Fragments Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I only own the line breaks. {~}{~}{~} See? Aren't the pretty? Butch Hartman can't make as much spanking awesome line breaks.
Danny: And the plot! How could you not forget the plot?! *Clutches his heart*
Me: Yeah, I guess I own the plot. But technically my friend Miggaliea came up with the idea so...
Danny: Pft. He's not the one writing this.
Me: Yeah, but he made the cover, so it's good enough. Now get back into my story!
Danny: Oh Raven, you've hurt me so...
Me (My name is Raven): Save the drama for the story! You'll need it.
Danny: Shh! Don't tell them!
Me: Hee hee... Oops?
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I race across the twisting trail, which is now dry and sandy as the heated night evaporated any trace of water in the ground. I wait at the place where Danny found me yesterday, hoping the birds that were singing in the sturdy birch tree would fall silent, announcing Danny's presence.
This time I brought a book to show the ghost. It was a book nearly everyone has heard of, and it might spark a memory in his blank mind. Harry Potter. I liked it because it was full of witchcraft and adventures, and it drives my parents crazy when they see me reading that "Pitiful waste of literature." I truly and honestly think that they are bent out on destroying anything I enjoy to mold me into this "Prim and Proper young girl" that every rich family needs.
I open to the dog-eared page I was on, and begun to read, soon losing myself in the depths of Harry's adventures at a school of magic. I didn't notice the gentle summer breeze grow cold, than stop, or the mockingbirds in the tree above me let out a cry of fear and flew away.
But my heart nearly stopped when a voice broke though my reading. "Hello, Sam."
I jumped up, and whirled around to see Danny floating a few inches above the ground. "Dude! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I gasped.
"I thought my name was Danny?" He asked, confused. I rolled my eyes and picked my book off the ground. "No, 'Dude' is just a nickname people call each other. Kind of like a greeting."
"What is that?" He asked suspiciously, pointing to my book with a thin finger. His gaze held no recognition at the popular book, disproving my theory.
"Oh, just a book. If you like I can read it aloud later." I replied, taking in his floating gray stature. Than I noticed something was different than yesterday. I could see a outline of a logo on his T-shirt, and pockets on his gray jeans. "Hey, your shirt is different!"
He looked down in surprise. "They weren't like that earlier!" He exclaimed, touching the outline of the oval-shaped logo.
"Anyway," He began, disregarding his new appearance. "I want to show you something today!"
I followed him through the forest, my footfalls an explosion in the silence Danny brought around him. He easily floated over small things like branches and rocks that liked to trip me, and I had a hard time keeping up with him. I
Soon, the trees thinned out onto a beautiful cliff overlooking the forest beyond. The place was littered with big mossy stones, and the cliff itself was amazingly big, nearly a hundred feet in the air. Far below, a small creek twisted through the green vegetation, almost completely covered by the leafy trees.
"It's beautiful," I murmured. Danny shrugged. "I sometimes come up here when I'm feeling unreal." He said, gazing out on the edge.
"Well," I said uncomfortably, trying to break the awkwardness surrounding the last comment. "It's the perfect place to read."
I leaned back against a moss covered rock and opened the book. Danny floated down next to me, the air around him cool, a relief to the hot summer day. I read aloud as the sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, with Danny hanging onto my every word. I do admit I wasn't the best oral reader, I stumbled over the simplest words, and misread a few, and sometimes even skipped a page. But Danny was patient, he politely pointed it out when I skipped a page, or laughed with me when I mispronounced Dumbledore's name.
Soon we had finished the book. The sun was setting right over the cliff, sending red and orange streaks into the sky, and turning the clouds purple and pink. I noticed my bookmark had been blown to the edge, and I pushed myself forward carefully, grabbing the paper slip. I didn't want to litter and destroy this beautiful place!
Danny watched me carefully, concern bright in his sky blue eyes. "Sam, please be careful," he said, tapping his fingers nervously on his thigh.
I stood up carefully, the bookmark with a panda holding a gun in my left hand. "I'm alright, Danny." I would admit, I was quite scared to be on the edge of a high cliff, with the wind nipping at my face, tingling the outline of my cheeks a dusty pink, but that was nothing when I slipped on a small, almost unnoticeable moss covered rock. I found myself gripping onto the edge of the rocky cliff, sharp pebbles digging into my hands, and dangling a hundred feet in the air.
"Sam!" Danny cried, rushing towards me.
