Hi Peoples! Yeah I know I missed last week, but I didn't start when I needed to and ended up not writing at all :(
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
Helen Keller
Now..
I own nothing you recognize.
Previously on: The Dark Phantom
Em snaps her attention to Julia "Wha?"
"Did Danny go home?"
"Yeah…"
"WHERE WERE YOU! YOU HAD BEEN HAVING FUN IN YOUR ROOM TIS MORNING AND NOT EVEN AN HOUR LATER YOU WERE GONE AND YOU JUST COME HOME NOW."
"I wa- "
"I DON'T CARE! YOU NEED TO TELL US WHERE YOU ARE GOING SO WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AT ALL TIMES. YOU ARE OUR CHILD, OUR RESPONISABLITY."
"Just –" He starts on saying where he had gone, but gives up and walks up the stairs, not giving a crap if the Fenton adults, not his parents, would've listened.
Chapter 12: Exploding Flour and Halloween Shenanigans
Thursday
Day in and day out, Emily and Danny have met in the forested park. He skips preschool just talk with her in the mornings, his only friend. Usually, Em will have to run off to one of her morning classes.
After Em leaves, Danny, who doesn't want to go home to the Fenton adults yelling at him, spends the day in the park reading, both quietly and out loud to Blue. With the sunlight fluttering through the leafed canopy and sprawling across his lap, he reads.
Generally, as the morning draws to a close he goes swimming, getting more comfortable with his tail. When it hits noon, Em will come back with lunch. They talk, but Em can't stay long for she always has a class afterwards.
In the late afternoons, they will head to Em's work while chatting. At the shop, Julia will take a little time each day to teach Danny math (don't ask me why). Then, he spends the rest of the afternoon taking apart anything Julia will let him, sometimes he will put them back together.
Today, Danny is skipping school for the fourth day in a row. The morning started out like any other morning; eat breakfast, run out of the house like the hounds of hell are on your heels while simultaneously making sure that Jack, Maddie, and his sister don't see him, meet with Em for a morning of talking, swim, and read.
They are walking to the shop and Em is talking with her hands gesturing wildly.
"There was this person the other evening who was –"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Her head whipped around, looking for the source of the scream. Narrowing in on an ally just ahead of them, she briskly walks forward snapping her mouth shut. Danny, not having a clue upon what's happening, follows her like a lost puppy.
When she reaches the edge of the alleyway, she peaks in making sure not to be seen. There's a group of people crowding two smaller bodies. The distance she was at she couldn't see any of their features, but looking, only for a second, she could quickly guess at what is happening. She took out her phone and dialed 911.
"He-"
"There is something happening on 132nd street, the ally between Old Tom's Place and the little apartment building that is the Teriyaki Place."
She then hangs up, not letting the operator say a single word.
"Danny. Stay. Here." She says, as she walks into the alleyway, her head held high.
"Hello, anyone want to explain what's happening?"
Voice One: "Get lost girly!"
Voice Two: "Yeah! This is none of your business!"
Emily: "Oh really, you just assumed my gender like that! For all you know I could be a guy."
Not a word was passed between the three, but then a third voice spoke up.
Voice Three: "Y-y-y-you s-s-shouldn't b-be h-here."
Emily: "Nah. I heard something that I don't like, so now I'll ask again. What. Is. Happening."
"We were going to take a little fee from these young ladies, who were passing through our territory."
Emily: "You what now?"
"Do I have to put this bluntly?" The forth voice replies irritated.
The sounds of sirens filled the air.
"Oh no! The Cops! Boss what do we do now!" The first voice asks, fear evident.
Emily: "Nothing, they're going to surround the ally."
Voice Four: "YOU!"
Emily: "Me."
Danny watched as the police come out of the car and like Em said, he could hear another car door close on the other side of the ally.
Voices One and Two: "BOSS!"
The cops run into the ally with their guns raised, "Hands in the air."
Voice Four: "Screw you, girl."
Three bulky guys were dragged out of the ally, on the other side of the ally where Danny was. Em and two girls were escorted out of the ally to Danny's side.
"Em…"
"Go home kiddo, I'll see you tomorrow."
He blinks, turns on his heels and walks away not having a clue about what just happened.
Saturday
The blue skies spread across over the endless expanse of emerald forest. Emily leans against a tree, watching as the few puffy clouds float cheerfully by.
Crunch, Crash, Fwap
Danny lands at her feet.
"Bout time you got here kiddo. I brought lunch, but you don't have to kiss my feet for it."
"…"
"Never mind, just don't bow to anyone who doesn't deserve it."
She holds out her hand, and he reaches up grabbing it letting her pull him up.
"You want to sit here and eat, or you want to find somewhere less crowed?" She asks as she looks at the many families who are eating, laughing, and just generally enjoying each other's company on this sunny fall Saturday.
"Less crow-eded."
"Okay, lead the way then."
He leads them even deeper into the park's forest and out into the forest that surrounds Amity. Eventually, they come to a clearing that has a small sandy slope that leads into a shallow pool.
Em lays out a blanket and places the picnic basket down in the center of it. Then, she plops down and starts taking food out of it. She then, places a sandwich in front of him and starts to dig in to one of her own.
After they finish their sandwiches he asks, "Wha wan talk bout?"
"Ah, yeah it's about yesterday and what you saw or didn't see."
"Wha the fighting thingy?"
