Submit to the night.

The Nightmare
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

Chapter 2 – A Brief Moment

The pounding music woke him up. Who would have the bass turned up so high in this house? He cracked open his eyes, only to squeeze them shut again as a light as bright as the sun burned into his brain, turning up the sound of the pounding. Dimly, he realized that the pulsing bass of the music was actually the throbbing of his own mind. With that, the nightmare of last night circled murkily into his brain, but that was just a nightmare. Skulker must have hit him harder than he thought to give him this big of a headache.

He tried to roll over, only to find that his back and neck were stiff from laying on a hard surface for hours. He must have fallen asleep on the floor. Moaning in pain, he pushed himself into a sitting position, keeping his eyes firmly shut and his head as still as possible. It was going to be a wonderful day. He knew it. This headache, and now the all-over ache of sleeping on the floor. And his arm still hurt. Today was one of those days he could count on Lancer giving a test.

"Ghost." That sounded strangely like his mother. Only she wasn't screaming it like usual. She said it matter-of-factly. From close by – only a few feet away. It was almost like she was speaking to one. But that wasn't possible… was it? Maddie Fenton? Speak first and blast later?

His head throbbed at the questions pounding through his brain. Or had she already blasted and now was ready to talk? There was only one way to find out. He needed to open his eyes.

One slightly opened eye told him the bad news. Maddie Fenton was staring at him. Thus, she was talking to him. She was, obviously, talking to a ghost, so he was still… his brain froze as the thought coalesced in his mind.

Two slightly opened eyes told him the nightmare was far from over. He was surrounded by some sort of ghost-shield. It was a half-sphere, no more than five or six feet across, and he was sitting on the ground in the middle. Maddie, the ghost-shield, and he were all in the lab downstairs. The lab with all the testing equipment. The lab that was used to tear ghosts apart "molecule by molecule." Painfully, most likely.

"Ghost," she said again, now that she had his attention. "Where is my son? What were you doing in his room?"

He slowly turned to stare at her, since any fast movements made his head spin. There was something wrong with her voice. He couldn't focus well enough to figure out what, but there was something… off…

"Answer me, ghost!" she hissed, grabbing a large ecto-weapon off the wall and pointing it at his bruised head. The Fenton Foamer, his brain whispered to him as he continued to stare. "Answer me!" her voice broke, and a sob left her. The weapon never wavered in her grip. "What have you done to my son?"

He decided to answer her, his voice welling up inside of him. He would tell her everything – that he was a ghost. The pain would go away. The nightmare would end. She would take him into her arms and tell him everything was going to be okay. That's what mothers are for, after all. He took a deep breath to begin to talk, but halfway up his voice decided to stop working. His mouth felt oddly dry as the world seemed to spin around him. The blackness swirled up like mist, claiming his mind for a second time.

"No!" he heard dimly as he surrendered to the darkness. "Please answer me!" Her screaming sobs chased him, nibbling at his heals as he ran from her.

To be continued...

I do not, shall not, and never will own Danny Phantom. Enjoy!