So last time we spoke, I said it would be up to a couple of weeks before my next update on this story, but apparently I lied, because here I am with an update. My fingers just couldn't help themselves., they started typing and playing around with this right after I posted the first chapter and they finished it quite quickly, to be honest. But I had to let it set for a few days before I went back to proof-read, and it's a good thing I did, because I caught a few mistakes that spell check didn't. I remember rereading this one sentence about a million times because for some reason it didn't sound/look quite right, but I couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with it. So finally I just had a sort of "a-ha!"/"duh!" moment where I realized that I had been reading the word "said" as "sad", which is why it didn't look right. So I took out the 'i' and everything else just sort of fell into place from that moment on. Moral of the story: Don't trust spellcheck, kids; that bitch'll lie to your face and mess your story up so fast you won't even know what hit you. I was one of the lucky ones, but every day spell-check has thousands – nay, millions of victims that fall prey to its trusting eyes... For those of you who plan on going out on a limb and trusting spell-check completely... I shall pray for you.
Alrighty then, I have officially weirded myself out, so, with that in mind, enjoy chapter two of Be There!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or anything else that I might imply that I own. So, for future references, trust me about as much as you trust spell-check, which I hope isn't much, but hey, I won't tell you how to live your life...
Be There.
A Danny Phantom fanfiction
By: Hisa-Ai.
Chapter Two:
Exit Wounds.
As soon as Mr. and Mrs. Fenton arrived at the school and quickly slapped their signatures on the papers Miss Julia shoved under their noses, Sam, Tucker, Danny, and Jazz were out the office door, practically running to the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle/RV and leaving Jack and Maddie blinking after them for a second before regaining their wits and running after them, not one of them bothering to shout parting words behind them to the secretaries. There really wasn't any sort of time for that.
Once everyone was strapped into the RV – Maddie and Jack in the front and the kids in the back, Sam next to Danny next to Tucker next to Jazz – Jack took off, barely flying through the streets at the accepted speed limit.
Somehow or another, they made it to the hospital without getting pulled over – thanks in large to Danny, who was making the assault vehicle invisible and/or intangible when he needed to so they wouldn't get pulled over and ticketed; that was not something they needed to happen right now – and Jack parked the car, sliding into the first empty parking spot he came upon. Throwing open all the doors, everyone got out of the car and made a beeline for the hospital entrance, taking the two flights of stairs that started at the curb and went up to the door two, three at a time.
At the door, Tucker hung back for a brief second, weighing his fear of hospitals against how much his friend needed him at the moment, but moved in with the rest of them when Danny looked back and shot him a look; Sam would over-come her fears if he needed her to, he conveyed with his angry blue eyes. Tucker nodded and held his breath as he walked through the automatic doors to avoid being hit with the smell of antiseptic, cough syrup, and, well, death and sickness, as that was, more than anything, what freaked him out the most when he first entered any sort of hospital, doctor's office, or nurse's office. Once he needed a breath, though, he let out his stale air through his mouth ever so slowly and breathed back in through it, trying to get himself used to the scent slowly, though it probably wasn't the brightest idea in the world whilst running down the hallway, he figured being a little light-headed was better than passing out completely…
The Amity Park Hospital/Emergency Room was only one floor high, but that one floor more than made up for its lack of other floors by the mere size of it. Usually, the enormous size of it never failed to amaze Sam and Danny on the handful of occasions that they'd had to be inside of it, but they had never been inside of it under these conditions and therefore had little time to marvel at it this time around.
Right when you entered the hospital, the first thing you noticed – other than the strong odor – was the reception area, which was a circle kiosk like place with glass all around and four different women inside of it, one on each side. Each of the women had a computer and a phone sitting near her with a wall of different sorts of files making a cross between them. In this particular hospital, there were about six or seven of these reception areas scattered about, all placed strategically where people would, more likely than not, get the most use out of them. The rest of the kiosks had both men and women working in them, this one being the only one to be filled with all women.
Under normal circumstances, the reception area was where one would go to first when first entering the hospital, but in this case, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Mr. and Mrs. Fenton just rushed right past them, already knowing where they were heading, so it seemed.
