Chapter 2
Vlad's POV
I didn't want to do it. I never wanted to cause harm, to anyone. Warring hasn't ever been something that I was fond of. But something always kept me from doing the right thing. Something always told me, to cause trouble and grief. I just couldn't hold back.
Life, I guess, is just one of those things that can turn out to be what kills you, as some say. Just when you think you know someone, they stick a knife in you when your back is turned. I'm one of those people. as much as I like or hate the fact of it, I have betrayed countless people in the course of twenty years. I turned against Jack at an early age because of a simple, horrible human emotion; jealousy. Such a wreched thing. It can turn the most respected of people into criminals, the most loved people against their own family members. It can make the sanest of people become egotistical and selfish over night, and make them commit homocide on the ones they would never hurt, just like I was about to do to my own kind.
I've tried coming to terms with my past, but my rage towards Jack always thwarted my attempts. No matter how much I wanted to, no matter how much I tried, I could not bring myself to forgive my old college friend. I attempted to help myself in councelling. Each session helped, but not enough. Heh, my problems...they had gotten the better of me, finally. I had known that this day would come for quite some time now, but not like this, not so soon. Although, I've dreaded this moment, I've always known that I would have to accept that it would come. Now, here I was, sitting in my mayoral office at my desk, watching as a young Danny Fenton's private ghost files loaded to my hard drive. It's not too late, I told myself. You can still cancel the transfer. I stared blankly at the screen as it showed it was copying file 13 of 16. It was nearly finished. I grasped the mouse as the last file finished transferring. Nervously, holding the pointer's position over the teenager's logs. I sat in my chair, motionless for more than a minute as my thoughts raced. Should I open these and read them, my mind asked me, trying to convince me to just delete them, and apologize to the teen ghost. Yet, at the same time, another part of me screamed, yelling at me to just read the god damned entry. After a few minutes, the chess game between my moral and devilish side ended, and my evil won.
Feverishly, I opened one of the folder's contents. My heart raced as WordPad loaded the document. My heart told me I had made a mistake, while my mind applauded my actions. It got me to some thinking...Why? I asked myself the same question over and over every day, much like King Ageus did to never forget his hatred towards Athens. No doubt, we both were plagued by the same question; was it right? Was I making the wrong decision? Before that accident in college, I wouldn't have ever even dreamed of hurting Jack. Now, I was about to hurt him in the worst way: by making him hurt his son-to kill his son. It was my self-confidence getting the better of me. Or, was it? Could it have just been my simple human desire to be accepted, and to be loved? Maybe. I always have been clueless about many things, much like Daniel is about everyday issues. When I became half-ghost, I swore that someday, one way or another, I would eliminate an old friend. But thinking back on it, I wonder if it was my ghost half somehow had changed my personality from a humble college student to a the greedy, selfish, jerky son of a bitch that I am today. Life is too short. If you mess it up badly enough, there's no fixing it. In my case, I screwed up past the point of no return when I was just 23. Because of it, I've kept an evil momentum over the years, and now, I was going to use it. I was going to blow it all to hell. I was going to make sure that the young halfa never forgot what was going to happen next.
I opened up FireFox and put the browser at AOL. My e-mail and password was saved in the memory as I live alone. Silently, I typed a message to Jack, informing him of his son. Revenge was my goal here. I was going to exaggerate everything, blow completely out of proportion, and tell Jack complete lies about the horrible things that young Daniel had done. He would believe it. I knew he would. He was, after all, a complete imbicle. And, there's no way that he wouldn't believe me.
I chose the best way to grab Jack's attention. I was sure that a the subject, "Your son, the ghost" would pull the 45 year old in within seconds. I made sure that even he would realize what I was saying...
Dear, dear, Jack, I wrote. I am formally apologetic to inform you of this, but after research that I have conducted, I have discovered that your son, Danny, is more than just Danny Fenton. But none other, than Danny Phantom. Hard to believe, I know, but I have proof.
I looked back at a log, making sure I could accurately tell what was written, in my own words of course.
True, humans cannot have ghost powers, or can they? You see, I recently stumbled upon a DNA sample of the ghost boy, I lied. After a short time of thinking, I decided to give it to a gene analyst. I asked him to link the DNA to any government or public records. What he found shook the Masters Administration to the core. The ghost boy, had the same DNA as Danny...
