Challenge topic #56: Name calling
Character(s): Danny F/P, a bunch of OC's
Genre: General
Rating: K
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
He never thought the day would come that anyone would willingly seek out his help when it came to ghost hunting. But here he was, shaking hands with a prematurely aged man who made no effort to hide the relief in his eyes.
"Thank you for comin'. I really appreciate you comin' out to see to this yourself. We just got no thoughts on what we're to do next. Tried everything else. Had the priest come out, say a blessin'. That worked for a while, but then it started up again. Took 'er to the hospital for what tests we could afford. They didn't find anythin' that could explain to us what's been happenin'. So, here you are. If you can't help… we've got nothin'."
Danny's sky blue eyes scanned the living room as her father's weary voice rolled to a stop. The house was poor, but tastefully decorated. The yard was tidy. The paint was faded, but not chipping. Every surface was almost painfully clean and he could tell that the family made up with pride and their love of one another where worldly possessions left them lacking.
"I read your letter, and we talked for a bit on the phone. Can you run through it for me again now? I'd like to get a feel for what exactly has happened and what might have gone on since you wrote."
"Right then. Shanna, you tell it. It's your story." The girl's father nodded at her, prompting her to tell her tale.
Her shy voice edged slowly out of the sunlit corner where she sat. She never lifted her eyes from where she had her hands tightly clasped in her lap. "It started a while back when I was 7 or 8. We moved all the way across town. I didn't care, 'cause I didn't change schools or anything. A while after we moved in and fixed the place up it started. Once in a while I would hear my name called. It would always sound just like my dad so I would run downstairs and ask him what he wanted me for, and he would tell me he never yelled my name.
"At first I thought Daddy was just messing with me because he likes to joke around, but it started happening more and more, especially when I was home alone. After a while of hearing my name called I got used to it. I still thought my dad was just messing with me."
Shanna glanced bashfully up at her father. He was obviously trying to hide his worry, trying to look encouraging as she continued.
"One weekend I was downstairs by myself just playing quiet while my dad was upstairs asleep and then I heard my name called again. I knew dad was asleep. I got up and walked out the room and down the hall to the stairs. All the lights upstairs were off, but I checked dad anyhow. He was still asleep. I went back downstairs even though I was getting kinda scared. I started playing again when I felt like someone was watching me. I got freaked out and left the room and back out the hallway.
"Later I was watching TV in the living room. The hallway is connected to the living room." She gestured through the open doorway. "As I was watching TV I heard my name called from the hallway like a whisper. The first time I barely heard it. A couple of minutes later I heard my name called again from the hallway, louder this time. I jumped and stood up, looking into the dark hallway. I can't remember if I saw anything, but I'm pretty sure I didn't. I ran upstairs and turned on all the lights. I got over it after a while, but I never told anyone about it or anything before that until after things started getting really bad.
"A little while after that I was playing hide and go seek with my little brother, down in the basement. Dad built us a little playroom down there. Greg always hides in the back cabinet of the laundry and storage room down there. It's the other place where I feel watched. I went into the cupboard knowing I had him, because I saw the winter coats moving around a little. I pushed some of the clothes back. I didn't see him, but I knew he was hiding in there. I pushed back the clothes that were moving, then I pushed aside more of them where I heard someone laughing. I couldn't find him, so I gave up and yelled for him to come out. He yelled from further down the hall in the other room. Then I heard voices talking and laughing to each other. They sounded like maybe ten or so women whispering in a gossipy way. I couldn't hear what they were saying. The voices were coming from the storage part of the room behind the old wood-stove where the wood used to be stacked. Well, I got out of there so fast it wasn't funny and was totally scared out of my mind."
"That does sound pretty scary. Can one of you show me where these things happened? If there's anything there I can sort it out for you pretty quick." Danny got to his feet.
Shanna came over and grabbed his hand. "You'll go with me? Daddy too?" Danny smiled down at her, nodding. She pressed her advantage. "Can you be Phantom? So nothing will get us?"
