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The first thing that tipped Danny off that something was wrong was when Dash Baxter approached him at the park.
He'd just finished capping the lid on the Fenton thermos when the blonde hesitantly stepped forward from behind the line of trees. Danny was surprised at first, having been too distracted with the fight to notice he wasn't alone, then worried. He was a ghost, and not a well-known one either (besides that awful Inviso-Bill name that was picking up), yet someone who knew him in his human form was walking towards him instead of screaming and running away.
Quelling his panic, Danny asked, "Shouldn't you be running in the opposite direction?"
Dash paused, standing a safe enough distance away that allowed him a quick retreat, but to Danny's surprise he simply rubbed one of his arms. "I- uh, just wanted to ask something."
Thinking of all the million different ways his identity could be out- along with making plans on how to escape his parents and get out of town- Danny floated a little higher, preparing to make a break for it. "You want to ask a ghost a question?" he deadpanned.
Dash made a small amused noise. "Uh, yeah. Actually, you're the only one I can ask." He looked up at the ghost floating before him with a curious tilt of his head. "Did it hurt?"
"Hurt?"
"When you died."
Danny sucked a deep breath through his teeth. He never liked to think about the fact he truly was half dead in a sense. Death seemed so permanent, something that took but never gave. He had half a mind to yell at Dash that you should never ask a ghost how they died, but he himself didn't know if that was an actual insult or if he just hated it because the topic of his mortality was being brought up.
"Yes," he finally answered, clenching the hand that had pressed the button on the portal when it activated with him inside. He recalled the feeling of his flesh burning and nerves catching fire. "It hurt."
Dash looked down. "Okay."
Then he left.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Unfortunately for Danny, the other signs weren't as obvious to him. And by the time he'd be able to piece them together, it had spread like the infection it was.
"Wait, wait, wait, Dash was civil?" Tucker asked, stunned enough to look up from his PDA.
Danny shrugged, searching the halls for anyone watching and then sticking his hand through his locker door. "It's not like he knew it was me."
"And it wouldn't be smart to anger the person you want to ask a question to," Sam said, pointing a finger at Danny. "Not to mention as a ghost you could literally just kill him on the spot."
As he pulled his science book out, Danny winced. "Can we please not talk about death right now?"
"Of all the things to ask a ghost," Tucker murmured, following Danny and Sam when they shut their lockers and moved down the hall. "Seems kind of rude, doesn't it? Not that you were able to explain, though. I mean, you're not a real ghost."
Danny's heart skipped. "Right," he replied.
No matter what his friends thought of the confusing situation, Danny couldn't help but feel relieved that Dash approached him. After a month of ghost fighting, he knew the town still wasn't used to the presence of ghosts, but if someone like Dash felt comfortable enough to ask him a question, then maybe others would start to think not all ghosts were bad.
The whole superhero thing wouldn't work out unless people started to trust him, but because of his parent's bias and the town's fear, they were on their way towards making him out to be an enemy instead.
All Danny wanted to do was help people. Taking care of the bad guys that threatened his town seemed like the easiest way to protect them. No matter how difficult the enemy, Danny vowed to take them down and keep the people he cared about safe from even the most skilled invisible threats.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Science was boring, as usual. Their lab consisted of creating a scale model of an atom- complete with protons, neutrons and electrons- and the class seemed less than thrilled with the activity.
As Danny carefully guided the scissors around a cutout, he watched Tucker and Sam struggling with boredom from three tables over. Tucker claimed they were cursed because it seemed the three of them could never get grouped together during projects. Danny was just glad he got stuck with Mikey who wouldn't force him to do all the work like Dash.
Speaking of Dash, Danny allowed his eyes to stray from his friends long enough to locate his favorite bully. The jock was laughing with Kwan about their project. It appeared they- or someone else in their group- had decided to draw the male genitalia on their model. Danny almost rolled his eyes. At least the science teacher was fair with grades and wouldn't allow the two jocks to receive a passing score in the face of such a display of immaturity.
