Part One: Dark Eyes
Chapter Four: Shattered Mind
The object of my affection
is the object of my obsession.
She looks at me, but doesn't see my eyes.
I hide in the shadows of lies,
of self-doubt and darkness.
Yet seeing her gives me never ending bliss.
But not being able to touch, to be,
she doesn't even really know me.
She's always around.
I wish she had never been found.
I would never feel this,
such a yearn for just one kiss.
Sam studied herself in the mirror. It was the night of the dance and she wasn't sure if she had picked out the right dress. It was silky black, and clung to her form, but fell out in folds at her waist. She felt that the top may be to low cut, but then again, at least it wasn't a spaghetti-strap of the sort.
In fact, the more she looked at it, the better she felt about the dress. She had her hair spiked, with a few sparkling black accessories in them. The thing she liked most was the bracelet and matching necklace and earrings. They were a deep purple amethyst and the stones were shaped as teardrops.
For once, she didn't mind dressing so girly. Actually, this was kind of fun. It was fun to pretend that she was some kind of royalty, waiting for her escort for the evening. It was always fun to pretend, to have an imagination. That's what made fantasies so appealing.
One knew they wouldn't happen, but it was just so much fun. It was always good to escape from the real world, reality, every once in a while. That was why she loved to dream.
Dream. As of late, she couldn't dream. She still couldn't get a good sleep. Last night, she kept herself up with loud music and more than a few scary movies at the movie theater in her basement. Then, she had gone and entertained herself with some bowling.
Her strike against sleep had been a success and now here she was, waiting for the dance. She bit back a yawn and looked in the mirror. She smiled…but then a ghostly image came beside her. It was Danny's ghost self, dressed in the black jumpsuit, silver gloves, silver boots and the Danny Phantom emblem on his chest.
He gave a sly grin. Although she knew no one was behind her, Sam couldn't help but think there might be. She turned her head and saw nothing. She looked back in the mirror and saw that the ghost had disappeared. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her.
"She looks at me, but doesn't see my eyes." His breath fell on her ear and she let out a startled gasp. She turned around and saw Danny Phantom, but it wasn't him, but that evil presence. "Surprised to see me when you're wide awake?"
"What…are you!" Her back fell against the mirror. "Who are you?"
"You must've figured out by now that I'm not Danny Phantom," he said. "If you must know, I'm the deepest darkness in a soul. I'm the thing that keeps you awake at night and fearful of unknown corners. I'm the hunger, the shadow that one never admits, but harbors it. If you give me a name, why don't we make it Shade?"
The doorbell rang, but she didn't hear it. Sam couldn't help but stare at Shade, this apparition that looked so much like Danny Phantom. Was he really what he said? What confused her most was that he said something about the soul. Was he a manifestation of Danny's dark part of the soul?
"Who the hell are you!" Both Shade and Sam turned their heads to see Danny, anger and confusion written on his features. "You get away from her!"
He went ghost and flew at Shade, knocking him down to the ground. Shade laughed, his voice rough, deep. Danny Phantom grabbed Shade's throat and threw him against the wall, but Shade laughed all the more. Danny let his fist hit Shade's face, but it went through his head as he went intangible and hit the wall.
"I hide in the shadows of lies, of self-doubt and darkness." He smiled at Sam and Danny, and then was just gone. There wasn't any smoke or some special magic effects or sounds. He was just there one moment and gone the next.
"Dammit!" Danny pounded his fists against the wall in frustration. He turned to Sam. "Who was that?"
"Shade," she whispered. "But…I don't get it. I'm not dreaming, am I?" She pinched herself and winced. That had hurt. "Great. This isn't a dream."
Danny transformed back so that he was dressed in the black suit with white tie. Sam felt what seemed like a pang of guilt. Poor Danny. He had been looking forward to the dance all week, and he was dressed so nice, but then something had to come and ruin it all.
"Are you okay?" He walked over to her and studied her, concerned. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No." She brushed off his concern with an air of indifference. "He was just scaring me."
"I'm worried, Sam."
"Why?"
"You need to wake up."
Sam opened her eyes and saw Danny standing above her, worried. She was lying on the floor now, with a shattered mirror beneath her. She was dreaming…again! But…she had pinched herself. It had hurt. No one got hurt in their dreams, did they?
"Danny…what happened?" she asked.
"I don't know. I was knocking on your door and I heard a crash." He stroked her hair. "I came in and saw you on the floor with a broken mirror. Hey…you're bleeding!"
She looked down at her arm and saw that the wound was in the same exact place where she had pinched herself. What was going on around here? Was she beginning to lose sanity from lack of sleep? Or, were the nightmares just becoming more vivid.
"Maybe we shouldn't go," he offered as he helped her up. "You've been acting strange all week."
"No!" She gave herself a swift, mental kick for saying that too fast. Her gaze softened. "No. I'm fine, I just…tripped. That's all. Let's go and have fun."
She grabbed his hand and practically dragged him out the door. His moped was on the curb. Sam let a small sigh escaped her lips as Danny threw her the helmet.
"One of us really needs to get a license," she muttered as she hopped on the seat.
"Mom said I can get mine next week," he replied. The motor roared to life and they sped off at a whopping thirty miles per hour. "That'll be awesome!"
And they raced off into the dark streets. With nothing but shadows and a small chill of a wind, Sam couldn't help but think of the more severe nightmares that were occurring. At this rate, she would have to fall asleep. It was dangerous to doze off.
But…could it be that she was actually losing her mind? Could this be a breaking point? Or, was this maybe some hidden sign of events to come?
Whatever it was, Sam didn't like the looks of either outcome, especially if the last possibility was the actual scenario. She would gladly choose insanity instead.
The school loomed ahead…and little did Sam or Danny know what was going to happen.
End Chapter
Author's Notes- And again, the result was anticlimactic. Well, maybe things will start getting interesting in chapter five! I hope you guys are enjoying this so far and I'd really appreciate some C&C. It's what keeps me going and I hope you guys support me, because I really like to know that people read my work and actually like it. Well, stay tuned for chapter five. Ciao.