Evanescent Signs
The people of Amity Park start realizing things about the son of their most famous ghost hunters that they should have noticed a long time ago.
(Ch. 4) Hospitals and False Hope
In which Casper High students visit a hospital and chemo kids love Danny.
"You know our town is weird when this is the most normal thing we've ever done," Paulina commented dryly, looking out the window of the bus.
Star was sitting next to her, and although she desperately wanted to pass the next level of Candy Crush, she turned to her friend. "We won't be the only school there," she reminds.
"Yeah, but we'll be the only ones who find visiting dead kids normal."
"They're not dead," Star said, voice hard and even.
Paulina's eyes follow the stern expression as it passes over Stars face. "Sorry, that wasn't what I meant."
Star knew what she was implying. "I know. These are the kids in the last stages of their treatment," she whispered. "If it doesn't work..."
Both girls understood what their job was. The city of Chicago, Illinois had contacted all neighboring cities about allowing local high schools to visit their largest children's hospital. They voiced their concerns about the morale of their patients as they entered their last stages of cancer treatment and thought it best if people closer to their age would volunteer to visit and cheer them up. Not surprisingly, Mr. Lancer had decided to make it a school field trip throughout the entire week and now it was the sophomore class's turn.
They arrived at the hospital after about an hour and signed in at the front. Several other school groups were there, but all of the students were smiling except Amity Park's. Maybe it was because they didn't want to get their hopes up or maybe because this was a far cry from weird for them. Visiting kids who hung onto the balance of life and death was like going to high school for them. Just an everyday occurrence.
The head nurse smiled warmly at the class. She was dressed in her professional scrubs, but her hair was pulled in several directions and contained a variety of colored clips, obviously the work of someone under ten. "The kids are waiting, right this way if you please," she instructs, gesturing down the hall.
Grant Clemn Hospital had apparently sectioned off corners of their building and split the kids evenly amongst patient groups. Amity Park was to visit those who were in their final week of chemo therapy.
The class stopped at a glass door at the end of the hall. There were several beds clustered together inside the room with toys thrown all over the floor. "Their names are Amanda, Dylan, Florian, Xavier, and Tyler," the nurse explained. Her smile showed the class how attached she truly was to these kids. "All of our patients are rather shy, but these are a handful of our youngest ones: ranging from four to eight years old."
Lancer asked her a few questions, but the class was ready to meet the kids. Dash was the first one through the door, and surprisingly the kids paused to watch them. None of the children had hair, but one of them looked to be wearing a dress-up wig.
"Hey," Dash spoke, voice barely a whisper. He stepped closer to the kids, but they seemed to move farther away.
"You look funny," one of them said.
This had several of the students laughing at Dash's misfortune, but the jock took the insult in stride. He had a younger sister and knew how to deal with this. "Oh really? Are you sure because I think I can look even funnier if you put some of those clips in my hair."
Two of the kids giggled and showed their handful of accessories. "Nu-uh! You 'ould look be-u-te-ful," the one in the wig said matter-of-factly. "We make you look best!"
Dash was already kneeling next to them and tilting his short hair towards their grabby fingers. "Show me then," he challenged.
They practically tackled the jock to reach him first. Mikey and Star joined their friend on the floor as the two kids ran out of room on Dash's head. Apparently, his hair was "too short to make more pretty" so they started combing Star's into braids and Mikey's into little ponytails. Dash remained covered in glitter clips.
Valerie was the one to approach the two remaining children. Both were still eyeing the newcomers with guarded expressions. "What are your names?" she asked, settling down crisscross applesauce next to their pile of toys. Nathan and Paulina followed her, but remained standing.
The boy on the right shrugged. At least it was a response.
"Can you tell me what you're drawing?" Valerie asked, voice soft. She noticed that both boys seemed to be creating a picture with colored pencils. "The girl over there is an artist too." She pointed at Paulina who took the cue and nodded, reaching for a pencil.
The kids were less than enthusiastic about sharing, but once they saw Paulina start to draw a cartoon version of the two of them, they warmed up to her easily. After five minutes of watching her sketch, they began to call out things she could draw and even allowed Nathan and Valerie to help as well.
Ignoring Nathan's starstruck expression at sitting next to his crush was hard, but Valerie managed for the sake of the kids, and thankfully Nathan had enough sense to know what was appropriate behavior in a hospital.