Dash showed zero signs of unusual behavior, and that almost worried Danny. Almost.
As he turned to focus on what Mikey was telling him- something about periods and groups- he paused at Paulina's table. A rush of silly emotion threatened to overcome him at the sight of the strikingly beautiful girl- puppy dog love was a spiteful jerk- but he squashed it as he titled his head in confusion.
Something felt off about the image before him. Paulina was resting her head on her hands, but for some reason the girl could not take her eyes off the scissors that lay on the table. Mikey was still talking, and Danny honestly tried to pay attention, but when Paulina's painted nails gracefully reached for the scissors and suddenly brought them to her hair, he froze while facing her.
Covered by the sound of paper atoms being cut, the snip of Paulina's scissors didn't register as unusual in a room full of noise. The long locks of brown hair fell to the floor of the classroom in waves, freed from their attachment, and all Danny could do was watch.
He must have made a sound because suddenly Mikey stopped explaining the periodic table of elements and made a startled noise. Although the final cut of scissors was lost in the classroom, Mikey's gasp reached even the teacher.
Attention turned to Paulina, who was smiling and folding the paper for her project, pieces of hair carefully dumped in the wastebasket beside her.
Star was at her side in an instant. "Paulina," she whispered, hand covering her mouth as she took in the uneven cut that stopped at her best friend's chin. Her hands reached forwards to touch the space between Paulina's shoulder blades, as if recalling what used to rest there moments before.
Paulina smiled at her friend, eyes brighter than before her impulsive action. "It felt heavy," she explained.
And that was the only answer she gave for the rest of the day.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"Sam, Paulina is not some alien clone that snuck into our high school," Danny groaned in between bites of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"It's the only explanation," Sam countered, arms stiff by her side. "That girl treasures her hair. She goes to the salon every two week for trims! She'd never just cut it off using freaking scissors of all things."
Tucker was doubtful. "Girls change their tastes a lot," he snorted, jumping when Sam's steel-toed boot caught him in the shins. "Hey! You know it's true."
"I would never change my taste in the middle of science class."
"Okay, but you're hardly a good representation of a girl."
Sam's hands rested on her hips, foot cocked proudly underneath the table. "Excuse me?"
"Sam, if you kick too much, he'll be covered in bruises," Danny cut in.
"Good, maybe it'll return the blood flow to his brain," she huffed, but lowered her leg. After a moment she voiced, "I just can't believe she cut her hair off."
Tucker sent an admiring look towards the A-list table. "It's not like she's any less pretty with it short."
The two of them decided to start another argument on whether or not Tucker was a "superficial pig" while Danny seized the moment to watch the A-listers over his shoulder. Dash and Kwan were discussing what looked like football maneuvers and Star had a gentle hand placed over Paulina's as they ate, but nothing gave away that two of their members had been acting weird for a while.
Maybe the entire group was going through a phase or something. Danny turned around to smile at his friends' antics, deciding to ignore the weird behavior. Jazz said teenagers do that sometimes.
If it wasn't ghost-related, he really shouldn't get involved.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Finding a place to transform into his ghost half was getting harder and harder as his enemies started to attack during school hours. The boys' bathroom was always full and no matter how hard he tried, Danny always seemed to find a seemingly "empty" classroom that actually had two or three kids hiding in a corner.
Skulker showed up after lunch – like the grade-ruining jerk he was, so Danny raced to the nearest set of stairs that connected to the roof. Access to the roof was forbidden for student use, but it's not like Casper High had any cameras. Plus, if he managed to keep the fight outside then the school would take less damage.
The heavy door to the roof slammed open with a bang; far too occupied with getting out of the building as soon as possible to worry about anyone hearing, the Halfa kept his pace as he scanned for the nearest edge to jump off. His heart leapt to his throat when he noticed another student's presence.
Mikey was watching him curiously from the ledge of the roof's railing.
