A/N: as the number of too sexual themes might come along in this story, I've decided to place a little warning for you guys. So for anyone who doesn't want to read the M-rated parts, you can skip them ;)
You'll see them when you see a warning like this:
$$$$$$$$$$ - M-rated part - $$$$$$$$$$
(NOT FOR CHILDRENS EYES! NOT FOR CHILDRENS EYES! NOT FOR CHILDRENS EYES!)
$$$$$$$$$$ - ending M-rated part - $$$$$$$$$$
Anyway, so now you'll know when to skip it if you don't want to read the coming sexual themes. If some of you DO want to read them, enjoy the show ;)
Now let's continue the story!
THE FLAME AND THE PHANTOM in:
SCARRED MEMORIES
$$$$$$$$$$ - M-rated part - $$$$$$$$$$
Danny walked into a large room, which was filled with dozens of people. The lights were all dimmed, while a disco ball illuminated small lights throughout the room. Danny couldn't see the many people's faces, but all seemed to be wearing clothes from the 1980's.
Danny had no idea where he was. But upon hearing the slow and exotic music, he realized that he was in a strip club. A strip club from the 80's… or so he thought.
He took a look at the stage, were four poles stood, where a few beautiful ladies pole danced very sexy for the many lustful men. Upon seeing it, Danny felt like his hormones were starting to go crazy. Like any other teenage boy would, Danny was enjoying the view. But strangely, he couldn't see the ladies faces either… and deep down, he felt empty, which confused him.
Suddenly, the music stopped and the ladies left the stage. Once they'd left, a new lady stripper walked on the stage. She had long robin's egg blue hair and had pale skin, wearing a long violet coat to cover herself.
There was a strange silence in the room as all the men suddenly stopped talking. Danny figured that this lady that walked on the stage was probably the most popular stripper of the club. As she removed her long violet coat, showing she was only wearing her black with blue flames bra and panties. The music started to play.
Danny recognized that it was the song Africa, from the rock band Toto. Danny moved closer to the stage, as the stripper started her sexy dance.
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
While Danny watched as how amazing the lady's performance was, he wanted to see her face.
When her long hair moved out of the way, Danny saw that it was Ember!
Ember stopped her dance, when she noticed Danny glancing at her.
'Dipstick…?' Ember mentally said when she saw Danny in the crowd.
The other people didn't say a word, while Ember walked off the stage and was now standing in front of Danny. Both looked into each other's eyes, as a sweet little smile formed on Ember's face. From all the people in the crowd, he was the only one she wanted to be close to her.
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"
The people around them started to fade, leaving only Danny and stripper Ember in the club. She bite her lip as she moved closer to him, grabbed his collar and slowly pulled him to her, making him to follow her and sat on a couch. She then sat on his lap and started grinding his hips, performing a private dance for Danny, while their surroundings faded into many white-silver-pink lights.
For both Danny and Ember, it was like they were in heaven.
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
After a few minutes, Ember stopped, still sitting on his lap with her arms around Danny's neck. Both gave each other a smile. Danny slowly stroke Ember's cheek with his right hand, making her moan as she closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying this sweet soft touch from him.
When Ember looked back into Danny's eyes, both just stared at each other, wishing this moment would never end. Both then slowly moved their faces closer to each other. They closed their eyes. Their lips, only a few inches away from each other….
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Danny moaned as he slowly woke up, moving his hand to the alarm clock, turning it off.
Danny rubbed his eyes, while he slowly sat straight. He took a look on his alarm clock, seeing on the clock saying in red bars: 6:45 AM 04-27-2004. He sighed deep, thinking of the dream he just had. Though it felt so nice to Danny, he was still struggling with his thoughts on Ember, now knowing that he's starting to fall in love with her. This feeling, was something he had never experienced before, not even when he still had a crush for Paulina. This was something else, that went even further than just a typical high school crush.
As Danny was about to raise himself from his bed, he looked down at his pants. Apparently, his body had reacted by itself of having a stripper version of Ember grinding his lap in his dream. Embarrassed, he moaned to himself "Ugh! Damn hormones."
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At that same moment, Ember too woke up from having this shared dream with Danny. She yawned while stretching herself, then started to smile after having this erotic dream about Danny, with her being a stripper from her time period. But upon realizing what she was thinking, made her gasp and groaned while burying her head against her pillow, trying to fight these increasing feelings "No, no, no! I'm not in love with Danny, I am not in love with Danny!" Ember kept denying to herself, that she was truly falling in love with Danny.
As she raised herself from her bed, she floated up in the air and phases through the floor, entering Sam's bathroom.
Ember looked at her image in the mirror for a moment, trying to gather herself "C'mon, Ember McLain. Dipstick is your best friend. Just… your best friend, who… you fight evil ghosts with. And…" she stopped talking to herself, as she remembered how caring Danny is and… remembering how envious and angry he was when he saw that secret 'shrine' in Dash's closet, revealing that the biggest bully on Casper High had a crush on her. Ember could swear that she could sense in Danny more than just caring about her.
Ember then accidentally started to imagine Danny in his ghost form, holding her in his arms, while they danced in the air. Both, looking into each other's eyes, never letting each other go.
Ember snapped herself out of it, while quickly stripping out of her pajamas and started to take a shower.
Back at Danny's place…
He took the clothes he'd picked out for the day and went to the bathroom to shower. Lucky for him, his sister, Jazz wasn't using it, so it gave him some time alone, to think.
After he had taken a quick shower and dressed himself in his new rock outfit, Danny looked at himself through the mirror, thinking about his increasing feelings for Ember. He signed deep, while asking himself "How could this have happened, that I feel something for Ember now? And what would this mean for our friendship? What if she doesn't feel the same for me?" This struggling of his was causing him to become irritated.
Just then, a knock was heard on the door "Danny? Are you still in there?" It was Jazz, standing behind the locked bath room door, wanting to use the bathroom now.
Danny called back "Uh… yeah."
"Well, can you please hurry up? Other people want to use the shower too!" Jazz said.
Danny rolled his eyes and unlocked the door, leaving the bathroom for Jazz to use and went downstairs to eat some breakfast.
"Finally!" Jazz annoyingly said while she went inside the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
Back at Sam's place…
Ember was taken a longer shower then usual, as she was trying hard to stop thinking about Danny while banging her head several times against the wall "Please, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it!"
As she was able to mute her thoughts, she turned off the shower and dried herself with her towel and covered herself with it.
Sam had heard Ember talking to herself in her bathroom and wandered what was causing her ghost friend to be this frustrated. She knocked on the door "Ember? Are you okay in there?"
Ember went to the door, unlocked the bathroom door and peaked through it, saying to Sam "…Yeah, I'm okay."
"You're sure? 'Cause you don't look so sure about it." Sam asked concerened, as she could clearly see that Ember was not feeling fine.
Ember looked down for a moment, before glancing back at Sam, saying honestly "It's just… I have a lot of things on my mind that I try to forget."
Sam raised an eyebrow, but thinking that it was because of Ember's life before she became a ghost, she tried to comfort Ember "Em, I know it was hard for you to tell us about your past, but you don't need to struggle about that anymore. We're here for you Ember. I'm… here for you."
Though her painful past wasn't the thing that was on her mind, Ember was still grateful to have her friends to be there for her "Thanks, Sam," then she almost wanted to say what was really on her mind "But… you see, I-"
"Samantha! Sweety! Are you awake?" Sam's mother, Pam Manson suddenly asked as she was about to open Sam's door.
"Oh crap, It's my mom! Hide!" Sam called to Ember quietly while panicking.
Ember quickly became invisible, while Sam ran to the door, but her mother had already opened it and said in her sweet voice while holding a pink fancy dress in her hands "Sammy-kins! Look what I have for you to add to your wardrobe-?"
"Don't you ever knock?!" Sam interrupted her mother and slammed the door shut, while the new dress that Pam wanted to show to her daughter was stuck between the door, making her mother gasp as the new dress she had bought for her daughter was now ruined.