Danny took a quick look up at her father to judge his reaction, before shrugging his acceptance. "Whatever you need to feel safe. Let go for a sec? This feels weird if you're not used to it."
He waited for her to retreat to her father's side before he triggered his transformation rings. Once the change was complete, he gave himself a moment to focus on staying tied to the ground. It was all too easy to simply float when he was Phantom, but he had noticed that unless there was a ghost actively attacking, even his Phans were more comfortable seeing him grounded. The more human he looked and acted while he was Phantom, the less traumatic this would be for Shanna. He held his hand back out to her and allowed her to lead him to the activity hotspots.
When they entered the hallway he addressed her father again. "I'm still getting used to all this. What made you decide to ask me for help?"
"Well. You were Shanna's first choice. She's a big fan." Shanna got over her trepidation about entering the hallway to beam a gap-toothed grin up at Danny. "I wasn't gonna bother you 'bout it, 'cause I know you mostly do those attacking ghosts, an' all. I called all those folks that have the shows on the TV. You'll have seen 'em? Those plumbers with their fancy cameras and meters an' such. An' those college boys with their pet psychic. I even called all those folks that came 'round when you weren't so popular." Here he paused, his expression torn between anger and embarrassment. "The TV people and them government men said we weren't worth their time. All the rest…" He flushed painfully. "The rest of 'em wanted too much money. We haven't got much. You an' your folks were the only ones willin' to do this for free."
Danny looked back at the man from where he paced the hallway, looking for signs of spectral activity. "And my parents were willing, but too busy."
"Yeah. They sent me right back to you. Like I said, it is really fine to have you here. I'm glad you're willin' to help an' all. I just didn't want to bother you with this. I figured you'd be too busy with the big things happenin' aroun' town an' dealin' with the press an' all."
Danny smiled back at him to ease his anxiety. "It's no trouble. Actually, it's kind of nice. None of the ghosts I usually deal with bother to ask for appointments like you did. They just barge right into my life at the worst possible time. It's also nice to hold a normal conversation with someone without the screaming. And it's always good to meet a fan, especially when it means we both get a day off of school." Shanna giggled up at him.
He cast one last glance around the hallway and asked her, "Shanna? Are you hearing or feeling anything in here right now?"
She shook her head, clasping his arm tightly as she leaned into him. "No. The one up here has been quiet for a couple of days. I still get nervous if the light's out or if I have to go through here alone, though."
Danny nodded. "I'm not feeling anything right now. If there is something here, it might not be here all the time. Do you usually hear it call your name at a particular time of the day? Is it only certain days of the week? Maybe only when it rains or something?"
"No. It happens just whenever. Sometimes he's in here for a long time and then he'll be gone for a while. Last year I started writing it down." She used her free hand to rummage in the oversized pocket on the front of her skirt. "I made this calendar in school and decided to put down the days he talked to me. Usually he just calls my name, but sometimes he tries to scare me."
She pulled out a bundle of bright construction paper stitched at one end with thick red yarn and handed it to him. He flipped through the pages for a moment, puzzling out her scribbles. "This is a really good idea, Shanna. It was smart of you to keep a record like this. I think we should go look at the basement, since neither one of us is sensing him here right now. I don't see anything in your calendar about the basement. Do you keep track of that somewhere else?"
"No. The ladies' voices are there most of the time. They weren't so bad at first, but they got meaner. The thing that watches me in the basement is always there. I don't like to go in there at all anymore. I make Greg play with me up here or in the yard."
When they reached the doorway at the base of the basement stairs, she started to pull back. Finally she released her death grip on his hand to cling to the doorjamb. Danny moved forward on his own, sticking his head into the playroom and storage areas before moving to the soot dark corner that held the laundry area and the old wood-burning stove.
"I do feel something off in here. It's…" He stopped to reassure them when he heard Shanna whimper a bit behind him. "No. It's okay. There isn't a ghost. I have a very noticeable reaction to ghosts. There is a kind of charge, though. It's making me itchy. Mr. Mills? How old is this house?"
