From Dust 2 Dawn (Part 3)
"Shandra!" Rob yelled. He picked up her phone and read it. "It's just screaming," He gasped.
Everyone looked around to see where she went. They heard someone from above banging on glass, and they looked up to see that Shandra was trapped on the security camera screen. She screamed and continued to bang her fists against it. Everyone screamed.
"Shandra! Shandra!" Danny called out for her. "Can you hear us?"
She only looked around in confusion.
"What are we supposed to do?" Daryl asked, grabbing Ed.
"I don't know, Daryl! I don't know!" Ed yelled frantically.
Rob grabbed Danny's shoulder, "Let's just go already!"
"Wait!" Danny stopped her. "Not without Mikey! Mikey!" He called out. "MIKEY!"
Mikey was still playing the Dancy Pants Revolution game, seeming to have no idea of what was happening around him. "Wait! I've almost got the high score!" He said, just before he dissolved, just like Shandra had. Mikey reappeared inside of the game and looked around the screen in confusion. "Huh? What?" The game activated, and arrows moved down the screen, hitting Mikey, "No! So many arrows!" He screamed. Mikey curled into a ball and cried while the arrows kept hitting him.
"MIKEY!" Heather yelled.
Rob grabbed her hand, "Forget them! Let's go!"
Without further protest, they ran to the door, but it closed shut before they could leave. "What the…" Danny tried to open it, but couldn't. "Guys… It's locked!"
"OUTTA MY WAY!" Rob pushed through Daryl, Ed, Danny, and Ford to get to the cash register. They ducked so he could throw it to try to break the glass. The cash register dissolved before it could reach the door, and green light from nowhere began attacking Rob. He ran from it in fear.
Ford thought about the journal, and he remembered some of what he read from the other day about ghosts, "Everybody, wait!" He shouted. He caught their attention. "Whatever's doing this has to have some kind of reason for it!" Ford, luckily, had his journal with him, but he felt uneasy opening it in front of so many people, so he kept it in his jacket. "Maybe if we can figure out what it is, they'll let us out of here!"
"Uh-huh, they'll let us out of here. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense!" Rob yelled sarcastically.
"I don't know, guys. Maybe Ford's got a point," Danny agreed.
Ed rolled his eyes, "Yeah right. I'm sure the ghost just wants to talk about his feelings!" he joked sarcastically. He dissolved into the air and reappeared inside the cover of a nearby cereal box.
The toucan on the cereal box came to life and laughed, "I'm bonkers for eating you alive!" It held up a spoon and stabbed Ed with it.
"ED!" Daryl screamed. He turned to Ford. "Okay, okay, fine. I'm with you, kid! All the way!"
Ford nodded. "First, we need to gather together, his eyes suddenly widen as he remembered. "Stan!" They turned to see Stan, who has a strange, green aura surrounded him as he levitated in the air. 'He's being possessed by the ghost.' To confirm Ford's thoughts, the ghost spoke through Stan in a deep voice, "Welcome to your graves, young trespassers,"
The remaining teenagers and Ford screamed in fear, "THEY GOT STAN!"
"We're very sorry for hanging out in your store!" Danny apologized.
"Yeah!" Ford added. "Can we just go now and leave forever?"
Much to their surprise, the ghost allowed this, "Well… okay. You're free to go," the doors opened on their own. "But before you leave, hot dogs are now half off. I know it might be crazy, but you gotta try these dogs!"
Ford looked at the ghost possessing Stan in disbelief. Not to mention, how long has this store been closed for, exactly? Ten, maybe twenty years? There was no guarantee that those hot dogs were any good. Daryl and Rob, on the other hand, didn't waste time to think about it. The two of them ran for the front door screaming, before the doors shut again before they could leave.
"Just kidding about the hot dog sale," the ghost said.
Daryl punched the door, "Just give us our friends back and let us out of here already!" he demanded.
"I don't like your tone!" The ghost dissolved Daryl. He reappeared as a hot dog on a rolling stove.
"NO! I'M A HOT DOG!"
"It begins," the ghost declared. "Welcome to your home for all eternity!" Everything in the store floated to the ceiling, including Danny, Ford, and Rob.
"Ford, what do we do?" Heather asked.
"Oh so now you want to talk to me?" Ford snapped.
Ford I-" Heather looks so guilty that Ford almost drops it…almost.
"Seriously what's with you? I thought you were my friend." Ford snapped. "Are you embarrassed to know me around your older friends?"
"What?" Heather shouted, "No that's not it honest."
"Guys now is not the time!" Fids added.
