Of Witches and Ghosts

Dog Days

"U-um, I, heh," Phantom nervously stammered. "Well, yeah! There was a ghost attack, so..."

"Funny, 'cause many students were quite shocked that you hadn't been there," Sam narrowed her eyes at him.

If she wasn't mistaken, she could've sworn she saw a bead of sweat trickle down Phantom's brow.

What kind of ghost sweats?

"O-oh, well,..." he stammered once more. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I showed up later! The ghost had made his way outside the school building. I guess no one saw me."

He then sent her a distracting, flirty smirk her way. "Were you, uh, expecting me? Sorry to disappoint."

But Sam refused to be thrown off by his charm; her cheeks did remain a shade of light pink, however. "If you came later," she inquired. "How did you know I fainted?"

The smirk on his face was wiped clean off, and she could clearly see the spark of panic in his eyes.

Phantom couldn't help, but gulp. He was stuck.

"Well, y-you see..." he cleared his throat. "Sam, I-I..."

"ARF! ARF!"

Absolutely out of nowhere, the unmistakable sound of a puppy barking echoed through the air.

Sam looked around for the source of the sound. "Huh?"

Phantom, while relieved by the distraction, groaned in exasperation as he smacked his forehead. "Oh, no..."

Sam laughed. "What?"

"It's nothing. It's just-GAH!" Before Phantom could even finish, he was tackled to the ground by a little pitbull puppy with a black spiked collar. This canine's random arrival would be unusual if the fact that it was glowing a bright green didn't take all her focus.

"Ugh! Ack! Cujo!" Phantom struggled against the endless dog kisses landing on his face. "Down, boy! Down, boy!"

Sam laughed at the amusing sight of the ghost boy and his...ghost dog?

Phantom quickly chucked a ball of ectoplasm into the park across the street. "FETCH!"

Cujo excited leaped off of Phantom and ran after the ecto-ball to retrieve it.

Phantom sighed in relief as he stood up, rubbing a sore spot on his back.

"I didn't realize ghosts could have pets," Sam said as she stifled her laughter.

Phantom chuckled nervously. "Heh, um, sorry, he's a little hyper. He loves to jump whenever he sees me."

Sam scoffed. "You still haven't answered my question," she said, crossing her arms.

"Um..." Phantom hummed tensely.

"I'm sorry, Phantom, but your story and what I've been told just don't line up," Sam said. Laughter had been completely wiped from her face.

He seemed determined to stay away from eye-contact with her. "You see...WHOA!"

Before Phantom even knew what was happening, Cujo had returned and had playfully sunk his sharp teeth in the white belt around Phantom's waist, causing the poor white-haired youth to be slammed down on the pavement.

"No! Cujo! Down! Down!" he yelled as the amazingly strong green ghost puppy dragged him off like a chew toy.

Sam's eyes widened to see him being benevolently taken away by the strange dog. Phantom looked back at her apologetically.