"So, now that the suns up...we are done?" I asked. She nodded. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.
"I just got out of a relationship and you just got into one. We had one special night, but that's over now." She said.
"Danny." She said again. I looked at her confused.
"Danny." She repeated.
"What?" I asked.
"Danny!" Her voice came out muffled.
…
"Danny. Jesus! Wake up!" I heard, the first thing I noticed was that I was really cold.
"Thank god." Sam said. I groaned.
"What? What happened?" I asked. Sam bit her lip. The room was dark and the clock read that it was two a.m.
"...flying…?" I asked, my teeth chattering together. Sam blushed. "Danny….you fell in the shower. When you slipped in the blood, you hit your head and I think you got a concussion. You fainted, and I didn't realize until the shower had been running for a while." Sam explained.
"So we didn't go flying?" I asked again. "No...why? Is that what you remember? Danny, you were dreaming. I think you have a concussion." Sam said.
My heart fell as I realized that I never got to kiss Sam. ...So what did the text message really say? Did it say that I loved her? Sam was still blushing when I realized that she had to drag me out of the shower and...I'm only wearing a towel.
"I got out a sweater and some sweat pants, but I think that we should go to the hospital…" Sam said, running her fingers through her hair. It was dry, unlike in my dream. Her face was bare of makeup though.
"I don't think thats necessary." I shivered, my animosity returning, but it was hard to be mad at her when I thought that we had already made up. And made out apparently.
"Danny. I don't want to fight anymore." She said. I stood, my legs almost giving out underneath me. "I don't either. I just want to change, so.." I shooed her out of the room with my hands. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head.
"I'm staying here, to make sure you don't hurt yourself." She said sarcastically. I looked at her incredulously. "Really." I said.
"Really." She countered.
"If you insist, I guess." I said, awkwardly. I moved a dresser in front of my body to cover any private areas and unwrapped the towel from my waist. Sam was watching me intently, throwing me some clothes. I blushed and pulled the clothes on and moved the dresser back. I flopped back onto the bed and sighed.
"...Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" She asked. I gave her a look.
"I've honestly had worse fighting-" I was cut off as my ghost sense escape my mouth. Sam stood suddenly, looking at me worried.
"Ghosts." We both finished. I heard screams and crashes immediately following the sound of horses galloping. "Fright Knight." I whispered, scrambling to the window.
"Danny….are you gonna?" Sam asked hesitantly. I nodded. "I've been gone long enough, I suppose." I concluded.
I transformed and phased through the roof, taking in my surroundings. I saw my parents fighting off the Fright Knight, but they were losing badly. I hid behind a chimney and watched the scene.
"I need Daniel Phantom." The Fright Knight said, holding a small child in the air. The child was flailing around and screaming for his mother.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but he's obviously gone." A random bystander screamed out. I winced.
"He's only been on mandatory medical leave. I'm sure this will get him to come out." Fright Knight smirked, holding his blade to the small boys wrist.
"Oh fuck." I whispered, falling into the alley as he cut the boys arm. I pushed past people.
"Okay! Okay! STOP!" I screamed out, catching the boy as he dropped him. The boy clung to my neck, and I could feel the blood seeping into my jumpsuit.
"What do you want?" I questioned, wrapping an arm around the boy protectively. "Oh, I have a message." He said, smirking evilly.
"A message from who?" I asked, confused. I put the boy down and he ran to his mom, who smiled in relief, holding his injured arm. "You'll see my boy. It's all part of the plan." Fright Knight said holding out a scroll. I gently took it and raised an eyebrow at him.
The Knight motioned towards the scroll, a smile slowly dancing across his face. I shrugged, thinking nothing of it and opened the scroll.
Inside...was, well. I figured out what the scroll was.
I fell to the floor, holding my head and screaming. The people around me rushed to my side, only to be stopped by the Fright Knight. I felt knives cutting my skin and chemicals disintegrating my insides, even if it wasn't real.
"This scroll, lets you live how you died." The Fright Knight explained.
That explains why I'm twitching like I'm being electrocuted. "My new master demanded me give it to the boy, because the boy has died twice. Half died once and stopped breathing a second time." The Knight explained.
I went to stand, only to be stabbed the stomach by the Knights sword. "I'm not finished. It's rude to interrupt."
The pain in my abdomen increased as I tried to pull out the sword, so I just laid on my back as tears streamed down my face. Sam was suddenly outside, Tucker next to her, and tried to get to my side.
"Ms. Manson, I will not tell you a second time." The Fright Knight snapped. She stopped, but held her glare.
"...as I was saying. The first time that he died was by electrocution, which gave him his powers." He started.
"You son of a bitch." I spat, spitting blood out onto the pavement. The blood was red, instead of green, which caught the eye of the bystanders.
