I told you I'd have it up soon!

Eh, this chapter's a rather short one... oh well, not one of my favorites, but it'll do... I only have two more chappies written already, so I need to get my butt in gear, and soon. Yes, I know, that was random. Yep...

Chapter Eight

Hatred. That's all she felt for him now. Pure hatred. But he deserved it. It was his fault, everything.

Click.

Danny barely felt the blood that ran through his fingers, or the pain that should have put his body in agony. It was all drowned out by the agony of his own heart.

Click.

She wanted to destroy him. Make him suffer for everything she had felt these past few weeks. Everything Jack must have felt in those last few seconds of life. He deserved it.

Click.

He needed to be punished. He needed to be shot, again and again. He needed to bleed.

Click.

Danny narrowed his eyes. What was that noise? It was interrupting his wallowing. Wait, he just said it again. Wallowing.

Letting out a laugh, he crawled to his window to see what was making that annoying sound. But the rain and his own tears blurred the world. Danny wiped his eyes and squinted down through the water.

His heart dropped to his knees.

"Sam?"

---

Sam almost screamed when she saw him. Blood, everywhere. Splattered on his clothes, the floor, the door, still oozing from somewhere on his stomach. Yet he was just sitting on his bed, smiling at her, like he didn't even feel anything.

"Danny? What the hell happened to you?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied, that smile still strong on his face. "I just realized what I've been doing wrong."

"I… Don't move." Sam ran to the door, trying to open it. It was locked. She almost screamed again, in exasperation. He would have just sat up here bleeding to death if she hadn't shown up.

She rushed down the hall, into the bathroom, and started grabbing towels and the first-aid kit. Then, she went back to Danny's room and locked the door. She thought she might have heard a "Sam!" from downstairs, but she didn't care.

Sam yanked his shirt off and began to clean the blood away. It looked as if part of his skin had been ripped away. The wound was a mixture of burns and long cuts. Biting her lip, she washed the area with disinfectants and wrapped several layers of gauze around the boy's middle.

Danny just watched her silently, his expression warm.

"Your powers should help heal it," Sam concluded, gazing at the mess of his room.

Danny saw her doing this, and reached out for her hand.

"I'll clean that up."

"Danny, you-"

He put a finger to her lips, quieting her. "I'm sorry Sam."

"For what?"

"You know what. I overreacted."

"No, I-"

"Did nothing. Nothing I didn't deserve. I've been doing everything wrong, Sam. I don't know why I didn't see it before, but all I've been doing is sitting feeling sorry for myself."

"Danny, you had every right to. I abandoned you."

"No, I had no right to." His smile suddenly fell. "I know it was my fault, that I'm the reason Dad's… But I still have a family to take care of. I think I've only made my mom more depressed than she already was, and Jazz has spent all of her spare time fretting over me."

"And keeping me away," Sam mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Danny, I'm glad that you aren't going to be dumping on yourself anymore. Will you come back to school? I know Tucker would be happy to see you. He's been lost without you. He doesn't even get excited over new PDA designs anymore."

"Sam… I'm not going back to school."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"I've been destroying my family's happiness… I can't do that anymore. And I can't let ghosts hurt them either. They need to be protected."

"You can protect them Danny!"

"No, I can't. That ghost proved it. They… all of us… we'd be much better off living with Vlad."

Thanks to: soccergurl1990, Meagainsttheworld, crazyvi

I'm sure more people would have reviewed, if I had given them time. Right, peoples?

Look forward to another chapter soon!