Danny swallowed his panic and managed to force a smile. "Hey," he said, trying to act casual. Technically they were both breaking the rules so maybe the smaller boy wouldn't ask about it.
"Hey," Mikey answered, still watching him.
There was an awkward pause in the conversation. Danny rubbed the back of his neck and walked forward to stand next to Mikey. "So, what brings you up here?"
Mikey looked down at his hands and smiled. "Ah, just thinking."
"I know what you mean," Danny said, relaxing. He looked up at the sky and followed the clouds as they rolled past. "Weather like this always calms me down."
"Yeah."
"But, uh, aren't you afraid of getting caught?" Dany asked, eyeing the pensive looking teen. "Or are you hiding from Dash or something?"
Mikey looked honestly confused for a second, as if he didn't remember being one of Dash's favorite targets for bullying. "No, just thinking," he answered, leaning against the rail and sighing. "I wonder how far up we are right now."
Danny looked over the edge and raised an eyebrow. "Well it's only a three-story building so," he trailed off, wondering if Mikey was getting too caught up in a project again. "Are you and the engineering club building a model or something? You know we have a test tomorrow in Chemistry."
Mikey frowned. "The test is Wednesday."
"Tomorrow's Wednesday."
When Mikey's eyes widened, Danny's gut clenched uncomfortably. "Oh," was the redhead's response. "I suppose I better prepare then."
The Halfa watched as Mikey slowly extracted himself from the railing and shuffled through the still open door to the roof. Although he used no force, the sound of Mikey shutting the door echoed in Danny's ears louder than when he had slammed it open.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Skulker was an ass and that was all Danny was going to say on the subject. A new weapon meant nothing but pain for the half ghost, and boy did that pain hurt like a– uh, very bad word.
Danny stopped himself before he started cursing loudly in his mind. He was at the door to the restrooms anyways and quickly tripped over his own feet in his haste to get inside. Hiding a little blood on his forearm was hard when surrounded by high schoolers. Thankfully most were in class at the time.
The lack of urinals immediately clued Danny into the fact he had entered the wrong restroom, but with his arm clutched between his fingers he hardly cared. He rushed into the first open stall and pulled his legs up so no one noticed his scruffy shoes. Thinking about the Youtube video on how to dress a wound, he carefully wrapped a bandage around his thin arm.
The process took less than five minutes and Danny knew the cut would completely heal in less than three hours. Super healing was the only plus side of dying.
Danny froze, hand pressed against the door to the stall. Why was it that thinking about his own mortality always made his heart thump, as if fighting to remind him that he was still alive? Still human.
When he exited the bathroom, for the fourth time this week Danny felt nervousness seep into his very bones. The blonde A-lister Star was standing in front of the sink, washing paint off her hands.
It took a moment, but Star noticed him in the mirror. Her eyes widened, freezing in a way that reflected Danny's current immobility. "Wrong bathroom," she finally breathed.
Danny unclenched his hands, thankful that she wasn't making a scene. "I figured," he answered, stepping up to the sink three feet away from her. "Sorry."
She nodded, but Danny noticed she wasn't looking him in the eye. In fact, she was eyeing the bandage covering his upper arm. Once again, his mind rushed through every excuse he could think of to try and save his secret identity.
But she never asked.
He was running through the motions of washing his hands, hardly conscious of his own actions. The sound of a particularly wet splatter hit the sink beside him. "Art class, right?" he asked, trying to smile at the girl still cleaning her arms of paint.
Star looked startled. Her eyes searched his face before settling on his bandaged arm. Danny had to physically force himself not to flinch. "Yeah," she finally said, releasing a breath with a smile. "Martin's a tough teacher."
"That's why I'm glad I don't have him," Danny laughed, quickly rubbing his hands dry with a paper towel.
Star stayed behind as Danny moved to leave, continuing to scrub the red off her pale skin with a desperation that confused him.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
There was only one more ghost attack before the end of the day. The bell had rung and everyone was leaving when a large wasp-looking ghost phased through the halls and started chasing after the screaming students.
