that, "I was the last to go" but if I see the chance to make my story circle, I'm taking it. Although, that's not quite true. This isn't the ending; there will be more to come. Happy Halloween, to all of my lovely readers.