Present day

Daniel Fenton/Phantom

Numb.

That is the only thing I feel. I no longer cringe at the bloody scalpel on the tray beside me. I no longer struggle against the bonds that rubbed the skin on my wrists raw. I no longer scream in pain or fear of what is to come. Just numb.

Sometimes as I lay strapped down to a specimen table all by myself with only the lonely company of security cameras watching me, I think of all the freedoms I had. I missed the freedom of laughing. I miss flying through the calm Amity Park skyline at night. I miss being able to have a home. I mourn over my misfortune. I scream until my throat gives up at the monsters holding me in this Hell. I never get an answer and I never will. The only answer I will ever get is just laughter. I am just a freak. A freak to nature, to society, to them. I hate them all, for everything they have done to me and my family. The lies spoken, the pain inflicted, the horror revealed, and the horrid torture.

They want me to give up. My body agrees with them. But I can't and I will never give up. If I give up then I will give them what they want. And I will not give them the benefit of the doubt. Somehow there is still hope inside my broken corpse. I hope for freedom to do what I want. I have faith that someday these monsters will let me go. Either willingly or by force.

I long to fly across the Amity Park skyline at night. I long to feel the sun kiss my skin as I fly to school in the mornings, for a cool wind to ruffle the jet black locks on my head. I want a reason to laugh and have fun. I just yearn to be free.

A door suddenly opens and a doctor walks in with a clipboard in hand. Testing. Shots and sometimes extremely painful experiments. I crack open an eye to see the doctor who scowls at me. I let out a dejected sigh and close my lifeless green eyes. There is a sound of snapping of rubber gloves and then a low hiss.

"Worthless freak." The doctor mumbled and began to insert a shot into me.

The doctor sharpened a scalpel then attempted to cut into my already scarred skin. Right before the doctor could do anything an alarm went off in the distance. He sighed and stood up to leave. But before he left he teased me, "Now don't go anywhere I'm not done yet."

I shivered knowing full well what was going to happen to me as soon as the doctor got back to this room. The doctor closed the door leaving me alone in the ghost proof bonds that rubbed against my wrists. I tried to sooth my tense muscles by trying to sleep, but my sore body was too weary of what could come to relax.

.BEEP.

Alarms went off in my cell which was odd, usually only one alarm would go off during a drill. What if this wasn't a drill! What if someone was coming for me? No, no, Fenton get ahold of yourself, DO NOT get false hope here. I tried to not hope for the best but couldn't help it; my mind kept thinking about what could happen. This was the first time all the alarms went off in the compound. Could someone be here searching for me? Did someone figure out I was here?

I was drawn out of my thoughts when the door flung open. I gasped in happiness. Someone was here to save me! Maybe it was Sam and Tucker. Or even Jazz! Finally, I was going to be free from these demons holding me hostage! Yet, hope had a twisted way of working .Three bulky men in white suits marched in the room with handcuffs and a stick, yet it was not a normal stick. I knew that. This particular weapon shocked its victim with 100 volts of electricity. I knew from experience what pain that weapon brought first hand.

One man roughly took the chains holding me down on the chair off and shoved my sore body against the wall. Desperately I tried to claw myself off the wall to break for it, but with my jelly legs I wasn't fast enough to escape. The man with the stick noticed this and heartlessly beat me with the stick watching in humor as I dropped to the ground in pain and body convulse on itself. The third man smiled and handcuffed my hands and feet. Great Fenton, see what happens when you let hope get in the way. The first bulky man walked through the door then another pushed me through the door frame onto the floor and yelled at me to get off my butt. He held onto my neck tightly while the third walked behind me occasionally poking me with that horrid stick watching in pure sick joy at my pain.

I was escorted to a new part of the building where more guards were running around in every direction. Then all of the sudden something hard collided with the back of my head. It jolted me out of the guards grip and my vision spun. My stomach churned I felt the medicine I received form last night come back up and out of my mouth. Blood came up as well. The guards all stopped and laughed, but that didn't stop them from doing their cruel task. I was hit again four more times in the back with the stick and got yelled at to stand up. I groaned and attempted to stand only to fall down. My body wouldn't be able to stand this torture for a lot longer. My vision was already fading. More laughter was followed. I growled and sat up too quickly. My stomach churned and my vision blurred. All of the sudden there was a big crash and yelling. My vision was still blurry and there was so much noise it was hard to tell what was being said. I tried to sit up but gasped in horrendous pain. My vision went black and my body was cold. Once my vision was somewhat back I glanced down at my abdomen to see a piece of that horrible stick partially stuck there. Blood and ectoplasm was pouring out and I was feeling light headed. I couldn't hear a thing. All the voices around me were all one jumbled blob. I looked up and all I could see was white, black, red, and a hint of blue. Someone had broken inside then.

"AHHH!" I screamed as tears somehow made their way to my eyes.

The pain in my abdomen was awful and was getting increasingly worse as the minutes went by. I closed my eyes and gently placed my hands around the stick. If I didn't take it out then the Guys in White would and they would make sure it felt horrible. On the count of three, I told myself. One. Two. Three. Pull!

