Ghost Punk

Chapter Thirty-Three

"Why do you have the keys?" Logan asked, her gaze catching on the slight movement. "What's going on?"

"I don't have to talk to you about this! You don't want me in the crew anymore, so I was going off on my own. After all that, I figured you wouldn't care anyways." Danielle's hands fell back down to her sides, no point in hiding the keys.

Logan stared for a moment, watching Danielle's shoulders sag and her gaze float to the carpeted floor. She bit her lip, wishing Andy was here. He always knew what to say. "I didn't want you to leave, you did that on your own."

"You said I'd be better off not working with you." Danielle twisted the keys between her fingers. There wasn't much she could do to scrape herself out of this situation. "I figured I'd put that to the test."

"I was frustrated!" Logan said, spreading her hands out. "We both were! I'm sorry I didn't come off all dignified, but it's a little bit difficult to cope with one of my friends getting cursed." She reached back to shut the door, making sure their argument wouldn't reach any unwelcome ears. "What were you planning to do? Runaway in a stolen RV?"

In truth, that was exactly what she was planning to do.

Logan sighed. "Even if you did run away, you'd still be cursed. That's not going to solve any of the problems we have." Logan tried to reason, waiting for her response with bated breath.

"That's not exactly true," Danielle finally said, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn't come here by myself. I really did go for a walk, like I said. I... kind of found Jack, he was out in the woods."

Logan gaped. "Jack? As in Jack O'Riley?"

She nodded. "He was real proud of what he did last night. Point is, he offered me a deal. He said that if I promised to never film the paranormal again, if I stayed away from all of it- I could film again. Whatever I wanted. He tossed in this RV too, for good measure. I'm sure he didn't know you were on your way here."

"You took the deal," Logan whispered, her voice hoarse. "You took the deal instead of staying with us? Your friends? Your crew?"

"I didn't know what to do!" Danielle retorted, taking a few steps back further into the RV. "I couldn't keep this curse for forever, and this was a surefire way out. You would have done the same thing in my shoes."

"No, I wouldn't have." Logan was confident in that, looking around the RV to see what Danielle had claimed as apparently her new home. "I would have trusted that we could figure this out together. I know for a fact that the best solution isn't running from my problems. Or once again bartering with evil."

"Jack isn't evil, he's just a ghost." Danielle shook her head. "It doesn't matter anyway, I've already made the deal. He said things would get worse if I tried to go back on my word. I don't want to make things worse again."

"Oh come on, Jack is clearly evil. He's done nothing but cause trouble for us. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be in this whole mess in the first place." Logan tapped her foot, waiting for Danielle to come up with any reasonable excuse for really leaving them. To her, none could exist.

Danielle leaned against the countertop, placing the keys there. "I don't care what you think of Jack, or what you think of me. But this is a waste of time, okay? I'm leaving. I wasn't going to tell you about it, but I guess this is my resignation."

"This is a terrible idea! So you're relying on him to keep his word? You'll forever be looking over your shoulder, waiting for the moment he might change his mind and decide to haunt you again. Together, we can find something better. We've done everything together." Logan walked past her, heading towards the font seats to investigate. "You can't drive this... this coffin."

"I can't go back on the deal." Danielle followed after her. "I'm not sure I'd even want to."

Logan ran a hand through her hair. "I... I really am sorry for what happened. It was just a lot to stomach and I got aggressive. I know that's not an excuse. But I do mean it."

"I know you're being genuine," Danielle replied, crossing her arms. "But at the same time, I just can't see the point in going back. We just head to another haunted location, get hurt again, or worse? It's a loop, and it's only going to end badly."

"This will end badly too. Don't tell me that you honestly think you can walk away from the discovery of the paranormal. We've all been searching for this for years. To finally get this opportunity and walk away... I'd regret it."

"I can't film anything, so it doesn't matter how excited I am to research it." Danielle slid into the passenger seat. "This is the only practical thing for me to do."

"We've never been practical! This whole show, from the start, was the least practical approach we could take to anything. But here we are. Making ends meet, and discovering something amazing." Logan slumped into the driver's seat. "We can figure this out together. It doesn't matter if you go back on his deal."

"But what if he does something worse than before?" Danielle fiddled with her hands, crossing them on her knees.

"There's nothing he could do. He already killed your career. Let's see what some old ghost can do, right? It'd be interesting for the show, anyway," Logans said with a smile. "All I'm saying is we should try and figure this out. You don't have to resort to bargaining with a ghost, especially when there's no guarantee he could keep his end of the bargain. I'm... sorry, Danielle. I really am. I didn't mean to make you feel like you had to abandon us. This is the closest I can get to taking it all back."

She was quiet for a moment, fiddling with a loose thread on her pants. Finally, she looked up, meeting Logan's gaze. "I'm sorry, too," Danielle admitted. "I shouldn't have accepted his deal."

"So you'll come back with me?" Logan asked, hopefulness sparking in her eyes.