"So I went to Star and I said, hey, I'm not gonna tell you not to hang out with anyone, but he like, tried to swallow Dale's fish last week at that party so he's kind of an asshole yeah?"
Dash tapped his finger against his thigh. He was trying to listen, he really was, but each sentence seemed to go straight through his head. In one ear, out the next. Kwan had invited him over to watch movies and play video games earlier that day, but after two bad romcoms and three hours of Crash Bandicoot, they had decided to go to Kwan's room to talk. But unfortunately for Dash, his brain didn't seem to catch the memo.
Kwan was looking at him. He had stopped talking, was probably looking for a response. Dash nodded his head.
"Yeah."
Kwan nodded his head in response and went back to talking.
"Yeah, like, bro grabbed DJ Finboy from the tank and actually tried to do it. But Dale caught him and like, banned him for life."
Dash nodded, making sure this time to respond when he was supposed to.
"Uh huh."
It was quiet again. He looked up to see Kwan frowning at him. He should have been paying attention more. Kwan didn't deserve to be ignored like that.
"Hey Dash, you doing alright? You've been a bit quiet."
Dash winced. Kwan wasn't the most observant person. He usually took most things at face value, looked more into what you said than how you said it. It must have been really obvious if Kwan had noticed something was up.
"I'm sorry man, it's just…" He trailed off. He wasn't sure if he wanted to dump everything on Kwan right now. Up until now it had been a nice hangout and he didn't want to ruin it all with his problems.
"It's nothing."
Kwan gave him a look, then smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Dude, it's cool, you can tell me." He cupped his hands behind his ears and crossed one leg over the other. "Come on, lay it on me. I'm all ears."
Dash started tapping his finger against his thigh again. "You're sure?"
Kwan smiled and gave him a firm nod. "Absolutely."
Dash sunk back in his chair and let out a long exhale. It would be nice to tell someone. And Kwan knew him, knew his family. He had context, he would understand. "Dad left with Tyler to go to Costa Rica on Friday and they won't be back til Sunday, so it's just been me, Mom, and Katie for the past few days. And I love Katie, I really do. But you know how she is."
Kwan nodded and winced. "Yeah. Does your mom still…"
Dash scowled at the floor. "Yeah, she does. I always get hit for it. Katie trashes the kitchen? Naw man, that was me apparently. She locks the dog in Mom's room and he shits on the floor? Nope, me again. She takes a fuckin hammer to the marble walkway dude. But no, I'm the liar, so if Katie or Tyler say they didn't do something, guess who it must've been?" Dash felt jittery. He tried to calm his breathing, calm his nerves. He didn't feel like this was allowed, but that was okay. The only people here were him and Kwan, and he trusted Kwan.
Kwan let out a breath and grimaced. "Wow, that sucks. Like seriously, that's genuinely awful."
Dash slumped back down into his seat. "Yeah."
It was silent for a second. There was this awkward and uncomfortable tension in the air, and Dash wasn't sure what to say to break it. Luckily, Kwan spoke first. "I'm not gonna try to make you look on the bright side here," He looked to the side, seemingly second guessing what he was about to say. "But at least it's only Katie right now though right? I mean, Tyler's kind of an asshole, no offense."
Dash nodded and chuckled. "No, he is."
Kwan nodded back and continued. "Yeah, so since he's gone, nobody's trying to frame you for shit or fight you or anything, yeah?"
Dash let out a huff of air and scratched the back of his neck. "I think this is worse to be honest. I mean, Tyler's an ass, but he kind of stops Katie from doing half the shit she usually does. It's like he has this spidey sense for whenever she's about to do something she shouldn't. And I can't keep up with her at all. And then, Dad's gone too, so there's nobody to keep Mom in check either."
He clasped his hands together and rested his elbows on his knee, tapping the heel of his left foot against the carpet. "He's the one who reminds her to take her meds and stops her from getting violent and shit, so it's kind of been hell without him to be honest. And I don't know, Dad's the better one, but I've been a bit pissed at him lately. Like, you know he promised to get me those invisible braces things for my birthday right?"
Kwan raised a brow. "In August?"
"Yeah!" Dash exclaimed, throwing his hands out in front of him. "Bro it's fucking March. And then for Christmas guess what I got?"
"What?"
"The usual stocking stuffers, a pair of headphones that stopped working in a week, and the second book in a series that I don't have the first in. I seriously thought that the invisalign shit was gonna be under the tree, but no, apparently the big present was the fucking therapist."
He was yelling now, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. "And I get it, she's a decent therapist and she probably cost a lot. Just like the bills for my injury, and the appendectomy, but dude. Tyler and Katie went to fucking Mexico for Christmas, and New Orleans for Thanksgiving, and now Tyler's going to Costa Rica and I just," He could feel his chest start to tighten. "I," His throat started to constrict. He had so much he wanted to say, but Kwan didn't need to hear all that. He had already dragged him through this much. "This sucks."