"AHHH!" the pain increased tenfold.

I scrunched my face up in pain. No one had noticed my shaking body. There was still yelling and the occasional blasting noise, but that was about it. My eyes were still closed and my hands were applying as much pressure as they could to my abdomen. A gentle hand was suddenly placed on my head and a silky voice followed.

"D-Danny?"

My heart stopped. That sounded just like…

"Sam?" I stuttered out trying to opening my eyes.

There she was. Dressed in her usual crop top with a skirt and tights finished off with her signature combat boots. I closed my eyes again and groaned. The pain was intolerable. I could feel myself slowly start to sink into unconsciousness. Sam must have noticed this and gently spoke to me again.

"Danny, stay awake please."

I opened my eyes again only to be disappointed. My vision blurry and I couldn't make out who was in front of me. My hearing was also failing me. The once gentle voices turned raspy. The gentle hand on my chest turned into something unpleasant. Had this whole ordeal actually been me hallucinating from blood loss? I never found out the answer because the next thing I knew was darkness.

I opened my eyes to a world of darkness. There was no distant sounds of other trapped specimen screaming or an occasional beeping of an alarm notifying a drill was in place. It was just silent. What had happened? Did the Guys in White drug me up to much? Was I dead? I flexed my fingers to make sure I wasn't and luckily and somewhat sadly I wasn't. I guess I was still locked up in my prison.

So what did happen?

As I rolled my head around I began to think of what happened before I blacked out. I remember there was a drill, but it wasn't actually a drill. Someone had broken in. But who? So, I was being drug away to another part of the facility then… Then what? No matter what I tried I couldn't remember for the life or rather half-life of me. I closed my eyes again. Maybe if I try to picture it I could remember.

Without warning of any kind a door creaked open and unleashed a light so bright I could see it through my already closed eyes. Another, softer light came to life overhead followed by multiple footsteps. I kept my eyes closed and put a relaxed look on my face. The footsteps stopped and then the whispers started. The voices were so light I could barely hear them. From the sound of the light voices there had to at least be three people in the room. So, if I was still with the Guys in White why haven't the shots started?

Once again the footsteps began, this time toward me. A gentle hand started to brush through my knotted hair as another pair of hands began to touch my abdomen area. The hands on my abdomen started to peel away something that semi-stung my skin. I kept the façade of a peaceful expression on my face though. A cool breeze was exposed on my midriff. Then what followed was pain.

My eyes flew open and a scream pierced the silent room. I looked down to see my midsection bleeding a mixture of ectoplasm and blood. My hands and feet were bonded to a lab table as my back arched. My head began to start replaying the events of what had occurred the day before. I had thought that I was being rescued but it was just a trick. I had been half-way impaled from the electricity stick. My mind began to feel as if it was imploding on itself and my stomach began to churn bringing up whatever medicine those Guys in White had ever gave me. Four pairs of hand tried to carefully relax my body and bring it down to the table, but I would not let them. I will not be restrained another day in Hell. My surrounding were spinning like a tornado around me and the bright lights burned my eyes. I screamed continuously and kept my eyes closed. It didn't matter what form I was in. I would not let those monsters touch me right now.

"Daniel calm down!"

I froze and let my body fall down making a thud. Only one person would ever in their right mind call me Daniel. My breathing became unsteady. Was I hallucinating again? My wild eyes snapped shut and I whispered to myself.

"Please stop."

I kept whispering this to myself and the room got silent. The only sound was my rasping voice pleading with all that was left of my heart to stop this cruel punishment. I would do anything for this punishment to stop. The raw fear creeped into my voice. I tried to swallow it down, but it was no use.

"WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?" I screamed in pain. My heart was aching from this punishment. I felt lonelier and broken. Like broken glass shards waiting to be picked up and thrown away without a second thought.

With a whimper I open my dazed eyes and stare at the gray ceiling. I could not make out anything in the mystery room. The dull eyes of mine were to out of focus and my brain could not function properly.

"I'll do anything just please stop this" My voice was barely audible and still sounded raspy.

"Please, not this punishment again! I'll do anything! I'm sorry! I'll behave! I promise!" I desperately whimpered out the request.

"Please kill me like you killed Skulker! Just not this again!"

Silence. The punishment was over. The Guys in White actually did have a heart. Who knew?

"Danny, what do you mean?"

My breath was caught in my throat. They were teasing me with this punishment.

"Please I will do ANYTHING just not this punishment!" I yelled in fear and began to thrash wildly.

"KILL ME! KILL ME LIKE YOU KILLED SKULKER! JUST PLEASE STOP!" I wailed and tears streaked down my face.

"JUST KILL ME! PLEASE!" I screamed and thrashed even more.

I could hear the other fake voices in the room as they were scrambling to find something. I kept screaming. My throat was itching and burning. My throat was so dry even as I yelled blood would come up. I finally felt the normal pinch of a shot and my movements became sloppy. My mind became hazy and my vision blurred. They are drugging me up again. The drug ran through my veins to try and give a fake dose of death. It worked only temporary though. I always woke up to the same Hell. The world became dark and a delicate hand rubbed circles on my face.