"AHHHHH! GHOST!" Poppy and Synth both screamed out in terror at the sight of Branch's head poking out of the television screen.

     "No, no, no! Don't scream! Don't scream!" Branch begged, quickly climbing out of the T.V, waving his hands frantically through the air to try and get his friends to quiet down. Screaming would attract his parents... and if his parents saw him like this... they would kill him... again...

     This was the thing that finally got Synth to pay attention to the real world instead of his video game, chucking his controller at Branch with full force, the large piece of plastic and metal going straight through the pop troll's head as if he weren't even there.

     "Guys! Please!" Branch begged, panicking at the thought that he was going to get caught. "Please stop screaming!"

     "GHOST!" the two children screamed out again, quickly running out of the room, fleeing into the hall, unaware that this ghost they were so scared of was actually their best friend...

     "No! Stop!" Branch pleaded in a desperate voice, quickly cutting off his friends' escape so they couldn't run to his parents, cornering them both back into his bedroom. "It's me! It's Branch! I'm Branch!"

     Poppy and Synth both fell silent at the sound of that, their eyes wide as they stared right at Branch in shock, seeming to instantly believe him.

     His skin was pale... his hair was white... and most strange of all... his eyes were a glowing green instead of a beautiful blue... but now that she had gotten a good look at this ghost... Poppy could instantly tell this was in fact her best friend. She would know that face anywhere...

     "B... Branch?" she said softly, slowly approaching the pale pop troll in disbelief. "You're... you're a... a..."
"Please don't say it..." Branch pleaded softly, his ears drooping slightly as he lowered his head in shame. "I know what I am..."

     "What happened to you, bro?" Synth asked, slowly reaching out to put his hand through his friend's intangible chest, Branch seeming to strongly dislike this action...

     "Don't do that!" Poppy yelled firmly, slapping Synth's hand away from Branch, seeing that the techno troll was intruding on the ghost's personal space.

     "Ow..." Synth whined, quickly snatching his hand back, holding it close to himself as he looked at Poppy in shock.

     Poppy rolled her eyes at him before slowly turning her attention back to Branch.

     "What happened?" she asked him in a soft tone, her eyes filled with worry.

     "I... I don't know..." Branch admitted softly, looking back up at his best friend with sad, tearful eyes. "I was trying to help my dad with a machine he built..." He thought hard, trying to remember what had happened to him down in the basement lab. "There was a bright flash... a quick stab of pain... and... and then everything just went dark. When I woke up... I was like this..." he explained, gesturing to his new ghostly appearance.

     "Branch..." Poppy whispered, trying to take his hands gently in hers, but they just seemed to go right through each other, Branch sighing as he looked away from her sadly. "You... that machine it... it..." It was hard to continue... how was she supposed to tell him this? "You..." She didn't want to say the word, tears coming to her bright pink eyes, as she thought about it. "Branch... you're... you're..."

     "I'm dead..." he finished for her, his heart aching in sorrow. "I... I know..."

     "No..." Poppy muttered softly, shaking her head in disbelief. "No, Branch. This can't be true! There's gotta be a way to fix this! Your parents..."
"No!" Branch quickly interrupted, placing his hands on the pink pop troll's shoulders, as he gazed right into her eyes, hoping to make her understand. "You can not tell my parents about this!"

     "But... dubstep..." Synth started, looking at Branch with a saddened expression.

     "You don't understand..." Branch cried, beginning to pace anxiously as he put both of his hands on his head in terror. "My parents can't know. They're ghost hunters... I'm a ghost." He turned back to his friends, pure terror painted clearly all over his face. "They'll destroy me!"

     "Kids!" a shout suddenly rung out through the hall, all three children flinching at the sound, Branch's eyes widening in terror as he recognized his mother's voice.

     "Quick, Branch!" Poppy yelled in a firm whisper. "You need to hide!"

     Suddenly, Thorn and Árbol jumped through the doorway, their ghost guns up and ready to shoot at the first sign of a paranormal threat, Poppy and Synth instantly jumping in front of Branch to hide the ghost boy from their sights.

