The woman regarded her charge with a superior glance as she sat in the opposite chair. "Now, I'm going to do everything I can to help you--"
Danny banged his fists on the table. "Cut the crap, will you?! How much lower can you possibly bring me?"
Spectra blinked. "Why, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm here to help you. It's not my fault if you're unwilling to accept my help or the fact that you need…"
"Hey, Edwina Haskell. You might wanna open a window. It's starting to stink in here." Danny waved his hand in front of his nose. Spectra scowled at this. "Besides, those cameras can see. They can't hear." The boy motioned to the video camera that was standard for the rooms in the center. "One of the things I've learned from the guys here."
"How very informative. I bet you're learning a lot here, like how a spork can be a lethal weapon and not dropping the soap."
Danny offered a 'Oh, aren't you hilarious? Wait, no!' smirk in response.
"Why must you be so difficult, Danny? Your sister wasn't difficult…"
"…and she's dead. You haven't seen difficult, Spectra."
"Oh, but I have. The kids in your school were tough nuts to crack, but I did it. In comparison, your friends were really easy to crack. They tried to resist, but one can only ignore the truth for so long."
Danny grit his teeth and balled his hands into fists. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
"I bet you're probably wondering what I'm even doing here." She stood up and started pacing the room.
The boy composed himself. "The thought occurred to me."
"As you've guessed, I need the misery of others to keep me looking youthful." Spectra put her hands on Danny's shoulders. He shrugged them off. "You were special. I don't know if it's the ghost energy, but you…do things to me. You don't just keep me young. You get me high."
"And that's why you're here? Because I'm your heroin?!"
"Heroin, mary jane, smack…like some wonderful cocktail." The wistful tone in her voice made the boy feel nauseated. "And you should see what your sister's death has done for me." She struck a pose, thrusting her behind slightly. "I've got an ass like a teenage girl!"
"And a face like an elephant's ass." The woman's eyes narrowed. "You were still on the ass thing and I tried to think of an animal to go with…" By now, the woman was showing her pointed teeth. "What, you're the only one here who can crack bad jokes?"
Spectra shook her head and sat down. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, because I'm out there and you're in here. I mean, it's not like you can ghost out of here and stop me, is it? The system'll nail you again and again and again and I'll be right there to lend a hand. How do you think you got a unanimous guilty verdict within ten minutes? Huh, must be a state record." The young man pieced together what the woman was saying. She waggled her pointer finger in his face. "There'll be no hung juries for you, Danny boy."
"I hope you're not attached to that finger, because you are two seconds away from losing it."
Spectra glanced up, then shifted in her seat, concealing her hand. "Not really, though I do consider this finger somewhat special." Danny glanced at the appendage. She was sticking up her middle finger.
"I can always tell the director of this place, or the guards…"
"Yes, you can, and I'm sure you'll convince them…" Spectra made her way toward Danny. "…just like you were so able to convince people you weren't a murderer." She wrapped her arms around him, the snake ready to ingest the field mouse. "I love this game, Danny, and the best part of it is that we can play forever." He could feel her (surprisingly fresh) breath at his ear. She nuzzled it with her nose. Danny violently shook her away.
She looked up at the clock. "Wow. Time sure flies. I guess I ought to be going." She walked toward the door.
"Yeah. Catch you next Tuesday."
Spectra took her hand off of the knob and turned toward the boy, an expression of utter contempt on her face. That she knew of, there were no sessions scheduled for Tuesdays.
"That's something else I learned from the guys here." Danny smiled, the first true smile since before Spectra entered his life.
She growled and threw the door open, leaving Danny alone.
XxXxXxXxX
"Mr. Lancer, I'm a little worried about Sam Manson and Tucker Foley."
The teacher looked up from his desk. "What is it, Dr. Spectra?"
"Well, not only did they witness…the unpleasantness, but they were Danny's best friends. They haven't been seeing me lately. Surely, they could benefit from some counseling."
"I don't know. I'd hate to pull them from class, and they're both busy during study halls."
"No offense, but I hardly think that wasting time in the computer labs counts as busy during study halls."
"It usually is computer lab for these two, but they seem to be working a little harder lately. Miss Manson has been catching up on biology labs, which is peculiar as she hates the class. Mr. Foley has been cataloging books in the library. They seem really dedicated to doing things around here."
'Maybe, or dedicated to avoiding me', the woman thought. "It's not a problem, Mr. Lancer. Those two will come around. In fact…", she said as she left his office. "I'm sure of it."
