"Azriel..?" Melle called up the stairs. "Azriel, C'mon! You're gonna be late for your first day of school!" Softly she sighed and stared at the top of the stairs as she waited for a reply.
"Almost done!" Azriel opened his door and shouted down the hall. Luckily for him Melle heard his call and smiled lightly. She remembered how that used to feel. "Alright, my backpack... My clothes are on... Now to try those powers again!" He grinned to himself as he concentrated on turning into a ghost. It pleased him that it hadn't been a dream. "YES!! Even my backpack's turned ghost like..!" Looking surprised he poked it a little. "Now, Flying lessons!" Deeply he inhaled then darted through the door and started flying down the hall. Unfortunately for him he had a long way to go before he'd be an expert. So as he floated down the hall vases crashed to the ground with every turn he made. The sound was normal however, usually caused by his running. So instead of worrying, Casper just groaned and counted the loss of each vase.
"One... Two... Three... Four..." Casper's eye twitched as he looked at Melle and Stinkie. Both just grinned nervously and shrugged at him. "Well at least they're from the dollar store, huh?" Casper soon smiled and tried to look on the brighter side.
"We'll replace those don' t worry." Melle laughed nervously.
Meanwhile Azriel approached the stairs and aimed to fly down them. Just as he aimed himself to go down he felt his collar grabbed. "Ack!!" He cried out in surprise.
"Just what da hell do ya think yer doin!?" Stretch's voice boomed scolding Azriel for that.
"I was just..g-gonna...!" Azriel attempted to explain though he was cut-off in an instant.
"You was just gonna smash yer face in on dem steps. Y'ain't dat experienced yet, it's best not ta jump ahead with dese things. Hell y'couldn' even fly down da hall straight." A smirk formed on his face as he released the kids collar.
Azriel just poked out his bottom lip and nodded going back to normal. "But I was practicing..:D And.. uh.. practice.. makes.. ..uhm.." His voice trailed off.
"Perfect...? YEAH, well, not when ya make yer face into a pizza. Now get goin'!" Stretch grumbled and rolled his eyes grabbing the kid by his collar once again. He'd make sure this little trouble maker would get to the kitchen without haste.
"AWWW...!! C-c'mon Uncle Stretch!!! LEMME GO!! I can walk on my own!" Azriel flailed and scrambled around in his Uncles clutched hand.
"Sorry, Ozzie, Ain't takin' a chance on it. No hard feelin's but I dun really trust ya... tck,I don't really trust anyone outside of Ab's, den sometimes, I dun even trust 'er." Smirking he dropped the tyke in front of Melle and Stinkie. "One dog, ER, FLESH BAG t'go."
Melle just smirked and folded her arms eying the lengthy specter down. "Would you stop being so mean to him already...? I'm sure he gets it that you don't like kids. You don't need to rub his nose in it." With a icy glare at him she grabbed Azriel's hand and helped him to his feet. "c'mon sweety, let's get you some cereal in your belly."
Azriel raspberried Stretch and grinned as he climbed into his seat for breakfast. Stretch rolled his eyes once again and rubbed his forehead. Stinkie couldn't help but laugh at this finally someone got the best of Stretch. "Hehehe, now dat's my boy..! Dun take nutin' from anyone!"
"WHAT was dat...!?" In seconds Stretch loomed over his younger brother, eyes narrowed as he inched closer and closer to his face.
"D-DAH!! E-EXCEPT DA REALLY TALL SCARY ONES.. WIT BIG NOSES...!!" Grinning Nervously Stinkie tapped his fingers together and without even realizing it belched loudly into his brothers face. "..O-OOPS!! HAHA, G-Guess I should come wit a ...w-warnin' label..heheh... C-contents not good unduh pressure!" Laughing nervously he stared at his brothers increased angered look. "UH... LATAH SON!!" Stinkie waved and bolted out of the kitchen as fast as his tail could fly. Stretch following close behind ready to do some damage.
Azriel just laughed and grinned at the whole thing. His family always managed to make him smile in some shape or form. For some reason the violence didn't bother him. In some way he knew that everything his Uncles and Father did were out of comedy, that they really couldn't be hurt by any of it. Quickly he started into his cereal eating his Nutty-O's at a pretty good pace. When he finished he placed the bowl into the sink and looked to his mom. "Ready for take-off!" And funnily saluted her as he laughed.
"Alright then, let's get you to school." Taking his hand Melle gently guided him out of the door and into the car. When both were buckled in nicely she started the car and pulled on out of the drive-way and to the school. When they arrived the teacher happily explained all about everything planned for the days schedule and snacks planned out. Melle smiled when she noticed the list, all of it were things that Azriel enjoyed. She stayed there a little longer just to make sure that Azriel had someone to play with so he wouldn't be alone. Having experienced that herself it was the last thing she wanted for him. The boys seemed more than happy to have another one in the group. When she was convinced that her baby would be alright Melle walked over to him and hugged him tightly, then kissed his head, "I'll be back later. You have fun!" and with that she left.
