Chapter 2

Later the doctor gave me some kind of medication to help me breathe better. Danny and Tucker were long gone, they had wanted to stay with me, but Danny had to go on his nightly ghost hunt, and Tucker had gone with him. Personally, I think Tucker just wanted to get out of the hospital.

I was daydreaming when suddenly a soft voice from across the room intruded into my thoughts.

"Your name's Sam, right?" I looked around for the source of the voice, then realized it was Emily. My roommate. I nodded. "Yeah." Emily must have been as bored as I was, because she kept talking.

"So what're you in for?" I sighed. I really didn't feel like talking, but I guessed I had to. "Pneumonia. How 'bout you?" There was a pause, as if Emily was contemplating what and what not to tell me. "I have cerebral palsy. I'm here for a leg operation."

Cerebral palsy…why did that sound so familiar? Then I remembered. I had done a report on cerebral palsy for Health about a year ago. I never thought I'd actually meet someone who had it.

Emily started talking again, more to herself than to me. "So, yeah. Basically I'm a thirteen year old freak. As if it wasn't bad enough having ghost powers…" She gasped as she realized what she had just said.

"Omigosh I can explain! I was just kidding! Seriously!" She started babbling and tripping over her words. I just lay there, a bit shocked. I mean, Danny was the only halfa…that we knew of anyway.

"CALM DOWN!" I finally shouted over her frantic raving. I heard a long sigh as Emily leaned back against her pillows.

"Calm down, Emily. I know all about halfas. My best friend Danny's one, too." There was a creak as Emily slowly pushed herself up.

"You don't mean….Danny Phantom?" I nodded. I could see across the room Emily's eyes growing wide.

"I thought he was just a myth…I've always heard about him. I kind of…modeled my ghost-fighting style after his." She sighed again, a long deep sigh.

"But the problem is, when I transform, I still have CP. So my balance is still horrible, my muscles are still tight, and even the Box Ghost can kick my butt!" She started crying silent tears.

Leaning on the bed for support (I still felt pretty weak), I made my way across the room to her. For the first time I realized how pretty she was.

I gave her a gentle hug. "Emily, its ok. Everything's going to be ok." As I comforted her, she smoothly transformed into ghost form, still crying hard.

Her ghost form was pretty, too. She had long black hair, down to her hips. She wore a tight hot pink shirt, and black pants. Her eyes changed from hazel to an astonishingly bright blue. I continued comforting her. I didn't know what else to do…I just hoped Danny would come soon and give me some ideas to help this sad, helpless, halfa.

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