Okay, this is probably gonna be the only A/N, cuz they're dumb and boring and no one really reads these things anyway, right? So, this story starts kinda slow I guess, so just stick with me for a while. Please please please review! Tell me what you liked, disliked, whatever. But if you flame, you better give me a way to improve my writing, instead of just saying "this leik totally sux and makes me want to vomit". It's stupid and only makes me laugh at you. So, with all that said…on with the sh-story!

(I do not own Danny Phantom. If I did, would I really be writing fanfiction?)

The crunching of gravel beneath my feet was the only sound that interrupted the still night air. A steady rhythm was being beaten out in my mind as if someone with a bass drum was hiding somewhere in my cerebral cortex.

I closed my eyes and let the faint wind whisper through my bangs and caress my face. I sighed as the tendrils of wind played over my eyelids and danced across my ears. It was crisp; not quite freezing, but cold enough to assure me I wasn't asleep.

I opened my eyes again and dug my hands into my pockets. For the first time in hours, I looked around and took stock of my location.

Dilapidated houses with overgrown dying grass surrounded me. Chain link fences and broken down cars and trucks. Definitely not the high class end of town.

But I didn't care.

I simply walked. Yet even though my feet were stepping with a calm and steady beat, I was running away again like I had done so often. My gaze dulled again and my mind traveled far away.

I had been back for three days, and I hadn't seen any of them. Not one.

I vaguely heard a bell ring as I stepped through a doorway. My eyes focused, and I realized I was in a gas station convenient store.

Whatever.

The man standing behind the counter glanced at me, his bloodshot eyes half closed.

Sleepy.

Drunk, maybe.

I walked to the back of the store to the refrigerated section, slid open the glass, and pulled out a 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper.

After paying for it with the last of my money and stepping back into the chill night air, I realized I was across the street from the park.

A sign reading 'Amity Park' dangled at the top of a post, readable only by the dim lamplight cast over it from an ancient streetlamp nearby.

I had long ago stopped questioning fate, so, shrugging, I stepped into the trees.

It was darker, and I could feel my muscles start to relax with the added cover of the 'forest' around me.

I unscrewed the cap to the soda and took a swig.

Carbonation danced in my throat as I swallowed, and I could feel my surroundings come into sharper focus as I woke up.

A minute later, and I tossed the empty bottle into a nearby trashcan.

Invigorated, I bounced in place for a couple seconds.

I longed to just jump in the air and fly, to feel the wind hammering against my face as I freed myself of the gravitational chains that currently bound me. It would be so relaxing.

So calming.

But I couldn't, and I knew it. If anyone saw me….

…

I sighed.

After four years…

…..Was I really back?