A few days had passed at Whipstaff and like she promised, Melle finally broke the news to Azriel about going to school. "S-SCHOOL?! B-b-but, M-mom!!" Azriel pleaded as he followed her down the hallway. "I don't wanna go to school! I'll miss my cartoons and...!"
"I'm sorry Azriel, but you've gotta. All kids have to go to school when they turn your age. I promise I'll record all of your cartoons for you." Staying calm Melle tried to bargain with him. "Then everyday when you get home we can watch them and eat some cookies. Whatta ya say...?"
"...N-No!! What if they make fun of me...?? What if they're bigger...?? W-What if they try to hurt me...! I don't wannaaaa...!!!" He cried out and started up the stairs in tears. The poor kid was scared out of his mind as he stopped and planted himself at the top of the stairs.
"O-oh...A-Azriel!" Melle called after him and sighed. After a few moments she raced up the stairs and towards his room worried. "Oohh..." Oddly enough she hadn't seen him seated at the top of the stairs. Azriel stopped and sniffed a few times he watched his mother take off down the hall. He wondered why she hadn't noticed him there. Slowly he wiped his eyes clean and started into the hall way. It was then that Casper appeared almost out of nowhere.
"H-huh, Whoa! Hey there, What's wrong...?" Gently as always Casper smiled to his cousin and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"HUH! O-oh! Casper, Hi..." Azriel placed his hands into his pockets. "W-well I'm... I'm scared. I don't wanna go to school. I wanna stay here...! I like it here better.." His eyes shifted to the ground.
"Well how do you know you like it here better if you haven't gone there...? C'mon just give it a shot. It won't be so bad. I had to go to school when I was your age. I made a lot of friends! Heh.. I was REALLY scared too at first. I didn't know what to say to anyone, but we all opened up and talked. When we did that, I managed to make some really good friends. They even came to my funeral when I died..." Casper attempted to explain in a nice way.
"Hmmn..." Slowly Azriel's eyes looked up at Casper as Kat approached.
"Even I went to school at your age. Want to know something REALLY scary though, I had to go to to 9 different schools within 2 years when I was in my teens." Kat grimaced as she remembered.
"Weren't you scared??" Azriels eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Of course I was, I didn't even have time to stick around and make a friend. That is until I came here. Then I met Casper and..." Shrugging Kat smiled at him. Casper meanwhile blushed as he went on to think of how it was him who made it possible for Kat to have done that. It had been only out of his sheer desire to meet her that'd landed her here into happiness. "The thing is, If I hadn't gone to school I'd of never met any friends anyways. I met Melle your mother there too..." Her smile widened as she moved some of Azriel's hair out of the way.
"Really...??" Tilting his head Azriel looked curiously at Kat.
"Mmhm, It's there that I invited her to live her at Whipstaff. Then she met your Daddy that way. So it's good to go to school..! There may be some really scary bad things that might happen, but, there's always a grown up around. Just tell them and they'll fix it. You'll have friends though so there's no need to worry." Kat ruffled his hair softly. "Give it a shot before you down it."
"W-Well..Okay..." Smiling Azriel jumped to his feet. "Hehe!! I'm gonna go find Mommy now!" In seconds the kid plowed his way down the hall. Kat and Casper just exchanged smiles and continued down the stairs to go do their thing in the kitchen. After all Kat had promised to help Casper with cleaning it today. As Azriel started down the hall way he laughed and grinned wide. A thought had suddenly crossed his mind, Why not make this a little more fun..? Aiming his arms out in front of him he imagined that he was a ghost flying through the halls of Whipstaff. "Woowhoo!! Fastestest flier around! Hahahaha...! No one can beat the scariest an' quickest ghost..!" Having run down the hall he paused and pretended to start scaring fleshies. In his mind Women shrieked, Children cried, and Men screamed with terror. "Haha!! That's right, run, run away... RAARGH!!" he jumped around in place as he searched both ways for his mother.
