Me: Hi everybody! Thanks for all of your great reviews. Sorry this took so long, but all of my teachers suddenly decided to pile their advance-placement students up with homework and 'practices for midterms'. I'll do my best to keep this going as fast as possible! Happy Holidays to all!
Chapter 3
Phantom
I finally met Danny's dad when he came back from a ghost-hunter's convention (arethere really enough to have a convention?) in Chicago. I found out what Danny's parents did for a living the hard way: I wandered into their lab/basement. I barely got out alive…or whatever.
If his dad is anything to go by, Danny's going to grow up to be huge. The large briefcase he held in his hand as he came through the door looked like tiny toy in his large fist.
I did my best to stay away from them, for obvious reasons. What if they were like Danny and could see me? Could it be genetics? I later found out I didn't have to worry – they said the reason behind the lights going off in a thunderstorm was 'ghostly activity'.
One day, several weeks later, Danny and I were playing checkers when Danny's dad came up. I dropped the checker I was holding, hoping he didn't see it. He doesn't know too much about ghostly activity, but I wasn't willing to be at the business end of one of those machines in the basement.
"Can I talk to you alone, Danny?"
Shoot. Guess he saw it (or, more likely, Danny's mom saw something).
I got up from where I was sitting and floated up the stairs, wondering what they wanted to talk to Danny about. I turned into his room and sat on Danny's bed, waiting…
After what seemed like an eternity, Danny finally came up. He left the door open slightly and walked in. I got up. "Hey! What did your dad want to talk about?" I ask.
Danny kept to the other side of the room, his head turned down so his hair hides his eyes, and doesn't say anything.
I floated over. "What's wrong?" I questioned, concerned, placing my ghostly hand on his shoulder. Danny quickly jerked out of my light grip and pressed his back hard to the wall. Whatever Danny's dad had said, I doubt there was any mention of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
"Danny, what did your dad tell you?"
"Go away!"
"I'm not bad. I don't want to hurt you. I just want to be friends"
"Liar!" he yelled, throwing his head up. In that second, I saw his eyes. And what I saw in them was fear.
Okay, I got the picture. I flew out the window and didn't look back.
Danny
Mr. Nobody flew through the window and I wiped away a tear. I really thought he was my friend. But Daddy couldn't be wrong, could he? All of those things he said…he can't be wrong.
Daddy walked into my room with Mommy looking really angry right behind him.
"Tell him Jack." Mommy says.
"Danny… I told a lie. I meant the best, but it was a lie. Can you forgive me?"
So Mr. Nobody really was my friend after all. And he's never coming back. I felt hot tears in my eyes as I started to cry.
Phantom
Okay, what next?, I thought as I floated down the streets of Amity Park.
I saw a bunch of punks beat up an old man, but I didn't even try to help him.
It isn't my problem, I thought, why should I help?
At least, that was what I thought before one of them fired a gun. Then they ran, leaving the man behind.
…I could have stopped them. I should have stopped them. The only reason I didn't was because I was so wrapped up in my stupid problems to care. And now the guy's dead.
I wandered the streets late that night, horrified about what I had done. Or what I didn't do. Does it matter anymore? By all rights, I belong in jail, just like those punks.
That's when I went by the park. And there they were, smoking cigarettes.
Murderers.
Standing around.
Going to get off trouble free.
Sound familiar?
The same anger, now familiar, started bubbling up from its place inside of me. I launched myself at them. It must have been an odd sight to anybody who was watching: A bunch of guys getting battered about by absolutely nothing, but the guys were being thrown around all the same.
I dropped them off in front of the police station with a small improvised note telling where to find the body.
After several hours, I finally got the guts to move on. I took a slight detour towards Danny's house, for old time's sake.
What I found in Danny's room was definitely not what I expected.
Danny was asleep (it was three in the morning). But, this was new - he was crying in his sleep.
"No…please…I'm sorry…don't go…"
He's only five. He shouldn't be crying like this. I lightly perched on the corner of the bed and tried to touch him, to wake him up and tell him goodbye.
…And my hand got stuck in his shoulder. I pulled my arm, but it just wouldn't get out of him. Even worse, I got sucked in.
When I could finally make sense of what happened (getting sucked into a person's body can be very confusing), I saw who Danny was talking to in his dream: me.
When a person's sleeping, the person's brain processes what the person learned that day and turns it into permanent information. So I got a nice little view of what Danny's dad had told him. Well, it's no wonder why Danny was frightened. Who tells their kid that kind of stuff anyway? And most of it wasn't even true to begin with!
I saw this all while watching Danny begging the dreamlike ghost-version of myself to come back as he slowly walked away.
What could I have done? I floated over and picked him up. I was half surprised when I could, but why not? In here, it's just his soul too.
I sat down on what looked like a floor (what the heck was that doing there anyway?) and held him until his crying died down enough for him to talk.
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. It's not your fault. And don't worry, I'll always be around. You may not see me, but I'll be there. Remember that." I let him go, smiled and floated out of his body.
Danny
I got out of Mommy's car in front of my school. As I was walking up, I tried to remember the dream I had last night. All I can remember is that I cried, but eventually something made me feel better. I think it was important, that I was supposed to remember something…
I felt somebody squeeze my shoulder. I turned to look, but I couldn't see anybody.
Then I see my friends Sam and Tucker playing around near the monkey bars. I run to join them. I'll remember when I really need to.