This chapter was actually inspired by a picture I saw on pinterest.
Chapter I don't even know anymore
10 year old Daniel Masters sat in the shade of a big tree that stood a few feet away from the playground of the middle school he was attending. The boy sat crisscrossed in the grass with his back to the tree and a large book in his lap. A pair of glasses sat on top of his head as he stared at the words on the page. His teachers muttered amongst themselves about the book in his lap.
"Why is he even in this school?"
"He's reading a college level textbook."
"How am I even supposed to teach him?"
Daniel blocked out the laughter and sounds of playing children around him, too absorbed in his book to care about the other kids on the playground. Looking up, blue eyes watched as all the kids ran inside at the sound of the bell signaling the end of recess. Daniel marked his page, setting the book aside as he stood and dusted off his shorts. Pulling his glasses over his eyes, he tucked the book under his arm and began to walk towards the school, not noticing three boys grinning as they walked towards him.
"Hey, short stack!"
Daniel turned towards the boys with a bored look, not at all worried about the size of them compared to him or the fact that one had slung an arm around his shoulders with a smirk that matched the other two boys.
"What's up, nerd? Whatcha reading?" he asked as another one of the boys snatched the book out of Daniel's hands.
"US History through Re-con-stuct-i-on." the second boy read the title aloud with slight difficulty.
"Reconstruction." Daniel corrected. "Give it back."
"Whatcha gonna do for it?" the third boy asked, snatching the book from the second, flipping the pages before dropping the book on the ground and laughing.
"I won't do anything for it. It's my book." Daniel said, calmly.
"Then I think I'll just keep it." the first boy said, pulling his arm away and shoving Daniel to the ground before grabbing the book from his friends as they began their way to the school.
"I think it would be wise if you return that~" a voice said from behind the three boys and they froze in their tracks.
The boys turned to see a tall figure hovering behind them. The shadows contorting around him to make the figure look like a demon with horns and sharp fangs. He crossed his arms and glared at the boys with sharp red eyes. Meanwhile, Daniel stood and dusted himself off again, coughing slightly from getting dirt in his mouth. The three boys screamed when the figure lunged at them with long, sharp claws.
"Here you are, Daniel." the figure said, handing the dropped book to the 10 year old.
"Thank you, father." Daniel muttered slightly, his head down.
Shifting into his human form, Vlad Masters knelt by his son and tilted his head to have him look up at him, revealing his scraped cheek and dulled blue eyes.
"Are you sure you want to stay in this school? This is the third incident since I had to start watching over you at work." Vlad pointed out.
"Social interaction is a good thing. It'll build my character enough to follow your footsteps." Daniel explained, copying what his father had said to him back on his first day of school, still avoiding meeting his father's eyes.
Vlad couldn't help but smile slightly at his son. No other child would be bold and brave enough to think of bullying as character building and no child would be intelligent enough to willingly begin learning about their parents jobs so early in childhood. It brought pride to the billionaire's heart to see his son acting so mature at such a young age.
"I'm very proud of you. Here. Let me heal that so your mother doesn't throw a fit when you come home. Go back to class and gather your things. I'm taking you home for the day." Vlad instructed.
Daniel nodded before running into the school, fighting back a small smile from his father's comment.
6 years later.
Daniel leaned against the armrest of his seat, watching out the window of the fields and oceans hundreds of miles below the plane. His father sat, reading a magazine, in the seat next to him. Valerie sat across from them, her eyes glued to a book in her lap with her headphones blocking out all sounds around her. Daniel stood and stretched, inching his way passed his father before walking back to the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and let his form switch from human to ghost. He sighed as he stared at his ghost form. It was more him than his father's ghost form was to him. White hair that was the same style as his black hair. A black vest over a white t-shirt with a P inside a D in black with black jeans that weren't as restricting as they looked and white sneakers. The outfit hadn't really fit Daniel's human appearance but he liked it. No one would suspect it was him in his ghost form. Running a hand through his hair, Daniel shifted back to his human form and left the bathroom. Walking back to his seat, he put on his headphones as he leaned back against the window.
Meanwhile, Sam hopped off the bus and began walking towards the Masters mansion.
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