As he noticed there was no one in sight to really scare he sighed. Why hadn't his mother come back this way already? It was then his eyes landed on the door he stood in front of. He remembered who's room THAT was! Of course, it was his Uncle Fatso and Stretch's room. If they were inside, maybe, just maybe he could scare them! Getting a wicked look on his face he readied himself and eyed down the door. His hand was readied to catch the handle in it to open. "Hehe... Ghost like...ghost like... be ghostly..! I'm gonna fly through the door!" With his eyes fixated and his mind focused, he quickly leaped at the door both arms having lunged forward. "WAAA-AAGGHH, OOOOFF!!!"
Well what he'd hoped for had happened. He'd managed to scare Stretch shitless as he watched the boy tumble through the door. "AAAAAHH!!! WHAT DA HELL?!" Stretch was startled so much by the sheer sight that the book he had been reading had been flung out the window.
A distinctive, "OW!!!" could be heard from below as a now confused Dr. Harvey stood outside and stared up at the window as he rubbed his head.
When the boys head had stopped spinning he placed a hand to his head and groaned a little. "Whoa..! That was easier than I..." Azriel's eyes now landed on the door that was STILL closed. "THOUGHT!?!" The boy was now AMAZED and excited. "I DID IT!! I DID IT!! HAHAHA!! I'm the bestest!!" He posed proudly with his hands upon his hips.
"YEA' I'LL SAY! I could feel my body turnin' in my grave! WHAT DA HELL HAPPENED 'ERE?! Why're you a...ghost?! Not dat I mind, well, in a way I do yer MA'S gonna KILL ME if she finds ya like dis!! What da hell...Jus...what in da hell...?! What'd ya do kid?!" Stretch floated over to the boy and quickly started shaking him.
Azriel who was confused about all of this himself didn't know how to really reply to his Uncle. "I-i-i-i-i-i... DoOoOoN't K-knoOoOWw!!" He flailed his little arms around until his Uncle stopped shaking him. A colorful arrangement of birds flying in circles over his head like he'd seen in cartoons. "I ..I was j-just pretendin' I was a g-ghost... a-and then I ..I just j-jumped at the door..a-and I was gonna open it...b-but I...I guess i just..I...?"
"Ya just tumbled right through da dang thing like it wasn' even dere!" Stretch's purple eyes pulsed with worry as he eyed the door. " Ya was jus' pretendin' and den DIS happened?!" As he now placed a hand to his chin Stretch floated back and forth in an almost, pacing like manner. He studied his nephew as he floated there. There'd only been one explanation that he could have thought of and that was, "Kid, Ya gotta be part ghost some how. I..It's gotta be dis...dis power dat we didn' know ya had. Can ya turn back ta bein' a fleshie? TELL ME ya can turn back!!" Quickly he grabbed the kid by his collar. "I dun want yer Mom gettin' all teary-eyed an' den I get blamed an... NOT DAT I CARE!! 'Cause I dun... but y'know... I jus' dun like gettin' yelled at, I'd much rather be doin' da yellin' myself."
"I...i...I can try...!" Gulping, Azriel pulled away from his Uncle and concentrated hard on having feet. In his mind he repeated over and over again, "Rocks, Solid, Flesh, Blood, Muscles..." And soon enough he'd crashed to the ground on his butt. "OOOOF! Hrmn!? HAHA! I ...I did it!! TA-DA!!! HAHA! I'm alive! I'm alive!!" The kid jumped up and down happily. "See Uncle Stretch?? I did it!!"
"GOOD!! No dun go changin' inta a ghost again! I dun think ya Ma could handle it. Dis'll be our little secret too. Y'CAN'T tell 'er. I know yer Dad might be okay wit it, Den again, he might actually freak out a little too, but, Yer Ma might die o fright if she seen ya like dat. I could see it now, "MY BABY!!!" and with that he morphed into a very horrible rendition of Melle and fainted. Azriel no more then scrunched his nose as he watched the horrible display. "Seriously kid, It'd be better off if ya didn' tell ya Ma. If she found out who knows what'd happen. She might be 'appy but den it might make 'er sad, or worried 'bout ya's, and you dun want dat right..?"