XxXxXxXxX
The room was relatively peaceful. Of course, when the students of this school don't need to be here, why should they waste time?
A white lab coat was draped over the dark-haired girl. Goggles protected her eyes. Plastic gloves afforded her hands the same function. She looked down at a diagram of a worm, its various body parts listed.
The girl grimaced and turned back to the worm in the tray. Another grimace. She picked up the scalpel and slowly moved it toward the insect.
"Hey, Manson."
Sam turned her head toward the source of the voice. It was Paulina.
"Wow." She took a quick look at the worm, then back at the open door. "I never thought I'd say this…ever…but I'm kind of glad to see you." Anything to take her mind of this was welcome, in her eyes.
Paulina walked in, followed closely by a similarly attractive blonde girl. Sam hadn't even noticed the other girl lock the door.
"So, what, you're catching up on labs, too?"
"Actually, we wanted to talk to you."
"I can't imagine what we'd have to talk about."
"Why haven't you been seeing Dr. Spectra?"
Sam gulped a little. "Well, it's just that I'm feeling better now, you know?"
The blonde folded her arms. "A girl got killed. I'm not too surprised. She probably gets off on that kind of thing."
"Star, shush!" The Latina turned back around. "What my friend hopefully means is that you shouldn't be going through something like this alone."
"But I'm not alone. I have friends to talk to."
Paulina placed a death grip on Sam's wrist. "Then I'm afraid we must insist."
"Ah! Let me go!" Sam pulled away, making the girl's grasp tighter. The Goth looked around for something to free her. A devilish smirk crossed her face as her free hand stopped over the scalpel. Resisting temptation, she grabbed the tray and flung its contents at the girl.
The worm was draped over Paulina's face. She shrieked and jumped up and down, freeing Sam. "Star! Help!"
The blonde ran over to her friend and hesitated to take the worm off. Paulina's freak-out made it tough to get a fix on the creature, but just as much a problem was that worms, formaldehyde or not, are disgusting. Star slowly reaches her hand out and tries to pick the worm off, but recoils, letting out an 'Ew!'.
Sam stripped off the gloves and unlocked the door. Taking one last smirky look, she ran out.
XxXxXxXxX
Unlike quite a few of his classmates, Tucker had a fairly decent knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System. Learning it just struck one day, though he wasn't sure when and if he'd ever get to use it.
The library was quite expansive in its content: not just books, but magazines, graphic novels and audio books. Tucker looked down from the ladder on which he stood and placed a book on a shelf. As he climbed down, he noticed two imposing shadows cast on the books in front of him.
He turned around and saw… "Dash! Kwan! Fancy seeing you in here. I don't suppose you're willing to buck the stereotype and get some studying done, are you?"
"Why haven't you been seeing Dr. Spectra?" Dash punctuated the statement with a hearty crack of the knuckles.
"Right. I'll take that as a no. Well, you know, a recent study finds that a little psychoanalysis is good, but too much can kill you."
"How about that? Well, I've found that motor-mouth geeks who don't do as they're told get beat up a lot more often than motor-mouth geeks who do what we say."
"Interesting theory. What are you basing that on?"
The Asian jock turned to his blonde counterpart. "What are we basing that on, Dash?"
"It's not an actual study, meathead. It's a response to his line about psychoanalysis." Tucker glanced toward the door and rushed away. "It's just a joke…" Dash looked over and saw the skinner boy. "Hey, come back."
Tucker grabbed a magazine off the rack. He glanced at the cover and flung it like a Frisbee toward the rampaging jocks. "Hope you guys like irony."
The magazine landed just as Dash put his foot down on it. He slipped, knocking Kwan backward and sending them toward the floor.
The publication that saved the boy's life was "Sports Illustrated". The cover story had been about lack of coordination in youth sports.
XxXxXxXxX
Sam looked out the window of the door and ran out. She breathed a sigh of relief that there were no alarms on the doors. She turned a corner and bumped into a figure. She looked at the person adjusting his beret.
"Tucker?!"
"Sam!" He helped her to her feet. "What are you doing out here?"
"Paulina, of all people, tried to strong arm me into seeing Spectra again. I've been doing everything I can to avoid her."
"Don't I know it? Dash and Kwan almost made me their tackling dummy."
The girl dusted herself off. "It's kind of like Invasion of the Body Snatchers."
"If I wasn't so freaked out by the fact that we're currently living it, I'd say that I love that movie."