"I will not tell you the second death, for it will give it away. I'm here to tell you, Mr. Phantom, to watch your back. He will claim you, and he is coming." The Fright Knight said, pulling the sword out of my body and riding away. I stayed laying on the ground in pain, Sam and Tucker finally making it to my side.
"Why are there so many people out at two a.m?" I groaned out, chuckling even though I could taste the metallic taste of blood on my lips.
"...Should we call an ambulance?" A person asked and the street went quiet. I couldn't answer though, because I was too busy coughing up my small intestines.
"Alright so listen up! Obviously, Phantom isn't a full ghost. Who he is doesn't matter considering that he is literally lying in his own pool of blood and still cracking jokes. Our hero is alive and back and we need to help him stay that way!" Dash Baxter suddenly yelled, which was very ironic that I started laughing.
"Thats hilarious." I groaned, getting to my feet. "Is it just because I'm a hero? If I was just some regular person on the street would you care then?" I spat out. Dash stepped back, looking confused.
"...I'm going to set one thing straight here, okay? The human that I am, none of you give a shit about. I'm not some popular jock that has a secret identity. I'm a dork and a loser and none of you cared before. Why should you now?" I said, holding my stomach.
"Especially you, Dash." I glared and turned to walk away. Sam and Tucker came up behind me to help me but I flinched away from them. "You guys didn't care either." I said. I didn't know what was happening to me. I couldn't stop talking and I'm going to give something away.
"Tucker, do you know anything else about that scroll?" Sam asked, panicked. I turned to continue walking away. When a jolt of pain made its way through my body.
'You are a disgrace of a human being. You don't deserve to be alive.' A voice in my head said. I frowned itched my arm, feeling the emptyness start to dig its way through my skull.
"...I don't know anything about it! I'm putting together stuff the fright knight said! Danny can you please wait?!" Tucker said, but I was already kicking into the air and flying away.
...
I landed in the graveyard, though I wasn't sure why. I spit out some blood into the grass, laying my arm gingerly over my abdomen. Anger still surged through my veins when I thought of what Dash said. After everything he did...I just wanted to-
"Kill him?" A voice said from behind me. I turned around suddenly, caught off guard, to come face to face to a teenage boy with black hair and yellow eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You can continue your internal rant about murder like I'm not here." He smirked, floating up into the tree and sitting down. I was suddenly aware of how weak I was, and took a step back.
"Who are you?" I asked, suspicious.
"I am the ghost of Depression, which is why they call me D." He smiled, hanging upside down in the tree. I raised an eyebrow.
"You don't look very sad." I concluded. He nodded.
"I feed off of others depression so that I am not sad. I am pretty good right now because I'm feeding off of you." He answered.
I narrowed my eyes. "So you are a Spectra?" I asked.
He immediately got into my face when I said that, like he was offended. "I am not like that stupid woman, never call me that again." He hissed, and I had no choice but to cower. He is obviously stronger than me.
"Okay, then explain why you feed on emotions!" I accused. He sighed.
"Unlike spectra, who feeds on general misery, I feed on really bad depression. Suicide bad." D explained. I nodded.
"It depends how you die, what kind of ghost you will become. I killed myself when I was human. I was tired of living in the shadow of my friends and how they were perfect, so I ended it. So now, to insure that I won't feel that sadness anymore, I feed on depression. And if one of my victims kills him or herself, they become part of my army, helping me collect souls to stay happy." D finished.
I sighed. "So you are targeting me then?" I asked. D nodded.
"I was very angry when you kept failing, and even more so when you got better. So I sent away the soldier that was making you worse and decided to take thing into my own hands." He said, suddenly smirking evilly and shooting a dark blue ectoblast at my chest.
I gasped, feeling a cold sadness seep into my very core, and my eyelids droop in exhaustion. "When you wake up, you will be worse than you ever were before." D said, whispering as he took me into his arms and flew off into the pale blue of early morning.
...
"Danny? Oh thank god?" Sam's voice suddenly swam through my subconciousness. I groaned as I opened my eyes, a weight on my chest feeling like one thousand pounds.
"What happened?" I asked, not recalling the last couple hours at all. Probably because I was sleeping.
"...do you not remember what happened after the fight with the Fright Knight?" Tucker asked, appearing at the doorway.
"What fight with the Fright Knight?" I asked. Tucker and Sam looked at each other. "The one at 2 a.m?" Sam reiterated.
I raised my eyebrow. "Sam, I think you are going slightly insane. There was no fight with the Fright Knight." I said.
