universe 78

Dan was under the bleachers on the football field of Casper high school. He had decided he was only skipping the last part of the day. School was such a drag to him. He got Good grades so the the administration overlooks his chronic absences. His parents were oblivious to the goings on of his life. The only one who gave him a hard time was his sister. The trick was not to be caught by her. He was very good at not being found since his accident.
Under those bleachers he pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his cold sliver zippo lighter. No one knew about his smoking he started about the same time as his accident. It had been a few months now. He was messing around with his parents lab looking for something to tinker with. He saw their newest experiment a portal into the ghost dimension. It was there first attempt since they were in college. Dan seeing his chance to show them up put on his jumpsuit.
The device was a large octagon shaped hole in the wall. It lead into a small passageway that was just big enough for him to climb inside. He examined the walls layered with circuitry and metallic paneling. Then, he saw it an on switch. He chuckled to himself as he pushed the button. There was a bolt of energy that ran through his body. It began a transformation of every cell in his body.
An enormous flash then he felt his body change. It was like it was disappearing and losing matter. He ran out of the device, where he collapsed on the lab floor. No one was home and no would find him in this condition. He jolted awake an hour later. He ran to the emergency lab bathroom so fast it was almost as if he phased through the door. He splashed his face unsure what to do in the event of an event like this. As far as he knew no one had ever had an accident like this. He looked into the mirror and saw his hair had turned white and his eyes where a bright green.
He was given powers by the accident. These were the abilities associated with ghosts. He could fly phase,through solid objects, turn invisible and this thing that let him know a ghost was close. He was not sure what to call that one. As Dan sat there wondering what to call it his daze was broken by his cigarette falling through his mouth and burning his thigh. “ahhh!” he screamed out. “damn it I got to get better control of this!” then as he was stomping out the last bit of the smoking cigarette he heard voices. He checked his watch it was almost 3:30 which meant that it was time for football practice and a little fun.
         The jocks were scrambling around trying to catch the more and more ridiculous throws from the coach. The either flew up high and dive bombed or they would change direction randomly and wildly. This was Danny having fun at their expense. He had just been a nerd from a weird family as far as they knew for years. It made him a prime target for bullying. Since starting high school he's become a ghost in more ways than one. Whens he's in class he is smart but he doesn't talk much. He's started to grow his hair out it was greasy and shaggy. He wore t-shirts and jeans every day. He was also starting to grow out some hairs on his chin.
He was a filled with anger and it was apparent to the jocks so they left him alone now. They instead picked on the new guy Tucker something. He got over his crush on the popular girls. They were stuck up bitches and he told them so. He found lately his confidence was high even though nothing had ultimately changed. There were a few girls he could hear talking about him. He would have enjoyed that in what seemed like a different lifetime. There was one girl though he was a little curious about. A girl who had just moved to town over the summer. The teachers called her Samantha Manson she insisted they call her Sam.
She wore all black, had a few piercings in her ears, dark make up and these smokey eyes. The eyes were the first thing Dan noticed, for they were a deep shade of purple. He was sure it was colored contacts but he loved the way they looked. He was tempted to ask her to join him one day in his little hiding place under the bleachers. He was sure she would be easy to talk to but he did have a shyness to him that was the last remnant of his old self.
The day he finally decided to talk to her was in late September. The leaves had begun to change and the air was crisper as a cool wind swept through small town. He had followed for weeks in his ghostly form. He felt confident now and was ready to ask. “so want to ditch last period?” he asked as he passed her in the hallway. “I’m not sure if you're being serious or not Mr. Doom and Gloom.” she said casually as she stuffed books into her locker. “Is that what they call me nowadays?” he chuckled. “Just those poorly informed cheerleader types. You are nowhere near any level on my 'doom-dar'” she proclaimed laughing hysterically at her own joke. “Well I do have my gloomy moments. Why don't you join me under the bleachers and we'll discuss this broken 'doom-dar' of yours.”