Azriel just smiled and waved after his Mom from out of the room. "BYE MOMMA!" he called out and then laughed as he joined the boys in their game of knights and cowboys. When it was snack time they were all called over to grab up some graham crackers, peanut butter & a little box of milk. As he sat in his seat he looked beside him at a little girl who'd taken a seat. A smile formed on his face as he decided to talk to her. "Hiya!! What's your name...?" He curiously asked her, his eyes looking over the dress she wore. "I'm Azriel..!" Happily he munched down on his snack as he waited for a reply.
"Clarinda!" Rin smiled happily at him, though she felt surprised that a boy was talking to her. Normally they ignored girls like her or rather girls in general. Unless they wanted to make fun of them.
"Whoa.. uh... I'll call ya.. Rin for short! So ya like pink huh...?" He leaned his arms on the table as he slurped the rest of his milk out of the carton. The teacher of course scolded him for doing that, and claimed it to be bad manners. Azriel who was now embarrassed blushed and threw out the box, "Oh...Kay..."
"Just cause I'm wearing it, doesn't mean I like it!" Rin folded her arms and looked away from him angered now.
"Oh.. Well..Sorry... Green's my favorite color though! I love wearing it!" he pointed to one of his under shirts that were green. "It's cool..! What's yers then..??"
"I don't have one..." Her voice trailed off as she shrugged and ate the snack.
"Don't have one..? Huh..That's..weird.. Hrmn oh well." Azriel shrugged and was then nudged by one of the boys to go play.
"C'mon, stop talking to the girls..!! They have cooties..!! Haha, They'll make you play dolls, let's get back to playing knights!" the boy stated loudly, with that Azriel was grabbed and pulled to go play. Rin just watched and then smiled to herself a little, happy that at least someone talked to her other than another girl.
Soon it was story time and they were read the story about a Caterpillar. Azriel listened carefully to the story and pictured everything in his mind as he closed his eyes. Stories were one thing he loved to hear and loved finding new ones of. Some stories he could listen to over and over again and never get tired of them. Among his favorites were pirate stories and ghost stories, that were made for children his age. When story time had finished all of the children were then assembled for nap time. They all slept relatively well and easily, and when nap time was over, they of course resumed playtime to wear out any access energy. During this time Azriel and the boys played a game of hide-n-seek.
"Haha...!! Gotta hide... where... where to go... OH!! THERE!" Azriel grinned to himself as he darted off and behind the coat rack. When his friend finished counting they looked all over the room for him and the others. The boy had managed to find the other kids, but had a hard time finding Azriel. Soon the game was over though, as Azriel watched the boy get closer and closer to the coat rack. "Ack...!" He whispered to himself and started thinking, "Don't let him see me, Don't let him see me!" over and over again. Oddly enough when the boy reached the coat rack and looked he didn't see Azriel at all, Even though he stared him right in the face! Azriel had just about spoke up when the kid groaned and told the others he wasn't there. "HUH? H-Hey! I'm right here!" Confused Azriel stepped out of the coat rack and waved his arms at the boys. Crazily enough they never even looked at him.
"Alright now class, Listen up!! If you all form a nice single-filed line we'll all go to the Gym! I want you to line up against this wall!" The teacher pointed to her right and smiled as the kids cheered and quickly gathered to the wall as asked. "Now remember class, we have to be quiet when we go down the halls. If you're not quiet, you'll get a time out and there will be no playing in the gym for you. Bigger people are doing important work." When the class replied that they understood the teacher went down the line counting the children to make sure all of them were there. As she reached the end of the line she however couldn't seem to find Azriel. "Azriel...?" The teacher questioned and looked around concernedly. When she didn't get a reply she rushed into the room and called out for him looking all around.
"I SAID I'M RIGHT HERE!!" Azriel shouted after her even more distraught and confused that she couldn't see him NOR hear him! What was with everyone ignoring him suddenly? Why couldn't they see him...?? Why couldn't they hear him!? What was going on here?! He suddenly panicked as he watched the teacher get the other teacher from across the hall to watch the class as she went to get help to look for him. Azriel who'd almost started to cry then just stared and begged, "I... I wanna be seen!! Why can't they see me?? See me!! SEE ME!! I'm right here!! PLEASE see me..!!"
Luckily he had reappeared JUST before the teacher turned the corner and when he screamed the, 'I'M HERE!!' she stopped and stared. "AZRIEL! O-oh... Thank god!" The teacher quickly rushed to the child's side and softly grabbed his shoulders. "What do you think you were doing?! It's not funny to hide on your teachers! You come when you're called to...! You really scared me with this. Do you think it's funny...? Do you think it's a joke...? It's a serious thing when you can't be found. People are worried and hurt... Don't do it again..!" Heavily she sighed and covered her face and shook her head. "Please take the class to the gym while I escort Azriel to the Office."
