The 4 stared at each other, when the floating boy's lifeless gaze landed on Phred, who was frozen in his seat, staring straight ahead at the ghost boy who floated closer to him.

The spirit stopped to the right side of Phred's desk, before blurting, "You remind me of an old friend." Their voice sounded quite gurgly, as if they had been drinking some sort of thick liquid while they were talking.

Phred, of whom was slowly gathering himself back together, responded back, "Really? Is that so?"

The ghost boy nodded. "Yeah. Their name was Fred."

"Huh. My name is Phred too."

The two blinked at each other.

"How is it spelled?" The floating boy asked, leaning forward a bit as if in the prospect of false hope.

"Uh, it's spelled P-h-r-e-d." At that, the ghost boy slumped down a bit in dissapointment, and for some reason, the dark-skinned boy couldn't help but feel a tad bit of pity for the boy.

"Oh. Well, I wouldn't of guessed so anyways. My friend did die a while back. And Fred is a pretty common name nowdays too." The ghost said, looking off to the side with sad eyes.

Phred couldn't help but have a tiny bit of curiousity spark in his mind. "So, did you have any other friends back then?" He knew he might've sounded a bit rude for intruding in something that could've been personal, but the floating boy simply sighed and nodded.

"Yeah. 2 others. One we nicknamed "Frowny" because she frowned so much during school, and she was also blue-skinned and had blond hair. On rare occasions would she ever smile genuinely, though it was more usually around us than anywhere else."

"Then there was also Xack." Zach, who was listening in intently, perked up at the sound of his name being pronounced.

"You had a friend named Zack? How was it spelled?"

"Er, it was spelled X-a-c-k." The green-hoodied spirit responded, before saying, "It was a very weird way to spell the name."

Zach nodded in agreement. "I've never heard it be spelled that way. Xack's parents must've been weird."

The ghost boy hummed, as if in thought. "Xack did tell us that he was born in a lab, somehow. But it would make sense because he literally burped acid bubbles every so often that burned non-living material yet not humans."

The 3 looked at each other for a moment, before Smiley piped up from behind them.

"Y'know, Frowny and I sound a lot like polar opposites." She said, and the spirit turned around to face her.

"How so?" He asked, cocking his head slightly.

"Well, you said that Frowny, well, frowned a lot, and I'm mostly known for smiling a lot during school, since people say that I'm an optimist (and that's why I'm nicknamed Smily). Don't know what an optimist is, but I'll probably figure it out in the future. They also have blond hair and have blue skin, but I have brown hair and yellow skin, soooo..." She explained.

"Well, I can see what you're saying. To me, it's as if all of you are either resemblances or opposites of my old friends." The ghost said, before pointing them out if they didn't quite understand. 

"Xack kind of resembles you, Zach, because you both seem to have some sort of odd, non-lethal disease that no-one can quite explain."

"Fred is scarily close to who you are, Phred. You guys are almost the exact same, the only difference would be that we didn't meet when we were like, 5, and your names are spelled different." 

"And Frowny is, like you said, Smiley, a polar opposite of you." The ghost finished, turning back to Smiley after addressing the other two.

"So, what's your name? We haven't gotten it yet and we've told you ours already." Phred said.

"Oh. Sorry about that. My name's Phil. Phil Eggtree." The ghost, now known as Phil, replied.

Phred froze for a moment before looking back at Zach with knowing eyes. They both decided that they would ask Phil about the incident later, since they knew that it was probably a very touchy subject.

Then, a groan could be heard behind the teacher's desk as Ms. Cophey awoke from her unintentional nap, and the 4 looked back forward as they saw their teacher grab the "Teaching Stick" from off the ground and rub her head.

Upon seeing a floating boy with blood all over them standing (read: floating) in her classroom, she screamed in fright before passing out on the ground again.

The group looked at each other before deciding that this was enough school for the day, when they looked at the clock and saw the school day wasn't even half-way done. 

Phred turned to the others, before saying, "Alright guys, the plan to escape school has been initiated again. We're getting outta here!"

And whilst the others cheered, Phil was frozen there as a memory played through his head.

His group of friends and himself were walking down the hallway, searching for a way to escape the trashland that their school was, when a loud 'BANG!' echoed about, and they all took off running down the corridors before they got to a 4-way intersection. From there, they all split up as Xack went left, Fred went straight, and Frowny went right.