Dash slumped back down into his seat again and wiped his hand across his face, trying to calm himself down. This was pathetic. "I'm sorry dude, I sound like such a spoiled brat huh? I shouldn't be laying all this on you."
Kwan just smiled back at him, it was like he didn't even care. Like Dash hadn't just ruined the entire day with his little pity party. "Hey, it's all good man. You're my bro and if my bro isn't doing so good, I want to know, you know? Seriously, if I get to complain to you about Shelby, you are absolutely more than welcome to complain about whatever you want. And nah, I get it. You feel left out, it makes sense. You're not a brat for that."
Dash smiled back. Kwan was the best. He didn't know what he'd ever do without him. "How's that going by the way? You holding up good?"
Kwan puffed up like a peacock. "Better than ever. I got a restraining order."
Dash could feel his jaw drop. "Wait seriously? Congratulations man, that's awesome."
"Yeah, now I only have my grades and soccer to worry about."
Dash's face scrunched up. "Man, I wish I chose soccer, the new wrestling coach kind of sucks."
Kwan just grinned and stood up from his chair. "I dunno, sometimes I wish I chose wrestling instead." He looked up to the ceiling with his hands held behind his back and started to slowly walk towards Dash with the slightest bounce in his step, before grabbing him around the middle and lifting him up out of his seat and into the air. "I mean, just imagining those big beefy arms all wrapped around me"
"What, hey!"
He flipped Dash around over onto his shoulder and started to spin around. "Strong enough to sweep me off my feet."
Dash flailed in a half hearted attempt to convince Kwan to give up and let him go. "Bro put me down."
Kwan somehow managed to bring Dash back down into a bridal carry and clutched him close to his chest. "You know how I feel about big strong men, but alas, the soccer team is full of none but twigs. So sad."
Dash wiggled around a bit more before giving up. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"
Kwan shrugged."Yeah, but is it really so gay to love a bro?"
"Yes, now put me down."
"Oh damn dude, the betrayal." Kwan walked across the room to drop Dash face first onto his bed before dramatically collapsing on a chair with his hand on his forehead. "How could you? My own best friend."
Dash turned his head towards Kwan and chuckled. "Man, maybe instead of soccer you should have joined the drama club."
Kwan shrugged and lifted himself back up out of the chair before stretching his back. "There's always next year." He turned his head towards his alarm clock and grimaced. "Oh man, it's getting late. You want to stay over?"
Dash pushed himself up and off the bed before looking at the clock. He winced, sucking a breath in through his teeth as he saw the time. 11:23 PM. "Don't think I can. Mom's been a bit pissy and I don't want to set her off you know?"
Kwan nodded. "That's fine dude. See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, tomorrow."
It wasn't a long walk back to his house from Kwan's. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes. He probably should have brought his car anyway. Ghost attacks had been on the rise recently and it wasn't exactly safe to go out walking at night anymore. But he was running low on gas and he didn't feel like asking his mom for money to fill his tank. And besides, the ghosts hadn't killed anybody yet. A few people had gotten heart attacks, sure, but he was healthy. That wouldn't happen to him.
If a ghost attacked, then he'd be saved by the Red Huntress or Danny Phantom. Preferably Danny Phantom.
Danny Phantom was the best ghost in Amity Park. His parents weren't really big fans of him, and neither were most of the adults really. A lot of them just saw him as another evil ghost, or some punk kid. Some would even act like Phantom was some poor helpless baby incapable of protecting himself, let alone an entire city. Dash knew better though. In all the battles he had seen, not a single ghost had been able to beat Phantom. From dragons to giant tigers to robot monsters, even massive skeleton armies were no match for him. Phantom could win against anything.
As long as Phantom was around, Dash was safe.
And besides, it was usually pretty loud whenever a ghost attack happened. There was always this murmur in the air, like a hundred voices whispering, trying to be heard over one another, but none loud enough to be decipherable among the rest. He tried listening for that murmur, but he couldn't find it.
He could hear every step he took as his shoes scraped against the concrete. His breath fogged in front of him and a shiver shocked through his body. It was March, he should have expected it to be a bit chilly, but it felt like it was getting colder and colder the further he walked. There was an odd metallic smell in the air, like a burnt wire. Whenever he tried to focus on it, it disappeared. But it lingered in the corner of his senses. The light around him began to flicker, but when he looked up at the streetlight, it was shining normally. He ignored it and continued walking.
He wondered if his mom had noticed he was gone for so long. She probably had. He'd need to find some sort of excuse that sounded better than 'I was with Kwan and we lost track of time.'
Maybe he could climb up the big oak tree to get onto the roof, then sneak into his room through the window. And if she asked why she couldn't find him he could just say that he had fallen asleep in his bathtub again. But if she saw him on the roof he'd probably get in more trouble. He could almost already hear the lecture he'd get from that.
