Twilight.

The short meeting of day and night. As I sit atop the tallest building in Amity Park, the sight of the sunset -- or is it sunrise? I've been here so long, I don't even know -- gets me thinking. I now realize that Twilight is a lot like me; at the moment, no one can really tell just by looking whether or not the sun will rise or fall. As it is right now, it could be either one. Just like me.

I could easily rise above the toils of everything that is expected of me, including high school, which will end in a matter of years. But, just as easily, I could fall prey to the pressure in a number of ways -- my parents, Valerie, the Guys in White, Skulker, Vlad -- they could all catch me, do experiments on me, even kill me. Or the pressure of ghost hunting, keeping my secret, and maintaining a passing grade could finally take its toll on my sanity.

Both halves of me can be described by the end -- or beginning -- of Twilight as well. Dawn and Dusk. But I've asked myself over and over which half fits where? They both seem to match perfectly. My human half could be Dawn in the way my confidence, skills, courage, strength, endurance, speed, agility -- they've all become more and more apparent as time rolls by. The boy known as Danny Fenton is slowly becoming less and less of a "kid in the background" and more and more of a force to be reckoned with.

But he could also be considered my Dusk side, as I slowly sink further into the depths of my secret. Away from my parents, away from school, away from the town, even. The only ones who can even be considered close to me is my sister, Jazz, and my friends, Tucker and Sam. But even then, I cannot be completely myself with them, because they don't know what it means to constantly be two people, two entities, two parts, two members of two worlds: Fenton... and Phantom.

My ghost half, of course, is a shoo-in for the Dusk category. I am, after all, half-dead. For the day of my accident left my "sun" half eclipsed by the horizon of death... to remain that way until another accident -- most likely in fighting -- or the passing of years finally takes the other half with it as the sun sets.

But Phantom could also be Dawn, in the way that being a ghost gives you a freedom like few could ever imagine. Honestly, who can boast about being able to take a midnight flight through the city as a break from the "gravity" that is school and constant fighting? Not many.

But still... I can only wonder, where will my own life -- or, half-life -- leave me? What will my Twilight fade to? Am I on a worthwhile path of Dawn? Or will I fall into my almost-future that was Dusk? Not even ClockWork knows -- there are too many choices, too many futures, to accurately tell where I'm headed in this point in time. All I, or anyone, can do at this point is watch. And wait.

I break out of my reverie just in time to see Twilight finally break. The infinite array of colors stream together into one bright, sad-looking marigold as the sun rises -- Dawn.

I smile a smile unseen to the rest of the world as I stand and gaze at the sunrise, before speeding off towards FentonWorks. Maybe, just maybe, I can break the Twilight that my life is currently frozen in. I can finally look forward to a better day -- a brighter Dawn.

December 6, 2008
You may remember this from before, but I'm taking my one-shots and putting them all in one place. Enjoy!
~Foxxi