Disparaged

The disparaged

Danny grimaced at the sight of his parents. They didn't typically hunt ghosts this late at night, and yet there they were, looking right at him, so bewildering that it was almost surreal.

They stood beneath him as he hovered in the air. Jack was fiddling with some sort of new weapon that Danny saw him working on earlier that morning at breakfast. Maddie's eyes were barely visible as she stared at him through her orange goggles, but the determination within them transfixed Danny, pulled his ghostly breath out of him and strangled it.

She was reaching for something on her belt, but Danny could not move, could not even glance at what exactly she was reaching for, entranced by the intensity of her glare.

Why are you looking at me like that? What have I done?

But then she sighed loudly and irritably looked away, breaking the hold she had on him. She snatched Jack's weapon away from him to attempt to fix it herself. Jack pouted and whined his offense.

Still floating above them, he blinked the momentary hypnosis out of his head and turned his attention back to the spider ghost he had been fighting, which was quickly scurrying away. He had to stop it before it hurt anyone or destroyed anything. His parents were only a threat to him. The ghost was a threat to the town. He had to put that before his own safety.

And besides, he was way faster than his parents. They could never catch him.

He flew after the spider at top speed, a yell from Maddie sounding behind him.

She'll get over it.

Danny searched the streets, but there was no sign of the spider ghost. He frowned and wished that Sam and Tucker were around to help him, but it was the middle of the night, and he didn't feel it was necessary to wake them up for, in his opinion, a minor threat.

But he knew they'd gladly offer their help if he asked for it no matter what time of night. Their loyalty was astounding to him, especially since he wasn't even sure he deserved it. He felt he was asking more and more of them while having little to offer them in return.

So the least he could do was let them sleep.

After a basic overlook of the streets, he decided to do a more thorough search. He carefully looked behind and around buildings and landmarks.

Nothing.

Sighing in frustration, he landed on the ground and wondered how long he actually cared to look. If he couldn't find the ghost, his parents probably could. Perhaps he could just call it a night, get some much needed sleep.

No, no, he couldn't do that. He had an obligation to protect this town. It was his fault this ghost was even here in the first place, and he couldn't just give up because he was "tired" or "not up to it." If he had wanted to get enough sleep every night and not be so sore every morning, well, he should've thought of that before he turned on his parents' ghost portal and gave these ghosts an easy way to invade their town.

He lowered his eyes. Why couldn't these ghosts just leave his town alone? Was this what the rest of his life would be like?

A rustle from an alley caught his attention. He looked at it warily. Bad things always seemed to happen to characters in movies and books when they entered dark alleys at night.

He rolled his eyes and headed down the alley, figuring that the worst thing that could happen was that he would have to fight another ghost.

He cautiously scanned the alley as he flew down it, ready to dodge an unexpected attack at any moment. He reached the end where a tall gate and two silver trash cans stood before him. He landed on the ground and looked around in confusion. He had definitely heard a sound coming from here, but what had made it?