My POV
I walked briskly over to the living room TV and hit the power button on my XBOX. It had been a while since I had last played it, and I needed to get Vlad hacking my computer off of my mind. I picked up a disk and put it in the reader. The TV then flickered to life. With the controller in my hands, I started to enter the unlimited health code. The game was at it's quietest while on the cheat menu. Because of it, I was able to hear my parents from downstairs. What could they be yelling about? About then, they went silent. Normally, I really couldn't have cared less, but something told me that Vlad was part of this...I walked upstairs and knocked on the door to my parents bedroom. No answer. Again, I knocked. Still, completely silent. They must have been talking about something not for my ears. In an effort to make them think that I had gone back downstairs to play my game, I made it sound like I was walking away by making my stomps quieter and quieter. It must have worked, because not long after, they spoke. I turned invisible to avoid the risk of being noticed while
eavesdropping.
I could hear my dad say something about, Danny, and, ghost. Bad sign indeed. I invisibly phased my head through the door to better hear what they were saying.
"Jack," my mom began, "If Danny was a ghost, we would have found out earlier."
"No, he's not our son." Jack protested. "Vladdie even e-mailed me the DNA sample."
DNA sample, I thought silently. But, if he sent a DNA sample...oh shit!
"How do you know he wasn't just trying to get you rilled up? He could have been lying!" Maddie said, turning and walking towards the sunset-lit window. Easy to tell, she didn't take kindly to the idea. She had a very upset look on her face from what my dad was telling her.
"Maddie," Jack started. "I found this in the mailbox today..." I was surprised to see a letter hanging out of his pocket. He pulled it out and passed it off to my mom. "It's a letter from Dr. Keiser at the Masters Administration."
My mom's eyes suddenly widened as she read it aloud. "Mr. and Mrs. Jack and Maddie Fenton, three days ago, we received something interesting from the Department of Homeland Security--DNA from Danny Phantom. After rigorous testing, we've concluded that the DNA directly links to Danny Fenton. We are sorry to inform you of this, but Danny Fenton is apparently also Danny...Phantom?" She dropped the letter from her hands and plopped back in a chair. She let her head droop to her hands, as she slapped them to her eyes. The look of shock on her face frightened me. She didn't look so sad or disappointed, as she did vengeful. It was as if she was going to murder someone. That someone--probably me.
Slowly, I pulled my head out of the door and leaned it against the wall behind me. I let out a sigh of fear that tonight would be the last time I would ever see a sunset. Thoughts ran through my head at the speed of sound. It was over. I would no doubt be dead, or dying by the time it was ten o'clock. I turned visible again, and hung my head in defeat. Vlad had finally won. He got what he wished for--to destroy Danny Phantom. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, a thought of suicide crossed my mind. I didn't want to die in shame, nevertheless in the hands of my own parents. My heart sank down past my stomach. I loved my mom and dad very much. I know they love-loved-me, but I didn't want to die yet. I had so many things to look forward to. My driver's license, my first girlfriend, someday having kids, and working for NASA. Assuming that I wasn't going to live past the next few hours, I took one last look around the house. The livingroom where Sam, Tucker and I had experienced so many fun moments. We played videogames, watched TV, and just talked, like all teenagers' do for so long. But not me. I had but a few hours of life left. By the time they were passed, I would be a full ghost, unable to live out the next few decades of being human. I would not be able to protect my family or friends, and I would never be with anyone. I truged my way around the rest of the house that I had lived in for the fourteen years of my life. I would miss it greatly. I know that I could always come back and visit when I'm dead. But, not without my parents ripping me apart at the sub-atomic level. Tied along with that, I wouldn't be a corrupt ghost like so many others in the GhostZone were. Clockwork would probably take me under his wing, and would probably also restrict me to his lair. If that was the case, I would only ever see Amity Park and its inhabitants again from a tiny viewscreen. That wasn't the future that I wanted. I wanted to live, to experience the ups and downs, even the hardships of life. I wanted to have kids some day, and have a family to come home to. One that would accept me. Not for what I am, but for who I am. Now, I would never have that chance. My life was about to be cut short in the worst possible way.
