Chapter 3: Freexing Sauna
It's been several weeks since Pitch started affecting the youth of Amity Park. There weren't any noticeable changes at first, the only ones that seemed to immediately be acting strange were Danny Fenton and his friends Sam and Tucker. All three had looked sleep deprived and fidgety. Soon every teenager at Casper High were acting the same way.
All the parents and the few teachers who actually liked their jobs were worried. A vast majority of the children of Amity Park were having nightmares. The highschoolers seemed to be having the most. It had gotten to the point where they refused to sleep at night.
The parents and teachers had called an emergency meeting to try and find a way to either stop the nightmares or ease their worry. "Does anyone know when these nightmares began?" Mr. Sanchez was the first to speak.
"It was ghosts! Ghosts are attacking our kids' dreams!" Jack Fenton wasted no time in shouting what he considered the truth.
"Sit down Fenton! This is a serious matter that affects your children as well! So do us all a favor and shut up!" Jack was about to say something else but Maddie gave him a look he knew all too well so he quickly sat down.
Mr. Lancer walked towards the front of the room and behind a podium. "Sorry I'm late everyone. I couldn't find the conference room." He cleared his throat. "Anyway I would like to officially start this meeting. To answer your question Mr. Sanchez, I believe the nightmares started a month ago. The students in my homeroom started looking sleep deprived and panicky. More specifically it started with Daniel Fenton. He often came to class tired to the point of falling asleep during my lessons. He's seemed to have gotten worse in the past couple months."
All the parents in the room started glaring and blaming the Fenton parents. Maddie stood up to address the others. "This isn't our fault! If it were don't you think we'd be trying to stop the cause! Maybe-"Jack decided to cut off his wife.
"Maybe it was Phantom! That menace is always causing trouble! I say we-" This time Jack was cut off by Mr. Lancer.
"I think that's enough for now, Mr. Fenton. Back to the topic at hand... None of us know how or why the youth of our town have become like this. Instead we should try to come up with a couple ways to help them become less finicky and help them get some sleep." Several hours went by as parents and teachers yelled over one another until Mr. Lancer had enough. "Lord of the flies! We're supposed to be trying to help the children, not fight like them!" He sighed as he waited for everyone to quiet down. "How about we take a fieldtrip to that new spa that opened near Lake Eerie? It'll give them a chance to relax and while they're distracted we can search the classrooms and parents you can search your kids' rooms to see if there's anything out of the ordinary." Everyone murmured their thoughts on the idea. "So do we all agree with this idea? Good, now we just need to pick the chaperones." The adults started arguing again and Mr. Lancer smacked his forehead before letting out another sigh.
Almost two weeks later, the entire freshman class of Casper High were on their way to a 'surprise' near Lake Eerie.
Paulina and Star were gossiping about what the "surprise" could be. Everyone knew it was a spa trip. Most of the girls and some of the guys were really excited about it. "This is going to be the best fieldtrip ever! Who knew having a bunch of nightmares would get us a free spa trip."
"I know! I even bought a new bathing suit to wear. Who knows where theirs have been." Dash turned around in his seat to talk to the girls.
"Who cares about the spa. I just want to go to the pool."
Danny ignore all the conversations happening around him. Sure this field trip was exciting, but something in the pit of his stomach made him feel paranoid. Like something was going to happen. He really hoped he was wrong.
Finally arriving at their destination, to no one's surprise, the school bus arrived at a spa surrounded by woods. Mr. Lancer stood up to address the now rowdy students. "I know all of you are excited, but like any other field trip you are representing Casper High and therefore you will be on your best behavior. Furthermore we will be using the buddy system, this class has an odd number so there will be one group of three. Please choose your partners wisely as you make your way off the bus.
The students wasted no time in picking their partners. It was no surprise to the Ghostly Trio when they were all paired together. "Danny you look exhausted. When's the last time you actually slept?" Sam looked at her friend in slight concern.
