? POV
They have been fighting. Ever since the accident, they have been fighting. We tried whatever we could to close the portal, but they still kept coming through. The ghosts. Maybe it was to take their minds off their grief. I mean, they lost their son after all. Or maybe it was some sense of duty, to make up for creating that portal in the first place. But no matter what the reason, Maddie and Jack Fenton had been protecting Amity Park from the ghosts that had been invading ever since that day.
I had been aimlessly walking around for a while now, but somehow my legs had brought me to Fenton Works. It was painful to see that house again, where he'd never hang out with me anymore. I wanted to go back home, but my legs wouldn't let me. So I walked up to that door, and somehow managed to ring the doorbell. The one that opened was a woman, with red, swollen eyes. When she saw me, she put her arm over my shoulders.
"Come in." Her voice sounded weak and broken, but gentle, as if she knew I felt the same. I know she did.
We sat in the kitchen, and silently drank the tea she'd poured for us. I wanted to start a conversation, but didn't know what to say. So, I said the only thing that'd been on my mind for the last two weeks.
"I'm sorry... If I'd never told him to go in, then..."
"Oh sweetie, you shouldn't be blaming yourself. That portal was created by us, and you couldn't have known how dangerous it was. All because of our stupid obsession with ghosts."
I didn't know what to say to her. I wanted to comfort her, but everything I came up with sounded empty. She'd know that I didn't mean any of it.
"Actually, mrs. Fenton, there's something I'd like to ask...-" I was interrupted by a man rushing into the kitchen.
"It's the ghost alarm!"
Mrs. Fenton stood up at once. She looked at me.
"I'm sorry, but this will have to wait." I watched her get her ghost hunting equipment, and then I made my resolve.
"Wait, mrs. Fenton!" She stopped and turned to me, a serious and impatient look on her face.
"Let me fight too."
"Never."
"But-"
"Sam, this is our duty."
"You don't need to do this alone! I can help! I want to help..."
Her face softened. "If something were to happen to you too, I... we..."
"Maddie dear, we really need to go now, or the town could be in some serious trouble." The one who interrupted her was Jack.
"Right!" They ran to the door, and Maddie faced me one last time.
"Do not do anything dangerous." And they left. But I wasn't convinced so easily. I ran to Jazz's room, in which I knew there was a way to get to the OPs Center. I hoped they'd have ghost weapons in there, or at least anything I could use to help. But when I arrived there, I was shocked by what I saw. From the windows I could see a giant blob of ectoplasm, at least a hundred feet tall, terrorizing Amity Park. I froze in fear at the thought having to fight something that huge, but I quickly shifted my thoughts to Maddie and Jack, who were out there right now doing just that. I searched around for weapons, forcing myself not to think about the dangers. When I finally found what I was looking for, some ghost bazooka that shot rays of ectoplasmic energy, I returned to Jazz's room, only to run into her in the hallway. I hid the bazooka behind my back.
"Oh, hey Jazz. What are you doing here?" I asked nervously. She would most likely stop me if she knew what I was up to.
"What do you mean? This is my house," she answered.
"O-Of course! Silly me..." I stuttered as I tried to get past her without revealing the anti-ghost weapon behind my back.
"Sam, wait!" she told me just before I was about to go around the corner and race to the front door. "Could we have a talk?"
"Can't we do this later? I'm sort of busy-" I was cut off by the red-haired teen.
"It'll only be a moment. Sam, I know you're trying to be strong, and to not make others worry about you, but aren't you holding in too much? It's okay to be sad, or angry, but hiding those feelings won't make them go away. I could help you, if you'd just open up to me." As she said this, she came closer and tried to put her hand on my shoulder, which I reflexively dodged. This seemed to sadden her.
"Thanks Jazz, but I'm not holding in, so you don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine... eventually. Now, I would love to stay and talk, but there's something I need to do right now, so if you'll excuse me." And before she could answer, I ran away, out of her line of sight, to the front door. When I opened it, I was immediately greeted by the same sight from the OPs Center. The gigantic green pile of otherworldly substance was still as big as before, and as terrorizing as before. The only good thing about this is that I could easily see where it currently was. As I ran toward the ghost, I saw more and more people running in the opposite direction, and when I arrived at the city hall where the ghost was, I could no longer see anyone but a woman in a blue hazmat suit trying desperately to stop the monster attacking her town. Just as I wondered where Jack was, I tripped over something, and dropped my bazooka, which accidentally activated and hit the city hall, destroying part of the roof in the process. When I looked behind me to see what I tripped over, I saw a man in an orange jumpsuit lying on the streets, full of bruises and cuts.
"Mr. Fenton!" I screamed. I crawled over to him, but he was unconscious. Behind me I heard a voice.
"Sam what in the world are you doing here!? Run, before the ghost gets you!" I stood up, and walked over to my new weapon. Then, I aimed at the ghost (which wasn't so hard considering its size).
"Sorry Mrs. Fenton!" I screamed, "but I can't leave you here alone!" I shot at the ghost, which easily deflected my ghost ray with its arms. Maddie, who had been fighting on top of buildings the whole time to get closer to the ghost, landed next to me and grabbed my shoulders.
"You've got to get out of here right now!" She looked very serious, but so was I. With my eyes, I told her once again that I wouldn't be leaving before that ghost was brought down. But just as we were about the enter a staring contest, she suddenly pushed me away, moment before the place where we'd been standing get hit by the ghost's hand. Mrs. Fenton got slammed into a building behind her, and seemed to have been rendered unconscious. Now I certainly couldn't run anymore. I faced the ghost, and tried to look for a weak spot. Then, I suddenly noticed that the ghost, wasn't just a blob lying on the ground, but actually did have something similar to feet, thought very small, supporting him and his huge body. This gave me an idea. I ran towards the ghost while dodging a punch from him, and aimed at his feet. I hit the bull's eye, and because he had been leaning forward to punch me, he started to lose his balance, and slowly fell forward. Only just in time did I realize I was about to get crushed, and quickly ran to safety. I came to a halt, completely out of breath, when the ghost landed on the streets. I took my chance, and started to shoot him anywhere I could think of before he had the time to get up. After several shots with no effect, I shot him in the eyes, and the ghost screamed in pain. I got ready to keep shooting there, when I noticed I was out of ammo.
"Darnit!" I threw away the bazooka, and ran over to Jack and Maddie. Closest to me was Jack, and he seemed to have a similar bazooka on his back. I couldn't grab it, because it was tied to him, but I could aim it. The ghost was already on its hands, but getting back up proved quite difficult to him because of its small feet. I gratefully used this opportunity to keep hitting him in the eyes. After the first shot, he brought his hands to his eyes, causing him to fall again. As I kept shooting, the beams eventually seemed to pierce his eyelids (gross!), and later seemed to be going inside him though his eyes (again, gross!). After a few more shots, enough energy piled up inside him to make him explode, and cover everything with his ectoplasmic goo. After I wiped my face clean, I looked around, and realized what I'd done, beside making a mess of the city hall.
"I... defeated him... I defeated him...! I DEFEATED A GHOST!" This seemed to wake Jack and Maddie up, and they could only stare at me with shocked expressions. Maddie stood up and walked up to me, still not sure whether she should thank me or scold me. After a while, she decided on the former, and gave me a hug. As a goth, I detested any sort of human contact, but this time it was strangely comforting.
And that day, I hadn't thought about him even once.