As they got to know the kids better, Lancer and the nurse stayed outside to watch from the window, deciding it best not to interfere with the tentative peaceful atmosphere the students created. The class had settled easily, but one thing Kwan happened to notice was the final child refusing to move from the corner he had hidden himself in. "Hey, do you want to play?" he asked, gaining the attention of the students and kids.
"Florian don' like you," the girl in the wig giggled, clipping a pink strip into Mikey's red hair.
"He doesn't want to play with us?" Paulina asked, holding out a colored pencil with a smile. Her kindness was rewarded with a glare.
"Florian does not like nobody," the boy urging her to draw said, shrugging. "He never want to play."
The boy in the corner didn't rise to the bait. Instead, he sneered at them and turned his head around the room, sharp eyes watching everyone carefully. He paused once, and the group getting their hair done believed they finally caught his eye. Florian slowly uncurled his legs and stood. He was small, smaller than the other children at least, and shuffled to the teenager standing frozen at the doorway.
The class watched as Danny Fenton's expression seemed to drop. It was as if he had been desperately hoping none of the kids would approach him.
Florian stared up at Danny quietly while Lancer's class watched in awe as he lifted his arms to be picked up. Danny hesitated barely a second before he leaned down and eased the child into his arms.
"Florian like you!" the girl squealed, momentarily distracted. She rocked Dash's shoulders back and forth in excitement.
Dash laughed. "I see! I see!" he answered, turning to Fenton. "Looks like you snagged one, Fenton."
Danny's smile was extremely forced and everyone present- besides the children under ten- had to question whether he liked kids or not. "Seems like it, doesn't it?" he said, tone even as he watched the child in his arms with wide eyes.
Surprisingly Kwan was the one that came to his rescue. He saw how uncomfortable Danny was and stood up with his arms out. "Do you want me to take him?"
Florian reacted instantly by turning his head into the crook of Danny's neck. "No!" he cried, speaking for the first time.
"Aw, come on! I promise you'll have fun with me too."
Florian shook his head gently, peeking one eye out to look at Danny who was watching him. "Feels good." Danny stiffened at the childlike response and his expression looked even more pained.
Kwan looked for a sign from Danny, but the teenager shook his head and reached a hand up to clutch Florian's tiny hand. "It's fine. He'll be fine with me."
The class exchanged glances, knowing very well it wasn't the kid they were worried about. Before Lancer agreed to the field trip, Danny had expressed his dislike at the idea. His classmates thought it was because both his best friends had been forced to go earlier in the week with the senior class due to faulty seating arrangements and bad luck of the draw, but his dislike remained even after the announcement. Fenton was weird, but this was a pretty important trip so they were extremely confused by his refusal.
During the rest of their time there, Danny and Florian remained seated together on one of the beds. The students watched them like hawks, but neither spoke again. Sometimes Danny would reach up to rub a soothing hand against the six year old's back or hum a quiet tune none of them had heard before. Florian seemed to know it and as they neared their time to switch rooms, the two of them were singing softly.
The girl adding beads to Star's hair swayed. "I hear that b'for," she said, looking at Danny.
Her friend nodded. "Me too."
Dash reached up to poke their noses as they giggled. "Do they play music at the hospital for you guys?" Both kids shook their heads.
The boy drawing a heart on Valerie commented from the other side of the room, "You used to sing it in your sleep."
"Did not!" the girl snapped.
"Did too!" her friend replied, pointing at her. "You say you never, but you did. I heard it."
"You did also," the boy by Valerie said again. Before the two younger kids could respond again he explained, "Both of you always said stuff in your sleep, but when you first moved into the room with us you were humming that."
The girl was pouting so Dash smiled at her. "Is it so bad that you talk in your sleep?" he asked, laughing when she faced him with a betrayed expression.
"I don like tha' song no more," she answered, looking at the ground. "I don' need tha' song no more." Not liking the expression on her face, the students were thankful when Lancer and the nurse stepped back inside to interrupt them.
The head nurse apologized politely, but informed them that they had a few more groups to head to before they could head home. The class reluctantly stood up from their groups and hugged each of the kids goodbye. Dash, Mikey, and Star tried to take the clips out of their hair only to be stopped by the kids. They were adamant about the students remaining pretty and refused to let them take them out. The teenagers were touched and decided looking like a kindergarten art project wasn't too bad if it was only for one day. Besides, Mikey actually liked the pink strip and Star was particularly fond of the butterfly clip in her bangs.
The last to leave was Danny who received protests from the child in his arms.
"Please don't leave me," Florian whispered, gripping Danny's white shirt tightly. The teenager had carried them to the door and looked like he wanted to ask for help from the others.
