Chapter Text
November 22nd, 2022
Dear Journal,
Today was certainly… interesting, to say the least. Life in Brighton has been interesting ever since Molly and Ollie showed me that ghosts could be good, (I still need to find a way to tell Mom and Dad about that) but today specifically ended up going a lot differently than I’d planned.
The day started with me wheeling my whiteboard and research equipment over to the McGee household. Darryl invited me over to his house for a playdate a few days back, which I kind of turned into an experimenting-on-Scratch-date after what happened at NecroComic-Con. I like hanging out with Darryl since he seems to understand me better than most people, but I also like to learn new things, and meeting Scratch has shown me that I still have a lot to learn. Fortunately, Darryl was happy to be my lab partner for today.
Molly and her friend Libby let me into the house when I got there. Coincidentally, they were also having a playdate (is that a word people still use when they get older?) upstairs in Molly’s room. From what I could gather, they were watching the new Country Pumpkin movie with Scratch. That movie didn't interest me personally when I saw the trailer, but they seemed to be enamored with it. Those kinds of movies aren’t really for me, but they’re a little older than I am, so maybe one day that will change. Romance just doesn’t really move me in the same way a good science fiction movie does, for example.
They helped me bring in my things and bring them down to the basement, which I greatly appreciated, as I am not very strong physically. I wish I knew Molly a little better since she was so understanding about me being autistic and that’s not always a common thing with new people. Libby also seems nice, I feel like we could be friends someday. She seems to be a woman of science, very analytical and perceptive, so surely we must have some mutual interests.
Darryl was already waiting in the basement. He seemed really excited to help me learn more about ectoplasm, and it even seemed like he wanted to know more as well. When we were making our plans for today, he told me a story from when he and his family first met Scratch about a year and a half ago. According to Darryl, when Molly introduced him to Scratch, the first thing he did was grab some of his ectoplasm and start fiddling around with it. Scratch must’ve freaked out when that happened since he didn’t seem all that happy when I first told him I wanted to experiment on him.
While Darryl is my best friend, I wasn’t sure if he’d make a good partner for my experiments. Don’t get me wrong, he seems like a very smart person in his own way, but I know he doesn’t pay much attention in our science class. Thankfully, Darryl proved his worth as a lab partner early on when he confirmed my theory that Scratch’s biggest motivator was food. I don’t think Darryl was out of the basement for even two minutes before he was back with what I believe was once the “hair” on Scratch’s head (I think he once referred to it as his “cutie bit?”) which he got in exchange for a sandwich.
After we got our hands on the blue, marshmallowy substance, I began testing its reactions to various stimuli, which was when Darryl’s antics caused things to get out of hand. Granted, I didn’t really make a specific plan for today beyond messing around with the ectoplasm sample, but Darryl and I creating a new life form was definitely not in the schedule. I decided to name him Junior, and he was incredibly small, sweet, and adorable! Unfortunately, he was also incredibly loud when he cried, which he started doing almost immediately after I picked him up.
Sidenote: I wish I could handle loud noises better. I felt a little embarrassed having to cover my ears in front of Darryl when Junior started crying. Thankfully, Darryl seemed to understand that I’m sensitive to sound, but again, not everyone is as understanding as his family seems to be.
When Junior finished crying, he proceeded to siphon all of the electricity from the McGee household and ran away. He also blew a raspberry at us, which I thought was a bit uncalled for. After that happened, Darryl kind of scolded him and got all nervous he was becoming too responsible. I’m not sure if that’s a thing you can be, but it sounds both overwhelming and satisfying in the best ways possible.
We ended up going on a bit of a wild ghost chase throughout Brighton trying to find Junior. He just wouldn’t stop eating the electricity from the various businesses around town, one by one, which you’d think would make him easy to find since we’d just have to follow the trail of buildings with their lights off, but we kept hitting dead ends.
Darryl and I must’ve been running around town for hours because by the time we caught up with Junior, it had gotten dark out and he had gotten taller than most of the buildings. He didn’t even need to find power outlets anymore, he was just attracting electricity to his body like a magnet. I was keeping notes on him from the very beginning, which I think might’ve bothered Darryl a little, but I just needed to document every last detail pertaining to this new life form.
We ran into Molly and Ollie on the way to Junior, and after we explained what was going on, Molly had this weird moment where she was talking about how she wanted to be Junior’s aunt. That didn’t really make much sense to me at the time, but in retrospect, since Darryl and I created him I suppose that did make us his parents, and thus Molly would be his aunt. I’m guessing Darryl had already made that connection, judging from the way he was phrasing his scoldings. I wonder if I’d be a good parent someday.
While I was writing some more notes on Junior and how he continued to grow the more electricity he consumed, I got so wrapped up in my research that I failed to notice his ectoplasm was about to crush me. Thankfully, Darryl is not only an excellent lab partner but also an excellent friend. He pulled me out of the way to safety by my sweatshirt and the four of us hid behind a mailbox while Junior reached critical mass. Instead of exploding, however, he just shrunk back down to his original size and began telling us about how we taught him the true meaning of love. He then gave goodbye kisses to me and Darryl before disappearing to “higher celestial planes.” I’m guessing he was also in on the idea that we were his parents. Social cues can be a challenge for me sometimes.
Molly must’ve been very inspired by what Junior said because she ended up asking Ollie to be her boyfriend right after he disappeared. Ollie had told me that he had a crush on Molly before, but I had no idea that Molly liked him back. They seem like a perfect match for each other, so I’m very happy for them. At that moment, I was a little more interested in how the two of them restored Brighton's electricity, (maybe I need to experiment on them next) but my train of thought was unfortunately derailed when Libby and Scratch showed up.
They must’ve been watching us from a distance or something because they came down and started congratulating Molly for finally confessing her feelings, even if it wasn’t the grand gesture they were aiming for. Molly seemed confused about them watching her from a distance, but she was happy they were there to make sure she didn’t do anything embarrassing. I noticed they weren’t focusing much on Ollie, so I made sure to give him a big hug to congratulate him. I really think Molly is a good fit for him.
The rest of the night was pretty quiet. Libby split off from the group early and went back to her house, while Ollie, Darryl, Scratch, Molly, and I all walked back to our neighborhood. Well, most of us walked, Scratch seems to just float wherever he needs to go. Molly and Ollie held hands the whole way back, while Darryl and I told Scratch all about what happened with Junior. He thought it was hilarious.
We all said our goodbyes and went back to our respective houses. Mom and Dad were wondering what we were up to today during dinner, to which Ollie and I just said that we spent the day with the McGee’s. Not really a lie I suppose, but we definitely didn’t need to mention any of what happened with Junior. My equipment is still at the McGee’s house and I plan to do some more experimenting on Scratch in the near future. Today’s events ended up leaving me with more questions than answers regarding the nature of ectoplasm. Still, I had a good time, and I feel like with Darryl by my side, the answers will come to us soon enough.
June Chen