I sat up so quickly I nearly ripped the IV out of my wrist. My eyes were wide with panic and fear as I tried to figure out where I was. Hospital. Okay. Doctors tried to tell me to lay back down, but I kept yelling, "Where am I? How am I alive?"

Calm voices gave me confused replies, and demands to lay back down. Finally, a calm voice came in. "You're safe."

You're safe. I haven't been "safe" since the accident. Safe was obsolete to me in the past, but I started to relax on hearing the voice. I have been kidnapped, tortured, and nearly killed by many ghosts. I leaned back on the bed, watching as the doctors who surrounded me left, although a bit frightened by my sudden outburst. However, one of them, who wasn't a doctor technically, stayed.

She had brown hair that fell in curls around her face and amber eyes that burned like fires. She wore a red tank and jeans that were curled up over black boots, and had a swirl tattooed on her arm. Other than that, she looked...Well, she looked my age.

"It's nice to know you're awaye." The same voice from before came out of her mouth.

"How long was I out? How did I get here?" The questions came tumbling out of my mouth, causing the girl to laugh.

"Relax, you're fine now." She said. "You were found on the side of the highway, almost hit by a truck. You're lucky to have survived."

"How am I alive?" I asked again. "I was...I was dead, and then I woke up!"

"You were in a medically induced coma for a couple of hours, but beside that, you weren't dead." The girl's eyes widened. "I'm surprised by how fast you're healing." She commented, pulling out a device that resembled an IPad, but when it turned on, a holographic image of ribs- which I guess were mine- showed up. "You had a major wound in your chest. Do you know what happened?"

I didn't understand this. I didn't understand anything. "Did I finally make it to heaven, and is this some kind of joke? I died- I was shot in the chest."

"Well, it does seem possible you were shot, but your heart was fine. You were bleeding...and there was ectoplasm in it." The girl shrugged. "Whatever. You're fine now. But I can't find you anywhere. What;s your name?"

"Danny." I replied calmly. "What's yours?"

The girl smiled. "Phoenix. Training to be a doctor here in Willowbrooke." She paused. "There's a bunch of Dannys in the database. Last name, perhaps?"

"Fenton."

"Spell it?"

"F-E-N-T-O-N."

After scrolling through a list on the tablet, which I could only tell due to the gentle motion of her finger swiping up the screen. she shook her head. "There's no Danny Fenton at your age. A Dani Fenton, but she's been off the grid for a while."

Of course I'm not on there, I said to myself. I'm supposed to be dead.

"Is it short for Daniel?"

"Yeah."

After a couple moments, the search came up with a man across the continent in his eighties. Not me.

I was dead. I kept telling her. I was dead. I am nothing. I am a ghost, a Phantom- how suiting and ironic. I paused. "What year is it?"

"2034."

I was killed in 2014.

I've been dead for twenty years.

The realization hit me like a cold, hard wall. Sam and Tucker and Jazz were still alive, and probably my parents and Vlad, but they all aged normally. I was still fourteen. Dani was still alive, and due to her name, was taken in my my parents, but she's gone into hiding.

I sat there, rubbing my temples.

"If you need a place to stay, Danny." Phoenix's voice caught my attention. "You can stay with me."

"Really?" It was the out-of-the-blue kindness that I never received. "Thank you."

"We'll make an identidy for you-"

"No." I said quickly. "No identity."

"Why? Is someone out to get you, or something?"

"If they realize I'm alive," I uttered dryly, thoughts of being adopted instantly by Vlad invaded my mind. And I wanted to go to my parents and friends instantly, but what would they think? That I'm a monster, a freak, a zombie? I have been dead for twenty years. Unbelievable, but so true.

Phoenix caught my utterance and nodded, putting the tablet on the stand next to my bed. "I'll see how fast I can get you out of here, but for now, sit tight. The Pad's got games on it if you get bored."

I nodded, watching her walk away. She was nice, and as soon as she left the room I grabbed the Pad, and unlocked it. It was different from what I had thought; there was a 3D moe and a holographic mode, along with a standard 2D mode. The problem is, I didn't know how to set it.

