Chapter 31: A peaceful Saturday
After breakfast, and with Thatch properly stuffed to Casper's personal liking the large group headed back to the boy's dorm. Naturally, curiosity was getting at all of them so Casper went to the coffin, getting the camera out of its hiding spot after kindly telling everyone but Thatch to turn away. He didn't want to risk anyone seeing Thatch's hiding spot, or the collection of colorful rubber ducks. He was careful as he took the camera out, then quickly shut the hidden compartment then the lid of the coffin. "Okay guys," he started and turned back towards his friends.
They all naturally started to move around to get comfortable. Casper sat beside the coffin, leaning back against it so he had some support. Thatch was to his right, Slither to his left. Ra climbed on top of the coffin, ignoring Thatch's soft hiss of protest. Thatch allowed it once Ra just sat down, peering down at the camera from behind Casper's shoulder, and Mantha sat on the coffin beside Ra so she could see as well.
With everyone gathered close Casper carefully turned the camera on. It was one of those fancy electronic ones Jimmy liked to show him. It could store hundreds of pictures, and video normally. Casper had to carefully navigate the menus, finding the gallery and opening it. Casper just selected the oldest picture because it was the first thumbnail that loaded. Why not start at the beginning anyway? The screen took a few moments to load before it displayed the picture.
The first picture was simple enough, Dummy Girl clearly used this camera for personal use, but for some reason, there was a picture of Slither from behind as the snake monster was brushing his teeth, clearly early in the morning. Slither instantly groaned upon seeing the image.
"She kept those?" He almost whined, naturally reaching forward to take the camera and Mantha smacked his 'hand' away instantly as she scooched forward on top of the coffin to see the image better.
"No, shoo. I wanna see. What are these?" Mantha asked. Casper only shrugged, and Slither wasn't answering so he went on to the next picture, which was the same setting just slightly different. Now they could see Dummy Girl's hand reaching forward from behind the camera as she snuck up behind Slither. The next picture showed her hand just hovering over the back of Slither's robe. The next one had Slither up on the sink, toothbrush still in his mouth as he clung to the wall mirror, clearly startled like a common domestic house cat. Casper honestly couldn't imagine how Slither got up there. Did he jump? Climb? It was a mystery.
Ra started to laugh, gripping his sides as he nearly rolled off of the coffin. Mantha nearly rolled off the coffin with the mummy while Slither, the entire time had this 50% fed up look. Even Thatch was trying not to laugh just to save Slither some of his pride.
"Oh I remember these," Thatch mumbled, trying to just continue. "Dummy Girl loved taking pictures of us. She even got some of me."
"But you're a vampire?" Ra chuckled, still trying to get over the fact that Slither looked like a scared cat. The mummy readjusted himself so he was laying on the lid, less likely he'll fall off with laughter then.
"Normally yes. We can't see ourselves in mirrors or old photographs because of the silver used. But with digital screens and the like, we can be captured." Thatch easily explained with a shrug. "You should have seen Dummy Girl's face when she figured that lovely detail out." Thatch softly groaned. "I was so sick of this camera constantly in my face. I made her delete most of my photos."
Casper softly giggled and pressed next, and to his surprise, it was a fuzzy image of what only could be described as a sideways arrow. After Casper looked back at Ra and Mantha and got no answer, he looked to Thatch. The vampire pressed the center 'ok' button on the camera, and after a brief loading, a video started to play. The volume was on max too, giving them all a bit of a start.
There was a bit of an odd sound like something was rubbing against the microphone, and the screen was pretty dark, but after a moment the video turned and they could see they were under a bed, and they could actually see Thatch's coffin. It was back in its normal spot before Thatch had moved him and his new found friends to the corner for safety reasons. The video showed Dummy Girl sneaking along in the boy's dorm, creeping towards Thatch's coffin. As she drew right beside it she knocked on it repeatedly, not enough to wake anybody but certainly loud enough to wake the vampire. She then ran and ducked behind Ra's sarcophagus, poking the camera around so they could still see.
