"So…Danny, tell me about your girlfriend." Dylan said awkwardly. I blushed and shrugged. "I don't know, she is so different from my first one. Her name is Cameron."
Dylan froze but shook it off, smiling tightly and nodding. "…Who was your first girlfriend?" He asked. "Stella Hoover. She was….she was something. I loved her." I told him. For some reason, D made me want to tell him everything, even my darkest secrets.
"Sounds nice."
"All she wanted to do was fix me, and at the time, I didn't want to be fixed." I said, turning on the road to get to Casper. D nodded. "I never want to be fixed...partying all the time is too fun to give up." D said, turning his attention to me.
"…How did you know that I—"
"Well, thanks for the ride Danny. I'll be sure to hit you up sometime. Bye!" D said, practically leaping from my car, his yellow eyes flashing with mischief. I swear to God that I had met him before….but where?
I sighed and shrugged. I wasn't going to figure anything out just sitting here thinking about it. I got out of my car and locked it, turning my attention to the picnic tables spread out. Cameron was sitting at one alone, waiting for me. Sam and Tucker turned and smiled in my direction waving me over, but I simply shook my head and went towards Cameron.
"Hey Cam." I said, sitting down next to her. She looked up and smiled instantly. "Hey you! How are you feeling? Sam told me about you slipping and hitting your head on the skin." She said, her lips frowning in worry. I smiled, taking her hand.
"I'm fine. Just a little blood. That's it." I assured her. She didn't look convinced but she let it slide. The necklace suddenly felt really cold in my back pocket, so I swallowed around my nervousness and sighed. "So, tell me about this ghost fight? I've been wanting to hear about it." I said.
Her eyes brightened. "It was really weird! Phantom saved a little boy, who was being cut by this knight ghost, and read this scroll that made him feel how he died. Then the Fright Knight revealed that Phantom was only part ghost. He got really mad whenever Dash tried to help him, and revealed that he was a loser!" Cameron beamed.
Ouch.
The hurt probably showed on my face. "…are you okay?" She asked, hesitantly. "Oh, yeah fine! Just a headache." I said. She nodded and dug into her salad, which I picked out of too. Dash was looking at me funny from across the yard and I glared back at him, making him turn straight to his food.
"So, what happened with you today?" She said around a mouthful of lettuce. "I just laid around, did some homework, met this guy named Dylan." She froze.
"…was it something that I said?" I asked. She shook her head. "No, no. It's just, Frank and my older brother's name was Dylan. He killed himself a couple years ago." She said softly. I pressed my lips together and hugged her. "I'm sorry." I whispered. "No, it was a long time ago. It's just been awhile since I've heard the name Dylan." She laughed.
I sighed. "…I have something that will make you feel better!" I whispered, nudging her gently. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the necklace, placing it into her hands.
"Oh my gosh." She said, running a finger over the D. "So…do you wanna be my girlfriend, maybe?" I asked nervously. She nodded quickly, putting on the necklace and kissing me softly on the lips. "I would love to be your girlfriend." She said. I smiled widely.
"But…" She continued. My smile dropped. "…we have only known each other for a few days….I don't want to start anything serious until we fully know each other." She smiled sadly. I nodded. "Yeah that's fine! No problem. Starting tonight?" I asked. She winced and looked up to me with sad eyes.
"My parents are coming home tonight and want to spend quality time with me and my brother…tomorrow though. Definitely tomorrow!" She smiled, kissing my cheek once again. "I am keeping the necklace though. It's cute and it says that I am talking to someone." She grinned. I chuckled lightly, even though I was kind of bummed.
I shouldn't blame her. My first relationship started out odd, with us kissing the first day that we met. Not all of my relationships are going to be like that. I shouldn't blame Cameron…
I couldn't help but wish she had said yes though. Sam was right, I don't know anything about her.
Cameron finished her salad and smiled at me. "I think I'm going to go back home and get some sleep. I'm starting to feel really dizzy." I lied. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern and she nodded. "Of course." She whispered, kissing my forehead and getting up.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Or I'll text you. Either one." She promised, turning and leaving to throw away her trash. I sighed sadly and got up, making my way towards my car. D was sitting on a tree, glancing in my direction. I waved at him slightly and continued towards my car, getting in it and driving away from the school.
When I got to Sam's house, I immediately went into my room and laid down on my sheets, taking a deep breath. No girl really wants to be with me. Stella didn't, Sam doesn't, Cameron isn't ready for it. I took another shaky breath, but when I did, my ghost sense sounded.
I sat up quickly, coming face to face with a ghost with yellow eyes and a black hoodie. "You are right." It whispered, its voice sounding like many voices at once.
"…What do you mean?" I whispered back.
