Afraid – Chapter Six

"I want you to tell me what it is you meant by what you wrote in the essay…"

The moment he saw Daniel's shoulders tense and his back straighten, Lancer knew that he'd asked the right question. He felt a slight twinge of guilt at the boy's uncomfortable appearance; despite how it may seem, he didn't take pleasure in tormenting his students. It needed to be done, though. That essay…there was something horribly wrong going on! He could feel it. So when he noticed the tightening of Daniel's hands on his legs, Lancer ignored it and continued on.

"I apologize for lying to you earlier but somehow I didn't think you would appreciate me bringing it up in class." The boy just stiffened even more. "I wasn't lying about the A, though." A shocked glance. "It was a well written essay: excellent structure, articulated language – it was good. It deserved an A, maybe a high B."

The boy began to bite his lip. Lancer wasn't sure if it was due to nervousness or contemplation. He cleared his throat and reached down to his briefcase. He picked it up, placed it on the table and opened it. The 'click' that accompanied it seemed awkwardly loud in the silence of the room. He carefully picked the essay out of the pile of sheets and closed the briefcase once more. He moved it to the floor. There was still silence, only the soft humming of the lights above them was the exception. He pushed the paper towards Daniel. The boy glanced at him. Lancer nodded and Daniel tentatively reached for the paper before snatching it away. Lancer watched as he scrunched it up and stuffed it into his pocket, the boy never taking his eyes off him.

"I don't want to push you, Daniel." The boy didn't say anything. "I don't want to force you to tell me anything you're not ready to, but I'm…concerned."

"…Concerned about what?"

Lancer was just glad the boy was talking. "What you were trying to say in that essay. Those fears…they're not typical for a teenager, Daniel." The boy was tensing up again, not good. "You said you fear yourself – why? You said you fear becoming evil – why? The others…they're not quite as atypical, but they still don't seem to suit you." Lancer sighed and rubbed his forehead. "What I'm trying to say is: you've given me these fears but you've explained them so vaguely. The only thing I can take from your essay is that there's something going on around you that shouldn't be. And I don't like it."

The boy was fidgeting. Lancer sat back in his chair. He wasn't sure how to progress. It was true, he was beginning to suspect that Daniel was involved in something no teenager should be, but he didn't know what. He needed Daniel to tell him that.

"I just want you to explain it to me, Daniel."

"I wrote it as a joke."

What?

"Come again?"

"The essay…I wasn't being serious. I thought it would be funny to write about some weird fears, just to shock you. I didn't think it would get so out of hand." Surely Daniel didn't expect him to believe this? "I was joking."

"I don't think you were."

The boy chuckled nervously. "Oh come on, Mr. Lancer, you know me. My life's too boring for fears like that. I was just trying to mess with you."

It was plausible. Daniel had never really seemed to like him, which was understandable considering the amount of time they had spent together in detention. It was entirely possible that Daniel had just written the essay to annoy Lancer. But he didn't think it was true. The boy was too nervous. That way he'd reacted before – the tensing, the fidgeting – it just didn't fit with Daniel's explanation. The most he would get for annoying a teacher like this would be a reprimand; the essay didn't have to be true. There was no reason for Daniel to be so nervous.

Unless he had something to hide.

"You're not in trouble, Daniel, there's no need to lie."

"I'm not lying!" He was fidgeting more now. "Honestly, Mr. Lancer, there's nothing to worry about. I was just being silly."

Lancer sighed. This was getting nowhere; Daniel obviously wasn't going to talk. He glanced at the clock. They had twenty minutes left. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on his hands. He looked at Daniel.

"What are your real fears then?"

"What?"

"If your essay was a joke, what are you real fears?"

The boy didn't answer immediately, he just stared at Lancer until finally…

"Spiders. I'm scared of spiders."

"No you're not. Just last week you were the one to take that spider outside during English."

"Old people."

Lancer would have laughed if he wasn't so concerned about the boy. "That's a lie too. If you were afraid of old people you would've run screaming from me by now."

"Banana peels?"

Perhaps Lancer had misjudged Daniel. Maybe there wasn't some hidden intelligence in him. "The fact that you said that as a question tells me that, no, you are not afraid of banana peels."

Daniel was rubbing his wrists now. Perhaps it was a nervous habit, something significant? He didn't offer any more fears. It was a bit redundant to anyway; he'd already proven that he was lying.

"Like I said before, Daniel," he started, causing the boy to look up at him, "I'm not going to push you." The boy looked relieved. "However, I would appreciate it if you would explain to me what's going on." He raised a hand to stop Daniel's protests. "I don't want you to lie to me Daniel. I know that something's going on. You don't have to tell me now, but I trust that you'll come to me when the time is right. Actually, it doesn't even have to be me. It can be anyone responsible. Your parents, your sister, even Mr. McGellen if worse comes to worst. Just please, Daniel, please tell somebody."

The boy was staring at him in silence. He glanced up at the clock again. They still had fifteen minutes but it wasn't really worth it. Daniel still wasn't talking. He picked up his briefcase and stood up. He could feel Daniel watching him as he walked over to his jacket and pulled it on. Just as he was adjusting the garment, he turned round and spoke to the boy.

"I'm not going to keep you any longer, Daniel. It would be pointless. You're free to go."

