Danny slamming into the ladder after being nowhere in the hall a moment ago was the most obvious sign of him being involved with ghosts Kwan had ever seen.
Luckily for all parties involved, Dash diverted all attention from how Danny got there to how dead he was that the jock's newly arrived letterman was now covered in purple paint. Before things could escalate to a full-on fist fight (which Dash would have regretted no matter how angry he was in the moment) Lancer came down the hall.
Instead of straight up giving them detention, they'd compete to make the scariest room at the teacher's haunted house. Kwan considered this a good deal until the two started betting. Either Dash would end up running through the parking lot naked or Danny had to eat his dirty gym socks. Either way, his best friend had once again stuffed his foot into his mouth.
The next day found Dash brainstorming ideas for a 'scary room' that wasn't some generic zombies or vampires when Star suggested sports injuries. "A lot of things can go wrong and if you take every injury to the extreme, you could make some scary mannequins."
Kwan adds in the mannequins in and of themselves are creepy and stares in awe at his girlfriend. She's so creative and beautiful.
They set to work on basic designs and props but they need something to really set it apart.
"Danny has a real ghost to help him - there's no way his room isn't going to be frightening! How can I beat him?" Dash complains and Paulina suggests some animatronics and makes a few calls. An electrical engineer shows up on Saturday to help them piece together gears and wires inside of their puppets made of discarded mannequins and flour sacks filled with cotton.
Dash watches carefully knowing he'll have to do at least some of this himself and finds that the gears and rods make sense to him. The engineer lets him install a couple pieces himself before double checking the work. "You're pretty good at this stuff. You work on cars at all?"
Dash doesn't but he feels pride at having a knack for something.
Star, in yet another show of brilliance and ingenuity, takes to wiring like she's been doing it for years and hums away as she brings everything to life. He spends a full minute staring at her in pure contentment before Paulina drags him back to painting the finished puppets green with purple blood.
They don't finish everything that day, but most of what's left is finishing touches and Dash's exhibit on 'The Horrors of Athlete's Foot'.
Kwan smiles as he walks Star home in perfect contentment with the state of the world. Dash was so exciting to find something he's good at, something he doesn't struggle to understand, that he's taking the engineer's suggestion to learn auto mechanics and will start looking for a course he can take.
Halloween comes around with green skies and more monsters than Kwan has even seen in cartoons. He was already on his way to meet Star and Paulina before they checked out Dash's finished work so he grabs a golf club out of an abandoned caddy and starts fighting his way towards where Star should be.
There's too many of them and Kwan ends up fending off a zombie dog and something he can only describe as a carnivorous marshmallow from attacking a mother and son when all the monsters suddenly change back into random objects. Kwan doesn't question the change or where the monsters came from in the first place - he just runs (still holding onto the golf club - just in case) until he finds Star. she's got a small scrape on her left palm from tripping but is otherwise fine.
He holds her close and reassures himself that she's unharmed and safe. The worst part of the ghosts is what they might do to Star. Yes, it's bad when anyone gets hurt. But, if it were Star...
Kwan can feel a simmer of rage so unlike him at just the thought so he pushes it aside. Star is safe, and in his arms, and Paulina has just found them with her fists tightly clenched and he knows just by looking at her that a nail is broken (or at least damaged) despite the calm mask of her face.
Star checks both of her best friend's hands and find the ring finger of her right hand is a jagged mess. Paulina looks straight ahead the entire time with a forced stoicism that Kwan admires. She's panicking but out in public, she won't let anyone see.
They part ways so that Star can fix Paulina's nails and Kwan can check on Dash.
He finds his best friend outside of the Haunted House and discovers that whatever had happened, had started from there. They don't know all the details, but they're sure that Danny had something ghostly for his exhibit that backfired. Kwan frowns in irritation. Danny had put Star in danger for a silly bet and a chance to avoid detention.
Dash wins by default even though he clearly has the better room but they don't dwell on it. They arrive at Star's house for their pre-approved sleepover (where the boys and girls will sleep in separate rooms for the night) to find Star putting away her nail supplies and Paulina scrutinizing the blue acrylics.
They watch Friday the Thirteenth and its first sequel while munching on popcorn and a mix bag of Halloween candy.
Maybe they won't always be so lucky and one of them will be harmed by the specters that now haunt their streets; but, for now, Kwan relishes in having his friends safe and sound and smiles when Star catches his eye.
They have each other and that's more than enough to face all the ghosts in the world.
And in Amity, they may just have to.
Episode: Fright Knight
AN/: I finally received a new USB Adapter and can resume writing. Please bear with me as I amass a few chapters before regular updates resume.
That being said, I found myself extremely disheartened and baffled by the lack of response last chapter. A total of 8 reviews when I finally give you the ghost boy. Eight! I thought that was a chapter that would have lots of buzz and give me a good gauge on how people liked the A-Lister's conclusions and course of action but instead, received far less feedback than previous chapters.
P.S. Please do not leave a simple 'update soon' just for the sake of reviewing. If that's all you have to say, it's more annoying than inspiring and will not prompt me to work any faster.
Please, just tell me what you think. The good, the bad, or the ugly.
Edit: No, I will not be going on hiatus. I just need time to actually get something written.