"No girl wants to be with you. Why would anyone want to be with you? You are only a freak of nature, a thing that shouldn't exist. No wonder my master wants you on his army. Nobody wants to deal with a freak." It spat. I narrowed my eyes.
I transformed and hurtled it out of the room, into the street. "You can't say that about me." I spat. "You know nothing about me!" I said.
It grinned widely, grabbing me by the neck and throwing me across town, into the courtyard of the school.
"Why can't I? All I'm saying is the truth. You fail at everything and you accomplish nothing. The only thing you are good at is pushing people away." It said.
It's right...everything it is saying is true. My eyes burned suddenly and I felt depressed.
"Feeling sad is a good thing." It said standing in front of me. "There is always another way out…" It said, looking at me with a gleam in its eyes. It held out its hand and in it was a razor. My eyes widened and I went to fly away, only to fall to the ground.
"…What are you doing to me?!" I shouted. "You can't get away from your problems by flying away, Danny!" It cackled. I went to shoot an ectoblast while it was distracted, but nothing was working! My powers were gone!
Instead of facing it head on, I ran. I ran through the doors and into the school, past confused people shouting my name. Past Cameron who still had on the necklace. I had to get away from it. It was doing something to me.
I had no desire to go back down the road it was steadily forcing me down.
I ran into the gym, where Sam and Tucker were currently stretching. Where Sam and Tucker immediately stood up. I went to say something, but I was pushed forward into the wall, the thing holding me there.
"Students! Get on the wall! Sam, call Mr. and Mrs. Fenton."
"My master wants you for his army, do you understand? He wants you either dead or alive, and I intend on bringing you to him. Someday. You probably should watch your back." It whispered in my ear. There was panic all around, and I couldn't breathe.
"Go to hell." I spat. It glared and forced me to the ground. "You may not be as willing as I thought you would be. You are strong, I give you that." It said, bringing out a blade from its jacket.
"If you don't want to start the habit again on your own, fine. I'll just make you do it." It said, pushing my jumpsuit sleeve up and pressing the blade into the pale skin below it. I screamed and tried to kick the thing off of me, but it wouldn't budge. "No, feel the pain. Want the pain. You want this." It said, forcing me to look it in the eyes.
"Sam? Tucker? What's going on?" I heard my parents say into the room.
"There's a ghost, and its hurting Phantom! It's doing something to him!" Sam explained hurriedly, pointing to the scene. My eyes were forced back to the yellow ones, which seemed to be swirling.
"You want to do this. You want to feel the pain." It said, still digging the blade into my skin.
"I-I want to do this. I want to feel the pain." I said. I could feel the gasp. "Tuck, it has mind control. We need to get them apart." I heard a voice say.
"We got this." A voice of authority said. Suddenly the ghost was ripped from me, the blade cutting further into my skin, much to my relief.
The ghost blasted the people in the bright jumpsuits and came back to me. "You will not remember." It said, disappearing.
Everything went black.
…
"Phantom?! Phantom!" I was shaken awake. My hair was white, so I was in Phantom form…in the school gym.
"What?" I groaned, pushing the hands away from me. A sharp pain in my arm forced my eyes open. My parents were standing over me, as was an entire group of classmates. Sam, Tucker, Dash, Kwan, Paulina, Val and others.
"Ow." I hissed. "What's going on?" I asked, confused. My parents looked at each other. "We need for you to tell us what happened after the fight with the Fright Knight." My mom said. I looked at her. "This isn't a time to be funny or hard to work with." Lancer added.
My classmates looked to me expectantly. I raised an eyebrow. "I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about." I said, standing up.
"What do you mean?" Dash asked, scared. "I haven't fought the Fright Knight in a year and a half." I said.
My parents raised their eyebrows in shock. "What about what just happened with the ghost that was just here?" Valerie asked.
"Again, I don't know what you are talking about." I said, truthfully. She stepped back, as did most of the people.
"You don't remember." Dash said.
"…No, I don't. Now if you could just get out of my way, so that I can leave." I said, narrowing my eyes. A sharp pain suddenly ran through my skull.
"…I'm going to go home now." I said, hesitantly. They let me fly through the roof and didn't say anything afterwards.
The pain in my head intensified when I reverted back to human form. I winced and went to grab some water when I heard it.
You want the pain. You want to feel the pain.
I took a step back and looked into my bathroom.
You want to go grab that razor and cut. You don't care that you are clean.
I went into the bathroom and grabbed my razor.
Nobody likes you anyway. They wouldn't care if you were gone.
They wouldn't care if I was gone. I pressed the blade into my skin and dragged it across my forearm.
Nobody cares.
Nobody cares.
…
I woke up on the cold tile floor of the bathroom. There was blood everywhere. Sam didn't seem like she was home, so that was fortunate. I hissed in pain as I moved my arm. I inspected the damage.
