Born as Ghosts/Synopsis

## Born as Ghosts

Several members of the swarm of yellow-eyed rats hold up their paws in conciliation; one tells Joe not to scream, while the rest climb up onto his bedding. The badly frightened Joe scooches on his butt to the corner of his bed in an attempt to avoid the rats, chanting that rats don't talk. One of the rats tells him that normally no, but… That just causes Joe to get to his feet and back further into the corner, still chanting. Then something new catches Joe's eye. From the top of a man-sized mound of rats that's forming off the foot of his bed, a rat tells Joe he had worried which would be more traumatic: the rats or just himself in Joe's room. Since the rats were a bust, he would try Plan B.

Sensing an opportunity, Joe reaches for a baseball bat and goes for his version of Plan B. He smashes apart the forming mound, then he trashes his room pursuing individual rats, trying to deny the existence of talking rats that ***know his name.*** His antics cause loud thumping noises to resound through the floor and set ceiling light fixtures swinging. Joe's mother asks his father if they were going to do anything about that, and he reminds her that they said they wouldn't. Meanwhile, the rats try a new tactic and swarm his body, climbing all over his clothes. At that time his mother decides not to intrude on Joe's privacy … yet. The rat that managed to climb on top of Joe's head tells him he has left them no choice, and he dives down the collar of Joe's shirt, letting him know he didn't like it any more than Joe did. Joe drops the bat and starts dancing around frantically, trying to dislodge the intruder, which allows the rats to pile up again, this time transforming into the shape of the old man from the city sewers.

Joe finally dislodges the errant rat and pitches it across the room, right into the old man's waiting hand; it's quickly absorbed. The old man asks if it's better, now that he's human. Joe picks up his bat and tells him it wasn't really. Joe swings the bat in a mighty overhand blow, but the old man readily catches the bat in his bare hand as if it were nothing. He tells Joe to stop trying to kill him, even as the last few rats merge with his body: They have to save the world.─────────────────────

The football coach counts down as the players finish the day's practice with a round of push-ups. Hemsworth calls to Evans that practice is done, but Pratt tells him to leave it. Evans has always got something to prove. Evans growls in response that he's got to do better. Talking as they leave the field, Hemsworth asks if it's about Gomez, and Pratt replies of course it is. He says Gomez is the fastest kid in school, and what does he choose to do? Hemsworth asks if it was accidentally smashing Evans, but Pratt says he was going for plays in a band. He points out that Evans has to work hard for every game. He claims that Joe just pretends to play guitar and he still manages to beat out Evans every time. He claims that would piss anybody off.

The sun is setting when Evans finally comes in off the practice field. Walking down the hallway, his two black eyes and bandaged nose are clearly visible on his frowning face. While passing the trophy cabinet, he grumpily asks himself if Joe thinks he can do that to him. He is so focused on his anger, he doesn't notice the phantasm stalking him in the reflection on the cabinet's glass doors. The sound of music catches his attention, and he follows the notes down the hall.

In the music room, Baby Heist is practicing for the Battle of the Bands without the missing Joe. Fletch stops the music, complaining it wasn't right. When Sean asks what, Fletch simply replies "this". Charlotte listens in as Paulo agrees with Fletch, saying that without Joe nothing sounds right. Sean agrees, but says with the concert only a week away they still need to practice. Sean suddenly focuses angrily on something, which gets the others attention. He asks whoever he's looking at what are *you* looking at. Evans, peering in through the slightly open door, cleverly replies "not much" and leaves.─────────────────────

In the locker room, Evans drops his gear any which way, and he heads to a mirror to check out his injuries. As he investigates his nose, he declares he's going to kill Joe. A ghastly apparition forms in the mirror in front of his face, causing Evans eyes to pop open widely. With its bulging eyes on Evans, it hisses out a yes. Frightened at the sight of the thing, Evans falls back with a scream, tripping over the bench behind him and stammering. The apparition pulls itself out of the mirror, telling Evans that he called it with his anger and rage, and it came. The terrified athlete husks out a no, but the apparition hisses a loud yes as it reaches down for him…