The Amity Park Haunting

The Ghoul and the Game Part 2: Delaying the Inevitable

Over the next few days, I forgo using my ghost half for any reason, worried that as soon as I do use it, Skulker will sneak up on me and that'll be it. He isn't the only one that I'm avoiding, though, as Sam and Tucker are still mad at me, but with the stress of a lingering psychopath on my tail, I don't feel like dealing with that problem. Dash continues his training with Mom and Dad, which keeps him preoccupied in the evenings so that we don't run into each other, even though I can't help but wonder what we'd say if we did.

Snapping out of my daze, I force my eyes to focus on the textbook in front of me, trying my best to absorb the words from the sentence that I've read over for the tenth time now. "Ugh!" I groan in frustration, giving up on my attempts to study and heading downstairs to get a snack. Since Skulker put his hit out on me, I haven't been getting much sleep, and my schoolwork has been suffering because of it, but my biggest worry is that as soon as my parents are able to, they'll be obsessively hunting me as well, meaning that I'll have three highly trained ghost hunters on my tail at all times when I'm in my ghost form. Luckily, though, I don't actually need to use my ghost form, so I can just stop using it, at least until everything calms down and Skulker gets off my back. Once I make it into the kitchen, I pass by Jazz, who is finishing up her, no doubt, incredibly difficult math homework, meaning that she doesn't look up at me as I prod towards the fridge. "Hey Jazz."

"Hey," she says, her gaze unmoving from where she looks at her notebook. I reach to open the door to grab some juice... and can't find my hand. I look down at myself, hoping that my sleep depravation is just causing hallucinations, but my fears are realized as I stare down at my transparent figure. I slap my hands over my chest, trying to make sure that I'm still here and feel the thin fabric of the t-shirt that I was just wearing. I duck down underneath the island, hoping to crawl out of the kitchen without being noticed, but Jazz's voice stops me in my tracks. "Hey Danny, have you... where'd you go?" I hold my breath, not wanting to make a sound as I slowly creep out of the room and into the hallway, breathing a sigh of relief when I manage to get out. I hold my hand up to my face, trying to discern it from my surroundings, but if I didn't know better, I'd think that my hand had completely vanished. Exhausted, I rest on my knees, trying to will my body back into visibility.

"What are you doing?" I hear Dash's voice behind me and I spin around to look at him. He stares directly at me, indicating that he can, in fact see me, and I feel my face light up in joy.

"Ah, I was looking for something," I lie, too relieved to care much about my excuse. "Are you done with your training?"

"Uh, yeah..." he seems a bit weirded out by the animated way that I am speaking, so I try to tone my excitement down a bit. "Your parents gave me the rest of the afternoon off. I guess they are going to visit the mayor."

"Probably to get their ghost hunting ban lifted," I reply. "Well, I have to finish studying." I turn to leave, placing my hand on the railing, only to realize that it is still missing, so I spin around, hiding them behind my back as I come up with something to say. "Um, actually, I have a question."

"Yeah?" I rock back and forth on my feet, trying to focus my energy on distracting Dash and controlling my powers simultaneously.

"Um... I don't know how to ask this..."

"Well just ask it already, you're starting to piss me off."

"I-I was wondering if you're gonna stay on the football team?" I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, leaving both of us completely stunned. What the FUCK? Why ask him that of all things?

"Why do you care?" He asks, folding his arms over his chest in an intimidating gesture.

"Oh, you're right, I don't," I backtrack, immediately regretting my decision.