This chapter goes in depth with Spectra's past, revealing things that shock the pair. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 5
Penelope, left alone in the house, began to think a few things over.
"Jazz said she loves me...and I told her I love her. But she still has no idea that I'm a ghost. Will she still accept me for what I truly am? Her parents are ghost hunters, if she is angry that I didn't tell her I'm a ghost, she might turn me over to her parents...but she doesn't share the same outlook on ghosts that her parents do," she said out loud, and sighed.
"Everyday that we are together, I keep lying to her, if we ever can be together our relationship can't be built on lies. That settles it. Tomorrow I'm going to just tell her that I'm a ghost. I can only hope she still loves me."
Spectra still felt a bit uneasy about that plan, but it seemed to be for the best. With that she went to lay on the bed and let her mind drift.
-The Next Day at Casper High-
"Hello there Jazz, how are you today?"
"Just great Miss Spectra. Where's Bertrand today?" Jazz said, noticing the absence of the short man.
"He had to leave for some personal reasons. So it's just us today. Care to help me after school today?" Spectra said casually in case anyone overheard.
"Sure thing. Now who's first today?"
"Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson."
"Danny's friends? Ok."
After another misery inducing day, Jazz and Spectra headed to her home. Upon entering Spectra started off by asking Jazz a question.
"Jazz, Bertrand used to live with me. But we had an argument last night, and I kicked him out. It's pretty lonely here, would you like to spend the night?"
"Sure, Danny' and Tucker are spending tonight at Sam's place and my parents are still tucked away in the lab. No one will notice I'm gone."
"Good. Now Jazz...I can't help but feel I haven't been entirely honest with you."
"What do you mean?"
"There's no easy way to say this...Jazz, I'm...I'm...I'm...a ghost."
Jazz stared at Penelope, her mouth slightly open in shock. She was in love...with a ghost? Spectra saw this disbelief in Jazz and tried to keep them together.
"Please Jazz, I didn't know how you would have reacted if this happened when we first met. I still love you, but this isn't any easy subject to bring up."
Jazz looked Spectra in the eyes, smiled slightly and said, "Penelope, I will always love you. I want to be with you, but this is really complicating things. I mean, it's one thing to fall in love with another female, but a female ghost in love with a human whose parents hunt ghosts. I suppose we can try to find some sort of way around it. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
Spectra sighed slightly. Jazz took the ghost thing fairly well, but now was the time to reveal her powers.
"Two things, I feed off of misery to stay young looking, teen misery usually works the fastest. And this beauty you see in front of you isn't exactly my true form. It was...when I was alive. But this is what I look like..." Spectra said before turning into her shadow self.
The sudden change was a bit of a scare to Jazz. The glorious beauty in front of her transformed into this dark figure.
"Well I see why everyone seemed so depressed. Why do you have two forms?"
"One half has the ability to age and blend in with everyone, the other half, the one you see right now, can't age or change really."
"Wait, age? What if you were to use your youth power to drop to my age?"
"You mean, turn 16 again?"
"Yes. From there, I could inject you with the Fenton Converter, you know that invention to turn ghosts back into their living states. In theory it should lock your age in. If you would truly want to be with me, this would probably be the best way. And if it doesn't lock in that age, it would probably put you at your college age."
"I suppose that could work."
"Before we do that though, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"
"I suppose that's fair enough. I was really hoping you wouldn't turn me over to your parents, so a few questions is the least I can do."
"How did you die?"
"Honestly...I'm not sure. I was in my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin, and one night something happened, it involved my roommate...I can't recall what it was."
"Do you have any old college mementos around here? You could have some old photos hidden away inside."
"Doubtful, this isn't my house. I scared the owner away a week ago."
"Maybe the answers are at the University. They might have some sort of record about you."
"I suppose so."
"You can turn invisible and intangible right?"
"Yes."
"Then we shouldn't have any trouble sneaking into the records room. Think you can fly us there?"
"Easily."
"Let's go then, it's only about 3:30. In theory, we should be able to do everything in a few hours."
"If you think it's best, we'll do it."
Spectra, in her shadow form, and told Jazz to hug her and hold on tight. Within seconds they were flying high above the trees and heading towards Wisconsin. Jazz decided not to ruin Spectra's concentration with any conversations.
About an hour of flying and they arrived at the front of the main hall.
"It looks the same still," Penelope said taking in the familiar surroundings.
"Let's just go through the rooms until we find the records," Jazz said.
Her and Spectra turned invisible and intangible, then proceeded to go through the walls until they found a large collection of files. Jazz quickly flipped through the bundles of folders covered in dust.
"Here we are, the 1979 'S' files...Samuel...Sebastian...Silian...Spectra Penelope. Let's see...tuition, no. Classes, no. Rooms, no. Roommates, perfect. 'Madeline Loring' I can't say I know that name. Any idea who it is Penelope?"
"It sounds familiar, are pictures included in the files?"
"Yes. Let's just find her file...here it-"
"Hey! Who's back there!" yelled someone who heard Jazz.
"Shh! Grab them and let's go back to my house. Hold them close and tight."
-Spectra's House-
The two arrived back home by 8:30. Not exactly late, but an exhausting trip nonetheless. Jazz handed Spectra the files and she began looking over them. She started with her own. Her face in her photo looked so cheerful.
