Chapter 7- Maybe, just maybe… No!
I pondered what I had seen in the bathroom, while in the passenger's seat on the way home. Maddie still wouldn't let me drive.
How could this be? What am I missing here? Do they know something I don't? I glanced back at my kids, who were fiddling with their thumbs and looking down at the floor. School had been cancelled for the rest of the day to get the lockers back in order. I saw Danny heave a big sigh, and lean back in his seat, now looking up at the ceiling. We soon got home, and went our separate ways. Maddie went off to a yoga class. The kids went up to their rooms. Jazz probably went up to read, as I always catch her doing when I walk into her room, and Danny… to think, most likely, or go on the computer… I'm not really sure what he does in his room, because whenever I burst in, he seems to just be lounging on his bed. Me, I went to the living room for a good long train of thought to arrive in my mind. But as I sat down, I heard bangs from outside, and then, heard something down in the lab.
"Let go of me!" came my son's voice from the basement. But… he was up in his room just a second ago! I never saw him go downstairs… Why would he be saying 'let go of me?' HE MUST BE IN TROUBLE! As soon as I thought this, I ran downstairs, completely missing the fact that my son/s voice was echoing. As I reached the stairs, I saw a ghost fly into the wall. It was a gelatinous form. But as I continued down the stairs, bazooka at hand, Danny wasn't there, but an exhausted Ghost Boy instead. This was the first time I actually listened as he threw the ghost onto the zone and yelled, "And stay in there!" This was the first time I noticed how much he sounded like my son; and looked it for that matter. I took one more step onto a creaky stair, which made Phantom's head wheeled around faster than a child on a rolling office chair. I smiled sheepishly, and he took off through the ceiling like a rocket. I heard heavy feet upstairs, and ran up to look outside, maybe track where he was going, but then I remembered my tracking device. I slapped my forehead. I was going to calm down, but there was another blinding light from upstairs. I followed it up stairs to see that it had come from Danny's room. When he opened the door, he looked as exhausted as the ghost boy was when he went through the ceiling.
"Dad, what are you doing in front of my room?" He asked, a bit unnaturally.
"Oh, nothing, I just imagined that bright light again… I guess I do need to get my eyes checked…" I lied convincingly. He shrugged and went downstairs. I couldn't believe it. For the first time in my life, I had fooled someone while lying! It's amazing! But after a quick pat on the back from me to me, I had to get back to work. Why, whenever Danny was somewhere after a ghost attack, was there a blinding light. I had to tell Maddie.
"Maddie!" I yelled for her. "Can I see you for a minute?" She was quick top run upstairs.
"What is it, Honey?" She asked in a cheery voice.
"Could we go down to the lab? I have a thought about Danny," I stated. Her grin lessened to a slight smile.
"Alright, then…" She hastened me down the stairs, Her smile still slowly disappearing.
"So, what's going on?" She questioned when we got to the lab.
"Well, at the attack at the school, I went into the bathroom, but before I saw Danny, there was a bright flash of light, and then He walked out. I don't know what's going on… But then I heard a voice from like Danny's, but It sounded like he was being attacked! So I went down to help him, and it was Phantom! He shoved a ghost into the portal, and then he saw me, and rushed through the ceiling. So I went upstairs, and tried to follow him, because at this point, so much was going on, that I forgot about the homing device, and followed my instincts. But when I reached the door, I remembered the homing chip, and after a slight slap on the head from being genuinely stupid, I turned around, and saw a flash coming from Danny's room, and Danny walked out looking as exhausted as Phantom did!" I finished, Maddie staying with me, and listening, the whole time. Man, I love this woman! I thought to myself. Then she started.
"Jack, I don't know… Maybe it was just a trick of the light."
"But I told you! It happened three times! And that still doesn't explain the voice!"
"You've got me there…" She confessed, "But what could a relation be between Danny and the ghost boy, other than there voice." We thought for a moment.
"Well, They talk the same, as in… Style wise…" I reasoned.
