Sam screamed for help her little arms holding on for dear life to the roots of a tree growing out of the edge of a cliff. She screamed again and again knowing no one could hear her, her family too obsessed over the festivities at the grand house up over the hill. For the first time in her young life Sam Manson was actually scared of death. Screaming once more for help her grip on the tree roots slowly began to fail. As she slipped down the roots she begged and pleaded for god to send her an angel to save her. However, just as she finished her quick just barely five year old prayer her arms gave out and she began falling screaming for her life as she plummeted down ward.
"I gotcha!" Sam heard as arms wrapped around her small four year old waist. Sam grabbed onto the person that had saved her life and found herself looking into the most incredible glowing green eyes.
"Are you ok?" the eyes asked. Sam blinked taking in the face of her savior. He had soft white hair that reminded Sam of her mommy's wedding dress that was hanging in her mommy's closet. His eyes were green like the fresh buds on the trees. His face held a worried expression his full boyish lips set in a frown his white eyebrows crinkled up looking at her intensely. Sam's eyes widened as she gripped to the boy, she figured this was her angel.
"I think so." Sam said in a small voice. The boy smiled, he was probably around her age.
"Cool." He commented as he tried to extract his glowing limbs form the girl who had her arms around him in a death grip.
"Uh… we're on the ground now so you can let go of me." Sam's angel said. Sam jumped letting go of the boy not realizing they were on the ground.
"I was just making sure you were real, real people can't fly you know." Sam said in a condescending voice. The white haired boy laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. Sam noticed that his laugh was echoey and inhuman.
"I'm dead so I guess… I'm not really real no more." The boy shuffled. "Oh… I'm Danny." Danny introduced himself.
"Danny? That's a good name. I'm Sam… so are you an angel or something?" Sam asked. Danny shook his head.
"No, I'm a ghost." Danny said shyly.
"A ghost?" Sam said eyes wide then she poked Danny in the chest a few times which caused him to laugh a bit, "You sure don't feel like a ghost." Sam said folding her little arms in front of her suspicious, "Are you sure you're not lying to me?" Sam accused.
"No I'm really a ghost!" the white haired boy protested Sam shook her head.
"Nuh uh," She insisted, "Ghost are all see through and you can't touch them and stuff." Sam informed.
"But I am a ghost. I can show you." Danny professed folding his arms as he started to fade out of view till Sam couldn't see him anymore. Sam smiled, he was better than an angel.
"Cool." Sam started feeling around in the air in front of her where the ghost had been.
"That's my nose." Danny said coming back into visibility, Sam giggled as she let go of the ghost boy's nose. Then a strange though occurred to her.
"You're not gonna try and scare me then steal my body are you?" Sam asked horrified. Danny made a disgusted face.
"No! I'm a GOOD ghost!" Danny offended and somewhat upset. Sam laughed putting Danny back at ease.
"Ok, good, do you want to play with me?" Sam asked happily. Danny stared at her incredulous then nodded to use to people running away from him and happy to be included.
"Great!" Sam said pulling him along by his white gloved hand and running off playing tag. Sam forbid Danny from flying and Danny obliged after catching Sam's little fist in his stomach. Sam then accused Danny of cheating when he used his ghost powers and she sat on him till he agreed not to.
After a few hours of playing cheerfully (one game involving a game in which Danny had to play a vampire and then chased Sam around the vast field behind Sam's mansion) they collapsed giggling onto the grass. Sam sighed contentedly as the two four year olds wound down and stared up at the sky. Danny reached on glowing gloved hand out in front of him stretching toward the clouds. Sam put her plain glowless bare hand with the Nightmare Before Christmas bracelet next to Danny's glowing one.
"How come you're wearing that?" Sam asked sitting up suddenly and tugging at the black and white Hazmat suit the four year old boy was wearing. Danny sat up and looked at it.
"Oh… I kinda became a ghost when I was wearing this." Danny frowned his little lips tugging at the corners downward in a thoughtfully yet sad expression, "But it looks different now." Danny said. Sam's eyes went wide at the thought that the ghost boy next to her had been a human boy once, a human like she was.
"Did it hurt?" Sam asked a little scared.
"A little." Danny admitted trying to come off as strong. Sam blinked looking at Danny in a new light. She opened her mouth to ask more but she heard someone calling her name.
"My parents!" Sam exclaimed and stumbled trying to get to her feet. Sam looked back at Danny, "You should go home to." Sam said, Danny looked as his feet sadly.
"I can't… I'm a ghost." Danny said confusing Sam.
"So… you can't go home?" Sam wondered, "Why not!" She demanded thinking it would be better to have your child as a ghost then not have them at all.
"My parents hunt ghosts… I don't know if they even found me yet." Danny studied his white boots blinking back tears.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked confused wondering how they could find their ghost son or not if they did hunt ghosts Danny shifted his weight a little nervously.
"I… I died today." Danny whispered, "I don't know… I don't know if my mom and dad even know it yet… or…" Danny seemed to curl into himself, "or if they even… found my body." He barely breathed the last part and Sam looked horrified Danny flinched then realized Sam was crying.
"I… I'm sorry." Sam said she reached out to touch Danny on the shoulder.