"No now's the perfect time!" Ford shouted. "I tried to tell you guys this place was haunted if you had agreed with me we could have been gone and Stan wouldn't be possessed-"
Fids looked ahead, where he saw a shelf board flying at them, "DUCK!"
Ford, and Heather ducked in time to avoid it, but Rob and Fids weren't so lucky. They got hit and landed in a pile of rubble, they both fell unconscious. Danny pointed to the tripped over ice machine, "Quick! In there!" They ran to it and hid behind it for cover. "What do they want from us?" he asked.
"Revenge, I guess?" Ford said, still ignoring Heather.
"But revenge for what? What did we do wrong?" Danny asked.
Ford took a deep breath, "Okay, let's try to figure out the pattern here," he thought reasonably. "Why was each person taken? Shandra was on her phone, Mikey was playing a video game, Ed and Rob were being sarcastic, and Daryl was talking back."
"Yeah! but, those are all just normal teenage things!" Heather said.
Ford's eyes widened in thought, "Wait, say that last part again." He said, suddenly forgetting his anger towards her.
"Normal teenage things?" Heather said.
"Of course!" He exclaimed. "Stay here until I get back!" Ford crawled away from behind the freezer and approached the ghost.
"Dude, what are you doing?!" Danny asked.
"Ford be careful." Heather called…"Please…"
Ford's stern look softens, but he doesn't turn to face her, instead he spoke out, "Hey, ghost!"
The ghost possessing Stan made him twist his head around to face Ford.
"I've got something to tell you!" He shouted. "I'm not a teenager!" He admitted.
Everything that was floating dropped on the ceiling, and the ghosts appeared. There were two of them, one man and one woman, and they looked like they were an older married couple. Their name tags on their clothing read "Ma" and "Pa". Pa was holding Stan by his hair, who just blinked up at them in confusion.
"Hohoho! Well, why didn't you say so?" Pa asked in a much kinder and friendlier voice. He dropped Stan into a pile of candy, causing him to groan. "How old did you say you were?"
"I'm…" Ford looked back at Danny and reluctantly answered honestly. "I'm twelve. Technically not a teenager."
Ma spoke up, "When we were alive, teenagers were a scourge on our store!"
"Always sassafrassin' customers with their… boomy boxes and disrespectful short pants!" Pa explained. "So, we decided to up and ban them! But they retaliated with this newfangled rap music."
Ma continued, "The lyrics, they were so… hateful! It was so shocking, we were stricken down with double heart attacks!" She smiled brightly and finished, "And that's why we hate teenagers so much! Don't we, honey?" She turned to her husband, and they nuzzled. It was almost disgusting, but Ford thought better than to mention anything about it.
"But they're my friends," Ford explained. "Isn't there anything I can do to help them?"
The deceased couple held hands, and Pa turned to Ford, "There is one thing," he mentioned. "Do you know any funny little dances?"
Ford blushed in embarrassment, "Well, I do know…" he sighed, "the Lamby, Lamby Dance. Bu-but," he smiled, "I can't really do it without a lamb costume!" He closed his eyes and folded his arms happily. Pa snapped his fingers, and Ford found himself wearing a lamb costume. "Oh, well… there it is…" he took a deep breath and started singing the song.
"Wellll... Who wants a Lamby, lamby, lamby? I do! I do!" He sang as he did a little dance. "So go up and greet your Mammy, mammy, mammy! Hi there! Hi there! So march, march, march around the daisies..."
"Yes, MORE! MORE!" Pa exclaimed, obviously enjoying himself. Ford glanced at Danny, who had the biggest grin on his face at Ford's humiliating moment.
He then reluctantly looked at Heather, who looked at him with a shocked expression on her face.
Ford blushed and continued singing. "Don't, don't, don't you forget about the babies!" He winks for good measure as the song comes to end.
Pa clapped, "That was some fine girly dancin', boy! Your friends are free."
Ford was no longer wearing the lamb costume, but was back to wearing his regular clothes, including his gloves and jacket, "Well, I don't think you have to worry about us coming back, so…"
Before Ford could finish, the ghosts disappeared and everything and everyone in the store fell back on the floor from the ceiling, and the teenagers are all back to normal.
For a moment there was a long moment of silence finally Heather got to her feet and ran to Ford.
Ford gasped as she threw her arms around him. "You were amazing!" She whispered to him. "Thanks."
Ford smiled and returned the embrace. "Anything for you." He admitted.
Ed suddenly stood up and looked at Danny, "So what we miss?"
"Yeah." Rob said eyeing Heather and Ford angrily.