The head nurse reached out to drag the child away, but he started to scream. "I've never seen him act like this before!" she exclaimed, looking apologetically at Danny.
"It's no problem at all," Danny said. He gazed down at the kid. "Florian, I have to go now."
"Please don't. I'm scared."
"I know you are," Danny whispered, clutching Florian tightly, hands curling around the child's head as if to protect him. "But I promise, it's going to be okay. You won't have to be afraid anymore."
Florian seemed to take a deep breath before nodding and loosening his death grip. He was immediately removed from the teenager by the head nurse who prayed he wouldn't make a scene again as she set him down.
The kids gathered at the door when the class left. The students were actually sad to have to go and hoped that all the visits wouldn't be so hard to leave because if they were then this was going to be a long day. These kids were too young to have been exposed to thoughts of death. Thankfully none of them seemed to bring up their treatment during the stay.
Danny walked behind the group and as they followed the head nurse down the next hall, the class could hear the echoes of Danny and Florian's song as they seemed to exchange their own unique goodbye.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
As the sophomore students of Amity Park guessed, the day passed slowly and painfully. After each group, it got harder and harder to leave the kids they visited behind. Something they noticed reoccurring was each time Danny Fenton would enter a room he stayed by the door. Sometimes kids would approach him, but other times they completely ignored him. It was the times when kids who ignored everyone else and immediately ran to Danny that the class could see how pained their classmate's face was.
They always knew Danny Fenton was different, but seeing that oddness follow him outside of Amity Park was a new experience.
Their final stop was at the room of Emily Montsuere who was twelve years old and the only occupant of room 314. "She's our miracle kid," the head nurse explained, walking the kids down the hall and smiling at her co-workers. "We've cured a handful of cases of child leukemia- which was unheard of until this year- but not only did her hair stay while on cancer medication, she started showing signs of recovery after a week of treatment!"
The nurse stopped at the doorway. "She gives all of us hope for the younger ones. Although other children have shown signs of the new drug healing them, her recovery has been the fastest." She turned the nob and gently pushed open the door. "Emily, sweetie? Are you awake?"
At her motion to move forward, the class stepped in the room and were almost startled at the song the girl laying in the bed was humming. It was the tune Danny and several of the other kids had been harmonizing since they came. Sure enough, Danny's expression was pained and he tried to place himself farthest away from the patient.
"Good Afternoon, Emily," the nurse greeted. "How are you today?"
Emily paused her singing long enough to respond. "Same as always. Everything hurts and I smell like a sewer," she huffed.
The class already liked her personality, and it seemed the nurse found her amusing as well. "These kids are here to meet you."
"Great, more visitors," she said, tilting her head around. She paused for half a second when her eyes landed on Danny, but continued to survey the occupants of her room.
The head nurse excused herself quietly and followed Lancer outside. Dash looked like he wanted to take the lead again, but as soon as the door closed, the patient spoke first. Her head spun until her focus was on Danny. "I'm going to die, aren't I?" she asked.
Her question startled everyone into freezing for half a moment. Her tone was so even and certain that they didn't have enough time to recover before she spoke again. "You don't have to lie to me," she said, still looking at the teen desperately trying to hide in the back of the group. "I'm not young like the other kids."
"You're twelve," Valerie breathed, finally.
Emily shrugged, the IV in her arm following her movements. "Everyone's old enough to die so I think I'm old enough to know when." Her eyes tore away from Valerie to stare at Danny again as she asked, "I'm going to die, aren't I?"
A pause, then Danny said, "Yes."
Emily snorted as if she knew the answer all along. "Figures."
"Fenton, you can't just say something like that!" Dash hissed, rounding on the smaller teen who met his angry gaze.
"Hey, be happy he only said it to me," Emily defended. "I'm sure he could have told a bunch of the others the same thing. I've been hearing that damn song over and over again since you guys got here." And then the twelve year old girl who was just told she was going to die began to sing a song with no words. The melody was louder than how Danny hummed it and the sound traveled out the door and down the hall because suddenly it was echoed by other little voices.
Danny himself was humming along with them.
"Stop that," Paulina pleaded, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Please." The teenager listened to her, but the haunting melody echoed even as the other voices slowly trailed off.
"How long do I have?" Emily wondered, tone solemn.
"Minutes."
