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“I’m sorry Sid”, Danny said to himself solemnly, in his room holding Sid’s broken glasses, they got fairly damaged from…the incident. After the traumatic experience and damage caused in the school, the students were sent home for at least a week. While ghost attacks became a common thing, especially at Casper High, this one was especially frightening, no one, especially Danny saw what Sid did coming. He can still remember being chased like a little bug, seeing the fear in his own eyes from Sid’s giant reflective form, when he saw Dash's face get-he shakes his head, trying to get those horrific memories out. He can’t deal with those graphic details today. He’s just too tired, laying himself on his bed, he stares blankly at the ceiling.
His friends, his family, even Lancer tried to assure Danny none of it was his fault, how could he have known it would all end up like this, how could he have been able to save Dash from something like that, he wasn’t even anywhere near the fight(or so his parents and teacher believed). He even tries to reassure himself, he shouldn’t blame himself but deep down he can’t help but wonder constant what ifs. What if he didn’t let or had been more careful about letting a ghost help prank on Dash and the other mean kids, knowing his backstory, what if he had listen to his friends sooner when they were worried he was getting carried away, what if he had tried talking to Sid better when he did wonder that himself. What if he didn’t let things get so out of hand…he couldn’t fix things.
Flashback of Sid and Danny talking.
“ What do you mean this is getting out of hand? Not like anything’s being tied back to us, right?”. Sid
“ I know, I know, Sid. It’s just some of these pranks have been pretty mean, even for them”. Danny
“ It’s called giving them a a taste of their own medicine Danny. If it was the other way around, you’d think they’d be worrying about being too mean with you? They clearly haven’t thought that to begin with”. Sid
“ Yeah, fair point. It’s just my friends seemed pretty worried and- Danny
“ Ah you’re friends are just being brainwashed by flowery fables that those stupid teachers and the school tell you like “be the bigger person” or “being mean to them makes you just as mean” and other crud ike that. They just teach you to be as worthless as they are”. Sid
“Hey, my friends aren’t worthless! And I get a lot of teachers can be jerks but there’s also plenty that at least try to help(thinks of Lancer). I like to think so. Danny
“ I’m sure that’s what he'd tried to tell you, along with one of his dumb book swears. Seriously most haven't even heard of those books in years, especially not kids-he sees Danny becoming really uncomfortable and starts regulating himself.
“ Sorry, sorry. I'm sure the people you're talking about truly mean well. I was just getting a little heated over there(brings back bad memories) I just know when you try to be nice and let things go, they usually don’t really care and just go back to their old nature. I just wanna make sure they learn their lesson for good. You know I’m just trying to look out for ya, right? Sid
“ y-yeah ofcourse. You’re not wrong, it’s just not sure how long we can keep doing all these pranks, I am pretty busy with other stuff”. Danny
“ Then maybe we should do one final, epic prank! The ultimate prank to teach all the mean kids you don’t mess with nerds! Revenge of the Nerds! Sid
“ YEAH! though Def no revenge of the nerds 80′s style, those guys went WAY too far”. Danny
“ Well it’s a good thing this Daddy-O’s from the 50′s! So I’ve been thinking what if- Sid
Back to the present:
As Danny remembers that conversation, he starts to realize he missed certain red flags such as Sid's growing mean streak...and the little cracks he was trying to hide on his skin. And then, there’s Dash, he got it much worse, being the main target for Sidney’s revenge hunt. Had to be sent to the hospital to get treatment for his injuries and stitches for that bad cut Sid’s pincer left on him, still remembers when the blood spilled on- Danny shakes from that experience. Good chance that mark will stay for a long time.
He wishes it didn’t take him having a full emotional breakdown from all those brutal revenge pranks they pulled and almost dying trying to protect him(Danny) from Sid’s wrath to realize that for all his many, many faults, he’s not really a bad person and didn’t deserve to almost die. He can't even properly apologize to him, not without risking his identity being exposed.
Danny lays back on his bed, breathing out a sigh of guilt and exhaustion. Part of why he wasn’t more willing to acknowledge and try to talk to Sid more was because, outside of Sam and Tucker, he doesn’t have a lot of friends. Then he met Sid who not only understood his problems but enjoyed hanging out with, sharing each others different time pleasures(like Egg-creams), talking about sci-fi films, when they did harmless pranks...at first. He was so worried about losing a new friend, he ended up losing him anyway, the worst way possible. In a way, he made a similar mistake to what the people in Sid’s life made. They ignored him and his problems until they became too big to fix. Thinking about it, Sid’s first failed plan in a twisted way, might've worked, in terms of making his bully regret everything. Doubt he had it easy after being known as the guy who accidentally killed one of his fellow classmates.
As he takes his eyes off the rotating ceiling fan back to Sid's broken glasses, seeing his own reflection from them, he starts to consider. He can’t reverse what happened, but he can atleast make sure what happened to Sid is better acknowledged rather than just try to forget what happened like they did. Regardless of what was and what wasn't his fault, he still wants to make things right. Or atleast try to.
He props himself up to go check some stuff on his laptop such as memorials and finding perhaps some flowers and a card to send to Dash at the hospital. After what happened, it’s highly doubtful anyone would want to use that locker anymore. But maybe it could be used for something else, to remember Sid's story in a clearer light. Give his friend some peace.
As he looks at pictures of locker memorials, he calls Tucker, holding Sid’s broken glasses
“ Yeah I’m doing good too, thanks Do you know how to fix up cracked glasses?”
The End.
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