What is with me and sad stories? This is sad. My usual sad stories. It talks about graves and dying and stuff so yeah.
--
Mr. Lancer and Tetslaff didn't talk all that much. But today, they decided to sit down for lunch together and discuss a common observation.
Mr. Lancer still remembered the youny, skinny Danny Fenton from 2 years ago. The one with bright eyes, with tiny scratches from being shoved all over the place.
Tetslaff still remembered the wimpy 8th grader who couldn't run or be athletic for his life.
So when the two of them bumped into the tiny sophomore in the hallway, questions were raised. He had muscle, and a bit more leaner, but his height was stunted. His face didn't lose its baby-like appearance. His voice sounded exactly the same, no hint of lowering or changing at the slightest bit.
They didn't know what was the cause of it, but they knew that Danny wasn't growing up.
They felt a pang of pain at the thought. A feeling of something almost clicking in their minds, the sound of pieces almost falling together perfectly, but they didn't know what exactly.
So they decided to snoop around. Mr. Lancer scoured the library and the internet for any helpful article. Tetslaff opted for checking the environment.
What does he eat, what does he do, what do Fentons do?
It was at that moment that Mr. Radwealth sat down with them, a concerned look on his features. The man wore thick round glasses, ones that always caught on his graying hair when he slipped them off.
"I can't help but overhear your discussion," He began, causing them to stare at him wide-eyed, "but I noticed something was off about the Fenton boy as well."
"I thought he was merely accelerated, but it turns out that wasn't the case." The three looked at each other and nodded.
"Mr. Fenton always had problems in my class, sleeping and not passing his homework." Lancer admitted. "But lack of sleep can't keep him from growing at the very least 4 or 5 inches. There has to be something else at play here."
"Considering his body, he did infact grow muscle and is physically active nowadays. He isn't as skinny as he used to be, and I swear I saw him and his friends pop some vitamins, I made sure they were vitamins, whenever they had gym with me. Lack certainly isn't the problem here." Tetslaff informed them.
"I believe we should keep an eye on the boy, maybe it really isn't a problem and we were overreacting, but I have a sinking feeling that something is very off here."
--
After a sucessful Parent-Teacher Conference about renewal of certain school policies, that emcee Jasmine Fenton helped organize, the teacher trio (or duo, because they were still waiting for Radwealth to find his stuff inside the school) decided to offer her and her parents a ride.
The Fentons declined the offer, saying they were going to patrol around the town, while Jazz politely smiled while she refused, saying she had to find Danny. She started walking off to the park to start her search.
The plan was to head to Lancer's house to finish off grading all of their students' papers. Lancer had the neatest house of the three, and the ambiance was the perfect one for a book or for working.
Which was odd considering he lived a house away from a graveyard.
Since it was pretty late when they finished, the sun had already began to set, painting everything red and orange.
The three were getting their stuff out of the car when Tetslaff noticed someone from across the street.
"Hey look, that's Jasmine right?" She called the other's attention. From the look of recognition and surprise that morphed into understanding on her face, they knew she must have found Danny.
But the direction she was looking and walking towards was the cementary.
They had a haunting, lingering feeling about the sight. Like a premonition. They crept up to the cementary's gate and watched as Jazz kept walking towards a lone rock formation at the far end.
There was a tree that was perfectly sized for the trio to hide.
They were listening to a private conversation at a graveyard, but somethung told them that this was the last piece to the puzzle.
"Danny, what are you doing here?"
"I learned something new in history today, Jazz. I didn't hear the rest of it. I panicked and ran out of class." He rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Apparently, we dig graves because they say souls would easily reach the afterlife which was thought to exist underground."
"Danny--"
The boy looked solemn. "I don't have one here."
Jazz visibly looked taken aback at the statement, her brows painting a look of confusion before realizing what he meant. Whatever it was he meant.
"I guess mine was a bit closer to home. But I don't think about it as mine."
Because kind of grave was octagonal, had yellow and black lines, a red light, and wasn't even made of stone? That didn't have a name, but rather a trademark or a logo? That didn't have a corpse? Whose owner was still breathing?
"You're still here Danny."
"I talked to Clockwork," There was a pause, "I'm gonna-- I'll need a lot of these."
"Oh no, Danny," Jazz moved forward to embrace him. Danny didn't move.
"It was underground, Jazz, I was at the door. I still wonder why that was because I was literally... I was face-to-face with it."
"I'm sorry, Danny, I'm sorry." Jazz hushed him, repeating the words as she rubbed circles in his back.
"I'm still here Jazz, but I don't... I don't get it. I'm... half of me is gone, but this... this makes me feel like I... I'm fully gone. I can't have a life now."
They could hear his sobs.
--
When they regrouped at Lancer's, none of them could work. Instead they were huddled down drinking as much water and juice and coffee possible.
They knew the shouldn't pry into the matter much anymore. But Lancer spoke up.
"I think Daniel is a ghost."
He spent a lot of time thinking about it. Lancer had always been the teacher that spent the longest time with Danny, as his teacher of English, History, Math and Science. He was an English teacher, the kind that absolutely excelled in character analysis.
"What?" Were their replies.
"Danny isn't... a ghost. That can't be. He's too young. How could he die?"
"Apparently, we dig graves because they say souls would easily reach the afterlife which was thought to exist underground.""I don't have one here.""I guess mine was bit closer to home. But I don't think of it as mine.""You're still here Danny.""It was underground, Jazz. I was at the door."
Didn't Danny have an accident sometime ago? It was all over the newspapers-- Lancer stood up abruptly, and headed for the file drawers. He always kept clippings of the newspapers. He had spotted a typographical error on the front page, so he remembered it clearly.
"Lancer--"
"I was literally face-to-face with it.""I don't get it."
Lancer didn't get it. He didn't. He couldn't understand it. He found the page and laid it on the table.
"Half of me is gone, but this... this makes me feel like..."
Bright eyes stared at them, a genuine smile from a 14 year old boy surrounded by the genius Fentons in front of their oddly shaped house. And right beside them, a picture of an ambulance rushing away from the house.
THE FENTON'S YOUNGEST CHILD ELECTROCUTED BY FENTON PORTAL"I'm fully gone."
I really had no idea what to write for this prompt. I kept deleting it and rewriting all over again. Also Mr. Radwealth is an OC of mine. He wrote himself in Prompt 2's one-shot From Now On and I wanted to include him so yeah. K bye.