Phantom Files

FILE 3: Arkham Asylum, Settling In

Danny PoV

Sun blasts from the blinds and I immediately groan at the sudden intrusion of my slumber. As well as the loud honks from the outside. In Gotham, every hour was rush hour. I lazily lifted my head to the alarm clock at my bedside.

7:58 the alarm's bright, red numbers flashed on my groggy face. I groan as I lifted myself from my space-themed bed. I had left my phone on the couch prior so I wasn't able to just stay in bed for the next thirty minutes playing games as I'd usually do.

My room was the epitome of childlike. Ghost Writer said it was because Tabula Rasa was a form of rebirth, so I became like a child in some way. I still had a full adult mind, I just had a few childish tendencies.

There were assembled spaceships and planes hanging from the ceiling by clear, silicon wire.  A multitude of action figures and gadgets covered my wooden work desk. Most of the gadgets were from blueprints that my Mom made and never completed.

Though there was a bookshelf in the corner filled with both Jazz's and Sam's books (she'd often leave her books with me so her parents didn't know she bought them) but there were a lot of astrology books and graphic novels and comics in it too. It was like a mesh of black (Sam), beige (Jazz), and the most bright colors you can think of (me).

It was all in a tidy mess. Everything was a mess, but it looked tidy. The books stood tall and straight when they weren't even ordered correctly. The action figures were scattered throughout my room in a manner that made it look decoration. Not to mention the gadgets on the desk looked as if I was still working on them; a bright lamp showed on top of an open wire device with a small wrench and tweezers right next to it.

I may be a little OCD, but it didn't stop me from being lazy. It looked clean anyway.

I walked to the living room couch and immediately spotting my phone. I picked it up, looking if I had any messages. I saw a few from Johnny, one from The Ghostly GroupChat, and two from Dani.

I checked Johnny's first. It was just a load of 'srry 4 ending so soon' and 'I wonttel Kitty.' I then checked the Ghostly GroupChat, a group chat for us ghosties that are trying to stay in the human world.

The only reason we were trying to lay low was that those Guys in White were actually getting good at hunting and were capturing all the ghosts they could. It's been going for years and most ghosts stayed in the Zone nowadays or laid low in Living Land. Rumor has it they're experimenting with adding ectoplasm into humans.

The Chat's message was just a picture of Ember and Kitty with bags hanging from their arms.

I finally check Dani's text. I was pretty sure she was staying at Aunt Alice's house in Arkansas for the past three years or so. Even if she looked as if she was nine or ten the first time I saw her, she was in eighth grade because she looked like one. We theorized it was because she was a clone, she aged much slower than a usual person.

"Got expelled for the 2nd time."
"Auntiellprob take my phone so don't blame me when i don't answer calls."

I rolled my eyes at Dani's antics. She certainly grew a lot more mischievious throughout the years. She was fun to talk with because she reminded me of my lost self.  A part of me that I could only see as her. Though her personality developed, a big part of her was still me. It made me... happy that the real, old me existed as at least someone. I didn't know how to explain it... just forget whatever I said.

 I take a briefcase that had a few papers and essentials that I might need, I would have had taken a normal backpack put it wasn't "professional".