Hey! (Lisa bangs head against wall) I gotta stop doing this! I made ANOTHER drabble! Here goes the crappiness…

SUMMARY: AU. Jack wonders about the world…and its cruelty. He wonders why it took away one of the best things that ever happened to him: Danny. DRABBLE.

DISCLAIMER: no.

RATED: T for slightly mature themes and language.

Scrapes and Scratches

I've always wanted a son. I got my wish two years after Jazz. Maddie went through forty-one hours of labor with Danny in a New Jersey hospital—Wayne, I think it was. I was keeping her pace the whole time, comforting her. And when she finally did it, out came our beautiful boy whom we graciously named Daniel. He was the first baby I ever heard of who didn't cry after birth. He was absolutely perfect, and I would always love him, just like Maddie would.

But why would the world be so cruel? I remember when I taught Danny how to ride a bike. He was so happy, jumping and yelling about it, telling all of us how he would ride it until he "went bye-bye". At the end of the day, his bike was reduced to scraps and scratches.

One day, at a friend's bar mitzvah, I had come with him, since he was too shy. There were gambling tables and a buffet, which I called "dog food" compared to the food in the adult lounge. We watched two boys play roulette for a few minutes before I, drinking some scotch, decided to do my job.

"Whoo, it's hot in here!" I said, flapping my jacket.

"Take it off!" said Danny.

"I'm hot!" I said, ignoring him. I licked my first finger and attached it to my upper chest, saying, "SSSS!" as if sizzling. Danny motioned for me to stop.

"That's my job, to embarrass you!" I replied, half-drunken.

Those were good times. But why did the world have to break people apart? Why did people have no notice of their loved ones' life? It didn't seem fair! But since when has anything been fair?

I wonder why it happened. Why? Why did someone have to go and do it painfully? He should have gone peacefully! In his sleep! But someone just went up to him and tortured him until he finally gave up!

Danny was in his room, playing away at his game as always. He had been in there for hours, and I didn't think they gave that much homework in the 7th grade. And he was unusually quiet; usually I could hear a frustrated yell, a chair falling in a rush of anger, or a yip of happiness. But not anymore; it was silent, eerily silent.

I treaded up the stairs carefully, being sure not to disrupt Jazz's usual extra studying, and Danny's possible sleeping (which would make me paranoid). The third stair from the top squeaked loudly, giving away my presence.

Damn!

I continued, biting my lip and cursing myself as I heard Jazz's swivel chair as she almost swung open her door crankily, but luckily she didn't. I headed to Danny's room down the dark hall. Still silence.

I knocked on his "KNOCK FIRST!" adorned door.

"Danny?" I asked gently. No answer. I knocked a bit harder to find the door was open. I walked in carefully, peering in.

What I saw scarred me forever. Danny was lying in his bed, now covered in garnet, sticky liquid, coughing dangerously, the same liquid now staining his shirt. With each cough, more blood came out. His eyes were squeezed shut in pain. His room was slashed with his blood as a decoration, glowing green liquid doing the same. But there was more of Danny's than whatever it was had. Several parts of his room had broken, holes here and there, the window cracked.

Please, no!

"Danny!" I yelled, running to him. He stopped coughing, thank God, but his eyes were shut. His mouth was not allowing him to breathe. I checked his pulse. Gone. He—he was gone.

Narrowing my eyes, desperately trying to block out the tears, I looked at the walls. Green…wait, that was ectoplasm! I slid my finger on it, rubbing it, not knowing what it would do. I only took up ghost hunting as a hobby.

Yes, a ghost definitely did this. That moment on, I swore my life on getting back at any ghost that came by, the cause of it or not. They all deserved it, and they all would now have it coming.

End

Wow. Nice ending in my opinion. I love how I did that, although I never did figure out the reason that the ghost did that…ah, well.

DO NOT expect me here in November! I am doing NaNoWriMo so I will be gone. I'm sorry, but if I want to do 50k words, I'm going to have a kick up the ass for this, and I have major inspiration. 6 days left!

STORIES

COMING SOON: Trauma (NEW!), Colliding of Two Forces, Burn It All, Ten Years, Missing in my Mind, Franz Ferdinand.

TODAY: Scrapes and Scratches (NEW!), Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.