Danny was quick to react, thankful that Tucker and Sam could cover him as he transformed. He immediately delivered a quick uppercut to the ghost and sent it through the walls intangibly. Once outside and away from the students trying to flee, the fight truly began. Danny was thrilled to see that he wasn't getting his butt kicked as often as he used to when he first died- got his powers. Improvement was always a good sign.
As he was about to finish the battle, Danny noticed a teenager watching from the ground, standing right in the path of his next punch. It was too late to take it back, but he managed to angle his fist so the wasp was sent into a picnic table instead of the girl's stomach.
"What are you doing? You need to run!" Danny cried, hoping the dark-skinned girl listened.
Valerie blinked, looking up at the ghost addressing her before gazing at the wasp starting to rise to her left. Her eyes remained unfocused, but she ended up walking away all the same.
Tucker quickly captured the ghost before it could move, using the thermos from Sam's spider backpack. After making sure no one was paying attention, Danny transformed into his human half and landed gracefully beside his best friends.
"What human doesn't run during a ghost fight?" Tucker exclaimed. At Danny's pointed look he said, "Okay, but Sam and I have a half ghost best friend so we don't count."
"Was that Valerie Grey?" Sam asked, rubbing her chin. "I might have seen her around the A-Listers a couple of times, but she never talks much. Rich family, I think."
"She was hot," Tucker swooned, ducking Sam's swing. "Violence is never the answer, Sam!"
"Does anyone else feel like that was weird? Like weirder than normal?" Danny voiced, wincing as Tucker was punched in the gut. "Guys, if you're going to start a huge meat vs veggie fight again, can't it wait till tomorrow? I'm kind of tired."
"Meat vs veggie?" Tucker wondered, suddenly pausing. "Oh, that's right."
"What's right, exactly?" Sam teased, grinning. "Finally admitting that I am?"
Tucker shook his head, laughing. "No, I just forgot to eat lunch, that's all."
Sam was rolling her eyes at him as they started to exit the school courtyard, but Danny was having trouble processing what he'd just heard. "You… forgot to eat?" he said, making sure he had a hand on Tucker's shoulder.
Looking at him weirdly, Tucker shrugged. "Yeah, guess I just got caught up in all the 'Paulina is an alien' stuff that I forgot."
"When was the last time you ate?"
"Yesterday?"
Danny forced him to stop walking. "Tuck! You didn't have breakfast?"
His friend dodged his grip. "Dude, it's not that big of a deal."
"That's three missed meals," Danny stressed, concerned. "Three."
"Okay! Okay!" Tucker said, relenting and stepping backwards. He was watching Danny weirdly, as if he wasn't sure why he was reacting so badly. "I promise I'll get something as soon as I get home."
Danny swallowed down the frantic exclamation of, "send me a picture to prove it." The odd situations with his classmates and the close encounters regarding his identity were really getting to him. "Sorry," he apologized.
"It's no big deal," Tucker brushed off. "Let's just head back."
Danny wondered why Sam didn't interfere with their fight. She actually hadn't said a word the entire time, rubbing the side of her head as they walked. Now that Danny was paying closer attention, he noticed that the makeup under her eyes seemed a lot darker than normal.
Unfortunately, he'd never be able to understand the makeup habits of girls, and he rather liked having unbruised shins.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
His parents were simultaneously overbearing and absent from his life, a combination that left both Fenton children with a paradoxical parental experience half the time.
A quick "Welcome back, kiddo!" floated up from the basement. Knowing his parents would be stuck down in the lab for hours, Danny set out to make himself a snack. As he placed jelly on his toast, he mulled over the conversation with Tucker.
How could someone just forget to eat? Tucker had honestly been surprised when he was reminded about his lunch so it's not like he skipped it on purpose. Danny reached down to place a hand over his own stomach, feeling the emptiness that would soon require his stomach to growl.
It didn't make sense.
"You're staring off into space again," Jazz snorted as she entered the kitchen. "Usually you only do that when you're under the stars."
