Chapter 10

Guilt

Tucker's POV

It's been about 3 days since we last saw Danny, and I can tell Sam is starting to panic. You can tell just by looking at her that she isn't getting any sleep at night.

She is a complete wreck without Danny, and that I feel responsible. I mean, it was my stupid idea in the first place. If only I'd kept my mouth shut. Sam wouldn't be like this and Danny wouldn't be dead.

No, I can't think like that. Danny's not dead. He's alive. He's definitely alive. He has to be… Why am I finding that hard to believe right now?

Sam and I have looked all over the ghost zone and found nothing. We even had a run in with Vlad at one point, who persuaded us to tell him about what happened to Danny. Somehow. But afterwards, he started to panic, and he even agreed to help in our search for him.

Who knew Vlad could be such a nice guy? Well, it's probably so he can convince Danny to become his son, but whatever - the more help the better. Right?

Even though the search was giving us a little hope that Danny was alive, we couldn't shake the feeling that if he was alive, he would have shown up by now. And we can't hide it from his parents much longer.

The only cover we had was that he was staying at Vlad's house. That, Mr. Fenton seemed okay with, but Mrs. Fenton seemed a little curious, and probably won't be fooled much longer.

Sooner or later I was going to have to convince Sam that Danny was...

No longer with us.

Gone.

Dead.

And it was all my fault. All of it. I feel so guilty that I have nightmares about it, and I can't even look at a picture of him any more without my stomach churning from guilt.

"Sam!" I approached her as she was sat at our table that we used to share with Danny. She turned around, her face red from tears.

"Yes, Tuck?" she said, lifelessly putting on a fake smile, making me feel even guiltier. That sad and broken look in her eyes was killing me.

"I-I...I have something to say to you, and it's important so hear me out. O-okay?" I said hesitantly, as I was nervous she would hate me for this.

"Okay." she sighed, looking glum, like she wasn't really that bothered about anything unless you'd found Danny or close to it.

"Y-you know Danny's well... dead, right?" With this statement, anger and hopelessness crossed her face knowing I might well be right, but not wanting to acknowledge it.

"No, he's not dead. He can't die. It was all my fault. My fault. I did this to him and he will never forgive me, never." she spoke to no one in particular, mostly to herself, still mumbling, and tears forming in her eyes.

"Sam, it wasn't your fault." I tried to calm her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Then who's was it?" she snapped angrily at me, a few tears falling down her checks.

"It was me, Sam." I said; removing my hand from her shoulder, expecting her to hit me, shout at me for killing our best friend. Her face fell in disbelief and she just shook her head.

"No...It wasn't you. I did it. It was all my fault - I got him into this mess in the first place and caused him to suffer so much, and I didn't even acknowledge that. I'm such a horrible person, how can you even look at me?" she cried into her hands, still blaming herself for my doings, making my guilt grow.

"No, Sam. It was as much my fault as you say it is yours." I replied, trying to take some of the burden from her so she could relax a little more and stop worrying like that. It didn't fit her well.

"How? You didn't do anything?" she hissed, as if envious that I had caused our departed friend no pain, when I knew I had caused plenty.

"Exactly, I did nothing at all to help him, and when I did it caused his death. I'm as much to blame as you are Sam." I answered, trying again to remove some of the burden she'd placed upon herself.

"Okay." she said, as I could hear her cries grow quiet and see her face lighten up a little as she looked up at me. "And thank you, Tucker, I needed that" she finished, a small smile of relief spreading across her face.

"So here comes the hard bit. Do we tell his parents we killed their son, say Vlad adopted him, or that he died in an accident?" I asked, trying to get things out the way.

"Let's just tell the he died in a car crash on his way home from Vlad's house." she mumbled, getting it done with.

"You mean Vlad's mansion right?" I said trying to lighten the mood, receiving a smile from her in return.

"Fine, Vlad's mansion." she said with a fake laugh, but I let it be, not wanting to upset her further.

"Come on, let's go home and tell Vlad the search is over and how we're saying he 'died'" I suggested as we left and headed back to Sam's house.

AN: okay I have to make this quick because I'm posting this before school and I'd be dead if any one found out. Any ways chapters have been a little slow lately because I'm running out of ideas for chapters so if you got a good idea don't hesitate to tell me please it would be a big help.