"Wow, that's like zero time at all," Emily laughed, covering her eyes with the crook of her elbow. "My mom's still out getting food. I don't even get to say goodbye." She uncovered her face to show the class how shaken she really was. "This is going to hurt her so much. They thought I was getting better."
Danny moved past the confused and slightly scared forms of his classmates to stand by her bed. His hand reached out to grasp the one not attached to the IV. He didn't say anything so Emily continued to fill the silence with her words as if she were trying to preserve her presence in the minds of these strangers.
"You know the song, and they can hear it. The doctors can't hear us, but our voices are so loud sometimes," she whispered solemnly, gesturing to the startled students. "What kind of lives do you guys live that make you able to hear the sounds of the dead?"
As his classmates were suddenly confronted with the significance of the song, Danny struggled to smile at the girl. "We see dead people."
Emily's startled laugh cut through the silence, but did nothing to relieve the tension. "Fine, keep your secrets, but it's not like I have time to tell anyone," she giggled, tone slightly hysterical. She calmed down and looked around the room at the teenagers. "You don't have to act so sad, at least I'm not alone."
As if suddenly realizing this girl was about to lose her life in front of them, they surged forward to surround her. "What are your parents like?" Paulina asked, placing a hand on the girl's bony shoulder.
"It's just me, my mom, and my sister. They're so loving and supportive of me."
"What are your favorite things?" Mikey panicked, words rushed together as he desperately attempted to soak up her presence before it faded.
Emily was happy to answer. "The color blue, goldfish- the crackers and the animal- and I love volleyball a lot. I never won a game, but my team was really nice to me."
Dash asked next, "How are you in school?"
"I hate science, but math has always been fun for me," she said, looking at their faces as several of their expressions crumbled. "I wanted to be an engineer. Go to the moon maybe."
Danny suddenly choked out, "Me too." Emily looked at him and said they must have a lot in common then.
Back and forth the students asked questions about her life and she happily answered them just as eagerly. As the responses started to trail off, the class found themselves half on her bed and each touching a small portion of her body. Emily had started off smiling at all of them, but she ended with a blank expression. The clock on the wall made small ticking sounds in the background, reminding the students of the urgency of the situation.
Emily suddenly tensed. Her head shook off a hand that had been running through her hair as she turned to face at Danny with a lost look in her eyes. "Can you help me?" she begged.
It was saddening for everyone present that her final words were a cry for help they could not answer.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
The sound a machine makes when it flatlines would be the only thing Amity Park's sophomore class hears in their nightmares for the next several weeks. Word traveled fast amongst the groups at the hospital and soon enough Amity Park was known as the group whose 'patient died in their arms.' The doctors and nurses were hysterical, but nothing beat the sound of Emily Montsuere's hysterical mother when she returned with her child's favorite meal.
They could still hear her screams.
Lancer was quick to remove them from the situation. It was unanimously decided that they should return home as quickly as possible, and they piled onto the bus in silence. The ride home was filled with reflection.
Not a sound broke the silence until Paulina suddenly hunched forward and sobbed, "It's not fair," with such resound certainty that it startled everyone.
"Mrs. Sanchez," Lancer quietly whispered, knowing there was nothing her could do to ease his student's pain. However, it seemed someone else did.
"Florian, six years old- he likes Oreos and reading nature books," Danny Fenton announced, arms crossed and continuing to look out the window. "Saisha, eight, likes the color pink, zebras, and toy cars. Johnathon, four, likes drawing and blue. Caitlyn, four, likes stuffed animals and blue. Hadrian, ten, likes playing monster, writing, and finger paints."
One by one, Danny listed off every child who he interacted with the most, their age, and their favorite things. Finally, he reached the end and looked at the students who she had spent her last seconds with, and said, "Emily, twelve years old, and the bravest girl we've ever met." He took the moment to look each of them in the eyes. "And someone we will never let go of."
Death wasn't something easy to move past, but as the teenagers from the most haunted town in America traveled home, they listened to Danny's humming as he sang the song of the dead, and were comforted by the tiny echoes of children's voices that followed it.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
A/N: I am so sorry.
I made a prompt for others a while ago, but ended up writing it myself:
Amity Park's sophomore class visits patients in their last stages of Chemo treatment. As they visit different groups, they notice that some kids seem to really like Danny Fenton and hum the same song. When they reach their last visit, they're confronted with the fact no one else but them can hear the children singing, and the reason why their voices call out is because they're dying.
Also, in case anyone is confused, the reason why the first little girl claimed she "heard the song before" was because before the treatment, her and the other boy were dying and sung the song in their sleep.