Ghostly Justice

Chapter 5

Danny walked into Big Belly Burger, his stomach grumbling. He breathed in the delicious smells that washed over him. The energy was warm and comforting, beckoning him to eat something. His mouth watered at the thought of it. He fidgeted with his jacket, hoping he washed it enough to mask his scent. Danny wasn't sure when the last time he showered was. Uncomfortably, Danny walked up to the cash register, feeling eyes on him. But he knew nobody really cared he was here.

The cashier lady smiled at him in greeting. "Good afternoon! What would you like?" she asked.

"Uh, a number 2?" He asked. "No pickles, please."

She looked down to the screen, tapping a few times. "Okay. Small, medium, or large drink?"

"Large?" He fidgeted with his fingers, looking down to avoid eye contact.

A small pause. "Is that all?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"That'll be 7.49." He shoved his hand in his pocket, then gave her a 10 dollar bill. She gave him the change, receipt, and a large cup. "Have a pleasant evening! Next?"

Danny sighed in relief. He went to the soda dispenser and poured himself some coke. Then he looked around the restaurant, hoping to find a free table, but almost all the tables were taken by more than one person. He gulped. He didn't want to be with so many people.

One table was taken only by a teen with ginger hair. He was holding a phone, looking like he was idly scrolling through it.

Could be worse, he thought.

He sat down opposite of the kid.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" he asked. He hoped he could sit here. Unless he had friends he was waiting for, then this would be embarrassing.

"Well, I mean, you're already sitting down, so I guess." Danny turned a bit red at the response.

The ginger haired teen immediately sat up straighter. "Wait, no! Sorry, it's a joke. You can sit there if you want."

Danny awkwardly laughed. "Yeah, okay. Thanks." He slurped his drink.

The ginger went back to his phone, seemingly watching a video. He laughed at something.

Danny carefully watched the screen that showed the number for people's orders, wishing to get out of there quickly. He would rather be at a park bench reading a book he found and eating his burger than sit with normal people, who all held great lives with friends and family...

The ginger burst into a loud laughter, startling Danny out of his thoughts. He looked at the strange kid, wondering who he was laughing at, but realized it was his phone screen. "Dude, calm down. There's fragile old ladies here." Danny said, gesturing to two elderly ladies sitting across from each other. One of them had to pop her dentures back into her mouth, holding her hand to her chest. The other was glaring at the carrot top.

Ginger blushed and apologized, combing his hair back awkwardly. "But you should look at this!" He slid the phone towards Danny. He took one of his earbuds out and handed it to Danny, to which he put it in his ear.

On the screen, it showed a video. A John Mulaney video. Old Jonny here was making fun of murder investigations from back in the days. Danny was never really into comedy shows, but this video was actually pretty funny. Danny laughed, the ginger laughing along with him.

"It's funny, because back in those days, they knew how to use a microscope to look at our cells thanks to a dude from 1590. But here, it took us, like, how many years to discover DNA? It's amazing how far science advanced over these last few decades. Imagine how far we can get in the future!"

"That is, if we don't kill the Earth," Danny piped in. He just needed to say that.

"Exactly! Jesus. Look at us now. Wasting our time to invent things that allowed us to use less energy. 'Alexa, turn off the lights.' 'Hey look, we should build a robot to vacuum our houses for us.' No wonder a large percentage of our country's population is overweight." The ginger continued rambling, going from one topic to another. Eventually, after a few minutes, he ended his one sided conversation with a, "so what are your opinions on ice cream?" Danny listened to everything, of course. He was somewhat weirded out by the teen's rambling, but he was also interested.

"Oh, uh..." Danny wasn't expecting for him to ask him a question he needed to answer. "Well, I love ice cream. It's always nice to eat it on a hot day. It's even greater when it's cold and chilly outside, but you're enjoying a gallon of ice cream while watching your favorite show on TV." He wasn't really sure if that was the answer Carrot kid really wanted, but it was an answer nonetheless.

Freckled boy smiled widely, clapping his hands one time. "Finally! Somebody gets me! My uncle is always getting onto me for eating ice cream on a cold day."

Danny laughed. "Same with me! My older sister would tell me things like, 'it's going to get you sick!' or, 'why not enjoy soup or hot chocolate rather than making your body even more cold?' It's ridiculous, honestly." For some reason, it was relaxing to talk to somebody his age. Carrot Top just had this energy where you can easily have a pleasant conversation with him without any awkward silences. Extroverted people often have a lot to say in a conversation. Or the silence was just overall relaxing.

Redhead chuckled. After the energy sort of died down, he decided to introduce himself. "I'm Wally, by the way. Wally West."

"I'm Danny." Danny responded.

"Just Danny?" Wally asked. "No last name or anything?" Danny shook his head. "Nice, so you're a mystery man." Wally leaned back into his chair, but realized it had no back supporter last second. He fell with a thud.

Danny stood up quickly, leaning over the table to see if Wally was alright. "Oh, geez. Are you okay? That looked like it hurt."

"I am splendid," Wally groaned, lying there for a few seconds. He heard a faint beeping noise. Wally looked at his watch, and stood up, looking like he didn't just fall off a stool. "Anyways, I better head on out. I'll catch you whenever, Mysterio!" He grabbed his phone and ran out the door, almost bumping into a dude in the process.

Well, that was... eventful. Danny checked his receipt for his number, looked back up at the screen displayed beside the counter, and noticed they had just called out his number for his meal. Right on time. How long has he been sitting here, anyways? Fast food restaurants were supposed to deliver quickly, right? He looked at the time from his receipt, then at the clock. Only five minutes passed by. That was strange, he was sure he was chatting with Wally for ten minutes or something.

Whatever, Danny thought. He went up to the counter to grab his bag, then left the building to go chill at the park.

(Last rewritten: Jun 1st, 2019)

Sorry if it's short. I hope you enjoyed it though!