Something Borrowed, Something Bruised!


Dead and Married

"I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is." - Forrest Gump

Johnny and Kitty are getting married tomorrow. Since they apparently both died in September - completely separate and unrelated incidents, I'm told - Kitty thought it would be poetic if they got married then.

I'm looking forward to it. The past two weeks have been hectic. Between a wild ride in Gettysburg, starting my senior year of high school, helping Mom and Dad in the lab, and dealing with a giant millipede ghost who presumably didn't speak English (it bit me when I told it to go away), I could use something light and fun.

Johnny 13 zooming down the road on his motorcycle and not caring who needs to get out of the way is neither light nor fun.

Nor is the discovery that he's doing this because Shadow disappeared.

"Why didn't you call me?" I ask. "You know what my Obsession is, so you know I would have helped."

I'd managed to get Johnny to pull over and explain. Now his motorcycle is parallel parked on the side of the road, and the two of us stand on the sidewalk beside it.

Johnny massages his forehead. "Because I thought I would have found him already. Look, Shadow may live with me, but he's his own man. It's not unusual for him to go off and do his thing for a couple days. But, it's been a whole week! He's never gone this long."

My core goes into overdrive. I like Shadow. When he's not in attack mode, he's basically a really freaky golden retriever: sweet, playful, can't talk but responds to you in his own way. "You think something happened to him?"

"Damn it, Phantom, it's all I can think about!" Johnny sighs and runs a hand through his long blond hair.

"Let's backtrack," I suggest. "Did anything strange happen before Shadow disappeared?"

Johnny puts his hands in his jacket pockets and furrows his brow in thought. "I don't think so. Wedding plans, cruising through the Realms, punching the Box Ghost in the face. Same old, same old."

"What about Kitty? Has she- Uh, does she know about this?"

Johnny nods. "She's searching the Ghost Zone. Want me to call her?"

"Please do," I say. "If we're gonna figure this out, we need to go over everything that happened before Shadow's disappearance."


We decide to continue our discussion somewhere more private. School is out for the day, and football practice doesn't start until tomorrow, so we head to the Casper High football field. Once there, I open a portal for Kitty, who paces before us while her fiancé and I sit in the front row of the bleachers.

"Got anything, babe?" Johnny asks her. "'Cause I'm stumped."

Kitty takes a few more steps then stops with her finger still on her chin. There's an almost saddened shift in her thoughtful demeanor. "There is one thing. Remember when Shadow came with me and the girls to put the finishing touches on my dress?"

Johnny leans forward with interest. "Something happen then?"

"Not to change the subject," I say, "but why was Shadow helping with your dress?"

Kitty shrugs. "He's Shadow," she says like I should know what that means. "Anyway, Ember was asking if my father was still around to walk me down the aisle, and Shadow got all confused. Spectra explained to him about how fathers traditionally give their daughters away at their wedding. Shadow flew off after that. I didn't think much of it. I just assumed he got bored."

I consider this. "Is it possible he's looking for your dad, then?"

"Doubt it," Johnny says. "Kitty's father died before she did."

"Prostate cancer," Kitty explains with a mournful shake of her head. "I checked after I died, but Dad didn't become a ghost."

"Okay," I say. "But, does Shadow know this?"

The couple open their mouths, close them, and look at each other. "Does he know?" Johnny asks.

Kitty only stares at him before groaning and smacking her forehead. "Great. That means Shadow's probably looking for him."

I stand up. "Does Shadow know where you used to live? Maybe he'll still be there."

"Panama City, Florida," Kitty says. "That's where I grew up, and that's where my father's buried."

Now Johnny stands. "Let's hope Shadow is there, too. Let's go get my bike. I've still got your parents' portable Ghost Shield attached to it," he adds to me, referring to the device he stole before we became friends. He probably still would have stolen it, though. "We'll head to the Ghost Zone then portal straight to the city."

I want to offer up my own ability to create portals, but I've never portaled to somewhere I've never been before. This isn't the time to try it.


My Ghost Sense hits me almost the moment we step/drive out of the portal and appear behind some building. "Either Shadow is close by," I say, "or some ghost is enjoying the sea breeze."

"Where's your dad buried, again?" Johnny asks Kitty, who is seated behind him on the motorcycle.

"Cypress Creek Cemetery," Kitty replies.

We stay invisible as we make our way there. I hang on to Kitty's shoulders so I don't lose either of them. They seem like they know where they're going.

My Ghost Sense rang true. Cypress Creek Cemetery isn't too far from where we came through, and there is an inky black shape floating from tombstone to tombstone.