     "Where is it!? Where's the ghost!?" Thorn yelled out, scanning the room for any signs of un-living specters.

     "Ghost? What ghost?" Poppy asked, pretending she had no idea what the two adults were talking about. "There's no ghost."

     "But you yelled, 'ahhhhh! A ghost!' That kind of implies you saw a ghost..." Thorn stated, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

     "Uh... yeah..." Synth said slowly. "We... we did see a ghost... in our game..." He pointed to the television, a small scratch on the screen where the controller had smashed into it.

     "It was a jump scare..." Poppy added with an innocent grin. "We just weren't expecting it is all..."

     Thorn sighed, slowly putting his ghost gun back into his hair, Poppy and Synth sighing in relief.

     "Ok. No harm done you two, but next time... think before you scream out the 'g' word," he advised, the two children nodding their heads rapidly, hoping the ghost hunters would leave the room so Branch would be safe. Well... safer...

     "Say... have you two seen Branch anywhere?" Árbol suddenly asked, looking around the room to see no sign of her son being there.

     "Ummm..." Poppy and Synth both muttered, not knowing what to say, as they looked at each other in fear. "Branch is... in the bathroom-kitchen!" They both shouted out two different things, earning a strange look from both of Branch's parents.

     "He's in... the kitchen bathroom..." Poppy said, smiling innocently over at the two ghost hunters.

     "We don't have a bathroom in the kitchen..." Árbol said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "What are you two hiding?"

     "Nothing!" both kids shouted out, getting closer together to hopefully keep Branch hidden from his parents' views.

     Thorn and Árbol looked at each other for a brief moment, both of them knowing Poppy and Synth were up to something...

     "Ok, kids," Thorn said firmly, crossing his arms as he gave the two children a stern look. "We're gonna need to see whatever's behind you..."

     "Behind us? What do you mean?" Poppy laughed innocently. "There's nothing behind us."

     Needless to say... the two adults didn't buy that lie...

     Having enough of their childish game, Árbol and Thorn headed quickly towards Poppy and Synth, moving the two of them out of the way to reveal Branch kneeling on the floor, his arms over his head as he shook fiercely in fear.

     "Branch?" Árbol questioned, raising an eyebrow at her son. "What are you doing?"

     Confused on why his parents weren't currently attacking him, the little troll opened his eyes, looking up at them sadly.

     "I... I..." he stuttered, not knowing what to say. His heart was racing in his chest, feeling as if it were about to burst at any moment, his fear rising higher and higher by the second...

     Poppy and Synth stood motionless, staring at Branch with wide eyes, seeming shocked and somewhat confused.

     "B... Branch..." Poppy stuttered, pointing at the little pop troll in disbelief. "Look..."

     Confused, Branch looked down at his hands, gasping when he saw they were blue again.

     Quickly, he jumped to his feet, rushing over to a mirror to look at his reflection.

     He was back to normal! His hair was no longer white, his skin was no longer pale, and his eyes were back to their usual crystal blue coloring... but... but how?

     "I'm... I'm alive?" he muttered softly, looking into the mirror in disbelief. "I'm alive!"

     He was so thrilled, quickly spinning around to face his family and friends with a massive smile on his face.

     "Well of course you're alive, sweetie," Árbol told him, slowly approaching to give her son a gentle hug. "Why wouldn't you be?"

     "Um..." he muttered softly, turning to look at Poppy, hoping she would tell him what to say, but she and Synth were still in shock to see that he was no longer a ghost. "Um..." Branch said again, looking back at his mom. "No reason... I'm just... happy to still be here... with you..."

     He hugged her tight for a quick moment, before suddenly beginning to usher both of his parents out of his room.

     "Now, my friends and I really need to practice our game so... bye!" the young blue pop troll said, quickly slamming the door shut, as he turned back to Poppy and Synth who were still staring at him in shock. "What the hair..." he breathed heavily, still slightly freaking out. "Just happened..."