Darkness Chapter 4

Darkness
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria


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Chapter 4: Truths


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The dark pressed in on her as she ran over the many things the ghost had said. Two huge ideas stood out in her mind. The first and foremost was her apparent imminent death. She buried her face in her hands for a moment and sighed. I’m not sure I even believe that claim yet.

After a few heartbeats, she pushed the thought into the corner of her mind. There really wasn’t anything she could do to escape the room she was in anyway. And there was that other thought…

The ghost considered itself to be only a half-ghost. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cold wall, wincing when the tender spot on her head tapped against an outcrop of stone. If it’s only half ghost, it’s half something else. She tapped her fingers against her knee. But what?

Suddenly her fingers stopped their incessant tapping. Her mind flew back over their conversation. ‘We’ll be dead.’ ‘I’ll die.’ ‘Sacrifice.’ Eyes opened wide as her thoughts solidified. “It thinks it’s still alive,” she hissed.

Ghost hunting rule number three: The most dangerous ghosts are the ones who haven’t yet accepted their deaths.

If it doesn’t truly think it has died, then logically it would assume it wasn’t a full ghost. Maddie smiled slightly as the thoughts congealed in her mind. Believing it was trapped in some odd half-ghost, half-alive state would allow the ghost to accept its ghostly attributes and would still let it think it was ‘alive.’

She gazed at the corner where the ghost hid in the shadows, its actions slowly coming into better focus. It wants to be human… and accepted. That’s why it always attempts to play the hero by fighting off those other ghosts. She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. That’s why it’s got such complex emotions. It still thinks it really possess them. Ghosts don’t really have emotions, she thought, they are just a copy of a real person printed onto a blob of energy.

And yet… she bit her lip as she stared off into the darkness. I’ve never met a ghost with such realistic emotions. Ghosts that haven’t accepted their deaths are well aware of the ‘fakeness’ of their emotions. It angers them that they can’t really feel anymore. This one… this ghost doesn’t seem aware that its emotions are false.

Could it really be… She shook her head suddenly, shaking the thought out of her mind. No. There is no such thing as a half-human, half-ghost.

Chains rattled in the darkness as the ghost shifted in its sleep. Maddie closed her eyes, troubled. Ghosts don’t sleep, a traitorous corner of her mind whispered. Ghosts don’t eat.

There is NO such THING, she snapped at herself.

If you were going to run into something strange and paranormal, you’re in the right town.

She tramped down on her thoughts, forcing her head into silence. Water dripped around her, echoing oddly in her quiet mind. Finally, she snarled softly to herself. I need more information.

Her gaze drifted back to the dark corner where the ghost slept. “Ghost?” she whispered, unsure. There was no response. She pushed herself to her feet and carefully felt her way around the room, one hand grazing lightly along the stone wall.

Kneeling down beside the ghost, she reached out and felt for the ghost’s shoulder. The jumpsuit was stiff with dirt and grime, ripped and torn. Her fingers drifted up its arm, running lightly over the cold skin. Reaching its shoulder, she gave the ghost a small shake. “Ghost.”

The neon eyes flickered open. For a second it stared in her direction, confusion easy to read in its expressive, unfocused gaze. Then it blinked, focusing on her. “What?”

“I need you to talk to me, answer some questions.”

She was less than a foot away from the specter’s face. The chill its presence gave off sent goose bumps up her arm. “On one condition,” the ghost answered, yawning, “you stop calling me ‘ghost.’ My name is Phantom.”

“Alright.” Maddie backed away, sitting down a few feet away. “Tell me more about you.”

The green eyes trained on her, laughter lighting them up for a second. “My entire life’s story? That could take awhile.”

Maddie smiled vaguely. You don’t have a life, ghost. “You say you’re only half-ghost. How did that happen?” She tried to keep her tone light and happy.

The laughter died back out of its eyes. “It’s not my favorite story.” The chains on its ankles clattered as it moved.

“ Please,” she said quietly. “I need to understand you.”

“ Perhaps your mind would be better used in trying to figure out how to get out of here.” The ghost’s voice was soft. The ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ clear by its tones.

Maddie crossed her legs, leaning forwards. Her elbows went on her knees and her hands propped up her chin. “I can’t think about it anymore until I get more information about this place. I’m out of ideas.”

The ghost sighed. “I don’t have any more information.”