She gaped at me but closed her jaw, her eyes resolving in defeat. "Must've been a dream." She muttered. Tucker looked like he was about to protest but she cut him off. "It's time to get ready for school, Tuck. I'll see you later Danny." She smiled sadly at me before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
I laid back down in bed, running my fingers through my hair and sighing. I felt really sad today. Really really sad. "Nothing I haven't felt before," I said to myself, "Just have to get up and face the day head on."
I heard the front door close and knew that my friends were gone. I got out my phone, sending out a good morning text to Cameron, smiling to myself as I hopped out of bed. I drew open the curtains and tried to forget about the darkness making its way to the front of my mind. If I don't think about it, it will leave me alone.
Cam [rec] good morning (: how are you feeling? I miss you
Cam [sent] feeling pretty normal so far. imma go to the school to meet you for lunch, k? then you can tell me all about how lucky i am to be away from it (;
Cam [rec] h8 u (;
I giggled to myself, deciding to take a shower and grab something to eat, then work on some homework. Some things to keep me busy. I ran the shower water and took off my clothes, running my hand over a pale part of my stomach, like a scar. I raised an eyebrow at myself in the mirror. "Wonder where that came from." I muttered, before getting into the shower, eyeing the blade that sat on the soap bar holder.
I picked it up and ran my thumb over the sharp edges, about to bring it to my skin when I came to my senses. "What am I doing?" I whispered, placing it back where I had gotten it and focused on cleaning my body.
After I rinsed the soap out of my hair, I turned off the water and shook my head like a dog. I grabbed a towel off of the rack and wrapped it around my waist, exiting to my room. I got out some black skinny jeans and a gray and black striped t-shirt, not forgetting boxers, and pulled them on, shaking the towel into my hair to dry it.
After my hair wasn't so wet, I made my way downstairs and made some eggs for breakfast. As I was putting them on a plate, my phone vibrated.
Cam [rec] you arent missing much at school today...people are just discussing the ghost fight
I lowered my eyebrows in confusion.
Cam [sent] what ghost fight?
Cam [rec] youre kidding right? its all over the news. phantom isnt a full ghost! have you really not heard anything about this?
I panicked. What? Something happened to me last night that I don't remember... and Sam lied to me again. As usual. I rolled my eyes, but bit my lip, thinking of a reply.
Cam [sent] phantom is a ghost, how can you not be a full one?
Cam [rec] i have no idea, but apparently, he isnt apart of the cool crowd...so it must be somebody close to the nerd social group.
'Wow, what a strike to my dignity.' I thought, raising my eyes to the ceiling in annoyance.
Cam [sent] tell me more at lunch? when is yours?
Cam [rec[ 12 on the dot. ill see you in a couple hours (: now for pre-calc :|
I laughed to myself for a minute, happy that I didn't have to go through that torture, then I went to eat my eggs, which were crunchy and cold. I am not the best cook, but I didn't get breakfast with Sam today, which that fact by itself meant that it was going to be barely edible.
I spent the next hour doing some homework and trying to teach myself some of the new stuff, but it was hard to think about when I was thinking about Cam. I wanted to make her my girlfriend, which is bad because met not that long ago… We've been on a date already...so that means I can at least ask her...right?
I've never asked a girl out before. Stella and I's relationship kinda just happened. I never got her anything special because what we had wasn't that special, to her anyway. She never wanted anything and only wanted to get me stuff. Now I know why.
I summoned some of my ice powers and made an ice heart on a chain, heating it with some ectoplasm to make ghost metal. I held it in my hands and smiled, adding a D in the middle of the heart. This is what I'm gonna use to ask out Cam with, because she is too special to let slip away.
I had put it into my pocket when the door rang. I checked the time in a panic, but let out a breath of relief when it was only eleven. I raised my eyebrow in suspicion, eyeing the door.
I opened it apprehensively, making sure to have my powers on the ready in case I needed them. On the other side of the door was a boy around my age, a little shorter than me, with shaggy black hair and yellow eyes.
"Can I help you?" I asked shortly, not in the mood for games. He smiled weakly and took a slight step back. "Hi, I'm Dylan, or D for short. Can you tell me where Casper High is? I'm new in town."
His questioned seemed innocent enough,but there was something else in his eyes...something evil. I rolled my eyes internally at myself. I'm too paranoid. I see a new kid and think that he wants to kill me. Splendid.
"Yeah, I'm getting ready to go meet my girlfriend there. I can take you if you want." I said, feeling my back pocket for my phone and the necklace. He nodded in gratitude, but his smile seemed familiar.
"Do I know you?" I asked suddenly. In his eyes flashed shock, but he shook his head. "No, I've never been here before, just moved in recently." He said quickly.
I nodded and closed the door behind me. "Come on, get in my car." I said, hopping in the drivers side. He got into the passenger and thanked me again. I just shrugged it off and drove towards the school, with the odd feeling that I had met D before.