Pam knocked on Sam's door many times "Samantha Manson, open the door this instant!"
Sam did open the door, only to push the rest of the dress into her mother's arms and closed it instantly "Go away, mom!"
Pam groaned as she left, but looked sad at the ruined fancy dress.
Sam sighed in relief "Pfew! That was a close one."
Ember nodded while turning back visible, standing next to Sam while still covered with her towel "You bet. Although," she thought for a moment and started teasing Sam in a British accent "You would look adorable in that dress, Sammy-kins."
Sam rolled her eyes while going into the bathroom "Shut up."
Ember giggled while floating up, turning tangible and phased up the ceiling, going back to the attic to dress herself.
A few hours later, at Casper High…
After the bell rang, Lancer dismissed the first class of the day. Danny, Ember (in her human disguise), Tucker and Sam walked out of the classroom together with the other students. While some went to their next classes, the others, including Danny and his friends had the next two periods free.
While Sam was thinking what they could do with their two periods free as they walked through the hallway, Tucker glanced at Danny and Ember and notices that they're acting more weirdly than yesterday, actually more like… shy and… uncomfortable?
However, Tucker was brought out of his mind when Sam suggested "I say we should use this valuable time to do some extra study. We have two tests coming up on Friday: One for history and one for geographics, so it's better we should go and prepare for that."
Tucker however had something different in mind "Or, we could use our free time to visit the arcade? Right, Danny?" he asked his best friend.
Danny however said "Sorry, Tucker. I don't feel like playing videogames at the arcade right now."
Ember nodded in agreement "Yeah… me too. We should go along with Sam's plan an prepare for the upcoming tests."
While Sam felt proud that at least two of her friends agreed with her, Tucker frowned and asked Danny "What do you mean 'you don't feel like going to the arcade'? We used to do that stuff all the time when we have a free period." then he glanced at Ember "And you, Emily, you too always liked to join us to the arcade."
Ember sighed in annoyance "Well, I just…! I just want to do something different with my free time. Alright?"
Danny nodded "Yeah. C'mon, let's go to the library." he said before walking to the library, but stopped and glanced at Ember if she was going along with him "Uhm… you're coming too… right?"
Ember awkwardly looked down before glancing back at Danny "Uh… yeah, sure…"
"Good…" Danny said while walking to the library, with Ember next to him but kept a little distance.
"Yeah…" was all she could say while looking down, trying to hide her blush.
Sam and Tucker both raised an eyebrow, finding it weird how Danny and Ember were awkwardly talking to each other. Sam asked Tucker "Have you noticed that Danny and Em have been acting a bit… different than usual?"
Tucker gave a nod in agreement "They have been like this since yesterday. I wander why?"
Sam gave a nod as she and Tucker joined Danny and Ember to the library, despite that Tucker was still disappointed of not playing videogames for a few hours till the next class, he didn't wanted to go to the arcade alone.
An hour later, while Tucker was checking through some stuff on one of the computers for geographics, Danny and Ember were both taking some notes with Sam for the upcoming history test about the Napoleonic Wars. While Sam was mostly talking and advicing where they should pay close attention during the test, Danny and Ember tried as hard as they could to listen, but every time when they tried, they were distracted by feeling each other's emotions, trying so hard to hide it. And every time when they glanced at each other for a moment, they quickly looked down at their textbooks and notepads, trying not to show that they were blushing.
Sam hadn't seen Danny and Ember looking shyly to each other, but still wandered why they were acting like this 'What has gone into them lately? I know it's not because of Danny's new look. But what could it be…? Maybe I should talk to both of them separately about it?' Sam mentally asked herself while trying to see how she could help.
Tucker sighed deep out of boredom and said quietly to himself while typing some notes on his PDA "Geez, I've already looked over this stuff a dozen times." He then decided to check something else on the internet.
After searching through some pages about the new upcoming cellphones and electronics, what got the techno geek exited when they will come out, he came across a popup saying: Mysterious deaths.
Seeing this popup, made Tucker somehow curious and opened it, bringing him to a webpage about cold cases and mysterious deaths of individual people. He then wandered something and typed Ember's real name on the search slot. The screen then showed him about the mysterious death of Emily McLain, who died in a fire in her own house, on the night of September 29th 1984. The page said that the police suspected that the fire had started in the basement because of faulty wiring. However, one of the detectives on the case suspected that a burglar had broken into the basement and had caused the fire, but that theory was quickly dropped as there was not enough evidence to support it.
As Tucker scrolled down, he found some more information about Ember's father and stepmother. It said that the loss of their (step)daughter had left the father, Arthur McLain and his wife, Patricia Surfolk-McLain devastated, as their marriage had deteriorated after the accident. Patricia had filed for a divorce in December 1984 and that Arthur McLain…
Tucker was then shocked to read what had happened to Ember's father…
Arthur McLain had committed suicide by hanging, in a motel room on February 2nd 1985…
"My God…" was all that Tucker could say after reading all of this. He then turned over to his friends and said "Uh… Ember? Guys? I think you all should take a look at this."
Seeing Tucker's shocked look, made Danny, Ember and Sam to wander what Tucker wanted to show them. But when they read the part about what happened to Ember's father, Danny and Sam couldn't believe that Ember's father had killed himself a few months after Ember had died. However, Ember frowned at what had happened to her father. Danny could feel the anger, sadness and hurt in her.
Sam held her hand on Ember's arm, trying to be there for her "Em… if you-?"
But Sam was interrupted as Ember suddenly turned off the computer screen and walked away to gather her things "Good riddance." she coldly said.
Danny, Tucker and Sam were shocked that Ember had said that. Though Danny could feel what she was going through.
As Ember walked out of the library, her friends went after her. Sam called to her "Em, wait!" Ember stopped, but was still angry.
Tucker then said to his ghost friend "But, Emily, he was your dad, and-" but then stopped as he saw her giving him a death glare, making him nervous and tried to apologize "I'm sorry that I showed that to you. But I only thought you wanted to know what happened to your folks after you-"
"Well, now I know! Thank you so much for sharing this with me, Tucker Foley!" Ember said sarcastic, though Danny could feel the pain coming from her.
Danny tried to ease the situation, knowing that Ember was still in deep pain of how awfully she was treated by both her father and stepmom when she was alive "Emily, we know that you're hurt for how badly you were treated, but the page said that both your father and even your awful stepmom were devastated after you died." Danny tried to keep his voice down, so nobody else would hear them.
Ember then glanced at Danny, still in her anger/hurt mode "And how do you expect me to deal with it, dipstick, huh?! That I would just simply feel sorry and would forgive them?! Hadn't you, or any of you even paid attention to what I told you guys days ago, after telling how horrible my life was, before I became a ghost!?" she hushed her voice saying that last part, but then continued saying "That man and heartless witch made my life miserable! You know, there maybe was a time that my father was a loving man, but that all went away after my little sister and then my mother DIED! And I don't believe a thing of what that fucking webpage said about what my stepmom said that she was devastated about my loss! She's nothing but a manipulating, lying bitch!"
Sensing that what Ember told of what kind of a women Patricia was, Danny could feel that she was telling the truth. While he tried to find the right words to say, Sam said before him "And what about your father? He had killed himself and-"
"MY FATHER CAN ROTT IN HELL FOR ALL I CARE!" Ember yelled out, before marching away, leaving her friends shocked. Danny wanted to go after her, but feeling that it would only make things worse, he stopped and watched Ember going away.
Tucker then said "Geez, she's even more hurt then I thought she was."
Sam narrowed her eyes at Tucker "Maybe she wouldn't be upset, if you just hadn't shown her that page telling about her deceased father."
"How was I suppose to know that Ember would react like this?" Tucker said back at Sam, while shrugging.
Danny didn't paid any attention to Sam and Tucker's argument. He just stared at where Ember walked off too, with a worried look on his face.
For the rest of the day, Ember had been avoiding her friends, as she was still mad about that even after she had told them about her awful life before she died, they thought that she would just forgive her father and stepmom for treating her badly. But Ember couldn't forgive her father or Patricia for what they'd done to her.