Phil took off back down the hallway that they had come from before locking himself in the men's bathroom, heart pounding in his chest as he ran into the farthest stall from the door. The impending footsteps outside the restroom alongside the constant gunshots only hyped up his nerves as the sounds grew nearer and nearer and-

Phil was snapped out of his thoughts by someone quite literally snapping their fingers in front of his face. He didn't realize that he was silenty crying until he felt the warm tear tracks running down his face.

"H-what?" He asked, and Phred simply shrugged. 

"I dunno man. One moment we were all ready to escape school, and then the next moment we look over and see that you're starting to have a panic attack?" Phred replied, and the spirit let out a small 'oh' at the explanation.

Quickly shaking his head to get rid of the memories that kept flashing over his vision, he looked around the room to see Zach blankly staring at him, while Smiley looked upon him with confusion and concern evident in her gaze.

Looking back at Phred, he said, "It was nothing, really. Now, what about that escape plan of yours? I reckon I could help in some way."

The dark-toned male stared at him like he was the most idiotic motherfucker alive for believing that they would just ignore what just happened, before sighing and leading them out back into the hallway (completely ignoring the fact that Ms. Cophey has been passed out for longer than should be normal).

They all ended up wasting 15 minutes trying to come up with a reasonable plan that didn't involve arson or torture before finally sending Phil into the office to grab the key to the door.

The mission was a guaranteed success when they saw their bloodied comrade phase back through the wall with the key safely in his grip, though he looked to be in a bit of pain, because holding onto something hard with bruised hands and having to make sure that it doesn't slip out of your hands because you're a ghost doesn't exactly make the best combination of feelings.

They all cheered when they were finally outside of the dump they dared to call a school, even if it was only about 2 hours before school ended.

After decided on who Phil would go home with (because he can't just float around the parking lot the entire night waiting for the next day), the group split up to go home after saying their goodbye's.

Phil floated besides Smiley as they went down the sidewalk, looking around at everything like he hadn't seen the outside world in years. 

(L̵̨̘̪͇̦̻̪̐̊̓̽̂̈́̓̏̈͗į̷̪̟̗͚̙̔̾̓͊͐̌̚͝t̵̢̧̠̱̙͓̝͍͚̝͋̅̑̈́͑̽̊̑ț̸̨͙̙̖͚̥͕̅̾͒̈́̊̕̕̕͘͘l̴͙͚͙͎̖̈̿̀ͅe̶̮̓̅́̊̊̋̕͝͝ ̷͍̖̖̽́̐̆͝ͅd̷͍͍͈͍̹͓̔́̔̿͑̏̆̈ͅi̷̪͚͇̭͕͌͒̊̕d̶̢̧̞̬̬̒̀̆ ̵̬̫͇̺͓̼̥͖̼͓́̂̃̅̓̐̿̃͠͠t̷̨̘̜̲̤͉̒̑̆̏h̷̡̪͈͈̗̭̓̈́̕e̶̢̡͎̞̦͇͖̙̻͗̽͑̄̾̅̒̚͝ý̷̮̚ ̶̧̢͚͉̹͖̳͕̖̀k̶̯͎̓̓n̶̳̐̀̒͂o̴͍̗̖͍̓̐͘w̵͖̫̏̓̽̑̉̉͑͒́ ̵̝͉͈̹̑̒̃̏̒͊̕t̴̨̻̠̩̤̻̦̭̗͊̑h̶̞̳̆̋̍̀͂̔́͛ȧ̷̛͕͖̳͓͕̻̥͉̰͚̎̓̐̽̽́͌̏t̷̫̺̗̘͂̂̽̈́̊̋̆̋̓ ̷̢̛̣̱̘̈́̓̀̋̈́͝t̴̨͎̤͍̽̎͑́̿͘͜͝h̵̛͈̯̦̳͓͓̓̇̽͆̈̀͋̀ͅa̴͔͆͌͆ͅt̶͇͍̬͓̳̮͖̱̿̈́̇̉̓̏͠ͅ ̶̧̯̙͉̘̻̖̈́̐w̴̨̬̘̭͎̘̝̝̟̔̋̈̓̅̅̕͜ǎ̸̡̨͕̳͇̰̹͔̹̅̃̐̃̇͝ͅs̶̱̾̄̆͌͑̏̒̀̅̒ ̶̲͈̫͔̀͊̅t̵̛͇̗̭̣̰͉̄h̴͖͙̖̲̩͆̈́̿̀͂̓͝ě̸̟̰̬͈̾̃̌͌͒̂ ̶̨̬͙̲̯̞͇̺͎͈̋͌̎́̃̐͠c̷̢̛̮̹̺̫ä̷̯̻́̌̓͂͐̓̕s̶̛̮͖̳̜͎͕̭̫̓͋̿̓̆͂̓́ề̴̢̙̮́̒)