"Uh. 'Bout a hundred, hundred-fifty years, I think. I know it was the rest house for a local coach line back in the day."
"And does anyone besides Shanna feel uneasy down here?"
"Yeah, Sherry an' Jerri, my wife an' her sister, they both say they feel somthin' watchin' 'em when they're down here. Sometimes they get headaches." He tried to make a joke of it. "She makes me do the laundry now. Can't tell you how many clothes I've ruined. Me an' the boy don't feel or hear anythin', but you can't help but get nervous sometimes when everyone's tellin' you that you should be." He ruffled Shanna's hair.
Danny stood with one hand extended towards the floor joists overhead. "I think I know what at least part of the problem is. This looks like some very old, original wiring and the house…" He broke off when he heard a rumbling sound thundering down the stairs, instinctively getting into a fighting stance. He relaxed when he saw his hosts smiling up the stairs. A piping voice heralded their visitor.
"Is he still here? Can I see him? Oh, my God! There he is! This is so cool! Brian is gonna be so jealous! Can I take a picture with you? Can you sign it and say I'm your best fan ever because Brian is a lying, stupid booger head and you've never even met him? Aaahhh!" The boy, obviously Greg, had to stop his shrill monolog as he began to hyperventilate.
"Ummm." Danny mentally slapped himself. Where were the clever comebacks when he needed one?
"So, how was school, Greg? Have a good day?" His father drawled, hiding his smirk behind his hand.
Greg ignored him to gaze adoringly at his idol, Phantom.
Danny decided to kill two birds with one stone. "Actually, you got here just at the right time. Shanna, can you and Greg go get the bag I left by the front door? I've got some equipment in there that I need to use right now."
Both kids nodded enthusiastically and thundered back up the stairs. Danny heard Greg's voice as they disappeared, "MOM! HE KNOWS MY NAME!" followed by a woman's chiming laughter.
"Mr. Mills, why don't you tell me the rest while they're gone."
"Yeah. Like I said, the girls all feel whatever's down here in the laundry. Shanna's the only one that hears anythin', either here or upstairs. If that's all it was, I'd let it go, but lately… Lately she's started gettin' night terrors. She also started wettin' the bed again. Hasn't done that since she was four." He looked sheepish. "Please don't tell 'er I told you."
"No problem."
"Well. That's all bad enough, but she finally told us about all this when it got worse. She's terrified the house is gonna burn down. Afraid of fire all together. She came to Sherry and me so often, convinced the house was gonna burn down right that very night, that I tore out the chimney for that stove and blocked everythin' up, even though we never use it. She don't sleep at night much anymore, either 'cause of the nightmares or 'cause she's just too scared. She says one night she heard paper rustling at the foot of her bed. She didn't see anythin' there, but when she tried to go back to sleep she heard a match strike and fire crackling down by her feet. She said she fell asleep eventually, but didn't remember the sound stoppin'. She was just too tired to stay awake any more.
An' then the worst thing… Those voices whispering at her. She told us just a while back that they started all talking as one, that told her to go into the other bedroom and hit her brother. She said she saw a picture of it in her head. She was walkin' into her brother's room an' hittin' him with her fist, right in his face. She loves him an' has always been protective of him. Ever since he was born. She told us she didn't wanna do it, but these voices kept tellin' her to. She said she got angry that these voices would ever tell her to do that, so she went an' tucked him in, an' kissed his forehead while he slept. The voices stopped an' didn't start again that night. But I'm afraid. If it's a ghost, we're worried it might hurt the kids or make them hurt each other. If there's no ghost, an' it's just Shanna, in her head… We don't…" He broke off, in obvious distress as the children ran back in, followed by his wife.
"Evenin', Glenn, honey. Introduce us?"
Danny shook Mrs. Mills' hand and exchanged 'pleased to meet you's' as Greg chattered at him. "We looked at the front door, but your stuff wasn't there. So we looked outside and in the kitchen and by the upstairs stairs and the basement stairs and in the bathroom and…"
Shanna cut in, "And we finally found it under your chair in the livingroom."