Even though a tiger ghost was attacking the town, Danny and Ember still worked together to capture it, before the tiger ghost could cause even more damage or hurt people. But once the job was done, Ember turned her back at Danny while activating her human disguise and walked back to school. Danny was starting to think deep. How could Danny help Ember with this? There had to be a way to make sense of why her father had treated her in her past.
As the school day came to a close, Ember left the school alone. She then stopped when Sam called to her "Emily!"
But after Ember gave a short glance at her, she walked on further saying "Go away, Sam."
Sam stopped Ember in her tracks, trying to explain "Em, please, I just want to talk to you." Ember sighed, letting Sam to tell what she wanted to say "I know that you're still hurt and mad at us, but please don't shut us down. We only want to help."
"Help?" Ember asked with her rising anger "How can you, Danny and Tucker even possibly helping me with my shattered past!? There is nothing that can fix this, Sam! NOTHING!" she finished while tears were forming in her eyes.
"Emily, I'm your friend and I… we want to help you to process this." Sam tried to explain as she wasn't alone to face all of this.
Ember however didn't wanted to hear it and said in her anger as tears fell from her cheeks "And how am I suppose to process this!? None of you had ever felt in your whole lives what I had to go through! You guys have no idea how it feels to be constantly be pushed to the ground 24 hours a day!"
Sam pleaded her as Ember was about to leave "We all would if you would tell us."
"No I won't! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ember yelled as she ran off and transformed back to her ghost form and flew off.
Danny and Tucker had witnessed from a distance at Sam's attempt to try to talk to Ember. They walked up to Sam, who said worriedly "We need to go after her. Danny if you…?" but she stopped talking, as she saw Danny shook his head.
"Let her go, Sam." Danny said "She needs to process this on her own."
Sam sighed, knowing that Danny was probably right.
Tucker nodded in agreement, but feeling a bit sad as he stated "But she's right. Neither of us knows how it feels to be tormented for so long and even taking all that pain into your grave. Literally."
"I just wish that there was some way we could help Ember." Sam said.
This got Danny to think for a moment. If they could see how much she had been tormented, maybe they could better understand her. He then thought about Ember's stepmom, Patricia and wandered "Hey, Tuck? Is there any chance that Ember's stepmom, Patricia might be still living in Amity Park after all these years?"
Tucker shrugged as he glanced at Danny "I don't know, maybe. Why do you ask?"
"I think we should dig a bit more into Ember's past, seeing what it really was for her when she was alive, 20 years ago." Danny explained.
While Tucker searched for some information about Patricia on his PDA, Sam was confused at how Danny though that this was gonna help Ember, so she asked him "But why Ember's stepmother, Danny?"
Before Danny could tell what he was planning, Tucker said before him as he found some information about Patricia "Hey guys, I think I found her." Danny and Sam looked at his PDA while Tucker scrolled down "Patricia Surfolk. 51 years old. Works as a manager of a local perfume shop. Her hobbies are Tennis and-" Danny then elbowed Tucker in annoyance, interrupting him "OW! What was that for?!" Tucker asked while rubbing his arm.
"I just want an address, Tucker, not her whole information on a dating website!" Danny said irritated.
"Okay, okay, sorry." Tucker apologized while holding his hands up. He returned to check on his PDA to see if Patricia was still living in Amity Park.
Sam then asked Danny "But I don't understand, Danny. Why do you want to search for Ember's stepmom?"
Danny signed, as he didn't had a clear answer and just said "I don't know, Sam. I just… feel that we need to do this… for Ember."
Though it still didn't made any sense to her, Sam was willing to help her best friend, if he believed that this was the right thing to do.
Just then, Danny reminded him about something and said while searching his schoolbag "Oh shit, I almost forgot!" he took out his essay for English class and explained "I need to deliver this to Mr. Lancer! I'll be right back." and ran back inside the school, hoping to find his teacher in time.
Luckily for Danny, Lancer was just about to leave his classroom when Danny handed him over his essay, making Lancer to narrow his eyes at Danny while taking his essay "A little late, don't you think, Mr. Fenton?"
Danny awkwardly answered "I'm really sorry, Mr. Lancer. I had a lot of things on my mind this morning that I nearly forgot about it."
Lancer suspiciously raised an eyebrow at him, while taking a look at his essay "You mean the commotion that Miss McLain had caused in the hallway this morning? Can you explain to me what that was all about, since it disturbed some of my coworkers classes?"
Danny had to think quick, as he couldn't just say to Lancer 'Oh, it was nothing. My friends just found information about Ember's deceased father and horrible stepmom'. So, Danny just said "Oh, uhm… you see, Emily… she has… family issues. Bad family issues."
Lancer looked a bit surprised, but since he had dealt with this kind of thing before with other students in the past, he somehow understands "Hmmm, I see. Well, if Miss McLain is having problems at home, tell her that she can always come to me and talk about it."
Danny nodded "Sure. I'll… tell her when I see her. And… about my essay?" he asked, hoping that he won't get a lower grade for delivering his homework too late.
Lancer flipped through a few pages and said "Looks like a good essay," he puts it in his bag before glancing back at Danny "For now, I will overlook that you nearly delivered this essay too late. But next time, Mr. Fenton, I'd prefer that you deliver me your assignments during my classes."
Danny nodded again "Sure, Mr. Lancer. It won't happen again."
Lancer gave a nod and made his way out of the building.
Just as Danny was about to walk to the exit too, he was suddenly stopped by a 15 year old girl with long red hair, yellow top, dark blue jeans and sneakers, who leaned to the wall while playfully twirling her finger in her hair and looked at Danny in a flirty way "Hi, Danny…"
Danny was a bit surprised by this sudden move, but politely answered "Uh… hi Harriet. What's up?"
She shrugged while moving a bit closer to him "Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to say that… you look kinda hot in that new outfit of yours. And your whole new attitude is so… bad, in a good way."
Though Danny gave her a small smile, he was still surprised that Harriet, who he knew from mathematic class, had this sudden interest in him. As far as he could remember, they had never talked to each other before, other than sharing a few words once in a while.
Harriet then puts her hands behind her back, wandering as she moved a bit closer to Danny "Say, I heard a rumor that you had a fight, or something, with your girlfriend Emily this morning?"
Danny sighed in annoyance "Look, Emily is not my girlfriend and we just had an argument. That's all." then Danny mentally said in confusion 'Why does everybody keep thinking that me and Ember are a couple? Although… being together with Ember does sound kinda nice…'
Danny's thoughts about him and Ember being a couple was making him to accidentally blush, as he started to imagine him and her walking hand in hand on a beach.
Harriet became confused as Danny wasn't paying any attention "Uhm… you okay?"
Danny was brought out of his thoughts as he blinked a few times "Oh, uhm… yeah, I'm okay…. I… should probably go. My friends are waiting for me."
Harriet giggled, thinking that Danny was just being shy and was making some excuse to get away from her. She stopped him in his tracks while still flirting "You know, for or a bad boy, you're actually cute when you are shy. Here, take this." she puts a piece of paper in his left hand. As Danny took a look at it, he saw that it was her phone number. Confused, he looked at her back, who gave him a flirty smile, speaking softly in his ear "Call me." Danny didn't say anything back and just moved around Harriet and walked to the exit.
Danny looked at the piece of paper with Harriet's phone number, while thinking 'Unbelievable! This is already the sixth time that a girl gave me her phone number this week! Is it because of embracing my true self, last weekend?' He sighed to himself while wrapping the piece of paper in his pocket and walked out of the school.
There, Sam walked up to him "Hey, Danny! Tucker just found out that Patricia is still living in Amity Park. Her address is not far away from here."
Tucker nodded, as he held his PDA up, revealing Patricia's address. Danny nodded and said with confidence "Then let's go and pay her a little visit."
Some time later…
While Danny and his friends made their way to Patricia's house, all three had called their parents to say that they'll be home a bit later, as they were in the library for some extra homework.
