Edited (07/10/14)

You can feel very quickly as a prisoner of your past, of the memories.

Eric Cantona

"Is she doing any better sweetie?" Mom had just gotten back after going home to sleep last night. She wasn't too fond of me staying here all the time, but I couldn't leave Sam's side, not when I was the one who got her into this mess. One screw up- that's all it took to land her in the hospital, unconscious. I should have taken that hit, I should be the one here.

"There's no change." I said it with hardly any emotion, reaching to grab Sam's hand and squeezing it tightly. If she were awake, she'd probably smack me for doing such a thing without her permission. I wish she would now; at least then I'd know she was okay.

Mom sat beside me, taking my free hand in her own. "It's not your fault, Danny." She didn't know the half of it. "She got involved in a fight with the ghost boy. It's his fault, not yours."

Gee. Thanks mom. Because that makes said ghost boy feel so much better.

I wasn't thinking when my response left my mouth. "It is my fault, damn it! She was helping me, and I couldn't keep her safe! I'm Danny fucking Phantom and I couldn't keep her safe!" My rant died out as my mind fully processed what I had just said.

"What did you say?" Shit. I don't know that I can talk my way out of this one.

I feel the ghost of a sensation on my hand as I'm riding the bus once more. The driver has gotten tired of hearing us squabble over seats, and so she has enforced assigned seating on bus 327. There's a girl named Sarah in the seat next to mine, and Danny's sister, Jasmine, sits a few seats in front of me, but what makes me the happiest is that I now share a seat with Danny. I had time to play with my only friend on the bus every day going to and from school now, and it was so much better than sitting all alone.

The girl, Sarah, is nice and although she's in the grade above us, she's still fun to play with. Dash sits behind Sarah, but I don't really like him very much. He's pretty stupid and is constantly trying to add new rules to games just so he has the upper hand.

Danny and I talk a lot during class now, though he needs to learn how not to get caught. I'm never the one getting in trouble for talking in class because I know how to keep from getting caught. I guess being alone lets you learn from the mistakes of others.

The day changes, and I can't tell if days have passed or if months have gone by. All I know is that our desks are now in little groups of fours and fives. Danny still sits next to me; the teacher hasn't moved our desks apart since we became friends, I think she's just happy I have a friend now. Even she knew I was so lonely before. Earlier in the year, she had even gone as far as to recommend me for some program with the counselor and all the other socially awkward kids. It didn't actually do me any good though.

I don't know what the purpose is, all I know is we get to make these fun little king puppets! We read a book in class, a fairy tale I think, and now we get to make puppets to play with. Danny isn't good at this sort of thing though, he's too clumsy to get the little piece of cloth to go where he wants them to before he glues them down. I just laugh as I help him, barely aware of a camera in the background. An idea comes to mind, maybe I should start a photo journal so I can keep these memories forever.

The images start to fade away form me, is there really so little I remember from that year? That was the first year I ever had a friend, but I can hardly remember anything. My mind shifts from that of an eight year old girl to a teenager, fighting to return to the surface of reality; fighting to get back to Danny.

"I'm Danny fucking Phantom and I couldn't keep her safe!" I hear the whisper of his voice for just a second. Was that real? Or was it just a dream of sorts? I have no time to sort it out as the darkness pulls me away from the surface I had very nearly reached. I'm dragged back down to live in my memories once more.

Oh well, at least Danny is in them.

Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D

Invisible One