27 cuts…..
Holy shit.
I had never gone over ten on one arm before….this was 27 counting the mysterious one that I had gotten this afternoon. I looked around the bathroom, throwing open the cabinet and wrapping my arms. I felt that scary numbness again and I didn't know what to do….
I could call Sam. I could call her and she could hold me and everything would be okay. But I couldn't get too dependent on her. She wasn't a constant in my life. It's sad, but it's true. She couldn't be counted on.
My phone was vibrating from the sink, so I stood up shakily, ignoring the blood already seeping through the bandages, and answered.
"Lo?" I asked.
"Danny! Are you okay? You just left and haven't answered any of our calls!" Sam's worried voice sounded through the phone.
"I went home to sleep! Jeez. I'm fine Sam! I've been fine for a while." I assured her, looking at my arm.
"You have an army of ghosts trying to get you to kill yourself and you don't remember fighting any of them! That isn't okay." She said. I rolled my eyes.
"Look, I'm not going to kill myself. I have you guys looking after me. I have Cameron, Jack, and Hayden. I'm going to be completely fine." I said, looking down at my feet.
She sighed. "Okay…but the second you feel any…urges…you tell me." She ordered. I nodded. "Danny, I can't see you if you are nodding." She laughed.
"Oh, yeah. Okay. I'll tell you. Talk to you later." I said, hanging up the phone. "Well…I guess you just lied to her." A voice sounding from behind me. I jumped and looked the figure.
"D?" I asked. He laughed. "Yeah. I was kidding though. I'm sure you are okay." He said, jumping off of my bed.
"How long have you been here?" I asked, looking around at the clean bathroom nervously. "Just the start of the conversation. What happened to your arm?" He asked. I put it behind my back. "Cut myself making lunch." I lied. He nodded.
"Okay, cool. Sorry I let myself in. I have a proposition for you!" He said excitedly. I raised an eyebrow. "What kind?" I asked, pulling down my shirt sleeve.
"Well, there is a party tonight. Trevor Johnson is throwing it. Supposed to be a complete rager! Anyways, I got invited, but you are the only one I know in this town…so will you go with me?" He smiled widely.
I thought about it. There was obviously going to be alcohol. I could just not drink if I went. He was right, I am the only one he knows here. I can't just leave him to the wolves…right?
"Yeah, I'll go." I said finally. He fist pumped the air and smiled at me. "What are you going to tell Sam? From the rumors I heard from some people about you, Sam won't let you go twenty feet near a party." He said.
"I won't tell her. I'll tell her that I'm going to Camerons." I said. He smirked. "Lying to your guardian angel, I like it." He said.
"Guardian Angel?" I scoffed. "Sam keeps me out of trouble. That's it. I wouldn't call her an angel." I spat. I don't know where that came from.
"True. I don't know what to do until the party though." Dylan revealed. "We could go to the Nasty Burger."
Dylan wrinkled his nose. "Remember, Nasty is one letter away from Tasty." I joked, throwing on a light jacket over my shirt. It may be seventy degrees today, but I can't let people see that I have fallen back on old habits.
"Okay, fine. Take me to your nasty burgers, but if I have a heart attack, its on you." Dylan joked, laughing a lot at an inside joke I didn't get.
I laughed along nervously. How do I reply to that? "Well, I hope you don't." I said awkwardly.
"Alright, lets go." He said, his laughing spell completely over with. I smiled slightly and led him out the door. The first thing I noticed was that the door was locked. He couldn't have gotten in. I chanced a glance at him, he didn't notice.
Something was obviously up with him. And I intended to find out.
"What's the hold up?" He asked. I unlocked the door quickly. "The door was stuck." I lied. "Come on, let's go."
We hopped into my car and drove towards the Nasty Burger. Sam's car was here, thank god. I couldn't back out of the party, but Dylan was giving me the creeps. He was watching me closely, and looking at my arms with distaste. Like he wasn't happy about them.
He exited the car and I told him I'd be in right after him. I opened my text messages and typed to Tucker.
Tucker [sent] I hope you are at Nasty Burger too, because something is def off with the new kid Dylan.
Tucker [rec] I am. Sit with us. I'll give you a guess on what's wrong with us. Telling Sam.
Tucker [sent] on my way.
I exited the car and walked in with Dylan, looking around for Sam and Tucker. Dylan tried to get us to sit alone, but I walked over to Sam and Tucker upon seeing them. I heard his sigh, like he didn't want me to do that.
"Hey guys." I said, forcing a smile. Something was really off with D now, now that we were around Sam and Tucker, who were laughing happily.
"Hey Danny!" They said. "This is Dylan." I said, looking at them sharply. They needed to figure what was wrong with him and soon.
I don't know why, but when I was with him, I felt like I was in danger.
And I was scared.