"Oh, thank the Ancients," Johnny breathes out in relief. He is polite enough to park his motorcycle outside the gate before flying in, calling, "Francis!"

"Francis?" I repeat in confusion. "I thought his name was Shadow."

Kitty sniffs a laugh. "Nah. 'Shadow' is what Johnny started calling him after they died."

"Oh. Wait, they knew each other in life? Shadow is a spirit?"

Kitty blinks at me in surprise. "You didn't know that?"

"No! All this time I thought he was a demon."

Spirits are the souls of the dead. Demons are sentient beings who began their lives in the Ghost Zone. Because Shadow doesn't talk or sound like any form of animal and doesn't have a distinct shape beyond two arms and a head, I assumed he'd always been a ghost.

"Nope," Kitty says. "He used to be a human. But, Johnny can tell you more about that."

Relief floods me when Johnny returns hand-in-hand with Shadow, who looks like someone told him his dog died.

"Shadow!" Kitty shouts. She throws her arms around the spirit-not-demon, who returns the hug. "Thank goodness you're okay! We were so worried!"

"You were looking for Kitty's dad, weren't you?" I ask kindly as Kitty pulls away.

Shadow gurgles sadly and slouches in defeat.

Johnny smiles at him and pats him on the back. "I told you, big guy. We're not mad. You just freaked us out." Johnny frowns in sympathy and nods toward the cemetery. "Sorry you had to find out about Kitty's dad like this. Guess we just figured you already knew."

"Nobody's mad," I say when Shadow is still upset. "You're safe, and that's all we care about. And, you know, it was sweet of you to try and get Kitty's dad to her wedding. How'd you find out about him, anyway?" I ask despite not expecting a coherent answer.

But, I get one in the form of Johnny and Kitty proclaiming, "He's Shadow." The man in question flashes me a cheeky grin and raises his hands in a shrug.

Okay…

Kitty's red eyes light up suddenly. "Hey, Shadow. Will you walk me down the aisle?" Shadow perks up, and Johnny looks like he just fell in love again. "I was just gonna walk myself, but…I think I'd like you to do it."

Shadow responds with two thumbs-up, a happy growl, and a leap into her shadow.

That last one makes Kitty jump and giggle out, "That's a yes!"

Johnny gazes at Kitty with his heart - er, core? - in his eyes. "Babe, can you get any more amazing?"

Kitty blushes, and Johnny comes in for a kiss. The way they look at each other afterward is so intimate that I feel like I'm intruding.

I clear my throat. "If you lovebirds wanna make-out at a cemetery, that's your own business, but I believe you have a wedding planned for tomorrow."

Johnny points a finger gun at me. "That, we do. What's say we all head back to the Ghost Zone?"

"Not yet," Kitty says sheepishly. "Um, do you mind if I visit my dad's grave first?" She looks down at her shadow, which now has a head poking out of it. "Shadow went to the trouble of finding him. Maybe he'd like to learn more about him."

Shadow grins eagerly at Johnny, silently asking for permission.

That is the sweetest, most tender look I've ever seen on Johnny's face. "Don't let me stop you." I duck away when he ruffles my hair. "I'll keep the pipsqueak company."

I lightly punch him in the arm. He and I lean against the fence while Kitty brings Shadow back to her father's grave.

"I have to ask," I say. "What exactly is your relationship with Shadow? Kitty said you guys knew each other in life, but that's all I got."

"He's my little brother," Johnny says simply.

"Your brother?" I was expecting close friends or distant relatives; apart from their eye color, their ghost-forms look nothing alike.

Johnny follows my line of thinking and laughs. "Yeah, I don't know what's up with our ghost-forms. If you saw us as humans, you'd see the resemblance."

I'll have to take his word for it. I hesitate before saying, "Don't take this the wrong way, but Shadow seems…different from other spirits. Until Kitty told me otherwise, I thought he was a demon."

Johnny considers me for a moment then shrugs. "I guess I can tell you. Thing is, Shadow - well, 'Francis' at the time - was pretty different as a human, too. He was…" He furrows his brow, purses his lips, trying to figure out the best way to explain. "He was kind of… His brain didn't… Look, I'm trying not to use the R-word here."

"I get it," I say.

Nostalgia brings a smile to Johnny's lips. "Yeah, it was like that. Wasn't easy, but he was my pal, you know? I wanted to take him with me when I moved out, but I couldn't afford to care for him. Visited all the time, though."

I only saw this side of Johnny one other time. It was when he confided in me that he wanted to propose to Kitty. Seems that she's not the only one who can bring it out of him. "You're really lucky, getting to be a ghost with your brother. I can only hope I'm that lucky with Jazz." (And, everyone else I love.)