He tried not to think about it, he'd figure it out when he got there. For now he just focused on the sounds around him. Some couple shouting at each other from a house across the road, bass boosted music slowly fading in and out from the next street over, the rumble from the occasional car that went past, the splashes as he walked through shallow puddles, and a new sound that grew as he walked closer.
Heavy breathing, a hard thump, chewing, scraping, and a repeating splat sound. Echoing from the alleyway in front of him.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
There was no answer. Everything stopped for a second. He heard an inhuman clicking sound, followed by a growling exhale before the other sounds continued like nothing happened. He should probably leave it alone. Ignore it and get home as quickly as he can, but the morbid curiosity overruled his common sense.
He slowly walked into the alleyway. It was dark, but a faint glow emanated from a large figure near the end. It was animalistic, but it didn't look like any sort of animal he had seen before. He crept closer, careful to hide in the shadows, out of sight of the monster. He was safe, he could easily outrun this thing. The ghosts hadn't killed anyone yet, he would be fine.
There was something in its mouth. It whipped its head around, whacking whatever it had against the wall with a sickening crack. Dash grabbed a brick, just to be safe, and continued to walk closer.
The ghost dropped its prize to the floor and began gnawing on it, grumbling and cooing, seeming very pleased with itself. It ripped a chunk off of the thing and swallowed it whole, bobbing its head like an owl as the chunk slid down its throat, before picking the thing up again and shaking it like a ragdoll. It almost looked like it was playing.
Something in the pit of Dash's stomach screamed at him to leave, that this wasn't safe, but he was so close to figuring this out. If he walked away now, he would spend years wondering. He needed to get closer, he needed to see what was happening, he needed to know what the ghost had.
He crept closer, close enough to feel the buzz of the ectoplasm in the air, close enough for his nose to burn with the scent of copper and lime. The ghost dropped its toy, and Dash covered his mouth to keep himself from screaming.
There, with arms and legs bent at odd angles, bone exposed and muscle shredded into ribbons on one leg, gushing ectoplasm out the side of the head, was the town hero, the one Ghost Dash swore could never be beat, Danny Phantom.
Was he dead? Could ghosts even die? He should run now, before the same thing happens to him. He tried to force himself to move, to get away as fast as he could, but he was frozen. Uselessly staring at the broken body of his hero.
The monster dropped its attention from Phantom for a second and turned its back to lap at a puddle of water and ectoplasm. Dash forced himself to move. He crept forward, his heart beating so loud that he thought the noise might give him away. He carefully lifted Phantom into his arms, and held him up against his body, trying not to think about the way his bones shifted unnaturally, or the way his head limply rested against his shoulder. He tried to ignore the way his shirt grew cold and damp underneath the lifeless body in his arms and focused on getting away.
He slowly and carefully stepped towards the exit of the alleyway, desperate to get away from the monster. Once he was out of the alleyway he could run far away, but until then he couldn't make a sound.
He was almost out, he just needed to walk four more feet, but he stumbled over a rock and let out a yelp before catching himself.
The light splashing sounds from the other end of the alleyway ceased.
The monster was looking right at him.
For a moment, it was like time had stopped. All sounds silenced, his body felt completely numb, and he couldn't see anything but the monster. Then, like a switch had flipped, the monster charged.
Dash scrambled to get away. He could do this. If he could outrun Fletcher Chamberlain from Elmerton High, he could outrun this thing. It was big, it was stupid, it was bulky. The odds were in his favor. But this wasn't a game. If it caught him, he wouldn't just lose a point, he'd actually get hurt. And Phantom, he was already hurt.
He turned a corner and sprinted across the street, narrowly missing a speeding car. The monster wasn't so lucky. He wasn't out of the woods yet though. He may be further ahead of it now, but he could tell by the snarling behind him that the monster had quickly recovered and continued chasing him.
He didn't look back, he couldn't. He didn't want to know how close it was. He could hear the scraping of its feet against the pavement, its shrieks and heavy breathing, the sounds were echoing all around him and he felt trapped right in the middle. It was almost like it was toying with him. He could feel its wiry hairs tickling the back of his neck, but when he blinked the feeling vanished and the desperate and furious cries of the monster just got louder.
He kept running, there was nothing else he could do. Past parked cars and mailboxes, under branches and over bushes, through back yards, front yards, side yards. He knocked over and stepped through someone's decorative lawn flamingos, ran into and dented someone's minivan. He couldn't think about it, he had to keep going.
He could feel his legs start to wobble with each step, could feel his side stitch and his throat burn. He thought about giving the monster what it wanted, dropping Phantom and running away to save himself. But he couldn't. Phantom had been putting himself in danger to protect everyone all this time. He couldn't just leave him like this. He had to power through it.
