Hello

Summary: Walking home from Danny's one night, something horrific happens to Sam. Now Danny's left to try to put the pieces of his best friend back together.

Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. And I don't own Hello, Evanescence does.

Chapter Three

Hello.

Life goes on. That's the one thing Sam was becoming painfully aware of. Monday morning dawned gray and humid. The one good thing about the end of May was that work was grinding to a halt. Movies were being watched in four of her six classes. The beautiful thing this meant was that no one expected you to think. Which was exactly what Sam needed.

Lying in bed listening to her alarm clock, Sam thought about the difference two days could make. Friday night had been the worst night of her life. Sam couldn't think of anything overshadowing it, short of Danny or Tucker's death. That night Sam lost her individuality. In that moment she realized she wouldn't think of herself as Sam anymore. She was the victim.

That's what she would be in every police report, hospital records, or, worse, in the eyes of her friends and family. She couldn't even imagine telling them. She saw her parents forbidding her from walking to Danny's, Tucker not knowing what to say, and Danny's sky blue eyes filled with concern and fear.

No, no one could know. This was her secret. As long as no one knew she was safe. The only thing was part of her wanted someone to know. For some one to tell her it was okay, that it wasn't her fault. But there was no way she was telling anyone. She didn't have the courage to. So she just continued to lie in bed, covered with just a thin sheet having kicked the rest off in the middle of the night. Probably during the nightmare, she pushed the thought away brutally.

It was bad enough that it had to haunt her during her sleep, she didn't need it there during her waking hours too. Finally frustrated with the buzzing, she rolled over onto her stomach and squirmed to the point she could hit the off button. She fell limply on the bed, the silence deafening. And now that it was gone the voice quickly came in it's absence. Ready to go pretend to be normal.

"I wasn't normal to start with…" Sam muttered under her breath. She swung her legs off the bed and wiggled her toes against the carpet. She couldn't help but notice that the soreness she had felt was going away. Which meant that the shock was wearing off and the mental torture was about to begin. It's my turn to be your nightmare, whispered the voice.

Sam focused on making her mind go blank as she got up, walking over to her bookcase and hit the on button on her stereo. It was Linkin Park. She hit the button till it skipped to number six. With a sigh she spun and glared at her closet like she was about to enter a battle. Let the games begin echoed through the back of her mind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sam trudged up the steps to the front doors of Casper High School. She was wearing the same thing she always wore. Before it had been to be an individual, now it was her shell. No one talked to a goth loser. This was her protection. She shifted so that the books under her arm were balanced on her hip as she grabbed the door with one hand. She walked through the upperclassman hall with Juniors on the one side, seniors on the other.

The normal snippets of Monday conversation floated through the air. Who had gotten arrested, gotten plastered, and who had got what action. Sam felt like she was going to be sick. If this was what maturing was Sam didn't want anything of it. She reached the end of the hall and turned to her left the freshman hall. While there was still some of the same, it was much more who saw what movie, who bought what CD, and who had gotten grounded for what.

She wandered over to Danny's locker. Sam felt like she was going to cry. Him and Tucker were arguing about some new gadget he had gotten and whether it was the 'shiznit' or not. She felt like telling them that no one had used that word since at least seventh grade. How could everything feel so normal when everything had changed?

Danny was the first one to notice her. She almost smiled at the way his face lit up when he saw her. "Sam!" Tucker turned at her name and waved and flashed her a grin. She smiled back, forcing it. It felt so fake she was amazed that they didn't pick up on it then and there.

Danny grabbed her by the arm and practically drug her over to his locker. "Sam, did you figure out Critical Thinking on the Bio worksheet?"

Sam locked up. "There was a bio assignment?" Danny and Tucker both stared at her as if she was mutating. Sam always knew what the assignment was. She was the one the two of them were always calling at nine o'clock on Sunday night to make sure they had done everything.

"Yeah, chapter review. Last one of the year. You didn't do it, then?"

Sam felt like screaming. "Of course I did it," sarcasm dripped from her voice. "I do homework I don't know about all the time."

Danny looked like he'd been smacked but Tucker was almost never at a loss for what to say. "I'm sure it won't hurt your average. This is the first one you missed, right?"

"I think so…"

"Then don't worry 'bout it." Look at them. Your world is falling apart and their worried about your bio grade. Sam felt betrayed for a fraction of an instant. They don't know, she reminded herself firmly. Part of her wanted them to know. To entrust Danny and Tucker with her secret, like Danny had done with them.

The 8:12 bell rang. "Gotta get to get to español, mi amigos. Adios." Tucker took off down the hall towards the foreign language and lit classes. Danny stood there with Sam for a moment. Both of them had history first. Danny turned and stared into Sam's eyes as if looking for some secret.

Please figure it out, Sam thought desperately. I can't go through this by myself, and there's no way that I can tell you. He's not that bright, he doesn't care enough to notice. "Sam…" he started. Her breathe caught. This is it. He's going to figure it out he's going to know something's wrong. I look terrible. I haven't called for two days. I missed the last bio assignment of the year. Even Danny's not this dense.

"We need to get to class," He said. With that he turned around, picked up his book bag, and kicked his locker shut. No! Sam screamed mentally. You're my best friend. We've been best friends since kindergarten. You know me better than this.

He obviously doesn't, the voice sneered. If he did than he would ask what was wrong, you two would skip first period and he would listened as you poured your heart out too him. Apparently you've over estimated him.

It hurt. The fact that Danny wasn't noticing was really bothering her. She had looked like death warmed over in the mirror this morning. There was no way you couldn't tell.

Maybe he just doesn't care. No, that couldn't be it. It just couldn't be. Keep telling yourself that.

She watched horrified as he spun his lock so no one could open it. He turned and saw the weird look on her face. "What's up?"

Sam felt it all melt in this moment. He didn't know. He was confused. He didn't know something was wrong. Sam focused on making her mind blank as she stared at Danny, her face melding into an impartial mask. "Nothing," she whispered.

Danny stared at a moment looking torn. He suddenly just nodded and turned. "Come on. We're gonna be tardy."

Sam followed mindlessly. The only thing she was aware of at that moment was the scornfully laughter echoing through her mind.

Sorry that took so long to put out. I want to, as always thank my reviewers: ahhelga, Spice Of Life, Not Important, RainbowSerenity, Dragon Blade5, radioactive care bears in the freezer, Red Jack Malicious, Samster The Hamster, Aeris9919, and MysticJunebugs. P.S. Tommorow is my seventeenth birthday. Yay, me!