Chapter 12 – Old Ghosts never die...

Sunday evening, the last of the twilight was glowing gently over Amity Park, as a few birds circled, searching for their evening nesting tree.

Danny and Sam were in the 'ghost boat', Danny's old Cadillac, parked outside of town off the hill top road that leads to Cedarville. Sitting close together, with Danny's arm around Sam, they would often come here without Tucker, to talk softly, watching the city lights.

Tucker was still the third member of the close knit trio, but since The Light, Danny and Sam shared a bond that Tucker did not know. They were talking about Tucker now.

"Maybe you can take him to see it Danny. Not close up, but near it."

"I know, I have been thinking about it too Sam. Tuck is also my best friend, and I know he wants to see it, to see what you saw. I am not so…worried…about it anymore. I should be able to get him close enough to see it without getting in any danger."

Sam smiled at Danny with her pastel lavender lips, brushing a lock of his black hair over his ear. He was looking down at her lap, his strong hand clasping her petite, feminine one. She still wore plaid skirts, but now with variations. His eyes traced the green and purple plaid stripes that curved to follow her hips, the whole curve of her drawing his eyes to meet hers. Thinking of her allowed him to connect into the mind of another as he shifted his phased thoughts, but connecting to two people simultaneously required him to think of Sam even more, to be saturated with her beauty and the warmth she radiated towards him. He looked at her lavender eyes, seeing the sparkle of the city lights in the twin, deep crystals. She knew he was preparing himself for the connections, but also knew he loved looking at her too. She was the luckiest girl in the world.

He phased…

…space, in all directions. There was the White Mountain, in its eternal majesty, in the distance. He opened his vision to Sam. He was floating without body, without form, in the inky blackness.

I am going to connect to Tuck now.

OK Danny.

Tucker.

Danny! So you changed your mind? Are we doing the road trip dawg?

Yes Tuck. Sam is here too.

Hi Tuck!

Hiya Sam. By the way, where are you guys at…physically?

Danny and I are at the Cedarville turnoff.

Romantic. Very romantic!

Tuck, take a look. Danny opened his vision to Tucker as he gazed at The White Mountain.

Ahhhhh! Tucker's mind had a different level of thought than what Danny was used to from Sam. The connectivity he and Sam shared was verbal and visual. But as Tucker absorbed the image, Danny could detect…mathematical expressions, calculations computing estimated distance to The White Mountain, expressions describing its triangular shape, color and mass. Sam could feel it too. Danny was able to meld them all into a three way mind greater than any one of them alone.

In silent agreement, he launched their combined perspective towards The Mountain.

Hours? Days? Danny knew it was only a second. Sam knew it was only a heartbeat.

How much longer before we are there Danny? Tucker's first time made Danny smile inwardly.

Almost Tuck. While we are traveling, I can show you something along the way.

This was new to Sam too. She had heard Danny describe what they were about to see, but he had not shared his vision with her.

On both 'sides' of their perspective, with the approaching White Mountain still in front, green, spherical forms began to glow and take shape. Danny had to make a concentrated effort to open this third level of phasing visible to Tucker and Sam.

What are they? There was no mathematics from Tucker as he asked this one.

They are ghosts, Ghosts from the past.

How do you know? Sam could not see any clues that revealed the past nature of the greenish globes.

Watch.

Danny increased his concentration and adjusted his phasing slightly.

The green glowing globes became humanoid. People. Then details could be seen: their fashion was old, in some cases, primitive.

They were men and women, some obviously from the 1800's, others from the Renaissance, and others whose fashion and hair style could not be identified with any particular era, but obviously not Danny, Sam and Tuckers.

They were all facing The White Mountain as the trio's perspective raced towards the distant peak.

Danny explained

They come to The White Mountain. Some of them get close, others are far away, but these ones don't go into The Light.

These ones? Sam was confused. Who were the others?

I see many that come into this dimension, and they go straight into The Light, no hesitation. But these ones for some reason, they don't go in, they just…orbit…The Mountain.

Compassion filled Sam. Danny could feel it. So could Tucker. To be lost for centuries, forever, never going into The Light, no closure, ever? She radiated sadness…

And the phasing stopped. Danny and Sam were in the ghost boat again, looking at the twilight over Amity Park.

"oops" Sam covered her mouth.

"Sorry".

Danny smiled at her. He connected to Tucker, verbally only.

Tuck, you ok?

Yeah. What happened? I felt Sam was sorry for the ghosts, and then I am back in my room at home.

I lost my fine tuned control. I'll talk to you later.

Thanks Danny. Later.

Danny turned to look at Sam; she had been patiently waiting for the guy's private conversation to end.

"Is Tucker ok?" She asked. No telling with this kind of power what might happen.

"Yeah. I am going to bring him closer another time. Let's go get some Nasty Burgers."

"Sure. Flying through purgatory always makes me hungry!"

She won another hard fought smile from Danny as he turned on the car and put it in gear.