On the side of the hospital they had entered on – and there were five different entrances – past the reception area and the gift shop, there was a hallway that led to a set of double doors with a big, red, glowing sign that said "Emergency Room" on it, beyond which was the open area of the emergency room, each patient separated by curtains to make things easier on doctors and hospital staff. Just a bit before the entrance to the ER and in the hallway leading up to the ER, there were lines of rooms with chairs outside of each of them and numbers and letters written above each of the doors. These rooms were reserved for patients who came from the ER and needed either more in depth help, or who were being admitted from there period. Sitting outside one of the rooms just before the ER were Tucker's parents, each with grim expressions on their faces.
"Angela! Maurice!" Maddie called as they neared them. Both Foleys jumped out of their seats at the sight of the group and swallowed as their eyes landed on Sam. She was just a kid; how were they going to bring themselves to break this news to her? She was going to find out eventually, but how could they look her in the eyes and crack her world down the middle? But they supposed it was better to hear it from someone she knew than some random doctor who would use words that were too big and just freak her out by prolonging the deliverance of the final blow…
Sam, Tucker, and Danny were at the front of the group, standing nearest Tucker's parents and the rooms they were sitting outside of. Sam tried looking around them in hopes of seeing into the room to try to piece things together herself, but all the doors in the hall were closed. That did not make her feel better by any means. She looked back at Danny and shook her head, biting her lip to keep from crying, Tucker's parents weren't this quiet – especially not his mom. No, this was worse than she thought it was going to be, wasn't it?
"Mom! Dad!" Tucker started, looking from his friends to his parents, finally used to the strong smell the whole hospital seemed to be emitting. Danny reached over and grabbed Sam's hand, and held it tightly in his own as they prepared themselves for any sort of news. "What happened? Are Sam's parents alright? Why were we pulled out of school?" Tucker asked worriedly. His parents glanced at him then back at Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, exasperated. From the look they were giving them, they figured it was anything but good news, and as such were about to suggest the kids go wait elsewhere while the adults talked, but they knew that there would be no getting rid of them. Not when it came to this. With a sigh, Maddie shrugged her shoulders and nodded for them to continue.
"Sam, why don't you sit down?" Mrs. Foley asked gently, gesturing to the chair she had just been sitting in, but Sam shook her head; she was fine where she was right next to Danny. Where she knew she was safe. Where she knew there'd be someone to catch her if she fell.
Mrs. Foley sighed and looked to her husband, wondering if he was really going to make her do it or if he would share the burden, but he just shook his head at her, he wasn't exactly looking forward to this either…
Sam pursed her lips as her blood started boiling with anticipation and anger, would they just spit it out already! It was bad enough not knowing anything the whole ride over, but now that she was where she could find things out the only people among her who knew anything weren't talking… If she wasn't sure Danny would stop her, she would have gone off and found someone who would have told her something. As it was, she was already upset; why were they making this so much harder on her than it already was?
"Sam, honey…" Mrs. Foley finally started again, having given up on her husband being the one to break the news. "Your parents and grandmother, they were… there was an accident," Sam inhaled sharply; it was one thing to hear that from Lancer, a teacher who hadn't known anything at the time he had delivered the news, but it was another thing entirely to hear it from people who had spoken with doctors and knew what was going on. It made the whole situation just seem so much more… Real. She tried desperately not to notice the look both Mr. and Mrs. Foley were giving her, tried not to read anything into her tone, but… She knew, anyway, how her sentence was going to end. Preparing herself, she squeezed Danny's hand and bit her lip. Now she was ready to take the hit. Well, as ready as she would ever truly be. "And… I'm so sorry, sweetheart, but…" Mrs. Foley's eyes started to water even before she finished, giving it away entirely to everyone else.