After clicking on random things and quickly backing up, I finally found the familiar face of Google. Although it had changed, it was still the same, default search engine it was twenty years ago. I immediately typed in my name, and got nothing. I typed in Danny Phantom. Got dozens of old articles from my years. I clicked on the newest one, dated days after I "died".

Today, the esteemed Daniel Fenton, also known as, Danny Phantom, was laid to rest. Half of the city attended, knowing that all of us would miss the beloved ghost boy. Usually-maleficent ghosts attended, also, and we may not have gotten any say on the passing of the hero, the mayor still had a lot to say.

"Danny Phantom will surely be missed by all, but we must remember who he was- Danny Fenton, a regular boy. We must always remember what he stood for," Mayor Masters said during the funeral.

The whole article made my heart shatter. Half of the people attended? The picture showed some of the people I knew; Dash, Paulina, Kwan, Mikey, Sam, Tucker and Jazz. My parents were up front, and they were not in their usual jumpsuits- which is why they were so hard to find.

The change of heart for Vlad was terrifying but deep. The ghosts who attended, while I laid, only my thoughts awake, als amazed me- ghosts were blurry in photos, but I noticed Ember and Skulker there, too.

Phoenix returned, a big smile on her face. "Danny, you can-" She froze. Was I really crying? I rubbed my eyes, trying not to look obvious. I just learned that all of my enemies attended my own funeral. The ghosts who hated me, the ghosts who didn't care, and the ones who respected me as a person. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head. I didn't really know. I was suddenly thrust into a strange, new world, after being unconscious- since I wasn't dead for all of those years, and I came back- and I was alone.

"Sorry about the mess. I don't usually have visitors." Phoenix said, pushing aside dirty laundry that sat on her couch. "I also have one bed...You can take it, if you want."

I shook my head. "No, the couch is fine. Thank you so much for letting me stay here."

Phoenix shrugged. "My mother always told me to help the people who need it the most."

"Really?" I wondered. "Where are your parents now?"

Phoenix tensed, the subject was sore to her.

"You don't have to, I didn't realize-"

"No. They just left me a couple of years ago. If it weren't for the head doctor at the hospital, I wouldn't be here." She explained quickly, and the sadness soon melted into happiness again. "Anyway, what kind of pizza do you like? I'll order it in, special."

I remembered how Sam and Tucker argued over what toppings we should get on the pizza. We always got half-meat lover's, half-vegan, to suit their tastes. I never really minded, as I was always stuck in the middle of their "meat vs. veggie" debates.

"Just cheese." I finally said.

Phoenix nodded, and I took the chance to open the blinds and look outside. Although she was in a pretty run-down, old apartment, it still gave a great view of the city. A city I was unfamiliar with. It made my heart soar and leap at the thought of flying again.

But what if I didn't have my powers. Turning quickly, I asked, "Where's the bathroom?"

She paused, covering her hand over the mouthpiece. "Down the hall, the second door on your left."

I nodded, and, following her instructions, found the bathroom successfully. It was an average sized bathroom, with the walls painted a grotesque color of beige. I closed my eyes, and concentrated on the ghost energy that was inside of me. I knew I still had some, because Phoenix noticed the ectoplasm in my blood- if I was bleeding normally, there would be minute traces of it, but traces nonetheless.

After a stalled moment, when I almost freaked for losing my powers, the familiar rings appeared at my center and travelled up and down my body. My regular clothes transformed into a black jumpsuit, my hair turned from black to snow white and my eyes, blue to a terrifying neon green.

I sighed. I still had my powers. What was wrong, however, is that my jumpsuit had a giant hole, right in the center of my chest. My DP was gone, with just bare chest left. I had no patches to fix it up, or any extra jumpsuits left over. "Darn it," I muttered, allowing myself to revert back to my human form.

A knock on the door alerted me. I unlocked it and found myself face-to-face with Phoenix. "Pizza's gonna be here in half an hour, okay?"

Twenty years in the future, and they still have not made a way to make pizza more accessible to the people.