Hostage

	“Jeff? Jeff, are you okay? What happened? You look weird. What’s going on, Jeff? Answer me, Jeff! What happened?” Ness screamed, desperate to get some sort of response from his unmoving friend.

	Jeff chuckled, as he drew a gun from his pocket. “Silly boy, don’t you get it? He’s under my control! Me, the ghost you disregarded earlier! I’m inside him, and he can’t hear you! Now, comply with my demands, or your friend dies!” What seemed to be Jeff held the gun up to his head.

	Ness glanced to his left, and too his right, at Paula, and at Poo. “Wouldn’t you die if you did that? I say you’re bluffing. No, I won’t listen. Do your worst.”

	“It’s sad, sad that you have no respect for your green-suited friend here. No matter, your friend shall die now.” He twisted the gun toward Poo, and fired. Before anybody could react, Poo fell to the ground, unmoving. “Now, this friend will die the next time you say no to my demands!”

	“I still say no,” Ness replied, “I’m gonna set up a shield. You won’t kill yourself, and you can’t kill Paula!” Ness closed his eyes for a moment, as a swirling blue mass surrounded the two children. “What do you say to that?”

	“Pitiful.” Jeff turned the gun back to his own head, and fired. As his body fell to the ground, a white cloud emerged, and flew forward, toward Paula. The blue vapors dissipated, as Paula’s eyes grew red. She grinned, as another shield formed around her, and flames formed up on her hand. She pointed the hand toward her head, and said, “What do you say now, Ness? Does she mean anything to you?”

	Ness stuttered for a few seconds, and started to mumble something. Before he could form any words, the possessed Paula grinned and said, “Too slow.” The flame burst back and forth, bouncing off of the shield’s walls, charring the girl’s body beyond repair. The ghost then exited, and flew an inch away from Ness’s face.

	Two silver Starmen swirled into view, and pinned Ness to a nearby wall, their tentacles curling around his neck. “Will you obey me now, boy? Will you do as I wish? I had but one simple task for you. If you had done it earlier, your friends would have lived.”

	Ness coughed, and asked, very solemnly, “What’s your stupid task?” The ghost cackled as the two Starmen’s tentacles tightened around Ness’s neck. His breath drew short, and then became nonexistent. As he took his last breath, he could hear nothing but a cackle and one word,

	“Die.”