Jazz let out a gasp as she realized where Mrs. Foley was going with this. Even as she tried desperately with her family and friends to hang on to the hope that it wasn't as bad as it could be, she knew, in the pit of her stomach, that it was as bad as it could be, as it could ever be. She looked around Danny at Sam and saw the Goth's face was as pale as any ghost she had ever seen, not to mention stained with her black make-up. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying not too long ago, and once Mrs. Foley finished her sentence, Jazz was sure they would be even redder…
"I'm afraid… they didn't… None of them made it. I'm… so sorry." Mrs. Foley finished, wiping away a few stray tears. Silence erupted in the hallway then, and no one said a word, their eyes boring into Sam, who once again had tears streaming down her face. Danny wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, swallowing as he tried to come up with something to say. What could he say, though? He knew she wouldn't want him patronizing her, he knew she wouldn't want meaningless words, but what could he say that would mean something? That would mean something to her? What could he say that wouldn't sound totally stupid and insensitive?
Sam tried wiping the tears away, smudging her make-up even more than it already was, but they just kept coming, – damnit, why did they keep coming? Anger rose up in her chest and she fought the urge to scream, why couldn't she just get a hold of herself? Why couldn't she swallow her stupid tears and ask the questions that were pounding against the inside of her head? Why couldn't she just find out what happened? Why was everyone so fucking quiet? Why were they just standing there watching her cry? Why weren't they asking the questions she couldn't? God, why couldn't she just stop crying already! She turned then and threw herself against Danny's chest, she didn't care anymore how much her make-up smudged or how dirty she was getting his shirt, she just wanted to be some place safe, someplace where she knew she had someone looking out for her and not just looking at her, gauging her reaction to everything and hiding things from her, trying to spare her. And somehow, that place turned out to be in Danny's arms. The only place in the world she felt whole anymore.
"Oh, Sam…" Danny sighed, wrapping his arms around her, knowing this was better than any words he could come up with in a million years.
Behind him, his parents moved to the front of the group and stood between them and the Foleys. His mother put her hand on his shoulder and looked out to the reception kiosk, somewhere around the kiosk and the ER there was a waiting room, as it was, with a bunch of chairs and some vending machines, she wondered if it wouldn't be better for Danny to just take Sam there and wait while she and the rest of the grown-ups worked everything out. As sad as this was and as challenging as things were going to be for Sam from that moment on, there were still things that needed tending to, legal things such as Sam's guardianship, her parents' will, funereal arrangements, there were family members to contact and so many other things…
No one expected Sam, of all people, to attend to those sort of things, and Maddie wasn't even sure that Sam would want to talk about any of that at the moment – No, she was almost sure she wouldn't. So maybe it would be better if she and Danny – and Tucker and Jazz, too, for that matter – went off for a bit while they worked through whatever they could. And of course, Maddie still wanted to know what had happened exactly…
"Wait, so, can I ask? What happened? How did they die?" Tucker asked his parents suddenly, sensing that Mrs. Fenton was about to send them off. Danny glared at him over Sam's head as she tightened her grip on his shirt, it wasn't that she didn't want to know, it was just that she wasn't ready to know. Not now, not when she was already such a God damn mess.
"I…" Mrs. Foley looked to the Fentons, sending Maddie in particular a look that asked whether she thought it was appropriate to talk about it just yet in front of Sam. Maddie just shook her head, though; this was neither the time nor place for such matters.
"Not now, Tucker. Later." His mother finally told him. He looked defeated but accepted her answer, looking back to Sam and Danny. No, he agreed, it probably wasn't the time for that, was it? Damn.
"There's a waiting room around here somewhere – why don't you kids go find it and wait for us there? Are any of you hungry? Here, I'll give you some money for snacks. Jazz, you go with them, alright? Keep an eye on things?" Mrs. Fenton said, handing her daughter some bills from her pocket. Jazz nodded obediently, stuck the money in her pants pocket, and turned to the others. Tucker just shrugged and turned around, waiting for Danny to peel himself off Sam so they could follow as well. If there hadn't been an audience, Tucker was sure Danny would have just used his ghost powers to get Sam someplace away from all this mess until she calmed down a bit, but as it was that was not an option at the moment, so Danny carefully pried Sam off him, hooked his arm around her waist and began to lead her away, following Jazz and Tucker away from their parents.