"It's gonna be hard to go back in there." Sam jerked a thumb toward the building.
"Well, we don't have to go back there right away. Go to Nasty Burger?"
"I don't really feel like eating, Tucker. I just want to rest."
"I'll pay."
"Well, you don't have to twist my arm. I've had enough of that, today." As the girl started to walk, she could hear a voice. A familiar voice.
XxXxXxXxX
"Samantha Manson."
"Actually, it's Sam."
"Whatever you want, Sam. What are you interested in? Any guys you want to talk about?"
The girl bit her tongue. "No. Not that I can think of."
"Come on, Sam. We're both girls here. You can tell me."
"And you promise this will stay between us?"
Spectra crossed her heart. "Psychologist's honor."
"Well, there's this one guy I see every day. He's a little clumsy. He's a little shy, but he's is so wonderful. The way he makes me smile whenever I see him. I don't know how to tell him without ruining…ruining…"
"The friendship?"
"Yes…no! No. I…"
"Of course, you might not get the chance to tell him. A lot can happen in life. People can grow apart; change overnight. That person you want to confess your feelings to…he won't always be around. There's always the chance that he won't love you back. Maybe his heart will belong to another." Sam started to cry. "Oh, but there is always the chance that you can be just friends." The woman placed a hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her.
XxXxXxXxX
"Sam? Sam?!" Tucker lightly shook the girl, who looked to be in a trance.
"What?!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." He eyed her cautiously. "Tucker, I'm fine!"
"Hey, I never said you weren't. Besides, we're here." The two of them stop in front of Nasty Burger. The boy watches the girl as she walks in.
XxXxXxXxX
"You know, Sam. Something just came to me."
"What?", she inquired, stabbing at the crisp lettuce in her salad.
"What if other ghosts attack while Danny's in lock-up? It's not like he can just leave that place."
"I've kinda been thinking about that. I have an idea, but I'll need to run it by Danny." Tucker took a bite of his double cheeseburger. "I just hope it doesn't come to that."
After swallowing his mouthful, Tucker jerked his head toward a blank space, almost as if he were going into a trance.
XxXxXxXxX
"You must be pretty attached to that…what is it?"
"My PDA - personal digital assistant. Got it for my 13th birthday. I can't imagine how I lived without it."
"Yes. I've heard about this."
"Heard about what?"
"I just want you to know that you're not alone. A lot of people have this problem."
Tucker raised an eyebrow. "What problem?"
"Growing so attached to something, one ends up substituting the item for human contact."
"That's ridiculous. I'd never substitute this thing for human contact. Besides, I've got friends." He looked over to Sam, who was crouched in the fetal position. Her normally vibrant purple eyes now devoid of spirit.
"Yes, but soon will come a time where you'll have nothing and nobody left…except that thing at your hip. Sadly, it can never love you like a person, but why should that matter? I wouldn't blame you too strongly for preferring that thing to human contact. The girls at this school would never understand. They don't understand. They don't care. But, as long as you're happy with that piece of technology that will date inside of six months…everything's fine."
XxXxXxXxX
"Tucker? Tucker?!"
Sam lightly shook the boy, who jerked away. "Whoa." He put a hand to his head. "What happened?"
"I think you were fine."
XxXxXxXxX
The two friends made their way back to Casper High. To their relief, there hadn't been many comments by passersby about the fact that two teenagers were out and about.
As Tucker reached his hand out to open the door, it flew open. Standing in the path was a livid-looking Mr. Lancer. At his side was Dr. Spectra, who stared the teens down with a smirk.
XxXxXxXxX
"'To Kill a Mockingbird'!"
The educator's hands were at his temples. Sam and Tucker sat nervously before him.
"It is simply beyond me why the two of you would skip school…and then return almost an hour later."
Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but Sam cut him down with a disapproving look.
Dr. Spectra, who had been sitting quietly off to the side, stood up and walked toward the students. "What I think needs to be done is get to the root of this problem and root it out." She turned toward the flustered bald man. "Might I have some time alone with these two?"
"What for?"
She waved her finger. "Ah, ah. Doctor-patient confidentiality."
"Fine." Mr. Lancer got up and walked for the door. "Maybe you can make sense of this."
Spectra waited until she could hear the door close. She smiled as she regarded the teens.
"Hello. How have you been? Staying out of troub-- Oh, wait. You haven't." A giggle as she leaned in closer. "This can go one of two ways. The easy way, where you fall into line with everyone else."