The lid suddenly popped up and Thatch poked his head out, his eyes narrowed as he angrily looked around the room. Casper tried not to laugh, the action reminding the friendly ghost of the game whack-a-mole. The vampire slowly started to sink back down in his coffin, pulling the lid down. He paused right before it shut, only his eyes visible as he glared out into the dark room. After a few more moments Thatch shut the coffin lid with a soft and strict thump. Dummy Girl giggled and turned the camera to her big wooden head, stifling her laughter before the video stopped.
Casper smiled and looked at Thatch, who groaned and rolled his eyes. "She did that three nights in a row." He grumpily said as he pressed next. The next was a picture of Mosshead asleep, just a really close up of his face. Casper was trying not to smile as he looked at these, they really seemed like friends. It was a pity what happened to them now.
As they flipped through the pictures they saw the general life of Thatch's old friends. Dummy Girl often took pictures of school notes as well, other people's notes- and most of the time it was either Thatch's or Slither's so she didn't have to take her own notes in class. Every once in awhile there would be a picture of the whole group, and in every one, it was Slither holding the camera due to his extendable arms. In most of the pictures, Thatch seemed highly annoyed to be troubled with it but seemed to be accepted it anyways.
In one there was even one of Thatch smiling, his arms placed over Slither's and Dummy Girl's shoulders, Mosshead was sitting on the ground in front of them for this group photo. Casper lingered on this one longer, staring at their faces. Even Slither managed to crack a small smile.
Thatch gazed at the photo, leaning against the ghost's side. He wasn't saying anything, but Casper could tell by the small details in the vampire's face he was missing them. The softer look he had, the frown on his lips with the creases in his brow. Casper didn't know what to say, and to his surprise, the vampire suddenly pulled back and sat up straight, and that's when he saw a single tear. Casper quickly reached out to brush the tear away, but to his surprise, the acid tear just slipped through his hand. He didn't mean to do that, but it seemed like the ghost couldn't intentionally put himself in harm's way, even if Casper didn't care if he got burnt by the acid. Luckily it just landed on the stone floor between them, sizzling briefly before it was completely gone.
"Thatch," Casper softly whispered and placed his hand on the vampire's shoulder.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." He quickly defended, tilting his head back so it rested against his coffin as he blinked back the rest of his tears, taking a shaky breath. "I'm fine, really… I just got caught up thinking."
"Thatch?" Mantha softly spoke as she reached out, seeming to, almost in a motherly way, brush the vampire's hair back and away from his face. "Do you miss them?"
"I'm fine. I got Slither, and I got you guys now… right?" He softly questioned as he looked at the friendly trio.
"Right." Ra grinned as he laid on top of the coffin, lazily swinging his legs behind himself as he used his hands as a pillow, apparently comfortable on the wooden lid. Of course, compared to his stone bed the wood must have felt much softer. "You said it yourself at breakfast, we're friends."
Thatch nodded, taking a deep soothing breath before he leaned back against Casper like before. He went ahead and started to flip through the photos again with him, and soon they found what they wanted. They could see several photos of Casper missing from his bed at night, Dummy Girl trying to open the coffin to no avail, then Ra confronting her in the middle of the night.
"I don't remember that," Ra muttered, pointing to the picture of himself. In the image, it looked like Ra was straight up about to fight Dummy Girl. Thatch moved onto the next, and the mummy was utterly passive with a blank, emotionless stare. His gaze was fuzzy and he was utterly passive, just stiffly standing there. Dummy Girl must have been curious about this because she just took several pictures of the passive mummy from different angles.
There was a skip in the photos because next the photos were all pictures of Ra's memories. Casper and Thatch getting off the ship together, when Ra and Mantha were hiding to watch Casper and the vampire sneak off into the woods together, then something else. Ra apparently followed them into the woods because there were pictures of Casper and Thatch by their favorite tree.
Casper frowned and looked back at the mummy, who guilty looked away. "I got worried about you… I know I shouldn't have, but I was just so… worried. Casper, you're my friend, and I couldn't trust Thatch right then. I'm sorry."