"Heh, sorry. I forgot I left it there. Well, now that I have my bag I can use this!" He brought out what looked like a small voltmeter with a flourish. "This is pretty much like the fancy EMF meter you saw those guys on TV use, but mine was built my parents. It detects electromagnetic fields and ghosts."
He aimed the device at the area he'd been inspecting earlier and nodded. "Yep. See this? The EMF is off the charts. It looks like the junction box here is wired all wrong. I'm not a contractor or anything, but I can rewire this for you and check the rest of the house."
Glenn nodded, but remained on edge. "I'm pretty handy myself. I'll go get my tools and give you a hand. You got a flashlight?"
Danny smiled. "Don't need one." He held up his hand and slowly let off a number of ghostly energy balls that remained floating near the ceiling. "You turn off the power at the fuse box and we'll be ready to go. As for any ghosts, I haven't sensed any and the meter says there isn't anything nearby, so I'll just leave some sensors with you. They're tied into my friend's PDA. He can call me anytime they start reading something and I'll get right over here. Just because there isn't anything here right now, doesn't mean there never was.
"I can't find a trace of an imprinted ghost and I'm not sensing any fixed ghost like you'd find in a classic haunting, but you might have a more active type. If anything comes back to bother you, I'll take care of it. And Shanna? Since your parents told me you were the one being targeted by most of the activity, I had my parents make this for you. It's a special anti-ghost bracelet that won't let anything ghostly touch you. Just make sure not to turn it on until I leave. It's not supposed to hurt me, but every now and then I still get shocked."
Shanna clasped her bracelet-adorned wrist tightly to her chest while her brother looked on enviously. "Don't worry, Greg. There's one for you, too. But you can't keep them forever and if I hear you've been teasing your friends about having these, I'll be really disappointed in you. Okay?"
When Glenn came back with the tools, Danny placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and spoke to him quietly. "Don't worry. Ghost or not we'll get this taken care of. If it's a ghost, then I go to work. Unfortunately, hearing ghostly voices doesn't always mean there's a ghost, even in Amity Park. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but there probably isn't anything paranormal at work here. Even when the ghosts themselves are gone, I can usually feel a kind of residue if they've been hanging around a certain place a lot. I'm not really sensing anything in your home, aside from this electrical box.
"But even if it's all in Shanna's head, then it doesn't necessarily need to mean she's crazy or dangerous. I've already got an arrangement with my sister Jazz and her sponsors. You know about her, right? She's a child psychology prodigy with a full ride scholarship at Harvard in psychology and their new parapsychology program. The deal is that anyone I bring to her gets evaluated body and mind. I already cleared it so that if you need the help your family won't get all the media attention." Danny smiled ruefully at this.
"Thank you. I don't imagine any of us would care for somethin' like that." Glenn nodded.
"Yeah, I don't enjoy it much, so I can't really imagine that you would. Jazz told me before I came over that there are some scans they can run to make sure the parts of Shanna's brain that are used for hearing are normal. Something off there can cause hallucinations where she hears things. If it's not that, then they can move on to counseling. It's not considered psychosis unless she listens to the voices. Jazz said, worse comes to worst, there're lots of people who hear voices that just ignore them and live completely normal lives. It'll all be completely free for you. The only price you'll have to pay if it goes that far is the inconvenience of leaving home for a while. And Shanna'll have to put up with being poked and prodded a bit by the doctors. Nothing invasive without your consent. They'll probably write about her in one of their medical journals, but no names or anything are ever mentioned in those. So no one will bother you unless you want to go public on your own. Jazz would be available to translate anything the doctors tell you from doctor-speak to normal person language.
"And hey, I might be wrong about the whole ghost thing. Maybe there is a ghost and you won't have to go through the rest of that trouble. It could be really sneaky or something. It is Amity Park, after all. It usually is a ghost. So, either way, you're set."