When Danny, Sam and Tucker arrived at the address, which was a small house with a large porch, they walkedup to the front door while Danny instructed "Okay, we'll just say that the school is organizing a school reunion and we were tasked to find some more information about her stepdaughter, since her class is part of the reunion."
Tucker felt a bit nervous "Are you sure about this, Danny? What if she won't fall for it?"
Sam nodded in agreement, but tried to support Danny as well and said while holding a notepad with a pencil "Even though I agree with Tucker, I'm with you on this."
Danny smiled at Sam, but said to Tucker "If she won't fall for it, we'll just have to improvise."
Sam and Tucker both nodded as Danny reached out to the doorbell, ringing it.
Not long after, they heard someone coming to the door. Danny tried very hard not to look nervous as the door opened, revealing a blond haired middle-aged women, wearing a long elegant red dress. Though she was above her 50's, she still looked stunningly beautiful which would make even younger men to turn their heads. Sam figured that it must have been through plastic surgery, knowing well that some older women prefer to look young forever and spend tons of money not to look old, which sickened the goth girl.
The women, clearly Patricia, formed a lovely smile to the three teenagers in front of her doorstep "Yes? Can I help you?" she asked nicely with a sweet voice.
"Are you Patricia Surfolk?" Danny asked her.
Patrician nodded, but asked confused "That's right. What is it that you want from me?"
Danny introduced himself and his friends "Oh, I'm Danny. And these are Sam and Tucker."
"Hello." Tucker said, giving a small wave.
Danny then stated to Patricia, lying why they were here "We are students from Casper High and… the school is currently organizing a reunion for all the former students from nearly 20 years back. We came here because Emily McLain was one of those students. She was your stepdaughter back then, right?"
Patricia nodded, but still didn't get why Danny and his friends were here because of her deceased stepdaughter "That's right, but what does it have to do with me?"
Sam then stepped in, going along with what Danny tried to accomplish by trying to explain it better to Patricia "What my friend is trying to say, Mrs. Surfolk, is that the schoolboard had asked us to get some more information about Emily McLain, what kind of a girl she was back in the day, so the other former students would remember her better during the school reunion. And since you were the only close relative that we knew of, we were hoping you could tell us more about her?"
Patricia started to get a bit suspicious and asked "Really? Why doesn't the school just use those records that they have of her?" mentioning her deceased stepdaughter made her frown.
That was when Tucker explained, knowing something about the state law regarding keeping records of students "Well… that was the same question we asked the schoolboard and they'd stated that by state law, they are not allowed to have former students' records for more than 5 years."
Patricia kept looking suspicious at first, but seeing that Tucker might had a point, she gave a sweet smile again to the three teenagers "Oh, I see…. Well, I'll be delighted to help you. Please, come in." she offered the three teenagers to enter her home, which they did.
When they entered the living room, Danny, Sam and Tucker looked surprised that Patricia had placed many pictures of herself, posing in either a seductive or happy way. All three thought it was kind of weird that Patricia had dozens of self-made pictures hanging all around the house.
Tucker still tried to be nice and said to Patricia "You, uhm… have a lot of good pictures around of yourself, Mrs. Surfolk."
Patricia felt flattered by that as she offered them to sit on the couch "Well, thank you," then she stated "I just LOVE to see myself in every part of my living space! I may look old, but when you're still young on the inside, you should show it to the whole world, right? Hihihihi." she giggled to herself like a school girl, making Danny, Sam and Tucker looking at her more weirdly.
When Patricia went into the kitchen, she offered "Do you children want some tea too? I just made some for myself."
However, Danny, Sam and Tucker declined the offer "No thanks, Mrs. Surfolk. But thank you anyway." Danny said for the others. Patricia just shrugged and made some tea for herself.
Danny took a look at some of the pictures of Patricia, remembering what Ember told them before, that Patricia may looked sweet and kind on the outside but deep down is a horrible person, so he was cautious.
Tucker looked at the pictures as well and was still feeling weirded out about it while whispering to Sam "I'm not an expert on these things, but it looks more like that this women is in the middle of a midlife crisis."
"She's more like a narcissist, if you tell me. I mean, who the hell would put so many seducing pictures of herself all around the house?" Sam whispered back at Tucker while sticking her out her tongue out in disgust.
As Patricia returned with her tea at hand, she sat down on a chair in front of the three teenagers, asking as she put a teabag in the teacup "So, what do you want to know about Emily?"
Sam took out her notebook, pretending what questions she had for her and asked "Well… why don't you start from the beginning? When you met Emily and her father, Arthur McLain?"
Again, Patricia gave a sweet smile while crossing her legs and started to tell "Well, I met Emily's father while I was doing a photoshoot in the countryside. It was… in the summer of 1976, If I could remember correctly," she then sighed deep while smiling of those memories "Back then, I dreamed of becoming a famous fashion model. And why wouldn't I? I had the perfect body and the sweetest smile. And to be honest… I still have it." Patricia said while winkling her eyes and seductively posing with her legs.
All three teenagers tried to not being more weirded out about this, while Tucker cleared his throat "Uh… yeah, of course." though he was starting to become uncomfortable.
Sam kept herself and reminded Patricia "Uhm… when you met Emily's dad?"
Realizing that she was only telling about herself, she laughed a bit "Hahahaha. I'm sorry, those memories of myself are just so wonderful to tell." she dipped the teabag in her tea and took it out as she further told "Right, well, while I was doing the photoshoot with some of my friends, our photographer accidentally dropped his only camera in the mud. What an amateur!" Patricia said frustrated as how stupid her former photographer was back then.
"That was when I met Arthur, who was holding his hand to his little daughter, Emily, asking if everything was okay. So while I told what had happened, he happily offered his own camera for the photoshoot. I was really grateful for it, but our amateur photographer…" Patricia told while rolling her eyes, mentioning her former photographer again, but then shrugged while checking her nails "Good thing that it was his last photoshoot with us, cause he was fired the next day."
Sensing the heartlessness in her, Danny started to frown at Patricia, but tried very hard to control himself.
As Patricia took a sip from her tea, she told further "Anyway, Arthur and I later on got to know each other better. He told me that his youngest daughter had died the year before in a terrible accident and that his wife had to be brought to a mental hospital, where she died later on. I felt pity for him that he had to go through so much and was now forced to raise his only living daughter on his own. So, since that day, me and Arthur held contact and I visited him here in Amity Park more often, until I moved in with him the next year and we got married. But Emily, she…"
"What about her?" Danny asked.
Patricia just sighed and honestly stated "She never really liked me, no matter how hard I tried to connect with her. Well, basically she was always in the way of me and Arthur of anything and was constantly lying about everyting, even telling that I was the one who beat her while she did it all to herself!"
This was starting to sound really strange to Tucker and Sam. 'Cause how Ember told about her past and how her stepmom was, didn't matched with what Patricia was saying. Danny wasn't believing a single word of what Patricia was saying and felt deep down that Patricia was the one who was lying and had abused Ember in her childhood.
Sam just went over to the 'next question' while writing down everything "And… when Emily became a teenager and went to Casper High? How was she back then?"
Patricia took another sip of her tea, telling "Ugh! She was even worse! She was always hanging around with the wrong sorts of people. She had even been arrested multiply times. I've always tried to tell Arthur, that it was better to send his daughter away to one of those boarding schools in Switzerland or something, so she would finally start to behave and be nice for once! I mean, I gave up my dream of being a supermodel, so I could be a mother to Emily! I even tried to convince her to try modeling herself, as she had a great body, just like I had, but she wouldn't have it! She told me straight in the face that she would rather sign a pact with the Devil then becoming a model whore like me! I was really hurt when Emily said that and then she slapped herself, making me to blame I hit her, which wasn't even true!" Patricia said, trying to act sadly like she was the victim.
Tucker and Sam knew now that Patricia was really lying about their ghost friend, when she was alive, as there was no way that Ember would lie to them as how her past hurt.
