8/13/2016 - This story was published August 8th, 2010, when I was fourteen years old. I'm nearly twenty-one now. Please take into consideration my age when I wrote this. I wasn't perfect. This was the biggest story I ever worked on, and I got crazy about it, and passionate, and visibly immature about certain topics and story elements. Go easy on any and all critiques when you consider my age and my clear lack of skill in narrative.

However, while younger me never completed this fanfic, this does not mark the end of the story. An updated version will be worked on and published under The Ghost That Haunted Me Revamp on my page, with new chapters to come in the next week.

You can also check out Chapter 38 of this story for a better explanation. Thanks.

The Ghost That Haunted Me

A story by ecto1B

Chapter One

~ Insane

In the year 1843, a supposed schizophrenic by the name of Daniel M'Naghten was convinced that one of England's political parties, the Tories, was urging him to eliminate the British Prime Minister. In his frenzied assassination attempt, he mistakenly shot and killed the Prime Minister's secretary, Edward Drummond.

Two months later, M'Naghten was declared not guilty for reasons of insanity.

In 1981, John Hinckley, a man intent on impressing a celebrity by means of fame, fired six bullets at newly elected U.S. President Ronald Regan. Wounding the president along with three others, Hinckley was charged with 13 offenses at his trial in 1982. At that same trial, the defense's psychiatric documents reasoned that Hinckley was legally insane, even while the prosecution had previously confirmed the man otherwise.

He was found not guilty because of this evidence.

What confirms insanity? How can these people—people who have strived to take the lives of others—evade penalty? What qualifications make these people "legally insane," allowing them to bypass the assumed customary punishments? In most countries, legal insanity is defined as a condition where the convict's mental capacity was at an all-time low during the crime, or even while the convict was outlining their plan. A mental defect or disease is usually the cause. Defenders of the accused strive to prove their client's innocence using this knowledge in order to reach the verdict of not guilty. In America, a test called the Model Penal Code (MPC) is used to isolate key features of the crime, evaluating if the accused is, in fact, legally insane. The test establishes if the crime was committed "purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently," details that would prove them to be sane.

Why is this important to you? When dealing with certain characters, an author must be able to provide the necessary information in order to give their readers a bit of background knowledge. You've got to be prepared if you'll be reading about a special case. In this instance, the character has convinced himself that he is insane, drawn far beyond rational thought, plagued with reoccurring nightmares and horrifying hallucinations, driven to the brink of death innumerable times and returning with his soul still wildly in disarray. But much unlike M'Naghten and Hinckley, this character's alleged madness did not spawn from schizophrenia or obsession, per say. Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley was not struck with psychologically harmful deficiencies at birth, or even considered to be mentally unstable until later in life. It was the changing around him that caused it, the twists and turns that tormented his very being and battered the torn remains of his soul. And as Simon tried to stand after being beaten alive, another whirlwind circumstance pounded him back to the ground. He was never given the opportunity to recover, and that is why he "went mad."

Simon always wanted a cure. He wanted the ability to remedy this unfortunate life of his without choosing the swiftest course of action: suicide. Sure, after the murder of his family, Simon placed the barrel of a handgun in his mouth and attempted to pull the trigger, but that wasn't good enough for him. Killing himself would only give his enemy, a nefarious drug lord named Roba, reason to gloat, to rejoice, to hold his head higher. Simon was smarter than that. He knew it was a bad idea to take his own life.

Still, he wanted a cure. A cure for his insanity. He wanted to be able to stroll down city streets without hallucinating, or even to have a good night's rest, free of terrors. He didn't want to be put in an asylum, or anything close to it. He wanted a normal life. He envied his late brother, who had broken free from drug addictions to wed his high school sweetheart. Why couldn't he do the same? Get married, start a family, own a little house in suburbia and grow old while surrounded by loved ones. Was it so hard?

For Simon, it was more than hard. He couldn't exactly go roaming about the streets of London after his face showed up in every local newspaper, being held responsible for the murders of his mother, brother, sister-in-law, five-year-old nephew, and therapist. The military was his only choice. He could always plead insanity, but Simon knew of the M'Naghten and Hinckley cases, and had no desire to become more of a public eyesore, or even be forced within the confining walls of a mental institution. In the military, he could be lost to all, never staying in one place, exploring the vast terrains of the world… this eye-opening realization came to him as he trudged away from an elegant summer home within the jungles of the Chiapas in Mexico—the home only minutes before had belonged to Roba, before Simon had snuck in and massacred every soul inside. A helicopter had greeted him as he left, landing gracefully in a small clearing nearby. Simon soon discovered that knowledge had already got out of his deeds, which would have troubled him if he hadn't known the information had reached a certain pair of ears; General Hershel von Shepherd, commander of the most elite group of combatants on the planet, had heard of him, had heard of Simon's thirst for redemption. He asked that Simon join Task Force 141, and Simon, after mulling it over, accepted the offer.

Simon changed when he joined the Task Force. No longer did he don war paint resembling that of a skull, or even walk about in broad daylight with his face exposed. Instead, Simon slipped a pair of red-tinted sunglasses over his blue eyes and wore a black balaclava that carried the design of a skull on the front. He still talked in his familiar tone, a dry humored British accent carved about every word, but now he spoke nothing of the past. Never again would Simon return to that era. Roba was dead, his family was gone, and he was a member of Task Force 141.

And with that, Simon Riley became and remained a ghost... until her arrival.