Ford pushed Heather away gently as the others gathered around them, wondering the same thing.
"You are never going to believe this!" Danny exclaimed, laughing. "The ghosts showed up, and Ford had to-" Danny glanced at the boy, noticing the embarrassed look on his face. Danny cleared his throat. "He had too."
"Fight them off!" Heather cut in. "Ford just started beating ghosts down left and right!"
"Wow!" The teens sounded impressed.
"And the ghosts got all scared and ran away like a couple of little girls. It was insane!" Heather concluded.
"Yep." Danny agreed with a sly smile. "I could barely believe it myself, but this little dude saved our lives!"
"Alright!" Daryl cheered. "Dr. Funtimes!"
The other teenagers congratulated Ford for his heroic deed. When they weren't looking, Heather looked at Ford and zipped her lips before throwing away the key.
Ford copied the gesture.
"So, are we all cool now?" Fids asked as he wrapped an arm around each of them.
"Yeah." Ford said.
"Really?" Heather asked.
Ford nodded. "Yeah just-"
"I promise I'll never pick my brother's friends over you guys again." Heather promised. "I just wanted to prove to them that we- that I wasn't a baby."
Ford smiled. "Then we're cool."
"I'm not." Stan suddenly groaned from the ground. "I'm never gonna eat or do anything ever again."
Ford suddenly laughed and picked up a package from the ground, "Hey, look! There's still some left!"
Stan stood up to knock the Smile Dip out of his hand, "EVIL!" He shouted.
"Let's get out of here." Danny said.
"Yeah while we still can." Rob agreed.
Everyone ran out of the store and piled into the van. Heather, Rob, Fids, Shandra, Daryl, and Ed were fast asleep in their seats, tired out from the scare. Mikey was still awake, but only because he still had to drive everyone home.
"That was pretty crazy," Ford commented to Danny.
"Yeah, it was," Dan agreed. "Probably scarred for life now. Hey, how about next time we hang out, let's stay at the Mystery Shack. Okay?"
"Yeah… next time," Ford said sounding unsure.
Danny picks up on it. "Did I do something wrong man?" He asked. "You've been treating me different all day."
"Well…" Ford bit his lip and looked to Heather.
Danny followed his gaze and suddenly nodded as if he understood. "So I guess you noticed."
"Noticed?" Ford asked.
"It's no secret." Danny said. "Heather's had a crush on me for years, but she's too young for me."
"Did you tell her that?" Ford asked.
Danny shook his head. "She never told me herself, so I pretend not to notice, but don't worry." He assured him. "She'll get over me when she realizes the best man is already in love with her."
"You think so?" Ford asked hopefully.
Danny nodded. "Now are we cool or what?" he asked offering a fist bump.
Ford smiled and bumped his fist with Danny's. "Yeah sorry for being well you know."
"No big." Danny said. "But if Ms. Pines asked we were at my place the whole time."
Ford laughed as he sat back in his seat. "Deal."
Stan, who was beginning to recover after the combination of eating illegal candy and the possession groaned and squinted at the writing on the door he made earlier, "What kind of sick joke is this?"
Ford laughed as Mikey stopped the car at the Mystery Shack.
"See you little dudes." Danny said.
"Bye!" Ford said helping Stan walk up to the shack they weren't expecting to walk in on Grauntie Mabel throwing the TV out the window, nearly hitting them. She stuck her head out of the now broken window to see the boys, "Uh, I can explain." She said.
Later that night, after a sincere apology from Mabel for almost crushing them with a television set, the boys got settled in bed. Ford was pretty happy with himself with how things turned out, while Stan was still suffering from a massive headache. At the very least, Grauntie Mabel gave him some medicine to dull the pain.
"Stan?" Ford spoke from the top bunk of their bed.
"Yeah?"
"...You were right about Heather is crushing on Danny," he admitted.
Even through the pain, Stan managed to chuckle, "I knew it."
"But Danny told me He's not interested. Should I tell her?"
Stan turned his head even though he couldn't see his brother from the lower bunk, "You mean that Danny isn't interested, or that you are?"
"I-I don't know... both I guess?" Ford blushed.
"I'd tell her how I felt, if I was you." Stan said. "Danny will let her down gently enough."
Ford smiled. "Thanks Stan, I can always count on you."
Stan smiled. "Night bro."
"Night." Ford said, and for the first time in a while he actually had no trouble falling asleep.
Episode 11: From Dust 2 Dawn END!
Author's Notes: Tune in next week to find out what happens next! Thanks again for reading and please review!
Yours Truly, RoxieDivine ;)