Johnny grunts and turns his head. "Ain't nothing lucky about it. What I'm told is that it happened because we died in the exact same way at the exact same time. Some kind of," he twirls his hand in the air, "spiritual hoozy-whatzit."

I barely stop myself from asking how they died. Not all ghosts get violent when asked, but Johnny will beat me into the ground if I do. It's not something that happens consciously. It's just the way some spirits are.

But, it turns out that I don't have to ask. Johnny sighs and kicks a pebble on the ground. "It was my own stupid fault. Francis loved my motorcycle and wanted a ride with me. I figured if I gave him my spare helmet, tied him to both me and the seat, and went slow, we'd be fine. We were only going around the block. Didn't count on some assmunch speeding through a stop sign. Can you believe it?"

My heart goes out to him and Shadow. "Sounds like it wasn't your fault at all."

"Whatever." Johnny kicks another pebble then seems to remember that he just spilled his guts to me. He glares and points at me. "I'll break your neck if you tell anyone about that." He gives me a once over. "Is it even possible to break your neck?"

I laugh. "I have no desire to find out."


The wedding goes off without a hitch. They found a ghost who used to be a reverend, and he let them use his church-inspired lair for the ceremony. Johnny and Kitty had their first dance as husband and wife. Now Johnny is mingling with some of the guests, and Kitty is dancing with Shadow, who was very happy to walk her down the aisle.

Those three and my girlfriend, Mira, who was put in charge of food, including the wedding cake, are the only people here whom I both know and like. Fortunately, the ones I don't like are behaving themselves. Ember is content to keep the music going, and Spectra is kind enough to let people be happy for once. Everyone else is a stranger to me.

Mira takes her job as the caterer very seriously, so she only allowed me one dance. Now I lean against the wall and take it all in.

Until Shadow finishes dancing with Kitty and flies up to me with a huge toothy grin.

"Enjoying the party, hot shot?" I ask.

"Danny!" He chirps. He takes my hands and bounces them up and down. "Danny!"

I laugh. "You wanna dance?" Then I realize that he just spoke. "You can talk?"

"Not much," Johnny says, approaching me after having overheard. He winks at me. "And, he only talks to people he really likes."

I'm flattered as Shadow pulls me to the dance floor. He isn't "dancing" so much as "waving our arms around," but it is pretty fun.

It must be especially fun for Shadow. I haven't seen too many people in his old situation, but the one or two I've seen were confined to wheelchairs and didn't seem to move around much. I don't know if Shadow was like that or if he could get around on his own, but it must have been really restraining either way. And, I can only imagine what the bullying was like for him. Johnny, too, having the mentally disabled little brother. I bet Johnny beat up any kid who said anything mean. I know I would if it were Jazz.

As ghosts, they don't have to worry about that. Shadow can move around with ease, and no one can make fun of him for not speaking well. Plenty probably assume he was always a ghost like I did.

Maybe that fateful motorcycle accident was a blessing as much as it was a curse.

Suddenly, the music stops, and Spectra announces, "Hey, everyone! Kitty's gonna throw the bouquet!"

Shadow and I leap back to the safety of the wall as all but two women launch themselves on to the dance floor. They jump and shriek and wave their hands in the air, while us men give them a wide berth.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" I ask Shadow, who shakes his head and grunts in confusion.

This must be one of those weird wedding traditions. Like throwing rice and the bride and groom not seeing each other on the day of the wedding until the ceremony starts.

Johnny and Kitty float high above everyone. Johnny is wearing a crisp black tuxedo and has his hair pulled back in a neat low ponytail. Kitty's hair is done up and sparkly, and her white dress is accented with silver flowers. They look so happy, and I'm happy for them.

Kitty turns around and tosses the bouquet over her head, which sends the crowd into even more of a frenzy. The bouquet lands, and it's my own girlfriend who rises slightly above the crowd, bouquet in hand, and shouts, "I got it!"

She blows me a kiss as the ladies either congratulate her or walk away in jealousy. I'm still confused, and it seems that Shadow is, too.

It doesn't help when Mira skips up to me and proudly displays the pink and red flowers in her hands. "I caught the bouquet."

"Yeah," I drawl. "What does that mean?"

Mira's red eyes examine me. She sees that I'm serious and cocks her head with an amused grin. "You're so dumb."

She kisses me on the cheek and skips back to her station behind the food tables. I make the executive decision to list the bouquet thing under "Weird Girl Stuff" and move on.

I start to talk to Shadow some more, but he is no longer beside me. I hear shouts that turn into laughter as the man leaps from shadow to shadow, scaring and amusing people simultaneously. I hang back and enjoy the show.


Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in Part 21!