Danny was starting to lose control over his anger, while Patricia kept mocking about the girl he started to deeply care about "And that 'so called' dream of hers of becoming an idiotic rock star?! Ha! She couldn't even play very well on that awful guitar and always sang false, making me crazy!"
Imagening Ember being physical abused by Patricia and attempting to destroy her dream of becoming a rock star, made Danny tighten his fists, as his blue eyes glowed green.
Sam quickly saw this and said nervously while taking some final notes and stood up "Ok, well… I think that's all we need to know!"
Patricia was surprised to hear that "Oh, really? That was fast. I thought we would be talking about my cruel stepdaughter for another hour?"
Though Danny was at a breaking point to yell out at Patricia that she was the cruel one and that Ember was is the best singer he had ever met, Sam pulled Tucker and Danny up from the couch and pushed them forwards the front door while telling nervously Patricia "Yeah, we're sorry and we would LOVE to stick around a bit longer, but we have SO MUCH homework to do. High school life, right? Good day, Mrs. Surfolk!" and all three went out of the house, while Sam kept pushing Danny and Tucker to walk further.
Confused, Patricia watched the three teenagers leave the house "Oh, well, have a nice day." she called with her sweet voice and closed the door behind her.
When Sam was sure that they were far enough Patricia's house, she stopped and looked at Danny with both a worried and disappointed look "Danny, what the hell was that in there?! You were looking at that women like you wanted to vaporize her any moment."
Danny looked back, still with a lot of angry built inside of him "Hadn't you heard what she all said about Ember?! She was constantly lying about her and what she did to her!"
Tucker tried to calm his friend "Danny, calm down. We'd figured already that she was lying about our ghost friend. But Sam's got a point. I mean, you were tighten your fists that I could hear you knuckles crack from a mile away."
Seeing that he truly had this desire to beat up Patricia for all that she'd done to Ember, Danny took his time to calm himself. After a minute, he glanced back at his friends while sitting on a nearby bench, ashamed of what he nearly could have done "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just… while she was talking all that shit about Ember, I could… I don't know how to explain this, but it was like… I could feel and somehow… see what Ember was going through under that cruel women."
Sam patted his shoulder while sitting next to him "It's okay, Danny. Just don't lose yourself when someone is talking bad things about your friends, okay?"
Danny nodded, promising himself that he'll try in the future.
Tucker, who was leaning against the bench, thought about what Danny said, that he could feel AND see what Ember was going through under Patricia 'Does this have to do with this 'bond' that Danny shares with Ember?' he mentally wandered, thinking that maybe this bond is doing more than just sensing each other's emotions. But instead of asking this to Danny, he asked his friend instead "Well, at least we know that Patricia is exactly as how Ember described her. But how are we even going to help Ember with this? What do you hope to accomplish, dude?"
Danny looked down, thinking first how to explain why he wanted to see Patricia, to confirm Ember's story about her, before glancing at both his friends, telling as he stood up "It's just that I feel that something's off. Well, Patricia was a no-go. But… if Ember's dad was also cruel towards her in the past, then why was he so devastated that in the end he killed himself?" Danny asked his friends.
Both Sam and Tucker thought about this, but couldn't get a clue to why Arthur McLain would commit suicide. As Tucker and Sam glanced back at Danny, they saw him suddenly walking away. Both went after him "Danny, where are you going?!" Sam asked.
Danny didn't stopped and just said back at his friends without looking at them "To the Amity Park Police Station!"
Sam and Tucker exchaged a short glance of confussion to why Danny wanted to go to the police station, but followed him.
An hour later, a few blocks away from the Amity Park Police Station…
"Are you insane!?" Sam nearly yelled both shocked and upset as what Danny was planning to do "You cannot just break into the police headquarters! You'll get into serious trouble!"
Danny however smirked "Not if I'm going ghost," and transformed into his ghost form and explained his plan "I can simply phase myself inside the police station while keeping myself invisible."
"But what do you want to search for in there, Danny?" Tucker asked.
"Arthur McLain's file. I'm pretty sure that they still got to have his file somewhere," seeing that his friends still didn't understand where he was going through with this, he asked "Do you guys trust me on this?"
Sam and Tucker looked at each other for a moment, before glancing back at Danny, with Sam telling "If you're sure about this, we won't stop you. Just… get that file and get back here. But make sure that the police won't notice you, or that your actions are being caught on camera."
Danny nodded "Don't worry, I'll be careful." and then flew off to the police station while turning invisible and phased through the wall, getting inside.
Danny phased through many rooms, where either policemen and women were either writing reports, drinking coffee in the lunchroom, interrogating suspects or searching on their computers for information. After a few minutes of searching every room, Danny found a large storage room, filled with thousands of different kinds of evidence and police files "This is got to be the place."
But before he went in further, Danny first looked around for any video surveillance, while keeping himself invisible. He saw two camera's. Each haniging in two corners of the room. He flew at them and moved them, pointing to a nearby wall. Danny then started searched through some shelves and drawers, looking for Arthur McLain's file. He looked at the dates and found hundreds of files from the 1980's "C'mon, where are you? Arthur McLain. Arthur McLain…" then he spots a small file, saying the name of Ember's father "Here it is!" Danny said victorious.
Danny flipped through some pages and photo's, just telling and showing the regular stuff that he'd figured to see in it after seeing several episodes of 'Crime Scene Investigation' on television. However, Danny couldn't find anything useful. He then turned the file, seeing on the back saying: Evidence in box 568-BA.
Danny wandered as he put the file back with the other and flew into the other section of the room, where they police stored all the evidence of every crime, including suicide. Luckily for Danny, there were no camera's in this part of the room, but remained invisible just in case.
Danny searched through the hundreds of boxes, standing on different shelves, all sorted perfectly in order. It didn't took Danny too long to find the box with the evidence he was looking for. Danny took the big box and puts it on a nearby desk.
When he opened it, he found several things in evidence bags. A used pen. The robe Arthur used to hang himself. Empty cans of beer. A large mobile phone, typically from the 1980's "Geez, how could anyone go around town with phones as big as these?" Danny asked himself, as he could impossibly imagening that people from 20 years ago would use these big ass mobile phones to call.
But then, Danny found something else in an evidence bag. He found what looked like Arthur's suicide note. As he read what was on the note, Danny couldn't believe what it said.
Dear Emily,
I'm writing this to you, in the hope that you'll be able to see it, even though you're no longer alive. And if you're reading this, you know that I'm already dead. But there's something that I must tell you.
Ever since your little sister, Amy and your mother died, I've taken all my frustrations on you, as it was too hard for me to let go of Amy and my sweet Elizabeth and realizing too late that Patricia was not the lady that could be the mother you would have wanted, but a horrible monster who treated you no better than I did, if not worse. And for that, I am so very sorry.
I know that you probably will never forgive me, but I want you to know that you were one of the greatest gifts that I could ever have; a young beautiful girl with so much talent and passion for music. If you would have still lived and had a chance to grow up, I know that you would have been the greatest rock stars that'd ever lived.
Yes, I have listened to all your songs and what I always heard… was the sound of an angel, that I wrongfully treated and neglected.
I don't know what'll wait for me on the other side, but I accept the consequences. I do hope that… you and I will see each other again, all together with your mother and little sister. And I hope deep down in my heart, we will all find peace in the next life.
Your beloved father,
Arthur
When Danny had finished reading the letter, it nearly got him teary. He knew what he had to do "Ember needs to see this!" he used his ghost powers to carefully take the note out of the evidence bag and put it in his pocket. Once he had put all the other stuff back in the box, Danny placed it back where he had found it and phased out of the police building, meeting with Sam and Tucker.
At that same moment, with Ember…
Ember was sitting on top of an abandoned building, close to the harbor. She had been there ever since she had her fight with her friends about her troubled past when she was still alive. When she arrived, she had been crying for a long time. After she had calmed down, Ember tried to keep her mind at bay, not to think of anything else. It had been hard enough for her already not to think about her past ever since she became a ghost, and now that she'd opened herself to her new friends and felt that what they were doing, wasn't helping her. Now she was sad, angry and hurt, as these scarred memories have been reopened and it was hard for her to close them, again.