They wrapped up the electrical work on the junction box just as Shanna returned from upstairs, edging around her brother where he sat watching from the bottom of the stairs and carrying a tray of lemonade and snacks she and her mother had prepared. She bit her lip as she approached, but she came right up and offered him the refreshments.
"So, Shanna, Mrs. Mills, is this any better? All the wiring right here is fixed and you shouldn't be feeling so spooky anymore."
Sherry moved experimentally around the room, pausing here and there to test her environment. "Yes, that's much better. I normally woulda felt it by now."
Shanna nodded enthusiastically. "I don't hear them. And my head doesn't hurt."
"Makes sense. Women are usually more sensitive to high EMF. It can make you feel like you're being watched or give you a headache and make you sick."
Greg piped in, "Then why did you feel it and Daddy and me didn't?"
"Some guys can feel it, too, just not as many or as much as the ladies. I probably feel it when you don't because I have powers. And because I'm always getting electrocuted by things. I'm like a walking lightning rod!" The kids laughed at his joke and eagerly helped him start placing sensors around the room. He transformed back to human. "Let's get this all set up. Once everything is done, you can turn on your anti-ghost bracelets, have your dinners, and enjoy a nice peaceful night's sleep knowing nothing can hurt you tonight. Your dad and I will check the rest of the wiring. In the morning I'll call a house inspector I know that owes me a favor and he'll come by and make sure your house is completely safe structure-wise."
When they finished up the inspection and the sensor set-up, Glenn held Danny back from leaving for a moment. "Mr. Fenton."
Danny winced, "Please, it's just Danny."
"Danny, then. Whatever name you choose to call yourself or whatever form you choose to take. We wanna thank you for coming. We do really appreciate you comin' out to see to take care of us like this. You've taken time for us when everyone else decided they were too good for us, even those tax-sucking leeches in the government."
"The Guys in White? No loss there. I hear they're probably going to be disbanded because they're so incompetent."
"That's not my point, really. You were the only one to care more for my family's well-bein' than for ratin's or money. You've promised to see us through to the end, no matter where that might be. An' you're doin' it all while askin' nothin' for yourself."
Danny shrugged, "It's okay. I don't really want anything out of this. I'm just doing what's right."
Sherry chimed in with a warm laugh, "You probably should charge, at least a little. You've got a right ta make a livin'. And from what we've seen, you're better at this than most of the 'professionals'. See if you can't get some of those tax dollars the g-men are abusin'."
Danny just shook his head, while Glenn continued.
"What I'm sayin', though maybe I'm not sayin' it clear 'nough, is that whether or not you're lookin' to us for payment, we figure there's a debt. Our folk hold family as sacred, an' anyone of our blood will honor what we owe you for your help here. You're takin' on a burden for my family that I wasn't able to carry, an' it won't be forgotten. I've already passed on the word."
Danny looked at their solemn, nodding faces, slightly in shock, "But, I don't…"
"You don't ask, which is even more reason you should receive. Don't bother yourself about it if you don't want. May come to naught. But if you do need anythin' that's in our power to give you, then we will give it to you. If it stands outside our power to give you, we will find someone else who can provide. If you want, think of it this way. This is our way of doin' what's right. An' I'm sure that though most folks you help aren't as serious 'bout this as we are, they all feel the same. You give us peace of mind. Least we can do is give back."
Danny stood there, flabbergasted.
Sherry spoke next, taking his hand and speaking earnestly. "We don't care if Shanna hears that name callin' for the rest of her life, long as she's safe. We'd walk to the ends of the earth ta keep her so, and we know now that you would too. The comfort we get from that is worth any price we may have ta pay. We just want you ta know that. We take no part of what you do lightly. An' we intend ta repay you in kind. Just as it should be. Just as everyone ought. It's what's right, after all. So thank you. For everythin'."
A/N: Never realized twangs were so hard to write. Bleh. I couldn't keep the story on track or make it finish the way I wanted. Oh well. I'm desperate for something to post and I've got nothing else written. This will have to do. Hope you enjoyed anyway.