“Exactly. Which leaves me with my other big mystery.”

“Me.” It was silent.

Maddie nodded slowly. “Yes, you, gho… Phantom.” If it still has ‘emotions,’ maybe I can use some simple psychology on it. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand. It was a way to pass the time.” She sighed a bit too dramatically and leisurely stood up. She was about to feel her way back across the cell when the ghost spoke.

“It was an accident.”

“An accident?” she prompted as sat back down, turning her attention on the two glowing eyes. Her eyes sparkled as she realized her little psychology trick had worked. A smile flickered on her face before the thought sank the rest of the way into her brain. The ghost fell for it. Why? Does it really have that complex of a mind? Or was it just a trick?

“I snuck into a lab.” The ghost smiled, she could hear it. “My parents… are… inventors. They created this device that would rip a hole in reality, or something like that. I was curious. My friends talked me into checking it out.”

The ghost, Phantom, fell silent, staring off into space for a second. “Something happened, I don’t know what. Power surge, maybe. The device went crazy. It electrocuted me. It… hurt. I thought I was going to die.” Its voice drifted off into the quiet realms reserved for painful memories. Its glowing eyes closed.

“Imagine my surprise when I woke up.” It glanced up at her. “Of course, I wasn’t really the same after that. I figured out I could do ghost-stuff. Walk through walls. Disappear. Fly. It was very scary.” Its voice trembled.

Maddie stared at the ghost in amazement. It sounds so human… She curled her toes in her shoes, trying to push that thought out of her head. Ghosts are NOT human. She blinked at the ghost-boy for a few moments, watching as the ghost was seemingly lost in its memories. Keep it talking, she thought, find out more information. “These inventor parents of yours? Do you ever talk to them?”

The eyes sparkled with a weird inner light. “All the time.” His voice laughed as he talked.

“You actually talk to them?” Her eyebrows wrinkled. How could a ghost talk to its parents? Why would its parents accept a ghost?

“Of course.”

“They don’t care that you’re a ghost?” she wondered.

“They don’t know.” The ghost shifted and its eyes drifted a little farther away as the ghost leaned back against the wall.

One of Maddie’s elbows slipped off of its perch and she jerked before catching herself. “They don’t know you’re a ghost?” She stared at the ghost in amazement. That can’t be…it’s lying to me.

The eyes moved quickly from side to side as the ghost shook its head.

She laughed after a moment. “This would be because you’re half human, right?”

The two eyes widened and held perfectly still. The raspy sound of its breathing cut off as the ghost froze. “How…” he choked.

Well, that confirms my theory on how it sees itself, anyway. “Logic,” she murmured. “How can you talk to them if they don’t know you’re a ghost? You sure look like one.”

The ghost’s eyes relaxed slightly. “I can take my human form if I want to.”

Is that possible? What is this ghost, some sort of shape-changer? “Can I see?”

“See?” the ghost snorted. “Did you notice the lack of lights?” It shook its head again. “And no, my human side is too weak. I would probably die I turned human right now.” The ghost was silent for a long time. “I’ve been in here for a week,” it finally continued, “I haven’t eaten that entire time. The only thing keeping me going is that fact that I’m in ghost mode right now. I don’t need as much food.”

“But you still need some,” Maddie whispered. Her eyes widened as she finally understood the ghost’s situation. Even if it’s not really half human, it believes it is. Ghosts are governed by their beliefs. This ghost is starving, scared, tired, lost, and dying.

The eyes nodded back at her, tiredly. “Now,” the ghost whispered, its eyes vanishing, “I’m going to die here, all alone, and my parents will never know what happened to me. I’ve been in bad situations before, but this one is so hopeless. And I’m just so tired.”

She was suddenly struck by the fact that the ghost before her… the perhaps half-human ghost before her… was crying. Could he be? Could he be more than ‘just some ghost’? Maddie was silent, watching the ghost for a few moments. Could he really have emotions? A one-in-a-million chance? She wasn’t even aware of the fact that the ghost had gone from an ‘it’ to a ‘he’ in her mind.

Slowly, Maddie stood up and moved over to where the ghost was sitting. She stared at him for a second before sitting down and putting her arm around him. She closed her eyes and sat with the ghost-boy for hours, listening to him cry, all the while trying to figure out exactly what this boy was.

To be continued...