Madeline Fenton was a reasonable woman, or so she tells herself. She is a scientist, constantly looking for proving her theories, separating the truth from the fraud. Using everything at her disposal to her advantage. She is smart, her kids took that from her, one more than the other. So it was very understandable when the thought occurred to her that one of her kids is controlled by an evil ghost.
Now for anyone else in any other town that would be an outrageous accusation, probably made by a crazy woman, but no, not here in Amity Park and not in the Fenton's household. This was very rational, at least that's what Maddie Fenton thought.
Years of researching these despicable creatures had Maddie knowing everything she needed to know to destroy them. She put in mind every move those things might try against her and her husband, but never in a million years would she have predicted what she found out. A ghost had taken over her son's body, it even made Danny's friends believe it was her sweet son.
'...Poor kids...' I thought as I made my way to the bedroom. On my way I pass my dear son's former bedroom.
' He is in a better place now.' I tried to remind myself 'That Phantom demon is getting what he deserves.'
Jack and I had discussed what to do with that scum, once we found out what happened to our son. We knew we had to do something, but we needed evidence. We needed a proof that that boy really wasn't our son.
After four months we almost lost hope, we started to doubt our theory. Maybe we were really bad parents. perhaps we neglected our children so much that we don't even know them anymore.
In that time Danny became more and more distant. I felt like I was losing my son in front of my eyes, but can do nothing to save him, or the bond we had when he was younger.
" Danny…." God, I missed my boy. I still remember what happened for them to find out like it was merely a few hours ago.
We were working on a new device, one that will help us to locate and capture that Phantom scum.
"Jack, is everything ready?" I asked my dear husband.
"Not yet, Cupcake." He responded with a skeptical tone.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Something wasn't right I just knew it.
"Well, I think so… The device says that the ghost boy is here in the house." He had a worried look on his face and I knew my face mirrored his.
Hurrying up the stairs we went down the hall, following the signal. Finally we stopped, only to realize we stood in front of our son's room.
"That can't be right…" said Jack. Before he went to open the door, I stopped him.
"Wait, Jack, maybe we shouldn't barge in." I kneeled, looking through the key hole, while Jack strained his ears against the door to hear what was going on inside.
I gasped softly as I saw with my own eyes Danny, my baby boy, bleeding, green blood.
He was hurt, I was tempted to go help him stitch himself up, ask him what was wrong, who did this. Then I realized, this isn't Danny. This thing isn't even human. I beckoned Jack to come and see. Once he looked through the hole, I could almost see the gears working in his head.
A few moments later, he got up from the floor, wordlessly, going down the stairs. I followed him, confused.
"We can't jump to conclusions this time, Maddie." He said once I went into the kitchen.
"I know, Jack, but what are we going to do?" I asked . I was confused, worried and most of all, scared. Afraid for my son's well being or of what he became, I didn't know, and I truly didn't want to find out.
"I really don't know… We, we have to wait, until we are one hundred percent sure what we saw was true, that our minds weren't playing tricks on us." I nodded numbly remembering what I saw, my son binding himself, the bandages tinted green.
'What would I do to erase that image from my mind.'
That was four months before. A few weeks ago, Samantha and Tucker, Danny's friends, came to us. They told us, everything, from the portal accident to Freak Show to Dan to the fire. Danny caused it, my son almost killed his friends and their families in there. NO, that ectoplasmic being is not my son. No, my son is dead. Samantha knew that too, I saw it in her eyes. Tucker on the other hand, had his doubts. I needed to keep an eye on him.
After days of debating what to do, Jack and I realized something. As much as we wanted to dissect ghosts, knowing that the one in our hands was in our son's body, acted like our son, even looked like him, it filled us with rage, but we knew we couldn't do it. It was too much to handle. So we decided, to give him to the guys in white.
That was earlier today. I can still remember his screams, oh how he sounded like my son. I hope they hurt him, I know I would have done that.