Than, something happened that I defiantly wasn't expecting. Danny flew behind me and grabbed my waist. I was so shocked, I let go of the edge, but I didn't fall. I actually felt Danny's arms. He was solid! Here I was, floating a hundred feet in the air with a ghost that wasn't transparent. I had assumed that he was intangible, like the ghosts I read about, and therefore I never touched him, in case I offended him by accident.
He carried me back onto solid land, but I didn't let go of him. The adrenaline was still rushing through me, making my body shake and shiver. Than the realization hit me. I nearly died! My grandma would have been heartbroken, and my parents would have been shocked. I pressed my face into his shoulder and cried. He was cold, like an ice cube, but his gestures were filled with warmth.
"Shh, it's alright Sam... You're safe." He murmured has he rubbed little circles into my back. I looked up into his sky blue eyes and nodded. "I'm fine."
He looked down at me, still cradled in his thin arms. "I.. I'm solid?"
I laughed, the bubbling sound echoing through the wind worn forest, silencing the birds like Danny when he laughed. "Yeah Danny. You're solid enough to save me."
I unclenched my left fist. The evil panda bookmark was still in my hand, and the book was slightly askew on the rock. Danny looked where I was gazing, and quietly said "I'll get that."
He held the book in his hands, as if he truly couldn't believe that he was a part of a world that could hold a solid object.
"You can keep it," I said, enjoying the look of wonder and happiness on the fragment's face. His eyes lit up, and he stuttered out unbelieving thanks, while I handed him the evil panda bookmark.
"What exactly is this? It made you walk off a cliff, so it must be rather important." He asked, looking at the panda and tracing the weapon the panda held in its paw. "It just looks like a piece of paper..." He trailed off. "Is that a panda holding a gun?"
I laughed, still clutching at the ground nervously. My knuckled were turning white. "Yeah. It's a bit of a inside joke."
He analyzed me, taking note of my knuckles and my posture, still hunched over, protectively holding the moss-covered ground.
"We need to get you off of here." He declared. Before I could protest, he swooped me up, bridal style, and took off.
"Ah! Danny!" I screamed, almost scared that we were this high up. But I relaxed. His grip was firm, and the view up here was... Amazing. I felt like I could do anything. 'If this is the perks of being dead," I thought. "Than I can't wait to die.'
I turned my head towards Danny, and studied his face. Every worry line, every freckle, everything. If he was only a fragment of my imagination, which I honestly didn't believe anymore, than I wanted to be able to have his face in my mind if he should disappear.
He slowed down, sinking towards the ground. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, and not just because the ground was getting closer. I didn't want this to end. After all, I finally made my first friend that wasn't fifteen years older than me. I wanted to be with Danny as much as possible.
But, alas, I promised my parents that I'll be home by sundown. Always sundown. I never got anything more or less. I spent my younger days out in this forest, making friends with the squirrels and the trees, trying to ignore the problems that I would always face when I had to go home.
Once, I attempted to spend the night out here. I was just curling up, on a thick tree branch, to go to sleep and watch the stars, when a coppery snake slithered across my foot. I was so shocked, I couldn't move. Than the little shaded figure, the faintest of wisps at the time, grew stronger in presence, silencing the crickets, and sending the snake away. I quickly ran home, not looking back once.
"Are you coming tomorrow?" Danny asked once my feet skimmed the ground.
"Yes, of course."
He looked almost hesitant, before wrapping me in a warm hug, or as warm as you can get when your body temperature is somewhere in the fifties. I paused, before hugging him back. "Good bye Sam," he whispered.
"Bye," I whispered back.
Walking home under the fading sky, I had to remind myself that it was just a friendly hug, and nothing more. But it was hard to tell yourself that when you felt like you were flying again.
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YAYAY FLUFFY ENDING! Or at least my lame attempt at it, ha ha.
Danny: So, was that me that saved Sam from that snake?
Me: Yeah, why?
Sam: Really Raven? You made me walk off a cliff for a bookmark? And what's with the Harry Potter stuff?
Me:
Me:
Me: ... I don't know. I like Harry Potter, okay?
Danny: At least it wasn't Twilight.
Me: Oh god no...
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Hee hee... I was having some fun talking to fictional charaters. XD
I know that Sam and Danny are a little OOC, but this is an AU story, and I can do what I want to them. Deal with it.
Was this a bit too rushed? I felt like this was a little fast, but I wanted to work on my other story.
Man, I wasn't supposed to mention that either...
Like it? Hate it? Just review it!
-FallingNarwhals