Danny blushed, knowing that she was talking about his secret nightly adventures on the Fenton rooftop. He wanted to be an astronaut, of course he'd be interested in stargazing. "Lay off, Jazz."
His sister laughed again, bumping his shoulder as she passed. Their relationship was interesting. Jazz had practically been another parental figure to him growing up, due to his own parents' forgetfulness and lack of understanding of teenage emotions. Since Jazz was so interested in psychology, she often took it upon herself to make sure Danny was always doing okay.
(Maybe that's why he was even more nervous about telling her his secret than his parents.)
A warmth filled him as he watched his older sister munch on a carrot. He was lucky to have someone like her. Someone who would always answer his questions (with a healthy does of being nosy).
Speaking of which. "Jazz?" he asked, sitting next to her at the kitchen table. She set down her book at his hesitant tone. "Can someone just forget to eat?"
She watched as he bit into another piece of his toast. She must have decided that the question wasn't about him- either from the toast he was currently eating or the expression on his face- because she immediately went into psychology mode rather than sister mode.
"Well, it could be a sign of stress," Jazz answered, thoughtfully. "When someone's mind is focused on something else they feel is important, they tend to ignore their bodies most basic needs."
That could be it. Tucker was always helping him catch ghost nowadays. Maybe he needed to lay off putting so much pressure on his best friends. "Is there anything someone can do to help?"
"Watch them, and make sure you remind them to never skip meals," Jazz answered, running her thin fingers through his hair in a soothing, sisterly gesture. "Something like this could develop into an eating disorder if they're not careful."
Danny froze under her gaze. Tucker Foley, his best friend in the whole wide world, developing an eating disorder. That wasn't possible. "Okay, thanks Jazz," he whispered, shaken to the core.
He could feel her eyes on his back as he left the room, knowing that she would be watching him extra carefully for the next couple of days. Once he was safe inside his bedroom, Danny collapsed at his computer desk. The words "eating disorder" would not stop repeating over and over inside his head. Tucker's favorite thing in the entire world was meat and eating, so how could Jazz even think-?
He woke his computer up and clicked on the link to Google. His fingers shook as he quickly typed in "eating disorder signs" before hitting enter. There were thousands of results. People sharing personal stories, doctors giving their expertise, even numbers and locations where you could get treatment.
The results left a bad taste in his mouth that only tripled when he noticed a popup at the bottom of one of the pages. The words "depression" blinked before his eyes as his hands were drawn to click on the link.
More symptoms, more signs, more treatments; but most of all, more connections to all his classmates' behavior ever since Dash asked him that question in the park.
"Did it hurt when you died?"
His hand stung as the feeling of his flesh burning and nerves catching fire rippled through his body. And he screamed, and he screamed, and he screamed-
Danny pressed a hand over his mouth to stop himself from making a noise. The screen that listed signs of mental illness burned into his skull so vividly that he was sure he'd never forget what it said.
Dash wanted to know if death was worth it.
Paulina was weighed down by her standards of beauty and low self-esteem.
Mikey wanted to jump.
Star was not washing red paint off her arms.
Valerie hadn't wanted to move.
Tucker was too stressed to eat.
Sam was too tired to care.
Danny's heart was beating so fast he swore his own parents could hear it in between their delusions of ghostly entities. This was terrifying- no, more than terrifying. For once Danny was faced with an enemy he couldn't touch. A punch wouldn't get rid of this, and if these articles were right not even kind words could fix this either.
Nothing made sense. How could an entire high school develop depression overnight? They had all been fine last week. Did something happen over the weekend that Danny missed? Although, the articles did say that most of the time people who are depressed never know they are and hardly clue their friends in about their symptoms.
"Depression is a silent killer," Danny read out loud, shivering. "It's a disease, a virus, that infects the mind and breeds once it's dug in its roots. Try to weed it out, and it comes back twice as powerful."