I knew that it didn't have to end like this...I could always fly off to some far-away place. But I was part of a family. Family is the most important thing of all. As long as you have that, you don't need to be accepted by the public, you don't have to get a high-paying job and live in a large house and drive a fancy car like a Macerate or an Aston Martin. You just need to know that you'll have someone to come to in a time of need and when you are lonely. Without family, there's no point in living.
I took a look around the kitchen. So many meals had I eaten in here. Some of them with my parents, some on my own. So many things had happened in here. I remember, about a month after I became half-ghost, my mom was welding parts on the first version on the Fenton Finder. Then, a few months later, she got the Ghost Weasel rebuilt and sucked me into it. Well, neither of those times were really happy. And the Ghost Weasel was pretty cramped. But they were all when I had gotten out of a close-call situation. However, this time, I wasn't going to survive.
This was going to be my last chance. I walked over to the phone an yanked a piece of paper off of the notebook under it. With a pen in hand, I started writing my last words.
To Paulina Sanchez-
Over the last few years, I've had a deep crush on you, as you already know. But you've been putting me aside and avoiding me constantly, wanting only Danny Phantom. Although you have broken my heart time and time again...it's okay. I forgive you. Not because you are the most popular girl in school, but because people always want the hero of their dreams to be with them. It's understandable that you would rather be with Danny Phantom. Although in most people's eyes, he is a menace to Amity Park, you are one of the few that believes otherwise. For that, you deserve nothing less that my forgiveness.
Dash Baxter-
True, you have beaten me countless times and think of me to be inferior to you, but you to deserve forgiveness. You are just acting on your social status. It is common for popular people to be ass-holes to those who are considered geeks and nerds, but that is only because of the fact that they are considered weak as well if they are sympathetic to them. You only wished to keep your popularity. That's all that there is to it. I sincerely apologize for any trouble that I have ever caused you. I hope you also forgive me, of all people.
Tucker Foley-
You have been one of the greatest friends I could have ever asked for. You've supported me when I was feeling down, and you helped me through some of the hardest times of my teenage life. I'm glad that we have had this wonderful friendship, and I wouldn't have changed it it I had the chance. So many times we've been left in the dust, and you've helped me pull myself together. I hope that you thought I did the same for you. If any part of this journey that we've been on together had been enough to end our friendship, I would have gone mad. Thank you, for everything.
Jazz Fenton-
You were once hard on me--very hard on me, but I'm glad you were so over-protective. In the many times that I had gotten into a bad situation, you were there for me. Simply put, you were a life-savor. I'm glad to have had you as my sister.
Sam Manson-
As a free-thinking, ultra-recyclo vegetarian goth girl, many people doubt your sweet, caring personality. I know that sometimes I poked fun at you, but that was just because I was trying to hide my true feelings. I've always had a crush on you, and I've tried to keep it secret, but I can't hold it back anymore. I admit, my crush on you has turned into something a bit deeper--teen love. Yes, they say that it never lasts, but you've been my friend for nine years, and the whole time, my crush on you has been growing exponentially. I wish that I would have told you earlier about how I feel...
I paused for a moment, wondering what to write for my parents. Nothing came to mind. I did want to leave them something...but there really wasn't anything to leave. Or was there?
Mom & Dad-
I...
I was suddenly cut off by the sound of my parents walking down the stairs. I saw the look that my father had on his face. It looked evil and vengeful. A scared feeling hit my stomach as if I had just been punched. Suddenly, he picked me up by the collar and threw me against the wall. I had no idea that he was so strong. It shocked me. Again, my dad grabbed me, but this time threw me off the top of the stairs. I landed with a thud at the bottom. A sharp pain shot up my back. Desperately, I tried to get up and run, but Jack had either broken my back, or stunned me. Again, I tried to get up. But the best I could do was move my foot a few inches to the side.
My mom walked next to me and knelt down, my dad followed close behind.
"Is this right?" she asked.
"Oh," Jack began. "It's right" he finished as he administered anesthesia through a hypospray. The next thing I saw...was black...
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know that I didn't, it really hurt when I landed in the lab. Anyway, stick around for the next one!