         They sat under the bleachers as he passed her a cigarette. She shot him a look that would have chilled his blood if it wasn't already so cold. “cigarettes?!” She snapped at him. “If you're going to smoke anything it might as well be weed. Anything else is just too bad for you” she smacked the cigarettes out of his hand and gave him a joint instead. “here first one's free.” she said as she pulled out a second one and lit it with her own gold lighter.
They smoked under the bleachers for what seemed like hours. “you got any food around her?” she asked so light and far away voice that Dan could barely hear her through the mental fog. He reaches for that purple backpack,he could never bring himself to get rid of, from it's corner and opens it to reveal a stash of snack foods. “Will this do M'lady?” he said with a gesture. He actually sounded like his old self not consumed by this anger that seemed to control him lately. “God,that's so amazing dude!” she exclaimed digging through the bag.
Sam and Dan spent almost every day together after that. They were known throughout the school for being just on the verge of trouble makers. They skipped class regularly, pulled a few pranks on different people (at least that's who everyone thought did it), and they were also suspected of having an intense sexual relationship. They enjoyed to hear them talk. There was almost nothing they didn't share with each other, but Dan was keeping the biggest secret from her.
They were in there usual spot munching on cheese puffs. “so what exactly do your parents do?” she inquired from her haze. “well they are inventors.” he said hesitantly. Her face brightened slightly. “my Grandfather was an inventor!” she nearly screamed at him. “They have been experimenting to create better ghost hunting equipment.” he said in an embarrassed tone. “I know that sounds like the weed talking but I’m serious” He looked her ashamed and he could feel that anger returning. She just sat there smiling at him. “so they have a lab of some kind right?” she said giggling in an almost psychotic manner. “well yeah but I haven't down there in a while. I had a pretty severe accident down there this summer. I've been avoiding it ever since.” she grabbed him by the hand “let's go now” she pulled him by the wrist out from the bleachers.
They stood outside the building the neon side outside flashing the name “Fentonworks”. “You weren't kidding about them being excessive” she chuckled.
“Lets just get inside” he said a little annoyed. They sneaked into the building and slid into the basement lab, that was empty for the time being. Sam began exploring the Lab asking questions about each little item. Finally getting to the ghost portal on the wall. The yellow and black striped door were closed as his parents had left it unaware that it in fact was working. He had secretly hoped she wouldn't mess with it. “that's their second failed portal to the ghost dimension.” he explained “the first was a proto-portal they built in college, it almost killed someone.” he said solemnly showing her the small hexagonal proto-portal no bigger than maybe a foot.
The proto-portal was surrounded with articles and photo's of Vlad Masters. Their old lab partner he dropped off the face of the earth shortly before his recovery in the hospital was complete. No one knew exactly what happened to him. Sam doubted the device could really be that dangerous. She inspected the small device running her fingers delicately over the edges and points. “it's almost like you can feel the power it once contained” she said mysteriously with an enigmatic smile. She kept staring at it running her hands over it. “I actually think you should stop now.” Dan said starting to get a little agitated “You know I’m actually a little psychic? It's my little secret. I've been fascinated by ghosts and the supernatural for a long time.” she said as she placed the the device in it's little shrine to that original accident.
“psychics aren't real” he claimed skeptically unsure of how to react to her claim. “oh but I am psychic!” she exclaimed. “I will try to contact a spirit in this very house.” she said Dan responded only with a chuckle. “You know that I could. I can sense a strong presence in this place” she said waving her hands in a dramatic fashion. “it's upstairs lets go!” she said grabbing his wrist and pulling him along as she went out in search of the “presence” she claimed to feel. Dan decided now was the time to tell Sam the truth. He phased his wrist through her fingers. She turned suddenly not sure of what she had just seen and felt. “Sorry to disappoint you sam but I know psychics aren't real because I’m half ghost.” he said dramatically. Then a bright glowing ring appeared around his waist. It split in half one rose and the other fell revealing his black jumpsuit and white gloves boots and belt. His hair turned snow white and his eyes glowed with an eerie green color.