Ember looked at the sunset, thinking of what Sam said to her. She sighed deep "I know that they tried to help me, but…" then suddenly, she became angry at herself and while her flaming hair fired up, she punched her fist so hard to a chimney it broke it in several pieces!
Ember then screamed into the air as she felt on her knees, smashing her fists into the roof many times, till cracks were forming and her knuckles bled with green blood.
New tears were forming in her eyes, as her flaming hair calmed down. She sobbed "Why Dad?! WHY!? How could you… do this to me?! You and…" she said, like talking to her deceased father, asking why he hated her so much, as he was so kind to her when she was just a little girl, till Amy and her mother died.
After some minutes, she looked up in the sky, whipping away her tears "I wish I was there with you… Mom… Amy…. I don't know why this happened to me. Why did I became a ghost… and had to stay here and not being with of you…?"
She stood then back on her feet, closing her eyes. Ember sighed deep, creating a swirl of blue flames in her hands, making her guitar appear in them.
The few things that could help her… was to sing out her emotions…
Out of nowhere, the words of this song she never sang or played before, started to take shape in her mind, while hitting the strings on her guitar. Then she did something that she hadn't done in a long while; using her ghost powers to create three familiar individuals. A keyboard player with a green mohawk. A drummer with crooked teeth, with a blue Ember flame tattoo on his right arm. And a guitarist with long dark pink hair.
Ember glanced at them for a moment while giving a smile "Hello, boys. It's been a while." she said friendly to her three created band players, who gave her a simple nod, as they were only projections, created by Ember to play songs with her form time to time, back in the Ghost-Zone.
Ember started to play, followed by the three band players.
(This is the song 'Sweet Sacrifice' by Evanescence)
It's true… we're all a little insane
But it's so clear
Now that I am unchained…
Fear is only in our minds
Taking over all the time
Fear is only in our minds
But it's taking over all the time!
You poor sweet innocent thing
Dry your eyes and testify!
You know you live to break me
Don't deny, sweet sacrifice!
One day, I'm gonna forget your name
And one sweet day
You're gonna drown in my lost pain, yeah!
Fear is only in our minds
Taking over all the time
Fear is only in our minds
But it's taking over all the time!
You poor, sweet, innocent thing
Dry your eyes and testify!
And oh, you love to hate me
Don't you, honey?
I'm your sacrifice!
Danny flew with Sam and Tucker in his arms over the harbor, having felt Ember's emotions coming from there… and now sensed that she was… singing her emotions out.
"Look, Danny! There she is!" Tucker called, pointing to where he spotted Ember, and also three other ghosts.
"But who are those guys?" Sam wandered.
Danny didn't know, but somehow could feel Ember's energy coming from these three ghosts. Being curious, he and his friends approached them, hearing Ember's song.
Do you wonder why you hate?
Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes?
You poor, sweet, innocent thing
Dry your eyes and testify!
You know you live to break me
Don't deny, sweet sacrifice!
As her song ended, Ember took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, making her three created band members disappear. She then wiped away one tear from her right eye, as she looked at the sunset one last time, thinking of how stupid she was after taken her emotions out on her best friends, who had promised themselves to be always with her… no matter what.
"I'm such an idiot…" Ember said to herself.
But then suddenly, she sensed a very familiar presence, making her smile "Danny…"
Ember turned herself, seeing Danny land on the same roof with Sam and Tucker. After putting her guitar over her shoulder, she ran to her friends and embraced them while she sobbed "I'm so sorry, you guys! I should never have said those things to you… out of all people!"
All her friends returned the hug, with Danny telling "It's okay, Em. We understand."
Then Tucker told Ember, after they broke the hug "Listen, Ember. After you left, me and other went to visit-"
But Danny interrupted him "Tucker! Not now."
Seeing that Danny didn't wanted them to start talking about Ember' stepmother Patricia, Tucker nodded, letting Danny do the talking.
Ember was confused as she glanced at Danny. He looked at her with an unsure look, while taking the note he took from the police station from his pocket and stated "After you left… me and the guys did some more digging and…" he handed her over the note "There is something you should know… about your father."
"About my… father?" Ember asked more confused as she took the note. She looked at Danny, who didn't say anything, but Ember could feel that Danny wants her to read this.
She unfolded the letter and started reading it. Ember was surprised that this was her father's handwriting.
But as she slowly read the letter word from word, her eyes went wide… tears again were starting to form, slowly falling from her eyes.
After reading the final words, she dropped on her knees, with her eyes still on her father's suicide note "He… he loved my songs… and he…" Unable to hold her emotions, she started crying, with Danny holding her close to him in his arms "He… he did love me…! He did love me…"
Some hours later…
Danny, Sam, Tucker and Ember all walked through some streets together. After telling in detail what they all did when she flew away, Ember couldn't believe how far her friends went just to try to help her heal the scars of her troubled past.
Ember had activated her human disguise, as they all walked into a different street "I can't believe that you guys broke into the Police headquarters only to steal this note!" Ember said, who couldn't thank her friends enough for showing her father's final written words to her.
Tucker shrugged "Well… Danny did all the work, while we were just waiting around the corner." he said honestly while pointing his thump to Danny.
Danny nodded, as he also told while frowning his eyes "And that women, Patricia. It was like I could feel the evil inside of her, by just listening to all those lies she told us and-"
Ember just paused and hugged Danny again, interrupting him as he had already told in detail what her awful stepmom had told. While Tucker smiled at his two friends, Sam started to frown by seeing Ember hugging Danny like that, but quickly snapped herself out of it 'Wait. Am I… jealous? No, I'm not. It's just a hug, Sam. Just a normal hug between two of my friends.' Sam mentally said to herself, denying that she was getting jealous.
They all moved on, heading to somewhere else. Somewhere that Ember needed to be.
Along the way, Ember bought some flowers.
Several minutes later, all four arrived at the Amity Park Cemetery.
It didn't took them long to find the graves of her deceased parents, of her little sister and… of herself. All now stood in front of the graves of the McLains.
ARTHUR MCLAIN
November 20th 1947 – February 2nd 1985
ELIZABETH MCLAIN
April 6th 1950 – December 9th 1975
AMY MCLAIN
February 10th 1971 – August 26th 1975
EMILY MCLAIN
August 12th 1969 – September 29th 1984
Standing in front of the graves of her deceased relatives after so many years, was hard for Ember. Danny and Sam rubbed her back in support.
Ember shared the flowers that she bought and put a few on each grave, of that of her father, of her mother and of her little sister. As she stood up and took a few steps back, she looked at the grave of her father, saying "I don't know if you're listening to this, Dad. But if you do… I want you to know that… I found your final note. And I now know that…" words failed her, as it was too hard for her to say.
Ember took a deep breath and then said "…I forgive you, Dad."
Then she looked at the graves of her mother and her little sister "Mom… Amy… It's been a while since I last came here… and even though… I'm not with you guys, wherever you might be… I do wish I was. Because I miss you… so much." Ember nearly wanted to cry, but kept herself and said with a smile "But, Mom… You taught me, when I was young, that everything in life has a reason to happen. I don't know why I was left here on Earth as a ghost… but I promise you, Mom, Amy and Dad, I'll do what I can to make you all proud at me. And I really hope that… one day… we'll truly see each other again…"
Danny and Ember embraced each other, as Ember sobbed a bit. Sam wiped away a tear and rubbed Ember's back, same as Tucker.
For a while, all four just stood in front of the graves. Tucker looked for a moment at Ember's grave, saying "I know that standing in front of a grave of someone that was dear to you is kinda… depressing, but standing in front of your OWN grave? That's kinda freaky," but then quickly apologized to Ember, not wanting to get her angry "Uhh… no offence!"
Ember just shrugged "None taken."
But oddly, Sam noticed something different about Ember's grave. Something that was put in front of her own tombstone. Curiously, she took a closer look and grabbed it "That's strange…"
"What?" Danny asked "What is it?"
