Rewritten- Let Love Flow

Chapter 5: Goodbye Thatch, Hello Slither

Chapter Summary: Exhausted from the night outings the ghost falls asleep for too long, sleeping the whole night away. When he awakes Thatch is going home and leaving Slither in charge. Slither certainly seems to be against Casper, leaving the friendly ghost with too many unanswered questions.

It was Friday finally, but that wasn't really comforting. Casper felt like hell, the lack of sleep was really catching up to him. In fact, he had gotten no sleep at all that night. He and Thatch had barely returned to the dorms before any of the alarms had gone off. Casper had just gotten on his bed, and Thatch only opened his coffin lid when the alarm clocks started to go off all around the room. Time to start the day.

Thatch didn't seem to mind, for he had closed his lid as if he was getting out of it. He went around the room, getting his personal friends up faster than normal, demanding they were 'lazy bones' and needed to move fast before he forced them too. The vampire seemed eager to get out of the room and away from Casper. It was a touch sad- but at the same time, the ghost understood.

Basically, this morning sucked. Now here he was, sitting in the cafeteria, his head drooping down every time he started to nod off, his face nearly hitting the tray of food in front of him every time. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep so badly.

"So, Casper..." Mantha carefully spoke. "About last night- your plan was flawless." She admitted to the exhausted ghost. "So he really does take the same route every night, guess we can watch him easier." She said simply, knowing she would have to be blunt and not as secretive as they planned- Casper seemed too low on battery for anything complicated at the moment.

"Yeah, and dude he talked to you, not yelled. So weird." Ra brought up casually while making a face.

Ah right, their plan. Casper had been so determined to prove to his friends that Thatch wasn't evil, so he had told them exactly where to hide and wait for them, so they could listen in on the conversation last night- though he had begged they did not go into the forest. The forest was their secret place. Ra and Mantha had, of course, agreed and swore beforehand they wouldn't go in- they would stop at the courtyard then head back to their dorms.

"He even smiled, a lot actually." Mantha hummed as she poked at her food. "Guess you were right Casper- whoa easy there." She reached over and rested a hand on the ghost's shoulder as his head dropped down again. "Did you get any sleep? You look terrible."

"No sleep," Casper yawned, shaking his head and trying to stretch. "We ended up talking all night."

"About what?" Ra softly chuckled.

"My home. He wanted to know more about the fleshie's world." Casper calmly explained. "I ended up telling him more about Jimmy."

"Was that safe? I mean, talking about Jimmy to Thatch? What if he reports your friendship."Mantha carefully questioned. She knew how much Casper liked Thatch, but it was best to still keep the vampire at arms reach.

"He won't, he promised," Casper said confidently. "I trust him to keep it. He hasn't done anything to make me worry- oh..." Casper's train of thought got derailed as he watched the vampire walk into the cafeteria, his little gang in tow behind him.

The vampire's eyes scanned the room calmly as if trying to decide on what to do, who to bully for that day. As he looked Dummy Girl leaned up and whispered into the vampire's ear, who contently listened and nodded along to what she said.

Something about that was unsettling to the ghost but just felt too tired. He didn't want to get up and find out, he just wanted to sleep and look forward to their peaceful nights.

"Hey, Casper?" Ra drew his attention back. "What are you going to do about Thatch?"

"What do you mean Ra?"