My Immortal
Summary: Danny's life becomes impossible knowing he's ruined someone else's life. It's even worse knowing it's his best friend.
Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I do not own My Immortal, Evanescence does.
Chapter Two
And if you have to leave.
The little four-year-old pulled his knees up closer to him. Sam wondered if she was ever that flexible. She really doubted it. Blake let out a little whimper and she gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster, which was faint. "It's alright, I promise." He looked at her. His eyes screaming at her that she was going away forever. In his mind, it was the same thing as Ryan's sudden absence.
Sam dropped down onto the edge of the bed in the drafty attic that had become her sanctuary over the past six months. "I'm not going to be gone forever. I promise, Blake, I will come back. I'll be back for your birthday in May. How bout that? You're gonna be five years old, buddy."
The boy stared back at her with the same vacant blue-green eyes. Sam sighed and reached out and brushed his bangs with the back of her hand. She sat down and draped an arm around him. Blake instantly curled into her side. Her eyes traveled to the half empty dresser and the shoebox with the things the boys had made her in it. She needed to keep packing, whoever was picking her up could be here at any time today.
March nineteenth had come much quicker than she had expected it to. And along with its quick approach came fate's sick joke. Danny's sixteenth birthday was in three days. She didn't know how she could be in the same house with him then. Birthdays were supposed to be a celebration of life. How could she go celebrate life with the person responsible for her brother and baby's deaths?
Sam got up and grabbed another stack of clothes out of the drawer. She dropped them into the box. Not that most of them would fit anymore sense they were maternity clothes. But she might as well take them and donate them back in Amity Park rather than leave it for the Carter's to do. They'd done enough for her already. She dropped her laptop onto the clothes and folded in the flaps on the cardboard box.
A slightly off-key door chime sounded distantly through the house. It was something that a couple months ago you would never have been able to hear. But that was before Ryan's death; before the deathly silence had settled. Sam turned to face Blake. His face drained of color. Sam had known this was coming but had secretly wished it wouldn't. He had become incredibly clingy after Ryan's death, not that she could blame him.
She smiled at him. "Piggyback ride?" She had always avoided giving him rides, especially when stairs were an issue but right now she didn't have the heart to not try and cheer him up. He reached up his little arms and Sam turned so he could climb on her back. She started for the stairs her mind already on what was at the bottom of them. She wondered if Danny had come with whoever drove down to pick her up. She knew that facing him was inevitable, but she didn't want it to be in front of everyone else. Then again, she wasn't sure she wanted it to be off by their selves, either.
The arms around her neck tightened bringing her back to reality as she started down the stairs from the second floor to the first. She swallowed hard as she set down Blake and just took his hand. She let him stand closer to the railing and walked slowly so he could keep up. She watched tiny fingers clutch at the wood railing. She wondered if her and the guys had ever been that small. She knew that Danny had only been five when they met and Tucker they met a year after that, but she really never remembered feeling that little.
Sam took a deep breath. She felt like wishing Danny wasn't here, but in reality it made little difference. She got to the bottom of the stairs and forced herself to look towards the door. Standing by the door, slipping off her gloves, was Jazz. She glanced over at Sam and flashed the warm open smile Jazz usually seemed to sport. "Hey, Sam."
Sam smiled weakly back. "Hey. How are you?"
She just grinned. She'd never really seen a resemblance between the two siblings but in that moment she noticed they had that same grin. She wondered which parent they'd inherited it from. "I'm good," the older teen responded. Her eyes turned to Blake. "Hey there, little guy."
Sam felt the tiny hand clutch at hers. "Blake, this is Jazz. Jazz, this is Blake." Blake stepped a little bit closer to her, clutching at the material of the denim skirt she had on. Jazz bent down slightly and gave a little princess wave. Sam almost laughed at the half-confused, half-curious expression on Blake's face.
"I just have to bring down my stuff," Sam said bringing them all back to reality.
Jazz straightened. "Here, I'll help. Just lead the way." Sam turned and started back up the stairs, noting Tammy draw Blake away to give the two girls time to talk. "So you sad to be leaving?" Jazz asked.
