A/N: An odd idea that occured to me today.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or any characters affiliated. Butch Hartman does.
Cheshire Grin
It was the first day of school. It was supposed to be a rough day, adjusting to school life once again.
But it wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be the day Danny Fenton collapsed. I'm not entirely sure what had happened. He had fallen to the floor, twitching, looking up at us with these big, round blue eyes.
I found it unreal. I put a hand on his shoulder to ask him for some paper, when he just collapsed. He banged his head on Foley's desk, then hit the linoleum. Lancer rushed up to him, and everyone got up and looked at him too. He almost looked like he was having a seizure.
But his eyes were clear. And the way he looked at us all. As if we had betrayed him somehow.
He was rushed to the hospital, of course, and he recovered.
The next week, he was back.
And then . . . just a few days later, he was gone. They say his father killed him. Mr. Fenton went on trial, and was given a lifetime sentence.
Mr. Fenton was let out of jail for his son's funeral. I went, as did a good many of his classmates.
The funeral was the last time anyone ever saw Danny Phantom. Only a few spotted him hovering behind us all. That Manson girl, who looked oddly happy at the presence of the spirit, and Mr. Fenton, who seemed very perturbed.
And me. I seemed to see what no one else did; the huge grin on his face, and the ironic salute he gave before he faded out almost all the way . . . except for his grin. Just like the Cheshire Cat of Alice in Wonderland.
I never noticed before in any of the pictures of him, but Phantom had a cut across his upper lip. I thought about this briefly before it was my turn to look at Fenton's body.
He was dressed in a black suit, hands folded across his chest, mouth and eyes crazy-glued shut.
'Wow . . . only a week ago, I went to school with this boy,' I thought, and sighed. Then I caught notice of something.
A thin scar on his upper lip, just where Phantom's was.
It all clicked, suddenly, and I stumbled back from the platform, allowing the next person in line to pay his respects.
By the time I had gotten back to my house, I had my very own Cheshire grin stuck on my face.
After all, wasn't a thought like that enough to drive one mad?
A/N: Ask in a review if you'd like an explanation for anything, folks.