Sam gritted her teeth. "Or…?"
"The hard way, where you are as miserable as two teenagers have ever been in this or any town. Your classmates were easy; power of suggestion and all that. Your teachers, your parents, your pets…better not keep your eyes off of them for too long. You miss your little friend, Danny? Try anything funny, you'll be closer to him than you ever thought possible."
She walked toward the door. "As you were, Elvira…Webster." In anger, Tucker jumped out of his seat, but Sam kept him down.
"Visit Danny after school?"
"Visit Danny after school."
XxXxXxXxX
"I almost thought you guys weren't coming."
"Week of detention." Tucker waved his hand, as if to say, 'forget about it'. "Long story." He handed Sam the phone.
"I see you two are doing better. Been staying away from Spectra?"
"You bet."
"Been getting others to stay away?" The two teens grimaced at Danny's query. The inmate sighed. "What's wrong?"
"Spectra has some kind of hold over the students. It's like some crappy sci-fi movie!" Tucker practically snatched the receiver from the girl's hand.
"Hey. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic! Now, if you're talking about the 1993 version…"
"Tucker, focus! Besides, I was thinking along the lines of the Invaders from Mars remake."
"Okay, see, now that sucked…"
Danny tapped on the glass. "Guys…?"
"Sorry", they intoned in unison.
Sam talked into the phone. "It's like Spectra was planting it in their heads to try and make us go."
"And the great thing is we get to go back and face it tomorrow." Tucker spoke as the girl held the receiver.
"Haven't you told anyone?"
"We tried to tell Lancer, but Spectra has him convinced that we're just disturbed…"
Tucker leaned his head toward the mouthpiece. "…acting out…"
"…too much sugar…
"Standard operating bullcrap", the students stated.
"I should've guessed she'd dig her hooks into the teachers."
"That reminds me…what if a you-know-what should attack while you're in here?"
After a few moments, Danny banged his fist on the table. "I never thought of that."
Sam took the receiver. "But I did. Now, you might not like this…"
"I don't." …and the tone in the Goth's voice was the most obvious clue.
"Anyway, I thought that maybe Tuck and I could do some…spare-time 'busting."
"But what if you come across someone really tough?"
"Danny, you worry too much. We know what to expect from your enemies. Besides, someone's got to do it."
The dark-haired boy exhaled. "Fine." Sam grinned. "But be careful. I mean it. Tucker, if anything happens to Sam, I'm holding you responsible. Sam…keep an eye on Tucker."
"We'll need supplies, though."
"Then you'll have to get them from my parents. They shouldn't be too hard."
"Great. Thanks, Danny." Sam smiled coyly, then regained herself and walked out. Tucker was about to join her, when…
"Tuck!" …ran back to the window and picked up the phone. "I can't believe I forgot this. Could you clean out the Thermos when you get to my house? I left it behind the bush next to the gym."
"You got it, Danny." The boy ran to catch up with his female friend. Danny glanced out from behind the glass, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.
XxXxXxXxX
There had been some rumblings in the warehouse by the docks. People figured that it was just a rat problem. Unfortunately, the real issue was a bit more…persistent. "I am the Box Ghost, master of all things rectangular and cardboard!"
Sam and Tucker emerged from the shadows of a stack of crates. The boy groaned at the overall-clad specter that flew past. "How does he keep getting loose?!"
"Never mind that, Tucker. Are you ready?"
A shrug. "I guess, but why do I have to be the distraction?"
"Because the coin came up tails. Now get out there."
Tucker rushed out from behind the wall. "Hey, there! Seen any good boxes lately? 'Cause I think I see a big refrigerator box over at the end there." He points his finger toward the far end of the warehouse.
"Thank you, helpful child." Just as he flew off, Sam jumped from her hiding place and uncapped the Fenton Thermos. The brilliant light that shot from it engulfed the spirit and sucked him within. Sam quickly reapplied the cap.
The girl wiped an invisible bead of sweat from her brow. "Nothing like a job well done."
Tucker rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. But what about Spectra?"
"What about her?"
"What if she was serious about all that 'hard way stuff'?"
"I kind of have another idea. There's no time to run it by Danny, so you're gonna have to trust me."
The boy stared Sam in the eyes. "I trust you."
"Good." She held up the Thermos. "Now, let's take this back to Fenton Works to clean it out. I just hope that the Fentons are pre-occupied enough not to notice us."
"I hear you. I don't think I could begin to explain what we're doing with their inventions."