Why was it always death? The only thing Danny could think about as he read the words in front of him was burning, bright lights, and screaming, and screaming, and screaming- he refused to let anyone else experience that. Depression could lead to suicide. Suicide meant death. Death meant gone forever.
"I need help," Danny whispered, rubbing his knuckles over the sides of his face. It was impulsive, probably, but he reached for his phone and dialed the number he found on almost every website for treatment. He was a fourteen-year-old B+ student. He was definitely not figuring this out on his own.
The ringing was ominous. Finally, a click was heard and the voice of a kind lady followed with, "This is the line for 24/7 help at Drexel Psychological Services. What's your emergency?"
Danny sucked in a breath, fist clenched tightly around the phone as he eyed his closed door. "Hello? I think I need help. Something's wrong, and I don't know how to fix it," he whispered.
"Would you like to be directed to anxiety help, LGBT re-"
"Depression, please," Danny cut in.
"Hold on one moment."
Not even a second passed before a man's voice came through the phone asking how he was doing. "I'm fine," Danny reassured, "it's not me."
The man's voice was soft. "Are you seeking aid for a friend? Has your friend been diagnosed with a mental disorder before? Can you describe to me your situation?"
"My school," Danny decided on.
The man paused. "Your… school?" There was a shift over the line. "Do you have a name I can call you?"
"Danny."
"Okay, Danny. What about your school is concerning you? Are the counselors there unable to provide the help you need?"
"Please," Danny said, hoping and praying the man wouldn't pry. "No one's been acting the way they usually do. I've found- well, my classmate was on the roof. He was talking about how far the ground was, and another kid asked me if I thought dying hurt."
The man was silent on the other end so Danny continued. "There was this girl, she cut her hair in the middle of class, and her best friend I found in the bathroom," he explained, suddenly overwhelmed with the image of Star rubbing at her arms. "She pretended like it was paint, but I know it was blood. There was a problem today, something was falling and a girl just stood there. She had time to move, but she just stood there." He choked on his words and tilted his head upwards. There was a shark intake of breath. "My best friends, I think one of them isn't sleeping and the other isn't eating."
"So yes, my entire school has depression." Softly, Danny finished with, "And I don't know what to do to help them."
There was shuffling coming from the other line and Danny swore he heard another voice. "Danny, this is- this is something we haven't heard of before. Are any of these people part of the same social group? Gender?" the man asked.
"Some are, but some don't even talk to the each other. Both boys and girls."
More shuffling and another voice in the background said something about "location." They couldn't know he was from Amity Park. Danny's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "No! Whatever you're doing, no! You don't need to know where I live, I'll hang up, I swear-"
"-Danny!" the man exclaimed, "Hold on. It's okay. I won't, I promise." Another pause and the voices disappeared in the background. "Please, I just want to help you."
"Then tell me how to fix this."
The man sighed. "There's never been a case like this before, at least not among a population this large that remains incredibly different with regards to social class or physical appearance, but I can tell you there are studies that say there's always a connection."
"A connection?" Danny repeated. "Nothing big has happened here in the past week. No deaths or bombings or anything."
"There can still be a trigger for this behavior. Is there a big test coming up? Was there a class on your future after high school? Is there a teacher that's particularly hard on the students?"
Danny thought of Lancer and his strict homework schedule, but dismissed it. He was strict, not a tyrant that sent students spiraling into depression. "Nothing," Danny answered, nails digging into the arm that held his phone. "There is absolutely nothing that could have done this."
"Danny, you should try bringing this up to your counselor-"
"We don't have a counselor." As if anyone would commit career suicide by agreeing to take a job in the crazy town that believes in ghosts. "Please, there are so many people here," Danny stressed, squeezing his eyes shut. "I don't think anyone else notices, and if I don't do something soon, some family is going to wake up to find their child's body."
By now Danny was breathing heavily, allowing panic to settle into his bones. It just so happened that the moment he made his declaration, a voice in the background on the other end of the phone whispered the word, "Illinois."