"I took a nap on the ride here if that counts."
"Dude you could probably use those bags for storage with how big they are."
"I get it but I keep feeling like there's something lurking in the shadows. My ghost sense goes off sometimes when nothing's there. I just feel paranoid."
"It doesn't help that everyone's suffering from nightmares. Our eyebags are just less noticeable compared to yours."
"I'm gonna try and take a nap, hopefully somewhere quiet and secluded." Danny walked down the isle and got off the bus.klempar was
Tucker and Sam walked after their friend at a slower pace. "We've gotta help Danny get some sleep."
"I know but how? He keeps having nightmares about Him."
"According to Jazz, Danny's been having nightmares because he's stressed out. This spa should help get rid of some of that stress."
"And if a ghost happens to show up?"
"We make sure to take care of it for him."
This is a rare time skip because the author forgets to put them
Sam really tried to make sure Danny didn't get bothered. She really did, but luck was not on her side. It had only been a little over an hour before anything actually started to go wrong.
Box Ghost appeared at the spa being chased by Klempar. Tucker was in one of the saunas with Danny making sure he relaxed. The Box Ghost was easy to capture considering it was the Box Ghost. Klempar was a completely different story.
The large ghost child was currently chasing Sam through the hallways. "I've almost got you, then you'll be it!"
The goth girl was starting to become out of breath. "How about we 'huff' play a different game? 'huff' One that doesn't require so much running? 'wheeze'"
Klempar stopped running. (He thought flying would be cheating.) "What did you have in mind?"
Sam felt really bad for the ghost child. He was clearly abused and treated differently when he was alive and even now as a ghost, all because of his appearance and eagerness to try and make a friend. No one should be treated like that, whether they were dead or alive. "How about hide and seek? It'll give me a chance to catch my breath." She thought to herself. "And maybe convince you to go back to the Ghost Zone on your own." It didn't feel right to put a kind, honest and gentle ghost like Klempar in the thermos. Befriending him seemed like a much better option. It's taken several months, but the goth girl was certain Klempar finally trusted her, after all she'd kept all of the promises she'd made him. "We can only play one round and then you have to promise that you'll go back to the Ghost Zone, okay?"
The tall ghost child started getting upset as the air around him started to freeze. It wasn't like when the teen first met him where his emotions caused a blizzard inside the mall. Now he had better control over his powers and emotions. "But no one in the Ghost Zone likes me. Please don't send me back!" Everything in the hallway was frozen solid as tears started forming in his eyes.
There was so much sadness and desperation in Klempar's voice that Sam reached out to the ghost child. Her hand burned at from the cold he emitted but she didn't care. She glared at nothing in particular with only one thought going through her mind. "No one deserves to go through something like this." Sam looked directly into Klempar's tear filled eyes before speaking. "I promise to that as long as I'm your friend that I won't let anyone hurt you physically or emotionally ever again! You shouldn't have had to go through something like that. I don't want that for you at all but you have to go back to the Ghost Zone. You'll be treated far worse if humans catch you here and I don't want that for you either. I promise to come visit you as soon as possible."
Sam noticed a soft glow had started to envelop Klempar but didn't say anything. It started in his chest and spread over the span of his whole body. He sniffled and wiped his nose, unaware of the soft glow covering him. "Do you really mean it?"
Sam gave a soft smile. "Of course I do." The soft light glowed brighter and the ghost child's body became transparent until only a ball of light was left.
The ball floated around the goth girl and she swore she heard a small thank you before it faded away. Sam stood there for several minutes trying to process what just happened. Did Klempar just move on!? She knew it was possible for it to happen once a ghost's unfinished business was complete, but actually seeing it was completely different.
Everyone was more relaxed on the bus ride home. Danny felt more energized and the feeling he had that morning was gone. He and Tucker tried talking to Sam, but the other teen only looked out the window. They tried asking her what was wrong but to no avail. She would tell them about Klempar later, but for now Sam just wanted to sit in silence.