When it comes down to it, we are all just sad strange little people eking out a sad strange little existence in our own sad strange little world. Only, for some of us, our worlds are a little stranger than others.


Tapes
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria


There is a clicking sound as the tape begins to play. After a few seconds of static, a middle-aged man's voice sounds over the tape.

Psychologist: This is Tom Richards on July the 15th, 2016. This is our first session with Daniel Fenton. Mr. Fenton, I have your permission to tape this session?

A young man's voice comes through, a bit softer.

Yeah, sure. And call me Danny, please.

Psychologist: Alright, Danny it is. How are you feeling today?

Fine. Nobody's died yet today.

Soft laughter.

Psychologist: I've read your file, Danny, but it'd be nice if I heard everything from you. Is that okay?

Sure. You're the eighth counselor I've talked to. I'm used to it.

Psychologist: Why don't you start wherever you feel comfortable?

Silence crackled on the tape before the young man's voice began to speak.

It all started when I was twelve. I wasn't very popular – I could count all my friends on one hand and still have enough fingers left over for making rude gestures at the people who didn't like me.

A short burst of chuckling.

I guess… I guess I was afraid, you know, that I'd lose what few friends I did have. I didn't think it would hurt anybody and I didn't tell anyone about it.

Silence.

Psychologist: What happened, Danny?

Shifting sounds in the background.

I created a friend. Not some stupid imaginary friend like a four-year-old has got. I didn't set a place for him at the kitchen table and talk to him like he was really there. I knew he wasn't there. I just sometimes wished he could be. He was everything I ever wanted to be: cool, popular, confident… But he was my best friend; he wouldn't run away and join the popular group. He would stay with me.

Psychologist: That must have been comforting, knowing he was there for you.

Yeah. Sometimes – after a hard day – I'd hide in that little space under the stairs, turn off that little light bulb and sit in the dark with the spiders and the ants and let my mind wander. There was a whole world we created, full of characters. A whole other life. In one, I was the looser that everyone picked on, in the other I was somebody – a hero, maybe.

Eventually my friends found out. When I was fourteen, they discovered the secret I had been keeping from them.

Psychologist: They were pretty nice about it from what I heard.

They were.

Silence.

They thought I was nuts, you know.

Psychologist: That's not what they said.

Inside, I knew that they thought I needed help. I probably did – I just didn't want to admit it. Not yet, anyway. They didn't talk about it much. They just kind of let me be and kept asking if I wanted them to help me. I kept saying no.

Psychologist: Why?

I didn't want to lose him. He was my best friend – he was like my brother. No matter what, he was there for me. I didn't want… to be alone, I guess.

Psychologist: Your friends and family were there for you too.

I know. After they found out – first Sam and Tucker and then Jazz – my other world changed. My friends became a part of it. It was fantastic. I went from having one friend to having four. They were like my sidekicks.

Psychologist: That sounds wonderful. I can see why it would be hard to get rid of.

Yeah.

Silence.

Psychologist: When did it change? When did it become a problem?

When I was seventeen.

Silence.

Psychologist: The thing that happened at your school?

Silence.

Psychologist: Danny?

Yeah, that was about then. So much stuff happened so fast.

Psychologist: Like what?

You already know.

Psychologist: But I want to hear it from you.

Silence.

Tucker dying. Lancer dying. The whole grandparents thing.

Silence.

Psychologist: And?

Other… stuff.

Silence.

Psychologist: You need to tell me Danny.

Later.

A sigh.

Psychologist: What happened next?

I was living in two worlds. One of them was horrible, the other was perfect. What do you think happened? I wanted to live in the one I liked better. I'd sit in the dark for hours, locked in my own little universe and forget about what was happening in the real world.

Psychologist: You were happy?

Yeah. It was the only time that I felt something other than being sad.

Psychologist: What happened to everybody else?

They got worried about me. Sam kept coming over and talking to me, trying to get me to go places with her. I finally ran away and hid from them in the park – a cave. But they found me and brought me home.

Psychologist: How'd you feel about that?

That's not what I wanted. They wanted me to be part of a world I didn't want to be part of anymore. I kept running away, but they kept finding me. I think my father actually had me GPS chipped at some point.

Silence.

I finally couldn't take it anymore. They kept dragging me back to the real world. So I decided to run away to a place where they couldn't take me back.

Psychologist: Where's that?

It was a bad idea; I'm not sure what was going through my mind.

Psychologist: Answer my question, Danny. Where did you run?

To my own world. I figured that's where I'd go when I didn't have to live that horrible life anymore.

Psychologist: You tried to commit suicide.

Silence.

Sam stopped me at the last minute. She was so scared… I don't think any of them knew how bad I really was. I was pretty good at hiding from them.

Psychologist: What next?

My parents sent me to talk to the first psychologist. I was eighteen. It wasn't long after that I moved across the country. I didn't want to stay around there anymore – it was too hard.

Psychologist: But you decided to move home now?

I'm 24 now – an adult in 197 different countries. I can handle things.

Psychologist: Your friend is still there?

Silence.

Yes. He's the only person that never left me and never gave up on me. Him and Sam.

Psychologist: Your family doesn't think they gave up on you.

So they say.

Silence.

Psychologist: The notes from Dr. Garcia say that you got everything accomplished you wanted to during your time with her. So why are you here, Danny?

I want to get better.

Psychologist: What does that mean?

Better. I don't want to have two lives. I want to have one. I want to be able to have a life. I want to be normal.

Psychologist: You have a life, Danny. A much better one than you used to.

Silence.

I spend hours sitting in front of the computer, playing some brainless game, my mind lost in its own little world. I don't answer the phone, I don't answer the door, I don't talk to anybody…

That's not normal.

Psychologist: No, but there are many different levels of normal.

I want to be more normal. I want Sam to stop looking at me so sadly when I miss some date we were supposed to be on. I want to stop living a life that doesn't exist. I want to live my life.

Psychologist: You think I can help you do this?

I hope you can.

Psychologist: Are you ready to give up a friend that you've had for twelve years?

He's not real.

Psychologist: He's real to you.

Silence.

I want to have a life. With help, I can do it. I can give him up.

Psychologist: Okay then. You'll come back next week and we can get started?

Yes.

Tape clicks off.


Uploaded August 12, 2007
Wrote this a while ago and was going to fix it up... but I have lost the desire to.
If you couldn't figure it out, the 'imaginary' friend that Danny created was Phantom.
Basically I'm saying that they whole thing (the show) happened in Danny's imagination.
This is based off a true story.
Thanks for reading!!