Jazz led them just around the corner to where a map was posted on the wall to study it for a second, trying to figure out where they were in relation to where everything else was and where that damn waiting room was...
Danny leaned up against the wall near her studying eyes, Sam doing the same next to him, her head resting carefully on his shoulder as she tried not to cry any more than she already was. Chancing a glance around the room to study what else this hospital had to offer – other than death and suffering, of course – a cool wisp of air escaped his lips, making him freeze on the spot. Narrowing his eyes, he gave the room a thorough once over, trying to find who the hell he was sensing to see if it was worth it to leave Sam in the hands of Jazz and Tucker while he took care of whoever had the gall to show their ugly mug on this dreadful day. The whole room, however, seemed to be ghost-free, so he wondered if maybe he was just cold or stressed or whatever, but then, right next to Sam, he saw a pair of glowing red eyes suddenly vanish and an evil cackle resonate in his ears, sending shivers down his spine.
He didn't recognize the eyes, but whoever they belonged to, they meant business. And Danny was willing to be money that they had caused the "accident" that caused the deaths of Sam's parents and grandmother. He also knew one other thing about them…
Whoever they were, they were going to seriously pay for what they had done.
And this time, Danny meant business.
So. Who else loved the ending of this chapter? The part with the red eyes and the evil laugh and the whole, "Mother fucker's gonna pay" thing? I'm sorry, but that was awesome! I don't care who you are, that was bad-ass.
Now I'm sure there is a ton else you could say about this chapter and I'm sure you have quite a few questions, most of which I'm also sure will be answered shortly. Or eventually. Or never. I don't actually know yet; once again, I'm just sort of playing this fic by ear. Anyway, I'm sure you noticed that while I mentioned Jack a handful of times, he didn't actually have any lines in this chapter, and that bugged me, so I can only imagine how you all must be feeling. Especially all you Jack fans out there – don't deny you exist, I see you all back there in the corner, eye-balling Jack and secretly wishing Maddie would get together with Vlad so you could have Jack all to yourselves. That's right, I'm on to you. But sweetheart, Jack is a married man; you're just going to have to get over it and go after Danny like the rest of us; if we got over him, so can you. Now, I know that might seem hard because of his obsession with ham, ghosts, and fudge, but it is possible. I promise.
Alright, in all seriousness now, the reason Jack didn't have any lines here is because I didn't know what he would say in a situation like this, so let's all just pretend that he had too much fudge in his mouth to really say anything this chapter, m'kay? And in exchange for your cooperation, I promise I will work on getting Jack a few lines in the next chapter. Deal? Good, now on to other matters.
I'm sure you must be wondering what some of the questions you should be asking yourselves right about now are, right? Good thing, too, because I'm going to name a few for you:
Are Sam's parents really dead?
Who killed them?
What was this so-called "accident" that "killed" them?
Who is going to be Sam's guardian now that her folks are "dead"?
Will I ever stop putting quotation marks around "accident," "killed," and/or "dead?"
What's going to happen next?
I feel as though I should tell you that out of those six questions, I can say with complete confidence that I know the answers to three of them, and I know half-answers to the other three. Just to let you know where I'm at with that. If any of you would like to take a whack at answering any of those questions yourself, feel free to drop me a PM or a review with said answers; I'm dying to know your theories...
And one more thing before I go: This chapter's title was inspired by the following lyrics from yet another song by The Script – in case you didn't already know this, they're my favorite band. Parachute is my second favorite band, but we'll get to that – and it's called "Exit Wounds" which is, again, off their second album "Science & Faith." Amazing song, amazing band, amazing album, go check it out. So, here are the lyrics that I think best fit this chapter, and if you disagree, be sure to let me know why:
And it hurts so bad
That I search my skin
For the entry point
Where love went in
It ricocheted and bounced around
And left a hole when you walked out, yeah
I'm falling through the doors of the emergency room
Can anybody help me with these exit wounds?
I don't know how much more love this heart can lose
And I'm dying, dying from these exit wounds
Be sure to let me know what you think!
Always,
~Hisa-Ai~