"Fighting thingy? Nooooooo. You see, yesterday I had called the police and then went in to that ally while that crime was in progress. I had endangered myself."
"Yeah fighting thingy."
"Okay, the fighting thingy?"
"Why?"
"Why, did I do it?"
She is so very confused right about now. He had saw her endanger herself and calls it "the fighting thingy." He just nods in response to her question.
"Okay, so I've always been told to help everyone that I can, sometimes I've been told that I ignore my own safety for others, and it has always irritated Julia and Dad.
"I guess it started when Mom died. I was depressed, but not and I was walking home one night, long after school had gotten out and I should have been home. So, I took a short cut I knew about through an alleyway, I didn't know until it was too late that the ally was a place that robbers often take refuge in and even if I did, I likely wouldn't of cared at the time.
"It was the most random stranger that saved me that night. He, at least I think it was a man, wore a hooded cloak and had many watches, that I don't think anyone needs. He said that I would know why he saved me when the time was right, but because of that I try as hard as I can to help all people in need, even if I don't know why he saved me."
Tears were dropping down her face, and Danny, not knowing what else to do, sat in her lap and hugged her, they stayed like that for a good long while.
"I'm good Danny, you can let go now."
"…"
"Danny?"
Que a small intake and outtake of breath in response.
"Dannny?"
"…"
She looks down at him, and notices that he was sleeping curled up aginst her with her as the pillow.
"Ahhhh, you're so cute. To bad I'm going to wake you, not."
She pokes him in the side once and only getting him swatting at her, so she does the logical thing and pokes him again. Getting the same response, she starts to tickle him.
"MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! S-ha-sop haha i-i-it!"
Abruptly stopping, she replies with a "Oh good, you're up! I want to take you to the beach and if you don't get off me I will lift you and carry you like a princess there. Then unceremoniously drop you in the water!"
Her declaration was enforced with a finger pointed to the sky. He glares at her, gets up, and stomps on her foot, the adult thing to do.
On the entire walk to the beach, the two pushed each other and stepped on their feet. When they got to the scheduled beach, Danny pushes Em into the water, then jumps in himself.
They spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the endless blue sea. When they left for home, Em was half drowned and a completely water logged prune.
Sunday
Danny jerks awake, this time Blue was prepared for it and was resting upon the edge of his pillow rather than on his arm. The dream was of Thursday. How he could've lost Em and both of the girls. How other parents lie awake at night mourning for lost children that someone, like Em, could've helped save.
"Em said that she help ever one who ned it. Can me? Wha power for if not help? I have power and no it. Em-Em help, I help too!"
Wednesday, Two weeks later
Danny has started going to school now, about every other day, and everyday he's at school he is reading and playing with Blue. The days he is not at school, are spent wandering the town in his ghost form, helping anyone who needs it. He's been working from the shadows and constantly out there. He will answer any cry for help.
After a rather violent bank robbery that he helped stop, the witnesses and officers described him as a shadow distracting the robbers, while the policemen took care of one of them. Then chaos, the shadow helped keep anyone from getting hurt too badly. From that day forth, he was known as the Shadow of Amity Park or Shadow.
Wednesday morning, Danny was upstairs in his room reading out loud to Blue.
"DANNY! COME DOWN HERE PLEASE!"
Bringing his head up, glancing down, then closing the book and placing it upon his bed. He walks out the door, Blue tailing behind. When he hit the bottom of the stairs he sees in the front room, piles upon piles of boxes.
"Danny, you're old enough now that you can help with the annual Halloween decorating. Danny and I will be setting up most of the decorations. Jack, I want you to get that projector from the fighting simulator and set it up so that it shows zombies or spiders infesting this house."
Said man child zips off down to the lab, supposedly to get the projector.
"Danny help me get the decorations out of these boxes."
"Wha bout school?"
"Oh right, well you never go anyways, so it's not like you really care about going. So, come help me with this." She dismisses.
By the end of the afternoon, about an hour before Jazz gets home, cobwebs were everywhere. Spiders had been put up so it seems that they have infested the house and there was a headless pig hanging from the Livingroom ceiling. All the lightbulbs on the outside of the house have been changed out for a purple or orange one and there was so much more put up that there was no way it could've fit into the amount of boxes that Maddie had pulled out.
When they were done, Maddie goes down into the lab, where Jack had likely gotten distracted. And Danny not having anything else to do, and knowing that Jazz won't be home for a while, goes on to her computer and searches up some Halloween cookie recipes. Finding one, he prints it out to her printer. Then goes to invade the kitchen.
He takes out the items dictated in the recipe and makes sure none of it is contaminated. He then grabs a mixing bowl, and the measuring cups. He sets to work, making sure to follow the directions exactly while trying not to make a mess. Though when he goes to pour the flour into the mixing bowl, it explodes getting flour everywhere.
The now flour coved child, start to clean up the snow covered kitchen. To start he takes out a mop, broom, and tub. Then he sets to work filling the tub with water and placing it on the ground outside of the kitchen, as to not get its wheels dirty. Then he takes the broom and sets to work sweeping up as much flour as he can.
BRUSH, BRUSH, BRUS-
"GHOST!"
Jack Fenton comes barreling up the lab stairs with an ecto-gun in hand and charging in to the white kitchen, after of course tripping over the tub, he then aims the ecto-gun at his youngest child's head.
"EAT HOT ECTO-PLASM GHOST!"
The moon is not gold and I had/have homework.
Peace and Pieces,
Sugar