Sam paused mentally for a moment. There was a loaded question if she had ever heard one. Sam decided to ignore all connected issues and take the question at face value, ignoring all involved feelings. "Yeah, I'm gonna miss Amanda and the Carter's but it'll be good to be back in Amity Park."
Sam continued down the hall till she reached the door to the attic. She opened it and started up the stairs before a hand gently pulled on her elbow. Sam turned to see what was up with Jazz. The almost-eighteen-year-old pursed her lips. "Sam, have you talked to Danny lately."
With the mention of his name came a cold wave of fear. Sam forced herself to act like nothing was wrong. "Not lately. Why?"
Fear seemed to fill the older siblings eyes at this information. "I'm scared, that's why. Ever since his mysterious disappearance for a week, he's been messed up. Right after he came back he started talking less and less. Then finally he stopped talking all together. I mean totally. Sam, he's stopped eating and stopped sleeping. I was thinking this was just a phase, but I'm getting scared. I want him to get some help but Mom and Dad are insisting there's nothing wrong."
Sam drew back. She felt numb. She wasn't sure what scared her more, the fact that Danny was essentially killing himself or the look in Jazz's eyes at that moment. She took a deep yet shaky breath. The sound seemed to remind Jazz of her existence. Blue-green eyes locked with lilac. "Sam, if you know absolutely anything. You've got to tell me."
Sam pressed further back against the hand railing up the stairs. She opened her mouth, but she couldn't talk. It felt like it was impossible. "Sam, he's going to die if we don't help him." Help him. The words echoed ominously around her head. He was dying. The memory of her whispering to him that she was dying came flooding back. She couldn't turn her back on him. But then again, wasn't that exactly what Danny had done to her?
A hand clamped on to her forearm. She gasped before looking into her eyes. "Sam, do you know anything?" Sam stood there and stared for a moment. She could save his life. She could repay the act he had done for her. They would be even, and she wouldn't live with the guilt of not helping him.
Sam stared into blue-green eyes, the blue tint reminding her of one person. She swallowed. "No, I don't have a clue."
Jazz drew back, nodding slightly. "Okay," she choked out. But the look on the older Fenton's face said she didn't believe her. She knew that Sam knew more than she was telling and she intended to find out. Sam suddenly felt scared and cornered standing on those thin little stairs leading up into the place that had been her home for more than six months.
Sam turned and stared up the stairs faster than she needed to go. She got to the top of the stairs and paused waiting for Jazz to join her. Her eyes dropped to her left hand, to the cheep little ring that Ryan had bought her. He had been so proud of that ring, so excited to give it to her. She glanced around the attic one last time, savoring and trying to forget memories at the same time. She felt Jazz step up and stand beside her.
She wondered briefly if everyone who died became ghost. Or if there was actually a Heaven or a Hell. It made her feel a little better to think of Ryan sitting on a fluffy little could playing a harp, no matter how unrealistic it was. She didn't want to think of him always wondering, lost and lonely or angry and vengeful; like all the other ghost she and her friends had encountered. She hated ghost. But above all she hated memories of them. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "Let's get this over with," Sam choked out.
Hey! I know it's been forever hope you can all forgive me. I'm gonna try to get some serious writing done before I have to go back to school! Hugs to you all. Extra special thanks to my reviewers: Val-Creative, digigrllover2811, Fox of Light, lonesome K, Terrasina Dragonwagon, loviegurlie, AREZAL, GraySkyeMourning, Hwoarangsguardie x2, autumngold x2, Sakura Scout, Moody Maud, AngeloflLight, Cooperstar and Blink, Spice Of Life, The Good Girl, YAY!!!, Zeon of the Twilight Blade x2, Cheerin4danny x2, Ryo's destiny, The Angel of Anarchy, RainbowSerenity, Silverflare07, Sakura Scout, Janus-Wolf, WormmonABC, Pandemonium Fox, DarkPunkGirl, MayB, TuffaChica, Alisa, Danielle Phantom, audi katia, The Fuzy Llama, and Mrs. Granger-Weasley. Wow, that's a lot of people. :D
