Chapter Sixty-Six: Phone Call
It had been almost a full year since Sam and Tucker went to the lab and reported that Phantom had vanished, the box in shambles. Almost a full year since he had sealed up the Ghost Portal but he still didn't feel safe. Jack Fenton stood before the sealed portal, a wrench in hand. "Hey, Maddie? Do you think we should tear this thing down? I mean, it's not in use anymore."
"Mm…" Maddie looked over from what she was working on. "Well, I suppose that we can. It's not much good to us now, and we had a lot of ghosts slipping out of it at random times, anyway." She went over to a shelf to pick something up and knocked over a notepad. "Oops." She knelt to pick it up.
He looked over and gasped. "Ah, Maddie, that's—"
"What's all these notes about Phantom?" She asked, looking at them. "Detailed sketches, information about his strengths, weaknesses and abilities...how did you manage to get this, Jack?"
Jack sighed. Well, the cat was out of the bag NOW. "While we were out ghost-hunting, Danny confessed to me that he was a friend of Phantom's. I…convinced him to tell me more about him, and that's what he told me. Apparently he's always going missing when Phantom is around because he doesn't want to get in his way and he was terrified of the other ghosts, besides." He bit his tongue after he finished, hoping she wouldn't know it was a lie.
She looked over the notes. "So much detail, though. This is amazing, it's almost like you were studying him yourself."
"Well, you do have to observe your enemy!" He walked over and took the notepad. "Anyways, it's in the past now. Phantom hasn't been seen in months, and I've heard rumor that he may be gone for good."
"Hm." She walked back to her workstation after grabbing what she went over there for to begin with. "Well, it is true that if he were around, he would've shown himself long before now. It's a shame we never got to actually study him, though…"
Jack sighed, glad that the Guys in White had all the information collected after the boys were put into captivity. After all, if she knew that Phantom and her baby boy were the same person…well, she'd surely change her tune on what to do with Phantom.
"Mom? Dad?" Jazz called down. "Dinner is ready."
"We'll be right up, Jazzykins!" He said, heading for the stairs with his notepad in hand. 'I should put this in a lockbox or something.' He thought.
He heard the phone ringing and went to answer it, picking up. "Hello?"
There was only silence in reply, and he spoke again. "Hello? This is Jack Fenton here."
"…Are…you…awake?" A voice whispered harshly, and then it hung up. Jack's face was pale as he looked at the phone.
"Jack?" Maddie called.
'He's still alive. He knows my number. He's still alive. He knows my home. He's still alive!' Jack hung it up. "Uh…just a prank call, Maddie. Nothing to worry about." He chuckled nervously and swallowed before making his way to the table. "Ah, steak and eggs!"
"With fudge for dessert." Jazz smiled.
"You know the way to my heart, princess." Jack smiled fondly as he poured his milk.
Wherever Phantom was, he had access to a phone. Which meant he was still in the Real World and not the Ghost Zone. Maybe he could alert the Guys in White. No. He was supposed to be avoiding the Guys in White; they supposedly killed his son in a grudge act against him! What could he do? Just leave him be? As long as he stayed away from Amity Park and Jack stayed in it that was a possibly good choice.
Going to the police the next day to report harassment didn't do any good, since he didn't have a number to give them. Maybe he should look into getting caller ID…
The next day, another call. At about the same time, just about dinnertime, he answered the phone and this time heard soft, cold laughter before it hung up. Again, he said it was a prank call, but he knew that bitter laugh anywhere. Phantom was haunting him, putting him on edge while biding his time until…what? What was he waiting for?
Next time, he waited to come up until Jazz had answered it. "Dad? You've got a phone call!" She called down the stairs to the lab. "Also, it's time for dinner!"
"Thanks, Jazzypants." He said, walking up and taking the phone. He held it to his ear and said "Jack Fenton here!"
"You should go to a priest. You're a real mon—" The voice said this time, and then Jack quickly hung up before he could finish what he was saying.
"Dad?" Jazz frowned. "Who was it?"
"Just a rude telemarketer, sweetie." He said, walking over and sitting at the table.
Two months went by without a call from Phantom, but he jumped every time the phone rang anyway. 'Even without being near me, he's terrorizing me!' He thought.
On a day when Maddie and Jazz were both out, he was alone in the lab when the phone rang. Jack pulled off his glove and looked at his watch. 'It's not time yet. Can't be Phantom.' He thought, walking up to answer the phone. He held it to his ear, standing near the hook. "Hello, Jack Fenton here!"
"…D-Dad…?" He heard a soft voice say. The color drained out of his face as he realized he was hearing Danny's face. "D-Dad…it hurts…I miss you…"
He slammed it down on the receiver, panting heavily. His son was not talking to him from beyond the grave – his son was NOT talking to him from beyond the grave! He heard the phone ring again and gasped, packing away from it. It kept ringing until it reached twenty and then stopped, hitting the answering machine. Then he heard it start to ring again.
For the next hour, it rang. He covered his ears and curled up on the couch, his teeth chattering. Phantom was bad enough, expected to do something even, but now his son was calling him? He looked up at it and finally got up and picked it up. "Alright, enough of this prank!"
"D-Dad…" He heard Danny's voice whimper. It was so faint, so weak, like when he was in the hospital. "I miss you…I'm sorry…"
"I won't have any more of this, you hear? My son is dead!" Jack snapped.
"I love you, daddy…" He heard Danny's voice say, and then it hung up, the dial-tone humming in his ear.
That was the last call. After three more months of nothing, he felt content that he had heard the last of Danny and Phantom. He never told Maddie or Jazz about the calls, and the last words he heard Danny say in his ear wouldn't leave his head.
How could Danny forgive him even in death for how he treated him? How could he still see him as a father? Jack buried his face in his hands, sitting in the lab alone silently. The Fenton Portal had been torn down two months ago, a gaping hole in the wall the only proof it ever existed.
Danny's loving call had been far more unsettling than Phantom's threats, and it left him trembling every time the phone rang. He would visit Danny's grave and hear those last four words, he couldn't escape it!
"Danny…" He breathed, kneeling by his grave. "Stop haunting me. Stop haunting me! I'm not sorry for what I did! You weren't even human anymore! Stop haunting me!" Thunder crashed overhead and rain began to fall, drowning out his cries. "I wasn't your father anymore! You weren't my son anymore! You were just a specimen to be studied! Stop haunting me!"
He was alone, he knew it well, and as the rain fell harder and reached up and touched the engraved name on the stone. "He's going to kill me…he's going to kill me for what I did to you. Isn't that enough? Why do you insist on haunting me?! Danny!"
He clutched at the stone and hung his head, the rain making his usually-slicked hair fall into his face. "I don't love you." He whispered to the stone. "I can't love a monster wearing my son's face. I don't love you. I'm not sorry."
He sat there for an hour, murmuring, before Jazz and Maddie came in the car to find him.
"Jack! We looked everywhere for you, get into the car!" Maddie said, clutching her coat shut tight. "Where's your raincoat?"
He looked up at her, smiling. "Sorry, guess I forgot it!" He got up and walked back to the car.
"Oh, Jack." Maddie sighed.
"What are we going to do with you?" Jazz added, opening the car door for him.
What was Phantom going to do with him? Why hadn't he made any moves, aside from the phone call? And where did he call from? Where did Danny call from? Was it possible to call someone from the Ghost Zone, or were they both haunting somewhere in the Real World, using a payphone with stolen money to harass him?
And how long until Phantom came after him?