"And they have the same hair and facial structure, come to think of it…" She mumbled.
"Do you think that's enough to prove something?" I asked both her, and myself.
"I don't know…" She said. "What could we prove with something like that…" I felt something swish behind me, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
"Ghost!" I yelled, assuming the worst, and bringing out my faithful bazooka.
"Jack, calm down," Maddie said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "It was probably just a cold waft of air," She explained, practically reading my thoughts on what just went on.
"Yea," I agreed subconsciously, while looking behind me. Do you think… Phantom might have a relation to our son?" Maddie asked, her eyes widening with every word.
"How could that b… unless… unless he found a way to make a clone of himself through ectoplasm!" I heard something behind me like stifled laughter. I turned around and the laughter quickly stopped, but it was disembodied.
"What was that?" Maddie worded my thoughts. Oh, good, I'm not going crazy. I thought.
"I don't know…" I said, and after a few moments Maddie seemed to remember what we were talking about.
"Anyway… Ectoplasm copies would only solve how they look alike. It wouldn't describe the behavior. Maybe we should try to find something about these flashes you've been seeing. We went to the computer. And looked up some articles on white flashes. Most of it was junk. We had to look through hours of websites for cameras, and other nonsense, and two hours later, we decided we weren't getting anywhere, and our best bet was probably to go to the library, and get some newspaper articles. When we got there, there was a whole section near the newspaper articles purely of clip out articles of Danny Phantom. Donated by some anonymous kid. I looked through the articles, and found my first target:
"Ghost boy found!" It read. Good. Let's start from the beginning, I thought. I skimmed the article until the last paragraph.
"And there was a white flash, and he was gone!" Says witness, Dan Trumpet.
I put the page aside, anxious to find out more accounts of this attack. The next article had nothing about white flashes, but the one after it did. It had several people claiming their points of view; all stating a blinding, white flash following the ghost boy, and then nothing.
"A blinding flash of white or light blue."
"A white flash that drowned out my vision."
"A light blue array of light."
The clippings pile of 'Flashes found' piled up, while the other pile with nothing about the sudden lighting changes stayed at two or three. I finally found a fascinating report, where 'Bert Trundel' (Whoever he is) got close enough to this flash, to see its source; a bright ring forming around the ghost boy's waist, before his German shepherd quickly pulled him away. Maddie looked up at me after reading this article.
"Does this all describe what you saw when Danny came out of the bathroom stall?" She questioned. I nodded slowly.
"Jack…" She said slowly. "I don't know… look what I found," She said. She gave m the clipping that she was reading. "Kids in hospital claim to have had Ghost Powers!" the clipping read. I looked at it for a bit, and remembered when the kids were all infected, and when the kids explained, they said they saw kids with ghost powers. We had shrugged it off at the time, but now, it seemed that maybe… it could be possible.
"Jack? Do you think it's possible for a human to have ghost powers?" She asked slowly.
"No…" I shrugged it off, no way!" I dismissed. I looked down to read the next article, but I could see, out of the corner of my eye, Maddie still looking thoughtful, and worried.
After more searching, I found an article on the crash that happened a month ago, the reason why my wife wouldn't let me drive anymore.
"CRASH! Ghost boy involved!" I read through the article, disbelieving some of the eyewitnesses, because they recall a boy, Danny, being in the car, but in a flashy of light, he disappeared, and Danny Phantom came. They said that Danny Phantom had fought a weird black ghost, and then was found carrying me and not Danny, home. But Danny said he was carried home, too! This article was scary, and at that, I couldn't stand it any longer. There was one piece of the puzzle that I was missing! I just couldn't think of it! What was that one thing that related Danny, and Phantom, and could explain the bright flashes, and the newspaper clippings, and everything? What was possibly there to understand? Could people actually have ghost powers?
END OF CHAPTER 7
Well? Whadaya think? Good, Bad? The next chapter is the last one, which is a pity, because I'm not done with my next story yet… O well, that's my problem. Please R&R! Thanx for reading, and I'll see ya in the next chappy!