"So, how's life being a ghost?" Smiley asked, clutching her backpack as she ignoring all the horrified and disgusted looks that were thrown their way as the people around them saw the bloodied ghost floating next to her.

"It's kinda weird. I'm pretty cool about being able to phase through walls n' stuff, but it kinda makes me feel bad that I'm the one who gets to be a ghost while my friends......." Phil trailed from there, a mixed expression of sadness and guilt adorning his face as they continued their trek to Smiley's house.

Smiley frowned sympathetically, but nodded her head in understanding, and it wasn't long until they reached the door to Smiley's house.

She knocked on the door and waited patiently for her mom to come unlock the door as Phil shifted around uncomfortably, before looking over at the brunette besides him.

"Are you sure that your mom is ok with this?" He asked nervously, and Smiley hummed as if in thought for a moment.

"Nope!" Phil's eyes quickly drooped into a worried expression. "But don't worry about! I'm sure she would understand. Just remember to be polite, ok?"

The floating boy nodded quickly, when he snapped his gaze back up to the door when the doorknob rattled, and the door opened to reveal Smiley's mom standing there.

"Why, you're home early dear-...and, er, who's this friend of yours here?" She asked, an unreadable look coming onto her face when she turned her gaze onto Phil's bloodied form.

 "Hi Mom! And this, is Phil! Phil Eggtree. He's, um, he's a ghost! A ghost from the past. I can explain more when we get inside, ok?" Smiley said, and her mom nodded warily as Phil waved nervously at the adult, before hastily floating past her and following Smiley inside.

They sat down on the couch while Smiley's Mom sat in an armchair across from them. Smiley sat her backpack down near her feet before looking at her mother intently.

"So, do you remember what the 'Incident of 95' was?" Smiley's mom nodded seriously, knowing better than to question where her daughter got this information from.

"So, Phil was one of the victims of that incident, yet he was the one who managed to stop the guy who was...murdering everyone. But he also died later because of blood loss. Somehow, Phil came back as a ghost, and we're just gonna decide what we're gonna do about...whatever happened to make that happen tomorrow." Smiley's mom also questioned internally as of why her daughter came home from school 2 hours than when it ended, but she decided to question her about that later.

"We'll probably look for clues about it or just theorize to try to explain to ourselves how this odd form of necromany worked, but even if we do, it's not like we can do much about it. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Phil here would rather be alive than dead right now, and he can't (or wouldn't even want to in the first place) do any harm to anyone anyways, so...." Smiley finished, shifting around uncomfortably, when another question popped up into her head.

"Oh, and Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Is it alright if Phil stays here for a couple days?"

Smiley's mom seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, before she sighed softly and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I-I'm sorry dear, this is just a lot to take in. Why don't you and Phil go upstairs to your room? I'm sure today must have been as mentally exhausting as it's been sounding so far, so go rest up and....I'll think about all of this tomorrow." The yellow-skinned adult responded, and Smiley nodded solemnly before getting up and hugging her mom.

"Thanks, mom." She said, before beckoning for Phil to follow her upstairs and allow her mother to wallow in her own thoughts.

When they got to Smiley's room, Phil watched his friend flop onto her bed and groan in what seemed to be frustration, before sitting back upwards and facing Phil. 

"If you wanted your own bed tonight, there's an empty guest room next to mine that's to the left of the door, or you could just sleep on the roof, I dunno. I'm tired, so I'm just gonna go to sleep now." Smiley explained, before she quickly climbed underneath her covers and instantly fell asleep.

Phil blinked, standing there for a moment before deciding to float out of the room and to the room that Smiley had suggested.

Getting onto the bed (though it was kinda awkward because it felt like he wasn't even on it when he layed down), he stared up at the ceiling and thought a bit about life, before he finally closed his eyes and let sleep take over his befuddled mind.

2139 words pog