"Sammy?" A woman yelled over the hill, she had long black hair like Sam's and was quite beautiful. Sam ignored her though more focused on Danny.
"Then where are your mom and Dad?" Sam asked.
"In Amity Park." Danny said rubbing one of his eyes.
"So how'd you get way out here?" Sam asked Danny shook his head.
"I got lost… I was flying cuz that was cool, then I got lost… then I saw you falling…" Danny said sadly, Sam nodded.
"Then you can stay with me!" Sam said, "Today is my birthday so we can have cake." Sam smiled, Danny joined in.
"OK." The woman with the black hair was getting closer.
"Turn invisible." Sam said, Danny nodded and went invisible as the black haired woman walked up.
"Sammy?" who are you talking to?" Victoria asked looking at her daughter.
"Danny, he's a ghost, he flew to far away and got lost, he's from Amity Park too!" Sam smiled up at her mother. Victoria nodded with a smile taking her daughter's hand in her own.
"Ok, well maybe we can take Danny home when we get back from our vacation, how about that sweetie?" Sam nodded then motioned for Danny to follow.
"Come on Danny." Sam said Danny smiled and nodded following the human girl and her mother to the house, but to call it a house was a little bit under describing the mansion. Sam walked up to the table that was in an indoor patio through large glass doors. Sam's family gather around the table and the little ghost peeked in the doorway awkwardly. After a few minutes Sam went over to him while the older family members were talking. A few other little girls were playing in the corner, one with long black hair the other with blonde and one with red hair. Danny thought they were all too princess –y for Sam to be hanging around. Sam grabbed Danny's now visible hand.
"You can come in." Sam said. Danny just shook his head.
"I don't think your family wants me here." Danny admitted looking in on the festivities. Sam nodded then looked back at the table.
"Ok, you can stay invisible… k? Then you can sit by me." Sam instructed. Danny nodded then turned invisible. Sam smiled and reached for Danny's invisible hand wrapping her little fingers around his. She let Danny's hand go as she sat down she talked to Danny in whispers as the black haired Latina girl glared at her.
"Freak." The girl said before going back to the presents. A smiling man came up and ruffled Sam's hair gesturing to the chair beside Sam.
"Hey chopstick my I sit here?" He asked making a move to sit.
"NOOOO!" Sam protested, "Danny is sitting there." Sam said sounding anguished. Jeremy gave his daughter a hard look.
"Samantha, let your Uncle Pete sit there." Jeremy said giving his daughter a hard look. Victoria rolled her eyes.
"No, it's alright Jem, let chopstick have her fun. Her imaginary friend can sit here." Pete then bowed to deeply to the chair, "My apologies Mr. Danny." Pete said, Sam giggled.
"Danny is his first name silly." Sam said. Pete put on a look of mock shock.
"So what is Danny's last name?" Pete asked. Sam's little eyebrows screwed up in though as she tried to remember.
"I don't know. Danny what is your last name?" Sam asked as she leaned closed to the seemingly empty chair beside her.
"Phantom!" she announced a few seconds later then frowned and leaned closer to the chair, "I think Phantom sounds cooler." Sam said defiantly, Danny whispered his agreement and Sam smiled. This earned another condescending giggle from the girls in the corner and another "freak" from Paulina.
"Well then pardon me Mr. Phantom." Pete smiled and leaned close to the chair, "Just don't be trying anything with my niece you hear me." Pete glared in mock suspicion at the empty chair. Sam smacked her uncle in the arm.
"Stop it." Sam insisted. Pete smiled and Sam laughed. Pamela scoffed at the child and Victoria came out carrying a huge cake. Sam laughed as they sang happy birthday and blew out the candles. A grand Manson party for the youngest Manson yet.
After the party Sam sat on her bed with the invisible Danny.
"My Dad and Miss Pamela keep trying to get me to play with Barbies and those other girls, but those girls are mean and evil." Sam said as she played with her plush ghost Danny laughed, "And Paulina, she's so mean to the other girls, she says it's because they aren't rich like us but I think that they are still people right? I'm still richer than her anyway, so do I get to be mean to her? No!" Sam asked. Danny nodded then realized Sam couldn't see him.
"Yeah." Danny said agreeably Sam smiled.
"What about you?" Sam asked.
"My parents are scientists and stuff… that means that they do science stuff. They were ghost hunters too, they wanted to catch a ghost and tear it apart molecule by molecule." Danny shivered, "I'm scared they might do that to me." Danny sighed. Sam nodded.
"Sounds scary."
"Yeah, I wanted to be an astronaut." Danny cried. Sam reached for him finding his shoulder.
"I want to be the president." Sam said this caused Danny to laugh.
"Girls can't be presidents, that's a man's job!" Danny said. Sam glared.
"Can too! I'm going to be the president then you'll see!" Sam glared. Danny just laughed harder.
"But you're a girl!" Danny protested.
"Girls can be presidents!" Sam insisted. Danny stuck his tongue out. It flickered into visibility and Sam lunged toward it. The two fought like that for a while until Victoria came up and told Sam to go to sleep. Sam told Danny he had to sleep on the floor because no proper lady would sleep with a boy before she was married. Sam dangled her hand off the bed grasping Danny's invisible one in her own. The two fell asleep like that one ghost one human.