Darkness Chapter 6

Darkness
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria


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Chapter 6: Birthday Cake


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Over the next few days, Phantom told her stories. Between steadily worsening coughing fits, he wove together tales about ghosts he had encountered. As each tale drew to a close, Maddie’s head would be spinning with questions and theories. Often, after she would ask a question, he would softly laugh at the absurdity of it. She quickly grew an immense appreciation for the vast amount of knowledge this teenager had about his spectral cohorts.

After the stories he would spin for her, the ghost would lapse into an unconscious sleep, leaving Maddie alone to contemplate the darkness surrounding her. Each time, she would shiver and tuck her arms in close to her. There was nothing to be afraid of in the room – she knew that – but the simple fact that she felt so alone was terrifying. Every minute of the dripping, pounding, roaring silence was torture. Soon she was longing for the ghost to wake up to break the monotony of the blackness.

Yet, something always stopped her from shaking to boy out of his restless sleep. Some mothering instinct, perhaps, that knew the ghost needed the rest. So she sat, shivering, in a corner, her mind whirring loudly in the deafening quiet. More often than not, after painfully pushing thoughts of her family out of her head, the ghost in front of her was the subject of her consideration. Is he what he claims to be?

Each time, the Phantom would wake up before she could decide.

“Tell me a story,” the boy rasped, dissolving into a bout of coughing.

“What kind of story?” Maddie tucked her feet under her and ran her fingers lazily along a strip of mortar in the floor.

“I don’t care.”

Maddie tipped her head to the side. “Okay,” she said softly. A happy story, she thought to herself, try and cheer him up. “When my Danny was five, he became absolutely obsessed with making my daughter a cake for her birthday.” She smiled at the memory, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. “I mean, nobody in our family can cook very well, Danny included, but he spent over a week planning exactly how he was going to do it, so I couldn’t very well tell him he couldn’t. He figured out what kind of cake, frosting, and sprinkles to get. He drew all sorts of pictures and grilled everybody he could think of to get their opinions.”

Chains rattled as the ghost shifted in the corner. Maddie’s eye flickered open, glancing once at the glowing gaze that was riveted on her. “Finally, the day before Jazz’s birthday arrived. Jack took Jazz to the park to get her out of the house and Danny and I went to the store, bought all the ingredients and went home to bake.” She chuckled. “It was a complete disaster. I’d never made a cake from scratch before, and the recipe was a lot harder than it looked. Anyway, about half way through mixing up the cake, Danny dropped the bowl on the floor. Cake mix went everywhere.” She paused, her grinning at the vivid memory. “Do you know what Danny did? He sat down right in the middle of the mess and started to cry.”

Phantom gave a short little laugh. “I don’t remember that,” he whispered.

She wrinkled her forehead, but went on with her story, pretending not to have heard. “I did the only thing I could think of doing. I picked up the bowl, with whatever batter was left in it, and tipped it upside down on his head. Left it there, like an oversized hat, and went to get a mop. By the time I got back, Danny was laughing, cake batter oozing down his face.”

“Of course, to a five-year-old, it was revenge the second I stepped into the kitchen. He wiped a gob of batter off the floor and threw it at me – hit me right in the face. I tossed some back, the little battle escalating to an all-out war of cake batter. We destroyed the kitchen in a matter of minutes.” Maddie giggled a bit, leaning back against the cold wall, glancing over at the sparkling, green eyes of the ghost. “You should have seen Jack’s and Jazz’s faces when they walked in on us cleaning a bit later. It took hours to get all the batter off the walls.”

“You weren’t mad at him?” Phantom asked softly.

“No,” she answered, “never. I would have given anything to have that moment frozen in time and saved forever. For those precious few minutes during the cake war, nothing in the world meant more to me than my son.” She lapsed into silence, her mind whirling with thoughts of her child.

“You really miss him.”

Maddie bit her lip. “I just can’t handle it, sitting here, not knowing if he’s dead or alive. If he’s safe, or starving, or hurt, or…” she trailed off. A chill tear slipped from her eye. “I want my son back.”

“He’s alive.”

She brought her head up, staring into his confidant eyes. “How do you know?” she whispered.

“He needs to be alive for the sacrifice,” the ghost whispered back, closing his eyes.

Goose bumps raced up Maddie’s spine at those simple words. He’s right. She brought her legs up against her chest and hugged them close to her. Danny…

Silence stretched in the blackness, broken only by Phantom’s hacking coughs. “Everything will be alright,” he said suddenly. “Trust me.”

Ghost hunting rule number one: never trust a ghost. Maddie stared into the darkness, her eyes burning. She looked into his eyes, not caring about how blurry they looked to her. “Trust…” she murmured. Can I trust a ghost?

She blinked a few times. Can I trust this ghost? He seems to trust me… even though I’ve done nothing but hurt him. Her stomach churned as those thoughts echoed around her head. I’ve hurt him.

The glowing eyes closed, leaving her staring at nothing again, once more alone with her thoughts.

To be continued…