Turn Back Time - The Ghost and Molly McGee Story

Chapter 9

Scratch spent the next day completely in the Ghost World. Molly couldn't summon him while he was in the Ghost World. His plan was to hang out there for the day and return to the living realm when he knew Molly was asleep. He couldn't spend much time in the Ghost World at night, that's when the town was most active. If any ghost saw him he was in for a whirlwind of name-calling and mocking. That's why he liked to stay at the McGees house, because he never had to resort to spending his time in the ghost realm at night. But now he couldn't do that anymore.

He was also so tired that he could hardly even keep his eyes open. Scratch hadn't slept in days due to his stress and now being kicked out of the McGee's house. Ghosts technically didn't need sleep, but it still helped them feel energized and ready to work. He thought a coffee might wake him up, so he headed into the coffee shop that morning, ordered himself a mocha, and sat down at a table in the back of the room.

He laid his head down on the table. He felt too drained to even try to sip his coffee, and before he could even move, he had drifted off to sleep.

He had no idea how long he was out, but it was long enough for other ghosts to start noticing. After a while, he suddenly felt his mocha splatter onto his ectoplasm, which woke him up in an instant.

There was coffee all in his ectoplasm. Most of it was in his hair, to which he immediately tried to get out. A rupture of laughter arose in the coffee shop as every ghost started to point fingers at him. The ghost who was sitting on the table next to him who was laughing the hardest. Scratch looked down at his coffee mug, which had been tipped in his direction. The coffee that didn't get on him spilt all over the table. He was thrown a napkin, which landed right in his face. He peeled the napkin off and proceeded to try to clean up the mess he didn't even make.

Ghost stores never had bathrooms, otherwise he'd try to use the sink and wash the mess off of him. He left the store with coffee still all in his hair and ghosts still laughing at him. He floated through the streets of the Ghost World, not even knowing what to do. It was a lot less active during the day, but it still didn't mean the mocking wouldn't come. He sat down on a bench on the side of the road, sighing.

He hoped nobody would see him, so beaten up and defeated. They'd just make his misery even worse. He closed his eyes, and hid his face in his arms so he wouldn't be as noticeable.

He sat there for most of the day; not like he had anything better to do, anyways. He didn't even bother to move until he heard a voice call out to him after he had already sat there for a while.

"Scratch?"

Scratch looked up to face a green ghost who was a lot bigger than Scratch was. He looked down at the blue ghoul with a smile on his face.

"Hi, Geoff." Scratch mumbled as he hid his face again.

"There's a lot of coffee in your hair." Geoff pointed out.

"I know." He replied, annoyed. There wouldn't be coffee in his hair if he could've just washed it out. Geoff definitely wasn't the brightest ghost, but he was the only ghost that seemed to care for him, so he wasn't the worst.

Geoff sat down next to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." He replied. Geoff could tell Scratch was lying, he had never looked so down before.

"Why is there coffee in your hair?"

"Some idiot tipped my coffee mug toward me while I was at the coffee shop. I mean, it makes sense. I fell asleep on the table, what else could I expect? Them to leave me alone?" Scratch scowled. "They'd never do that..."

"Aww, it's okay, buddy." Geoff grabbed his friend's wrist, smiling warmly at him. "Why don't we go back to the McGees house so you can clean yourself up?"

"NO!" Scratch screamed, breaking away from his grasp. "I can't go back!"

"Why not?"

Scratch took a deep breath. Geoff deserved to know the truth, he might be an idiot but at least he was understanding. Besides, he was probably Scratch's only friend left in the world. "The McGees kicked me out of their house." He admitted softly.

"What?"

"The Ghost Council told me I had to make Molly miserable or else I'd be sent to the Flow." Scratch explained. "And now Molly is mad at me. I ran away, and since she was the only McGee that cared for me, I decided not to go back. There's no point. I don't matter to them."

The two went silent. Geoff could hear Scratch sniffling, and despite his face being covered by his hands, he could still tell Scratch was crying.

"It sounds to me like you're just going through a friendship struggle." Geoff said softly. "It happens to every good relationship. Molly still loves you, there's no doubt in my mind that she doesn't. If you went home, she and the other McGees would be so happy. You're just going through a fight, and fights always make a friendship stronger.

"But you don't get it..." Scratch said quietly, his voice breaking as his eyes filled with even more tears. "I messed up, they hate me now."

"What do you mean? Just because you messed up doesn't mean they suddenly don't like you. Everyone messes up."

"But this is different!" He snapped. "I can't mess up in front of anyone, they'll never forgive me! The McGees have gotta be the same way, I messed up and now they hateme! That's what my parents did when I was alive, you don't know how much pain I've gone through even when I messed up! Everybody is like that towards me! They're never going to forgive me for messing up, there's nothing I can do to fix it, I want to go home but I can't because they hate me..."

Some ghosts passing by pointed and mocked at Scratch's tears, but Geoff tried to shoo them away. He turned back to face his friend, putting his hands on his shoulders firmly. "Scratch, look at me. The McGees aren't like your parents. Your parents were neglectful and rude and hated everything about you. The McGees love you more than anything and would never kick you out over something like this. The McGees are your family now, not your parents. And they would never act like your parents."

"But how do I know that...?" He asked quietly. "How do I know they don't hate me? And what if I just go back and they immediately kick me out again?"

"They won't do that. I promise. They would never do that to you."

Scratch took a deep breath to help calm himself. "But they aren't my biological family, they don't have to keep me around if they don't want me."

"They might not be your biological family, but they're still your family, right?"

Were they his family? Scratch didn't know how to answer that question himself. Surely he wasn't a McGee, right? He knew Molly said he was a member of their family, but was he really? Was he really a McGee or was he still a one-name icon?

"I don't know." Scratch said as he choked in his tears. The sentence was something Geoff wasn't expecting to hear, if he asked him this question a week ago Scratch's immediate answer would be "yes, of course they're my family". Now it was different.

"I don't know." Scratch repeated. "I don't know if they care for me, I don't know if I'm a part of their family. I don't know if I'm a McGee or not." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"I just don't know anymore."