Sam showed what she spotted on Ember's grave: An old dried up bouquet of flowers. Tucker raised an eyebrow "Just some dead flowers? Who cares?"
"I know, Tuck," Sam said while checking them "But these flowers are only like… dead for a week. It looks like somebody still visits your grave, Ember."
This was also started to feel strange to Ember "But who? Who would still visit my dead human body here?" she wandered. Danny, nor Sam or Tucker had any clue.
Leaving this mystery out of their minds, Danny, Ember and Tucker decided to leave, while Sam said, still standing before the graves "You guys go ahead, I want to… stick around here a bit longer."
"Why?" Tucker wandered. But then figured "Ooooh, right. Because of your 'goth' thingy? I get it." He just shrugged and headed out.
Before Ember and Danny went after Tucker, Ember called to Sam "Don't stay for too long, okay? You never know, because this graveyard could be… haunted." she her friend.
Sam chuckled "Hihihihi. I think I'll handle myself, but thanks for the warning."
Danny then said to Sam, after checking the time on his watch, telling it was 6:40 PM "Well, if you look for us, we'll be at the Nasty Burger, grabbing a bite."
Sam nodded "Sure." and Danny, Ember and Tucker had left, leaving their goth friend behind.
Once she was alone, Sam decided to walk around the rest of the cemetery, what she hadn't done in a while. She only took a short walk around some ancient graves and the big fountain in the middle of the cemetery, before she was feeling she was getting hungry "Hmmm, maybe I should head to the Nasty Burger too."
But as she was making her way to the exit, Sam saw someone else walking nearby. Sam figured that it must be one of the few people that probably came to pay a visit to a deceased loved one or a deceased family member. But surprisingly, that women she saw was walking to the same place where the McLains were buried.
Sam took a closer look, while keeping some distance and saw that the women was now standing… in front of Ember's grave and placed a new bouquet of flowers in front of her tombstone.
Sam became suspicious of who it could be that was visiting Ember's grave. Was it Patricia? Someone other close to Ember? Sam walked a bit closer to the women. Surprisingly, she saw that it wasn't Patricia, but someone else "Uh… excuse me?" Sam asked.
The women gasped and quickly ran away. Sam was confused as why that women was suddenly running away and went after her "Hey, wait! I just want to talk to you!"
Sam tried to keep up with her, but the women then disappeared out of sight. Sam looked around, but didn't see her anymore "Who was that?" she asked herself, wandering who that unknown women was.
After searching for a few minutes, Sam gave up and walked away from the cemetery, heading towards the Nasty Burger to join her friends.
The unknown women came out of the bushes, feeling relieved that that girl didn't saw her. She returned to Ember's grave, standing in front of it.
Many hours later…
As night had descended upon Amity Park, Danny and Ember flew above town in their ghost forms on their nightly patrol, looking for any ghosts. Even though Danny wasn't sure if Ember was okay to join him after what happened today, she ensured him that it was alright and being on patrol would help her to clear her mind.
As the clock struck 11:45 PM, Danny spotted down below Patricia's house. Just by looking at it made him angry. Ember had sensed Danny's rising anger and watched to the house down below. She then asked, feeling of what she had sensed in Danny "So that's… where Patricia lives now?"
Danny glanced at her and nodded, returning watching down. Ember shared the same anger as Danny and spoke what was on her mind "I just wished she was taught a little lesson for all that she had done to me."
Danny then looked back at Ember, and started to have an idea, making him smirk mischievous. Ember sensed that Danny had something on his mind and asked worriedly "Dipstick, I hope you better not gonna-"
Danny shook his head, interrupting her "No, no, no. I'm not gonna hurt her, I have a different thing in mind for your 'evil' stepmom."
"Like what?" Ember wandered.
Danny gave her a smirk "Follow me and you'll see what I have in mind for your stepmom." and flew down to Patricia's house.
Sensing that Danny had something 'special' in mind for that women, made her curious and followed Danny.
Inside Patricia's bedroom, Ember's stepmother was sitting in front of her big makeup table, clearing her makeup. She was only wearing her pink bathrobe as she had just exited her bath and dried herself with her towel.
While clearing her makeup, she was calling one of her friends on her cellphone and had put it on speaker "Yes! I'm telling you that Francis told me, who heard from Lindsey, that that same stockbroker who came into our store and looked like she had a fight with the vacuum cleaner, said that her awful hairstyle is the latest fashion from France."
"Eck! Like a women like that knows anything about fashion." Patricia's friend on the phone said.
"I know, right?"
"Yes! Hey, listen, my friends and I are having a drink at the bar right now. Why don't you join us and you can tell them everything yourself?" her friend offered.
However, Patricia friendly declined the offer "I would love too, girlfriend, but, I have this client coming over in the morning and I NEED my sleep to keep looking absolutely perfect. Trust me, if I don't have one night of good night rest, I will look OLD AGAIN!"
That made her friend gasp, sharing her worries of becoming old "OMG! We don't want to have that!"
"I know!"
"Okay, you have yourself a good night sleep, Patricia. Talk to you tomorrow! Bye bye!"
As soon as Patricia's friend broke contact, she only did one more thing to remove her makeup, while glancing at her image in the mirror. Jokingly, she asked herself, smiling in the mirror "Mirror, mirror at the wall, who is the fairest of them all? ME! Hahahahaha."
Then suddenly, all the lights started to flicker, making Patricia looked surprised, but then angry "Urgh! That stupid wiring!" she rolled her eyes as she grabbed her phone, hoping she was still able to contact a technician "I hope that that dickhead who installed this shit is still awake?"
However, as she dialed in the number, her phone suddenly went off, saying the batteries were empty "What the heck?!" she said even more surprised.
Then, all the lights went off, shocking her!
"Patricia…!" a sound was calling her name, making Patricia scared as she nearly jumped from her chair, grabbing a comb as a weapon.
"Who is it? Stand back! I have a gun!" she tried to warn the intruder in her house.
"Patricia…!" the voice said again.
As Patricia quickly grabbed a flashlight from her counter, she looked everywhere, seeing nothing.
But as she wants to go out of her bedroom, the door suddenly shuts, making her scream!
She tried to open the door, but it was stuck. She was now trapped in her own bedroom "Hey! Let me out! Let me out, please!"
Then… the mirror broke, making Patricia even more scared "Who is it?! What do you want!?"
Ghostly sounds were heard around her, calling her name "Patricia… you shall pay…! Woooohoooaaaahooo!"
This made Patricia both scared and angry "I'll call the cops! You hear me?! I'LL CALL THE COPS!"
Then suddenly, all the pictures of herself in her room broke, sending flying around the room! "AAAAAGH! NO! NO! GO AWAY! WHO ARE YOU?!" Patricia screamed, while sitting close to a corner, holding her legs close.
Then, one of her red lipsticks floated in the air, writing on the wall: E…M…I…L…Y!
Patricia's eyes went wide and quickly stood up, trying to open the window to escape, but they too were locked tight! "No! NO!"
She ran back to the door, while more stuff of her floated around or were throw around. Patricia tried to open it again, but was still locked and tried to break it in, which she did and ran downstairs, while more of her pictures broke suddenly and sent flying everywhere!
Patricia yelled and screamed, trying to open the front door, but it was stuck. She could hear the voice again "Patricia…! You… shall… PAY!"
Now more scared than she'd ever been in her while life, Patricia ran back to the living room, trying to escape through the backdoor, but it too was locked! Then suddenly, all the doors slammed shut, shocking Patricia!
It was dark, while Patricia tried to turn on her flashlight, but it flickered and suddenly… was sent flying through the room and broke hitting the wall!
Patricia was now in complete darkness, as she shivered with her back to the wall "Please… go away! Please, God, oh please please please…"
But then she heard another voice… a singing voice… becoming closer… louder… "La… la… la lala…. La… la… la lala…!"
Then… nothing…
All that Patricia heard, was the sound of her own breathing and her heart, pounding loud in her chest.