He would survive this. They would both survive this. People didn't die in ghost attacks.
He just needed to keep running.
He heard an ear splitting screech and looked behind himself on reflex. The monster was a good 30 or so yards behind him. He was winning.
If he tried hard enough, he could shake it. He just needed to use his size to his advantage. He sucked in all the air he could before picking up speed and sprinting as fast as possible. It felt like his muscles were constricting and fraying bit by bit under the pressure, like his lungs were squeezing themselves dry. He powered through it. He could win this, he just needed to hold out for a little longer.
He shifted the limp body to one arm and reached the other out, grabbing a streetlight pole and flinging himself to the side and into an alleyway. He rushed towards a dumpster and threw himself inside, wrapping his body around Phantom to protect him from injury, and dragged himself to the corner, hidden underneath a lid.
He clamped his hand over his mouth and nose, desperately trying to hold his breath, fighting against his spasming lungs. The monster turned the corner and shot past, screeching like a wounded boar.
He could hear its footfalls fade, then pause. He wanted so badly to look over the edge of the dumpster and see what was going on, but he knew he couldn't. He had to stay still, silent, calm.
He tapped his chest with his fingertips. Inhale, two three four, exhale, two three four. Keep it quiet, keep it calm.
The footsteps returned. He stopped tapping. They were slow, deliberate, and accompanied by loud sniffing. It grew louder, closer. He held his breath. He wanted to run, he needed to run, to escape. He saw its snout lower into the dumpster. The thumping in his ears became nearly deafening.
The monster sniffed, then snorted and shook its head before taking its snout out of the dumpster and leaving.
Dash just stayed there, frozen in place as he heard the sounds of its nails clacking against the ground slowly fading away. He had won. The monster was gone.
His mind blanked for a while. He didn't know how long it was gone for, but eventually it came back to him. He wanted to move. The trash around him stank. The rancid smell of rotten meat assaulted him from all sides, and he could feel something sticky squished in between his fingers. Even so, he stayed frozen. Had he blinked since the monster left? Had he even been breathing? He tried to remember, but the only thing he could think of when he looked back was the feeling of the thing's breath against his skin. Its jaws just inches away from his head.
He forced himself to stop thinking about it. It was over, he was safe. He forced himself to blink, took a deep breath, and lifted his hand to shake off whatever had attached itself to it. He turned his head to look up, out of the dumpster. He almost expected the monster to reappear, for its head to suddenly pop back into view, ready to snap its jaws around him and throw him around just as it had done to Phantom. To hold him up by his head and whack him against the wall until his neck snapped under the strain, but nothing happened. The minutes ticked by and nothing came for him.
Dash fumbled as he tried to lift himself up to his knees. He could feel his legs protest, wobbling as if he had never used them before, but he needed to get out of the dumpster. He held Phantom against him with one arm, and used the other to stabilize himself against the wall, crouching down to avoid hitting his head on the lid as he brought himself up and to the other side of the dumpster. He lifted his legs over to sit on the rim before hopping out and landing in a boneless heap.
Maybe it was okay to lie on the floor for a second. He probably deserved to be able to lie on the floor a bit. It had been a bit of a rough day after all. Most people would lie on the floor for just a bit after a rough day. He was fine.
The ghost next to him looked less fine.
Yeah, maybe it wasn't okay to lie on the floor for a bit.
He carefully scooped Phantom back into his arms. This was so unreal. He was holding Danny Phantom. He had just saved Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom was currently in his arms. Currently bleeding out in his arms. Okay, this was not good.
He couldn't bring him to a hospital, Phantom probably didn't have health insurance, and the nearest hospital was probably too far away. He couldn't bring him home. His mom hated Phantom and would probably finish him off herself if she saw him like this. Paulina lived all the way across town and would probably faint or something if he brought Phantom there, and Star was super particular about her sleep schedule and would probably freak if he woke her up at this time of night.
Luckily, it looked like he backtracked a bit while being chased. He was only a couple blocks away from Kwan's place.
He pulled himself up to his feet. His whole body ached, begging him to just stay put, but he powered through it. He forced himself to walk, ignoring the wobble of his legs and the tightness of his chest. Just put one foot in front of the other. Focus on the ground, the sky, the streetlights, anything.
He passed street after street before turning to a walkway. He walked up the front steps, across the porch, through the front door, the entryway, the stairs, the hall, and finally knocked on a bedroom door.
After a couple seconds, Kwan opened it, wiping his hand across his face like he could scrub the tiredness away. "Dash? Bro, it's like, almost two in the…" He trailed off when he actually got a good look at Dash. Smeared with ectoplasm and grime, leaning against the wall like he was about to collapse, breathing heavily, and carrying a very recognizable pile of injured ghost.
"What?"
Dash chucked as his face warped into a nervous grin. "Hey, so you know first aid, right?"