The boy was up in a flash and out of the room before Lancer could even button up his jacket. He blinked. He hadn't been aware that Daniel could move so fast. Dismissing this, he picked up his briefcase once more and headed towards the door. He gave the classroom once last glance before switching off the light and locking the door behind him. As he walked down the corridor towards the exit, he thought over the conversation they had had. He was still sure that something was going on and he wasn't going to wait around for Daniel to approach him – he didn't think that would be happening any time soon. But just because Daniel wasn't going to talk to him didn't mean he couldn't observe Daniel. Maybe if he watched him for long enough, Lancer would be able to work out what was going on?

Oh God, he was glad Kain couldn't hear his thoughts. Watching? Observing? Kain would have a field day…

Danny wasn't quite sure what had just happened. It all seemed so…surreal. When Lancer had asked him about the essay, he had expected to be interrogated until he gave up his secret. But he hadn't been. Lancer had been lenient. He had gotten away with giving almost nothing away – only that he did have a secret. He supposed that maybe he had overreacted when he'd assumed that Lancer had worked out all his secrets. Thinking back, the essay had been rather vague. He had never actually mentioned ghosts or fighting. Maybe he would be able to get away without Lancer ever finding out the truth.

He actually found it rather odd that Lancer had let him go so quickly. Moreover, the man had actually seemed concerned about whatever it was he thought Danny was going through. It didn't make much sense. He'd always thought Lancer only cared about the jocks in the school, not loners like himself. Maybe he was faking it? No…it had seemed so real. Maybe he should tell Lancer the truth then, it didn't seem like he was going to condemn Danny for it – it was more like he wanted to help.

But he's not expecting me to admit to being a half-ghost, is he?

That was right. It wasn't a normal kind of secret he was talking about. Would Lancer still want to help if he found out about Danny's…abnormality? It wasn't exactly typical of a teenager, was it?

But he's already told me that he knows it's not typical.

Being half-ghost was more than just 'not typical' though – it was downright freaky. Scary, even.

Lancer's sensible, he won't freak out straight away.

But he'd never been a big fan of ghosts, had he?

Danny groaned and instead concentrated on getting home. This was giving him a headache.

Jazz Fenton was worried about her brother. She always worried about him, but that was just her sisterly instincts kicking in. For the past few days, however, it seemed as though something had really been bothering her brother. He seemed jittery, jumpy. Whenever he thought someone wasn't looking, his eyes would glaze over and a frown would appear on his face. He was probably thinking about something important to him; something that was causing him problems. The darkening smudges under his eyes indicated that he wasn't getting enough sleep but she couldn't tell if that was because there were so many ghosts or if it was because of this thing bugging him. He looked paler too, but that had started long before this nervous behavior. She wondered why she hadn't tried to do something before. Well…she had, but it had been small things: giving him a lift to school so that he could sleep on the way; distracting their parents so he could get away; sneaking extra food to him when she could because really, he wasn't eating enough. Jazz was very worried so when Danny came in late, his forehead wrinkled and dragging his bag behind him, she didn't let him retreat to his room.

"Danny…" she started, just to get his attention. "Could you come here for a sec?"

He gave her a confused look but complied and took a seat at the dining table. He continued to look at her curiously.

"Is there…" she didn't know how to start, how to make it seem like she wasn't trying to be nosy, be a parent. "Has anything been bothering you lately?" It sounded too parental, intruding.

He scowled, "No Jazz, there's nothing wrong. I don't feel depressed or neglected –"

"No!" she interrupted, that wasn't what she meant at all. "It's just you seem more tired than usual and you've been more jumpy." She paused. "Sam and Tucker say you haven't spoken to them since Friday…"

He looked shocked at that. She wondered if he'd even realized what he'd been doing.

"I haven't…? I could've sworn…" he sounded so confused that it made Jazz wonder if maybe she should've just given him a chocolate bar and let him go to bed.

"Danny…"

He gave her a tight smile and waved off her concerns. "Don't worry Jazz, it's just some school stuff – nothing to do with you-know-what." He then picked up his bag and ran up the stairs before she could respond.

He said it was just school stuff; Jazz wasn't sure whether she should believe him. It was obviously bothering him a lot and that smile…she was seeing it far too often lately.

"Danny…why don't you trust me anymore?"

Jazz was worried about her little brother but it didn't seem like he was going to tell her anything.

He hadn't spoken to Sam and Tucker since Friday? The detention had been on Friday. It was Tuesday now…

He seriously hadn't spoken to them?

He could've sworn he'd met them in the Nasty Burger on Sunday. Or was that last Sunday…?

Danny groaned, he hadn't realized things had gotten so bad. He hadn't realized that this whole thing with Mr. Lancer was affecting him so much. It was true that he hadn't been getting much sleep but that was because of the ghosts, not Mr. Lancer. Speaking of sleep…he was feeling really quite tired. On the way home from school he'd had to take care of Skulker. Thinking about it, he hadn't even been able to muster up enough energy for their usual banter, let alone speak to his friends. He hoped they weren't too mad…

Danny left his thoughts there as he felt himself begin to drift into sleep.

Sorry this is so late...Thank you to all those who reviewed. Thank you especially to X-wingPilot52 who pointed out how I could improve this. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please point out if I've missed any typos.