"Hey, it's fine." Thatch chuckled softly. "How can I be mad at you when Slither did the same thing?" He grinned, looking over at the gray monster, who looked away quickly. "Slither followed me and Casper into the forest too, only he made himself known after a bit. Seems the only one that didn't follow us was Mantha. Thanks." He actually said. Mantha seemed startled by it, but she happily nodded.
"Well, uh… Yeah," she muttered, a bit lost for words. It was strange to see the vampire be so… normal. She knew he would most likely hold onto some of his more bully-like traits, those weren't going away any time soon, but with them, Thatch could relax and be peaceful. It was a comfort to see this side of him.
Casper pressed next on the camera, and then he winced when he saw the image. Right… Ra had a front row seat to Thatch kissing him in the cafeteria. All those pictures were terribly worrying, but this one was the killer. This was the one that could utterly ruin them if Dummy Girl had the camera. If she had it, which she didn't. They had it, so there were no worries. Casper hit next, but that was all.
"Well, we've reached the end." He softly spoke, staring at the image on the screen. He was tempted to hit delete, but it was harmless enough. Besides he had to admit the image was rather cute, even if it was embarrassing. It was a memory Casper never wanted to forget.
"What do we do now?" Slither softly asked, looking a bit clueless. They had the camera, they knew what was on it, they clearly had the upper hand.
"Well, we make Ra's sarcophagus Dummy Girl proof. Thatch will have to lock his coffin every night as well, just to be careful. But I guess… Dummy Girl is harmless to us. The only people who know where we're hiding the camera is Thatch and me." Casper shrugged. "So Thatch will stay safe in his coffin, and Dummy Girl can't control ghosts. Protecting Ra is just something I want to do since she has been targeting him."
"Thanks, Casp." Ra chuckled and climbed off of Thatch's coffin, stretching out. "Don't know how we'll make it Dummy Girl proof. My sarcophagus is just a stone box with two hinges on the side to keep the lid in place."
"We could try to install a lock on the inside?" Thatch offered. "We can probably find a padlock and some scrap metal somewhere. Then we just need to drill holes into the stone."
"That'll be impossible!" Ra groaned.
"For you maybe, but I'm pretty sure Slither is strong enough. Right, Slither?" Casper turned to the gray monster and smiled. Slither looked towards Ra's sarcophagus, silently judging it before he nodded. "Okay good. I guess we should start looking." Casper stood up and stretched. "You guys go on ahead, I'll put the camera up."
"I'll check the attic. There's always cool stuff in there." Mantha decided as she hopped off the lid. "Shouldn't we go in pairs of two? Just in case?"
"If you're paranoid." Ra snorted, but after a moment nodded. "I guess. Hey, Thatch wanna go with me? I wanna talk to you." the mummy boy demanded.
"Erm…" Thatch looked to Casper, who made a gentle shooing motion with a smile. "Sure, Ra," Thatch left Casper's side and headed over to the mummy uncertainty. Ra seemed pretty confident in his decision as he grabbed the vampire by his wrist, pulling the fellow dead creature out. Slither and Mantha looked at each other before just shrugging.
"You'll be fine, right Casper?" Mantha asked, resting a hand on her hip in her classic sassy stance. Casper smiled, nodded, then peacefully watched as the odd duo left. He had a feeling Ra and Thatch won't find anything because Ra was easily distracted and normally Thatch hated work. He just bet Mantha and Slither would find loads of useful items.
Casper waited for a few silent moments before he pulled the lid up and put the camera right back in its hiding spot. Safe and sound! As the ghost shut the lid he let a pleased sigh escape him. Everything was going well. This was a nice break, to step back and get away from some of their own drama. He just hoped it would all be settled soon. It was finally the weekend and Casper felt like he could just breath. It was a week since he was at Thatch's place. He was already missing those long dark halls, the kitchen which smelled of shortbread, the big strawberry bushes and that big, empty ballroom where the instruments played themselves. It was so impossibly magical. He really wished he could see it again. He wished his friends could see it, he just knew they'll love it…