As she took a few steps, suddenly… Ember appeared in front of her with enormous flaring blue flames and glowing red eyes, looking like a poltergeist, yelling "PATRICIAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Patricia yelled as she stormed out of the house, got inside her car and tried to start it. All she wanted was to get the hell out of town "C'mon! C'mon! Start! Start!" she kept breathing out loud, trying to say, praying "Oh please please please please please, let this end please! I'll… I'll change my life…! I swear I'll change my life, if I just-"
Then suddenly Ember appeared in front of her car, still in the same angry poltergeist-mode.
"AAAAAAAAAGH!" Patricia yelled, still trying to start the car.
Ember floated over to her closer, like she was going to end Patricia's life, right here and right now.
Patricia shook her head heavily while closing her eyes and holding her hands on her ears, begging herself that the ghost of her stepdaugther to leave her alone. But then, she felt some breathing in her right. Very scared, she slowly opened her eyes and slowly turned her head to her right, seeing Danny in his ghost form while he formed a smirk.
"Boo."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Patricia yelled as she started the car and stepped on the gas, racing out of the street, while smashing a few trashcans and couple of cars on the way in all her panic.
Once Patricia was out of sight, Danny turned tangible, while Ember's flaming hair and eyes returned to normal. Both glanced to each other… and slowly…they bursted into a laughter.
Not long after, Danny and Ember sat on top of the highest building in Amity Park, still laughing of their performed prank on Patricia "Hahahahaha! Oh… my God! Hahahaha! That was so… satisfying!" Ember said, while wiping away her tears of laughter. In so many years, she hadn't this much fun and also felt more happy than before, that now she and Danny had delivered some payback on Patricia for all those years that she had to go through her abuses.
Danny too nearly couldn't stop laughing, holding his belly of all the laughing.
As their laughter slowly died out, Ember then embraced Danny in a tight hug, what he returned, but not as tight as she did. He then whispered, asking "Are you feeling alright now?"
Ember nodded, still holding Danny in her arms "Yeah… And you?"
"Never been more satisfied."
After a few minutes, they slowly broke the hug as Danny said "I think we're not gonna see that awful women for a looooooong time."
Ember nodded, but then again hugged him as a tear fell from her eye and said softly "Thank you, Danny… for everything."
Danny smiled, telling softly back as he returned the hug "You're welcome… I… I just… didn't wanted to see you suffer like this anymore." he confessed.
They slowly broke the hug and both stared into each other's eyes. No words were spoken. They just… stared at each other, as slowly, a sweet smile grew on Ember's face while she blushed, looking away. Danny held his right hand on her cheek, making her slowly looking back at him. Danny then blushed as well of doing this sudden romantic move, but felt… so secure when he was around Ember, the ghost girl that had taught him so much and was feeling more than just a friendship. Both of them could sense each other's emotions, deep inside. All they wanted was to be with the one they cared about more than anything than they have ever felt in their whole (after)lives.
Danny slowly moved his face closer to Ember. Slowly… they closed their eyes, and… kissed each other softly. At the moment that their lips made contact, both felt like thousands of sparkles were ignited in their bodies, as if their bond became stronger. This feeling was so… wonderful and…
But then suddenly, Ember broke the kiss, gasped of what she had done as she held her hands on her mouth, apologizing "No… I… I shouldn't have done that!"
Danny was confused, not knowing what to say, but wished this moment wouldn't end. He then sighed and said "I… I'm sorry…"
Ember looked away, wanting to get away "I… should go home. See you tomorrow… dipstick." and flew away, back to her attic in Sam's place, leaving Danny speechless and… more confused than ever.
Danny then became frustrated of what he did, what may have ruined his friendship with Ember "Ugh! I'm such an idiot!" he slammed his hands on his face of how stupid he was.
Ember phased into her attic, burying her face into her pillows on her bed "Oh my God! What have I done!? No! NO NO NO NO NO! GODDAMIT EMBER! What were you thinking?!" Tears started to form in her eyes. This was something she didn't wanted to happen, but in the end it did… but why… she didn't know.
She then suddenly could feel Danny trying to sense if she was nearby, but tried to block him out "No, Danny! Please don't come in here, please!" Ember begged herself, telling for some reason to Danny to leave her be. She felt some sadness and disappointment coming from Danny and sensed he flew away, back to his house.
Ember gasped, as she suddenly didn't wanted him to leave "No, Danny wait! Don't go!" she phased out of her attic, but sadly… Danny had already left. Ember looked down, very sad and phased back inside the attic.
As for Danny, he phased inside his bedroom, falling in his bed while changing back into his human form. He sighed deep. That moment… that first kiss… it felt so wonderful… but it also made him to regret that it made Ember to feel bad about it.
Danny then took something from his pocket, which were six pieces of papers, all with different phone-numbers of girls that gave them to him at school. Danny then frowned at them, making his hands glow green and instantly vaporized the papers to dust.
This was an act that he'd never expected from himself. But for Danny… there was only one girl that had a place in his heart: Ember.
But also, he had hoped that that kiss hadn't destroyed their friendship and hoped that she won't end it with him. Danny couldn't bare that thought. Ember had become so dear and precious to him, that he couldn't imagine a life without her.
Meanwhile, in Casper High…
Dash and a few of his jock friends had broken inside the school, with some help from one of the nerds named Mickey. However, Dash was very angry at him, as Mickey had failed what he had promised to them and grabbed him tightly at the collar and pinned him to a wall.
"You said that you had the test results for the coming history test, but this is not what we wanted you fucking idiot!" Dash yelled before he threw the papers with the so-called test answers in Mickey's face.
Very scared, Mickey tried to apologize "I-I-I'm sorry, D-D-Dash, but I thought that this was the right one you needed. I didn't know that they changed the questions at the last moment."
"Then go get us the new ones!"
Mickey shook his head "But… but I-I-I don't know where they are. This is the only one I knew off, I swear!"
Dale, one of Dash's jock friends started to tightened his fists, telling very angry at Mickey while holding his right fist close to his face "Yeah, well now for your dorkiness, you gotta pay for the consequences, Moskovitz."
Mickey became scared as to what the A-listers were gonna do to him this time. Then they did what he'd basically expected: Being locked up in his own locker, again.
Dash smirked as he shut the locker, telling Mickey "Sleep well, nerd! Bwahahahaha!" Dash laughed, same as his three jock friends who left the hallway with Dash, leaving Mickey alone in his locker.
However, as Dash and his jock friends passed by a certain rusty, worn-down locker with the numbers 724, it started to glow green, as a voice came from it "Bullies…"
A stream of green ghost energy comes out of the locker, slowly moving towards Mickey's locker, where Mickey tried to open it while begging "Please, Dash! I won't do it again, I swear! Please, let me out!"
Unexpected, his locker door opened while the stream of green ghost energy floated back to locker 724. Mickey looked perplexed as his locker suddenly opened by itself.
As Mickey crawled out of it, he wandered while he closed his locker "Huh. Dash mustn't have it locked it pretty well this time." Mickey looked around, hoping he was alone and then quickly went out of the school "I better get home before my parents find out that I'm gone!"
When Mickey was gone, going home, locker 724 glowed green again…
Oh boy! You guys can probably guess what'll happen in the next chapter? That's right! The next chapter will be 'Splitting Images' with the nerd ghost, Sidney Poindexter. I have some interesting plot twists in mind for that one, but I'm not gonna tell. It's a surprise ;)
Anyway, I hope you guys liked this own created chapter/episode of my Danny Phantom story. It was a bit of a challenge though, but I'm happy that I was able to finish it. I also hope you guys liked how I made Ember's evil stepmother pay for what she did to Ember and that this whole chapter wasn't too dramatic. Also, that 'mysterious women' that Sam encountered at the cemetary, she will eventually make more sense of how Ember died. But like I said, I'm not gonna spoil anything.
As for the romantic moment between Danny and Ember, trust me, their feelings are increasing, but when they'll finally open their feelings for another I'm not gonna tell when I'll do that, but it'll satisfy you all in the end ;)
So, like and review and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Bye bye!