Danny hung up without a second thought.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
It was extremely difficult for Danny to head to school the next day. The only thing that kept him going was the thought of Mikey sneaking to the roof again, or Star cutting just a little too deep, or Dash finding some way to fall down the stairs and make it look like an accident.
Danny took a deep breath. There were just so many people he had to save this time, and for once he couldn't use his fists to send the bad guy running.
When he joined up with Tucker and Sam, Danny stared at the back of his friend's head. "So, does my breath smell weird, guys? I had pizza for breakfast after a loooooong night's rest. What did you have for breakfast, Tuck? How'd you sleep, Sam?"
His friends sent him unimpressed looks. "Danny," Tucker groaned, "this again?"
"Yes, this again," he answered. "Did you eat?"
"I'll eat at lunch."
"Tucker!" Danny exclaimed, images of his friend's body- NOPE, okay, nope. "Tucker, I think you should see a counselor about this or something."
"You want me to see Ms. Spectra again?" Tucker rolled his eyes. "Dude, I already went last week for advice on a project."
Danny blinked, startled. "Wait. The school got a counselor? Since when?"
"A week ago," Sam grumbled, rubbing her forehead. "You must be really out of it, Danny. Practically the whole school has seen her."
"There can still be a trigger for this behavior. Is there a teacher that's particularly hard on the students?"
Not a teacher, but maybe a counselor. Danny needed to meet this lady. Now.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
He was nervous about leaving Sam and Tucker by themselves during lunch, but after stressing to Sam that she needed to make Tucker eat, he headed for the front office. Lancer was seated at his spot behind the Vice Principals desk.
"Mr. Fenton?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the nervous teenager. "I sincerely hope you have not managed to get yourself in trouble in between periods."
Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, no. Actually I was wondering if Ms. Spectra was in?"
Lancer seemed to sigh. "Unfortunately, we received a call this morning regarding her inability to do her job, and as you can imagine, someone of her profession is very insulted by these claims."
Danny froze.
"But everything should be back to normal soon," Lancer said, smiling. "Spirit Week is coming up and I wanted everyone to be in high spirits for it so I hired her two weeks early. Her credentials are amazing! I don't understand why someone would be questioning her ability." The last part of his sentence was said more to himself.
"S-she's not upset or anything, right? And she doesn't know who complained?" Danny asked, eyeing the door.
Lancer gave him a stern look. "No, but she wants to go through this the legal way and prove herself to the students." He sighed loudly. "Honestly, I told her she didn't have to go this far, but it seems she was really affected by the claim."
"Great," Danny said, laughing awkwardly as he headed to the door. "I guess I'll just see her when she comes back. Okay. Yeah, bye now."
Lancer's eyes followed his quick retreat, wondering what was going on with the students' odd moods lately.
The rest of the day went by fast, Danny missing several periods as he loitered around the bathroom and the school roof to keep an eye out for any of his classmates that might want to- well, let's just say he was just keeping an eye on his classmates.
He was actually surprised when Star approached him during one of the classes he attended. For some reason the A-lister wanted to work with him and no one was lively enough to care or pay attention. As they worked, Danny noticed she seemed… healthier? He couldn't help but eye the bracelets conveniently covering most of her arms.
During science, Paulina, Dash, and Mikey joined his group. More noticeable than Star's hasty decision, the rest of the class and even the teacher stared at them, but seeing as they weren't fighting, they just went on with their lives. His three group mates also seemed happier in a way.
The most noticeable was Valerie, who gravitated towards him throughout the day, practically shadowing the teenager in between classes. Even Sam and Tucker were clingier than usual, so much so that it was starting to worry him.
It was almost like everyone suddenly enjoyed his company because more and more students he didn't recognize said hi to him or tried to sit close to him. Just like the talk with the psychology counselor and his search on the internet, this behavior was setting off alarm bells, but Danny didn't know why.
Everything came to a head in between sixth and seventh period when a woman in heels stalked through the halls of Casper High.
