Ghosts Don't Exist

Chapter 10: Karen v. Bruce (my highlight of this chapter)

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Wallis left the airport and took a piece of paper out. He adjusted his glasses and looked for the streets he'd written down.

Gotham was crime ridden so he needed to keep his ghost powers on high alert. He didn't want to kill anyone but enough to have them lay off him. "Okay, Johnson St. that's... over there." He said and pulled his strolling suitcase along. He wasn't going to ask for directions because the possibility of him getting mugged was high. He didn't normally bring anymore than half a million dollars with him, that wasn't worth a steal if you ask him.

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Danny and Bruce went to the city where he paid the Barber double to cut his hair. The sides and back were shaved down and the front had a cut.

Danny liked having short hair but at the same time he liked having a lot, probably why they only shaved the sides. He loved when Jazz played with his hair, ran her fingers through it, braided it, and basically did whatever she wanted with it. He really didn't mind.

Bruce noticed people looking at Danny and whispering to one another. Bruce sent them a glare and they stopped whispering. "Ya know, I wouldn't encourage such behavior." He heard (Here is comes...). Bruce looked over at a woman with crossed arms. She crossed her legs and tapped her fingers. Her hair was short in the back and long in the front with blonde highlights. Her makeup was ridiculously over done and her nails looked more like claws. Disgusting, needed to start from scratch, claws.

"Excuse me?" He said. The barber gave Danny a coloring book and sent him to the kids room (I've only been to one Barber shop that has that. There were a lot of kids in there). The woman rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Look, I don't really care how much power you have, more so it's really none of my business why you have it, but a child, a little boy, should not wear a dress." She stated. Bruce sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I don't believe clothes have a gender. He's happy and that's all that matters. A child's happiness is what matters the most. If he wants to wear dresses, then I'll let him. Now, I'm going to take my son and you are going to leave me and him alone. You don't care how much 'power' I have but I'm sure you care about how much the police do."

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Wallis stood on a boat going to the island this man lived on. He had already found a hotel to stay in where he left his luggage. All he had was his money, coat, and his satchel holding his writing materials in it.

"So," he heard the sailor, "why are you planning to see the billionaire, Bruce Wayne?" Wallis held his satchel close. "I'm writing a book. I thought, after reading a news report on him, about a little boy he adopted, I could use him for inspiration." Wallis lied. No, he didn't have much interest in Bruce. He wanted to see Danny.

"Oh, I see. You know you might get a lot more from his four other sons."

"Wait, there's four others?"

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Danny was in Molly's living room showing off his new dress. "It's quite lovely Danny, the fabric must have made it cost a fortune." she said whispering the last part. "So how are things at the store?" Bruce asked as Danny caught sight of Molly's dog and started chasing it. Molly picked up her coffee. "Well, there are police officers in the shop at all times so we don't have any shoplifters anymore, heh. Thanks again for helping with the repairs. Garrott says thanks. He hasn't stopped smiling since Danny came in." Molly explained. She chuckled and sighed. She leaned back and looked at her ceiling. "Ya know, Danny is a pretty special kid. He just has this way of making people laugh and smile. He has that kind of vibe." Molly stated. Bruce had to admit, she was right.

Danny was a very energetic kid, especially for what he's been through. "So Danny's a cross-dresser. I guess that makes sense since he asked for a pink lion." She said.

Molly was quite the homey type. Her house was small but cozy and it smelt like baked goods. It seemed obvious to Bruce why it smelled as such, the cook books on the fireplace said she liked cooking. Her dog and Danny had become best friends with one another, and though Molly told him the dogs name was Venus, he continued to call it Cujo. Danny must have had a dog named Cujo before he left Amity Park.

Bruce and Molly chatted, even with Danny's often comments about how they were wrong (it really depending on the topic they talked about). When they left, it was night fall and Danny was not tired at all.

"Danny, why did you call Venus Cujo?"

"Cujo is dead. He's a ghost dog, he lives in the Ghost Zone."

What, Ghost Zone? What the heck is the Ghost Zone? Bruce mentally shook his head and ruffled Danny's hair. That was a matter to dwell on later, something like that sounded more of conspiracy than common logic.

When they got home, Tim was at the door looking a bit nervous. His fingers fidgeted. "There's someone in the house, says his name is Wallis Hayfield." Tim stated. "Says he wants to see Danny." Tim was whispering to Bruce clearly not wanting Danny to hear. So far, whoever wanted to see Danny was not a good person (excluding Molly).

"Do you know why? Has he said anything?"

"No, oh! He said he'll give you information on Danny's past. He said he's from Amity Park and he moved to a small town in Canada. He won't say what state though."

"Does he know anything about a place called the Ghost Zone?"

"He said it but I don't think I was meant to hear it."

Bruce sighed and followed Tim to the room where Wallis was. Danny held tightly onto Bruce's hand. Whatever they were talking about he wanted to know.

They opened the door and sitting on the couch was a well dressed man with expensive glasses. He wore a satchel with unknown contents. He made Danny smile and gasp. Bruce and Tim looked down to see Danny jump in place with his eyes flashing blue and green. He clearly knew who this man was and was bubbling with excitement. His body wasn't sure what to do.

Wallis stared at Danny almost on the verge of tears. This little boy that changed him stood in front of him with such innocence. He wore a watery smile. "Little Badger..." he breathed out and tears rolled down his cheeks. Danny squealed and yelled, "Uncle Vlad!"