The Amity Park Haunting

A Grave Mistake Part 3: New Housemate

I end up skipping my last class in order to head home early so that I can avoid Dash, hoping that if I run away he won't try to track me down to "settle things later." Once I get home, I head right up to my room and flop on the bed, staring up at the glow-in-the dark stars still firmly planted on my ceiling from my childhood, which manages to settle my nerves a bit, though my mind can't help but run ramped.

"What did I even do to him?" I ask no one in particular. "He can't just choke people out just because they piss him off. It doesn't matter that he's the town hero now. And why does he even get that title, huh? He hasn't even done anything heroic!" I grab the pillow behind my head, press it to my face, and scream out in frustration. "Damn it!" After I've calmed down, I pull the pillow from my face and squeeze it at my chest.

"I'm so damn tired," I sigh. I've hardly even closed my eyes before I'm out like a light, having the most restful sleep I've had in a while, only waking up at the sound of the front door closing heavily, signaling that my dad is probably home. I stand up, dreading the fact that I need to face him after this morning, and head down stairs, where I hear voices coming from the kitchen. Who did dad bring home with him?

"Hey dad I'm back," I call out as I walk down the hallway. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about this morning?" I ask as I turn into the kitchen, stopping dead in my tracks when I see ihimi standing in the kitchen with my father, who's bent over with his head stuffed in the fridge. "What the fuck?"

"Fenton," Dash's voice is much softer than it is when we're at school, likely because he doesn't want to break my father's facade about what our relationship is like.

"Oh, Dash you're here!" A voice startles me from behind. My mom walks past me with my sister in tow. "It's been so long since you've been over. We used to have dinners together all the time when you were younger."

"It's the same as always, Mrs. Fenton," Dash affirms. "I remember spending Saturday nights in this kitchen."

"Why'd we stop doing that, mom?" Jazz butts in, clearly to spite me.

"Well you kids went and grew up," she responds. "You three would always be hanging out with your friends and we would stay out late fighting ghosts..." I see Dash bristle at the mention, but he scowls at me when he notices that I'm watching him.

"We should go back to doing that," Dad adds in.

"H-hold on!" I shout from the doorway, watching my family huddle around Dash like he's a celebrity. "Can I talk to you three for a minute?" I point at my parents and Jazz, who follow me out into the living room. "What is going on?"

"This is what we were trying to tell you Danny," mom scolds.

"You ran out before we could get a word in," dad supports.

"Yeah," Jazz echoes, earning her a glare from me.

"You said you wanted to talk about the ceremony!" I raise my voice. "I just thought that you wanted to talk about my mental health or something!"

"Well it was about the ceremony," mom responds, her voice level and undisturbed. "Mr. Montez asked us if we wanted to take care of Dash while training him to take his father's place and we agreed."

"Why not tell us after the funeral then?" I ask, my frustrations boiling over. "Or at the very least, just tell me, 'hey Danny, Dash is gonna be living with us while he completes his training.' It doesn't need some grand speech!" I find myself shouting and bring my voice down. "You didn't even ask if I was okay with this."

"Well you two are friends," dad says. "We assumed that you would want to help him out."

"That's..." I clench my fist in anger, not wanting to disrupt the image that my parents have of us. "We aren't super close or anything. It just makes me feel a bit uncomfortable that he's gonna be living here."