'That, that being, he, he took him, my son is no more, and it's that ghost's fault' I noticed the tears running down my cheeks, but I didn't wipe them away. I just continued on my way to our bed, a nightmares-plagued night like always.
Jazz is coming today. Christmas is coming soon, after all. I wonder how she will take the news of what happened to Danny.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY BROTHER?!" my usually sweet little girl shouted.
"Jazz, sweetie, that thing was not your brother." I said trying to calm her.
"NOT MY BROTHER?! THING?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO SUCH THING TO YOUR CHILD!"
"Jazzy pants, you don't understand. Phantom-"
"Phantom IS Danny!" said Jazz, calming down a little. "I can't believe you were too blind to see that."
"That ectoplasmic scum is NOT our son." I said losing my patience.
'Why can't she understand'
"Our Danny-boy is dead, Jazzy." said Jack sadly.
"Danny is not dead. He got zapped by the ghost portal an-"
"The ghost portal killed our boy and Phantom got hold of his body to hide from ghost hunters." Jack cut her off, his anger flaring.
"No! listen to me for a second!" said Jazz now being the one to try and calm us down, but we were far from calm.
"No! You listen Jasmine. Danny is gone! Phantom took him and we made it pay dearly." I said smiling knowing the things they are going to do to it.
"What did you do?" Jazz asked softly, and was that worry and fear for that thing, that I heard in her voice?...
"Don't worry sweetie. That ghost is getting what it deserves as we speak." Said Jack with a smile I knew mirrored my own.
A look of horror and hate appeared on my daughter's face, that got me worried.
"Dear where are you going?" I asked noticing my now-adult daughter going to the door.
"Jazzy pants…?" called Jack softly when she didn't answer.
"Don't call me that!" said Jazz sternly, not looking at us, her own parents.
"Jaz-"
"I said don't call me that!" said the young girl angrily, now facing us.
"You have no right to call me that! You hurt my baby brother! No one hurt my brother! You aren't my parents or his!" she said, and honestly, I should have been more hurt, if I didn't know that the Phantom kid had something to do with this.
'Just like Samantha and Tucker, he had her under its control. Don't worry Jazz, you will come along eventually.' I thought as my daughter left through the door to go who knows where. I knew my husband shared the same thought.
It has been two years since Phantom left town, but still ghosts kept coming, weaker ones, yes, but they still came. As weak as they are it's still hard to catch them.
I was patrolling the streets of Amity when I found it. Two ghosts were wandering the streets, or so my detector told me. Following the two dots wasn't that hard. I ended in front of an ally.
"Mads, wait for me." My husband's voice stopped me. Looking to my right, I saw him jogging to catch up to me.
Together we went into the ally, quietly. The two ghosts were supposed to be up ahead. Looking up I saw two persons, a short man in a suit and a woman, her hair up like two horns. After meeting Phantom, I knew not to get deceived by their appearance. They knew that too, if the evil grins on their faces were any clue.
"Alright ghosts, you are going with us nicely or should we start shooting?" I said trying to egg an answer out of them, and to see how smart they are, not that they can be that intelligent.
"Oh, Bertrand, look, the humans actually think we will give up that easily." said the woman to her companion.
"Pathetic, little humans." the man replied.
But before I could so much as blink, the man lunged at us, turning into a tiger mid-jump.
'Definitely not human.' I thought as my husband was tackled by that tiger thing.
Just as I was about to help Jack, an ecto blast hit my chest. Then a fist collided with my cheek. suddenly I found my feet leaving the ground. I didn't scream, my dignity didn't allow it, instead I struggled to get out of the female ghost's hold on me. Finally I got out of it, only to realize she was the one to let go of me. This time I screamed bloody hell as I was falling to my potential death.
I hit the ground, hard. Pain went through my body. I couldn't take it. Black started to take over my vision. One thought went through my mind.
'Would I meet Danny in the after life?'