"So young, so beautiful," Penelope said, "but let's see what this 'Madeline' looks like.
Now it was time to see this girl's face. Penelope picked up the folder and opened it. She studied the contents and moved on to the photo. At that second, everything came back to her in a flood of memories.
"Oh my god...I remember it all now..." Spectra said as she dropped the folder and collapsed to a sitting position on the bed. Jazz picked up the folder and looked at the woman's picture. It seemed familiar. She closed the folder and sat next to Penelope on the bed.
"Penelope...start at the beginning."
"It was 1979, I was starting college. I went to my dorm for the first time and met her. She said her name was Madeline Loring, Maddie for short. We went around the campus getting used to it and found out we had a lot in common. We went back to the room and started talking. She discovered I had trouble with men in the past, that was when I found out she was bisexual," Spectra said, taking a short break from the flood of memories.
"She wanted to try a little experiment, some mild making out, along with a massage. Then she took me over the edge in a night of extreme passion. We continued this relationship for about five months, I thought I finally found someone. Before long she started seeing this Jack Fenton fellow. I couldn't see why, he was a bumbling fat Neanderthal. But soon enough she started to drift away from me. Everyday I'd return to the room and she wouldn't be there. One day her things were gone with a note that simply said, 'Jack proposed. Went to live with him, see you around Penelope. Love Maddie'. After reading that my world fell apart. Everything we shared, the love I thought we had...gone. I fell into a depression that night. It was a clear, cool night. So I took a walk around the university. Little did I know, that would be my last moments of truly living..." Spectra started to break down in tears, but felt obligated to finish the story.
"I walked along the side of the road for about ten minutes. I suddenly heard tires squealing and felt an enormous pain in my back. It turns out a driver's tire blew out, sending him into me. I woke up in the hospital the next day in severe pain and totally restrained. They said I was lucky to survive, and that just some surgery would fix my injured spine. I sat in my room alone for a while, replaying last night 's events over again in my head. A surgeon and an anesthesiologist came in shortly to explain my procedure and to prepare me for surgery. Once it was over I laid in my room, unable to even sit up. A week passed, no one ever came to visit. Not even my family or Maddie. I asked that they would bring me a newspaper everyday, seeing me in a solitary state they obliged. More weeks passed, still no one. Finally they said I could go into rehab to start living my life as I always had, I just wanted to walk again. Weeks of painful rehabilitation finally got my wish granted as I took my first steps in nearly two months. A few days later I read the marriage section in the paper...'Madeline and Jack Fenton' was printed. It seemed that was nothing left for me, if Maddie wasn't gone before she was now. I had no real friends, no caring family, hardly a life, and no one to hold me lovingly to comfort me. That night I wrote a simple letter saying only 'Goodbye' and left it on my bed. I walked to my window, opened it, and fell five stories to the cold cement ground," by this time Spectra was in a completely broken state, tears streaming down her face.
Jazz was speechless...her mother and Penelope were once together? Her mother also left Penelope in one horrible depression from heartbreak, bad enough that it led her to suicide. It couldn't be true, could it? Why would Penelope need to make Jazz feel anything against her mother? Then again there was the file, even if the story was fake that image did resemble her mother now that she thought of it and Penelope's folder linked them.
Jazz couldn't leave Penelope in such a shattered state of mind. While she wanted to go through her mother's old college items in hopes of seeing the truth, she would spend the night with Penelope.
Jazz looked over at her, she was laying in a fetal position still lightly crying. She laid on the bed next to her, embraced her in a light hug, and in the most comforting tone said,
"Shh...I won't leave you Penelope. I never will."
Penelope, eyes closed, gave a slight smile knowing the girl must truly love her and slowly fell asleep with Jazz in her arms.
Jazz awoke around 7:00 the next morning. She yawned and noticed Penelope with her arms wrapped tightly around her. Reluctantly she pulled out of Penelope's grip. She proceeded to the bathroom, afterwards she woke up Penelope.
"Penelope, wake up...we have to get to school," Jazz said in a whispering tone.
"Alright. Today's Friday right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh just some quick thinking...today's the last day I'll be at the school."
"What? Why?"
"It was just a week job to increase overall morale at the school. But this isn't all bad. Think about it this way, we had that plan to turn me back into a human right?"
"Yes."
"Well if it all goes as planned...Casper High could have a new Sophomore next week. I'll fill out the paperwork today, introducing her as my niece named after me. This way she'll be able to attend without a formal meeting with the principal. So I get my youth, you get me, Casper High gets a new, trouble-free student, and we get to have our fun. Everyone wins here," Spectra said.
"I like your thinking. Let's get to school, then you can drop me at Fenton Works and I should be able to get the Fenton Converter. After that, it's a simple injection and we can be together."
End Chapter 5
If anyone might have guessed that's where I was going with Penelope's past, nice going (especially if you guessed in chapter 1, 2, or 3...4 gave it away kinda). I might consider doing a brief spinoff (3-4 chapters max) about Spectra's college life, if anyone likes the idea.
But once brokenhearted and in love with her past love's daughter? Interesting...
Alright, catch ya later guys.
-Phantom of the Asylum