"Right..." Lowering his head Azriel agreed but pouted. "C-can I at least show Dad??"
"NO!! Are ya kiddin?! Stinkie couldn' keep a secret if 'is life depended on it.. well, not from ya Ma anyways." Stretch waved a hand dismissing any comments to that.
"IT'S NOT FAIR THOUGH!" Shouting Azriel stomped his feet. "I wanna show him!! I wanna show him!! I don't wanna hide my powers. I always wanted to fly like Daddy!!" Angrily and frustratedly he cried out.
"YEA', BUT IT'D BE BETTUH IF YA SAVED IT FER ANOTHER DAY KID!" Stretch quickly shouted back. That was the ONE thing that annoyed him about kids, they didn't always understand and when they got excited they charged head first without thinking. It was just at that moment too when Melle entered into the room as she stared at the two of them.
"What in the world is all the shouting about!? Why are you yelling at him like that long nose!" Melle angrily poked Stretch into his chest. "WHAT do you just WAKE UP angered and ticked off everyday?! Do you HAVE to pick on little kids, do you have fun with abusing those who're weaker and smaller than you..? You don't have the guts to stand up to someone who could take you on right back!?" Her voice almost becoming venomous as she hissed at him.
"Dah, No, no..dat ain't what I was! GAH...if you'd jus' lemme get a damned word in... HNNGGH..." Stretch growled and grumbled as he just took the punishment and eyed the kid down. If he had blood it'd be boiled by now. Usually in a situation like this he'd go after Melle but he remembered, this is exactly how Elizabeth reacted when he'd been around Casper. "LOOK, WHATEVER, I'M OUTTA HE'E!" He just couldn't take it anymore. He thought he'd explode if he listened to anymore of this rant. So with that in mind he exited the room through the floor.
Melle watched Stretch and sighed as she looked towards Azriel and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Are you ok? He wasn't too mean to you was he...?" Softly she stroked the back of his head as she looked into her sons eyes.
"Nuh-Uh, He was nice to me. A little.." Azriel looked at the floor as his foot skimmed over it slowly. He felt embarrassed that Stretch had gotten in trouble because of him, but, at least he'd found his mother!
"Well, That's good. Azriel I'm sorry if you're scared about starting school. Please, will you...just give it a try for Mommy...?" Speaking softly Melle gently grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes. Azriel thought about it for a moment but then agreed and smiled. Sure he was scared horribly by this thought, but, he also remembered what Casper and Kat told him. It made him smile to think maybe he could get some friends. "Oohh That's Mommy's big boy!!" Melle laughed and picked him up into her arms and hugged him so tightly. "Thank you..." Gently she kissed his forehead and started out the door.
Stinkie who had followed Melle poked his head into the room and grinned as she walked out. "Heheh, See...? I told ya y'didn' need me goily. Y'got 'im calmed all on ya own." A grin formed as he tilted his head and looked at her. Melle smiled and rolled her eyes, shaking her head a little bit.
"HEY DAD!! DAD!! I FLEW DAD!! Hehe...!" Azriel flailed and reached towards Stinkie with a smile. "It was SO COOL!! It was like, WOOOSH and crash!!" He laughed and watched his Dad's expression.
"Oh really...? Well Dat sounds like you 'ad some fun. BUT, My flyin' skills 're bettuh!" Stinkie laughed and grabbed up Azriel as he started flying towards the main hall. "Lemme remind ya's!" A chuckle rumbled as he winked at Melle.
Melle was worried slightly but still trusted her hubby and followed him also laughing, "Hey you two, wait for me!!"