"B-but I... I.." Azriel tried to explain but every time was cut-off. Finally he just accepted it that he wasn't going to be listened to by this adult. Though he hated knowing the other kids got to have fun while he was punished. That wasn't even HALF of it though! In about 15 minutes his mother had arrived at the school after being told about what happened. Needless to say Melle was disappointed and mad, though she controlled herself as she knew that these things happened with kids. Melle decided to just bring him home for the time being. It'd be better off if he'd just sit in his room and thought about what he did.
"Oh Azriel... Why'd you do that honey...? Can't you tell Mommy..? It's... It's not funny to disappear on someone like that. I know your Uncles and father do it, but, they're not like us humans. We get worried when another one of us, especially children suddenly disappear." Melle trailed off as she looked over at him for a brief moment.
Azriel remained quiet as his eyes teared up unhappy that his mother was mad at him for this. He was just as confused as she was so how could he explain it...? "I... I just... I was there.. S-She just didn't see me... N-No one seen me! I .. I even talked to them, they didn't hear me.. I swear Mom!"
Meanwhile back at Whipstaff Manor, Stinkie who'd heard the whole phone conversation floated in a pacing manner in front of the front door as he waited for the two to get home. He would've followed Melle directly to the school but then he figured, he would've been too tempted to scare the crap out of them fleshies, literally! So instead he opted to wait at home. Like Melle he was disappointed with this news, but, He knew part of it was his fault or at least he figured it. With how he always went invisible he figured it must've rubbed off on the boy to want to hide and scare folks like he does. While that also made him proud to know the kid had some terror in him, it also concerned him with how this would be treated with the older his son got. "How da 'eck am I gonna 'andle dis...? Da kid did me proud wit da scarin'..an' yet... I gotta discipline 'im fer doin' dat..."
As he contemplated all of this a female voice suddenly rang out from behind him, "Blayne...? Is...Is that YOU...?"
Stinkie's eyes widened as he hadn't been called that in a few years now and that voice sounded NOTHING like Melle's! It was too womanly to be hers. His eyes shifted towards the figure in which his body followed soon after. His jaw plunged to the ground as he stared at the ghostly figure in front of him, "FIONA?! I-IS DAT YOU?!"
"Oh my gosh, BLAYNE!! It really IS YOU!! HAHA!" Fiona cried out as she jetted over to him and hugged on tightly. "It's been SO long..!... Y..you're... You're really a...ghost...! I... I never thought I'd see you again. A-after what happened so long ago... with... and the...poison..." Her voice trailed off as she looked to the ground.
"HAH!! I could say da same ting! WOW, Yer still lookin' good..!" Stinkie chuckled and winked as he nudged her side lightly.
Fiona just blushed and played with her shoulder length blond hair, "Y-You really think so...?" Her voice almost purred out as she looked him over.
"Oh heck yea'!! So whatcha been up ta dis whole aftahlife 'ey..?! C'mon y'gotta tell me everythin'..!" Laughing he placed an arm around her shoulder as he floated outside with her.
"Well I suppose I could, I mean, that is if you're not doing anything important... or anything.." Fiona smiled and rolled her eyes, like there were too many things a ghost would have planned.
Stinkie thought about that for a moment and remembered that Melle and Azriel were coming home soon. However, he didn't want to discipline his son for doing something he himself indulged in almost all of the time. So he opted to go with Fiona instead. "NAH!! Dey can 'andle it..'EY! How 'bout some scarin' while we're at it! I haven't 'ad a good scarin' opportunity fer awhile!" Thinking about it Stinkie placed his hand to his chin.
"Sure...! Why not...? I'm up for a good SCARE!" Fiona giggled and batted her eyes at him as they floated off in the direction of the town. She started to go into her After-Life story and how it all started.
It wasn't too long after this when Melle arrived home with Azriel. She had already scolded him on their drive home so she hadn't continued when they got there. Kindly enough she carried his backpack on into the house for him and placed her keys on the holder. "WE'RE HOME!" Calling out tiredly she placed Azriel's backpack next to the steps and looked back at him. Azriel just fiddled with his fingers and shirt not knowing what to expect. Though he remembered what his mother had talked with him about and he started up towards his room. Melle quietly watched after him and frowned having not wanted to do that, but after all she was the parent and it needed to be done. She hoped the little guy would be okay as she watched him disappear up the steps. "Where the heck is he...? Normally he's already in here and squeezing the life out of me.." Blinking she poked her head into the library and then into the kitchen not seeing Stinkie in either spot. "I wonder if he went to the dump again..?" well either way she decided she wouldn't worry about it. No matter he'd be home in time for supper, that guy never missed a meal which often caused her to wonder why he hadn't turned out like Fatso.