A chill settled over the students, a deep pressure invading their innermost thoughts in an invasive move that had each grabbing their chests in panic. Even Danny felt the chill, except his was a bit different from theirs as his chill exited in the form of mist through his opened lips.
There was shock and then anger as Danny noticed the stiff forms around him before following his gut to look at the person who had just entered the building. How could he have been so stupid as to rule out a ghost?
"Ms. Spectra?" Lancer asked, exiting his office. The overweight teacher obviously felt the atmosphere and tried to shoe the students crowding curiously through the halls. They didn't listen, most likely because they couldn't. "I thought the police wanted to run an investigation?"
"Ah, yes, that," the attractive woman said, voice dripping with honey. "I've been cleared, you see!"
Lancer shook his head. "They said it would take months."
"Oh, but they didn't really have anything on me," Ms. Spectra reassured, smiling brilliantly. Danny couldn't help but notice that her hair looked like devil horns. "Lack of evidence can crumble any solid case!~"
Danny thanked the lord a million times that Lancer wasn't stupid. "All right, if you give me a moment I'll just verify-"
Spectra snatched Lancer's hand away from his office door. Her eyes were cold, but her smile remained on her face. "Sorry, Lancey. No can do. I don't have all that much work left to do with these kids," she laughed, pointing a thumb at the stunned students in the hallways. "I'd really like to be the straw that broke the camel's back and just be on my way."
"Mrs. Spectra," Lancer growled, ripping his hand out of her grip. "As Vice Principal of this school, I need to ask you to exit the building at once."
Spectra rolled her glowing eyes, growing less amused with Lancer's resistant by the second. "Oh please, old man," she snorted with a dismissive wave that sent Lancer to his knees.
The students startled, making various shocked exclamations at the green energy that left Lancer's body in a swirl, each taking a step back but feeling the unexplainable urge to stay where they were. No one seemed to notice they had subconsciously taken a step towards Danny.
Their eyes followed the green energy, guts clenching uncomfortably at the sight of Lancer's pale and panicked face, as it seeped into Spectra's body. The now obvious ghost sucked in a deep breath as if tasting fresh air for the first time. "Delicious," she breathed, the tension in her shoulders dropping. Her eyes found the students. "You have no idea how wonderful your pain feels."
Danny could feel his hands shaking. Was this the pressure his classmates had been forced to face every time they visited the guidance office? It was overwhelming and most of all powerful.
But the worst part: Danny was scared.
He'd never faced a ghost that felt like this before. Most of his enemies used their fists to talk, or simply couldn't talk at all if one considered the octopuses, but this woman utilized her silver tongue and her ability to pick and pick at every little flaw a teenager could find about themselves. And teenagers always did have great imaginations.
The shaking wouldn't stop, but he forced all his anger into a glare that the ghost didn't notice. His classmates had been subjected to her mental torture to weeks. Dash, Paulina, Star, Mikey, Valerie, Sam, Tucker- all of them hadn't been able to do anything as this woman sent them spiraling towards suicide.
Danny didn't want to think about whether or not Spectra had other victims before this, he just needed to make sure this woman didn't get any closer to the people he cared about.
"Leave," he voiced with startling confidence. Spectra tilted her head towards him, but what was shocking was how the students stopped shivering long enough to look at him too. "You don't get to hurt them anymore."
Spectra blinked, a slow, terrifying grin pulling at her lips. "So you're the one that's been interfering with my work," she hummed, pressing a finger to her cheek. At Danny's confused look, she laughed. "Oh, don't seem so surprised! I've been here for weeks and yet not one of these kids has jumped off a building yet."
She shook her head sadly, turning to look at Star who was the closest to the woman. The girl made a choking sound. "Usually I'm on to a new town in a couple of days," she sighed, crossing her arms. "It's rather disappointing when one's work is interrupted halfway through."
Her causal way of addressing the fact she forces children to kill themselves made Danny's eyes burn.
"You've done enough damage," Danny said, trying to control the conversation. "The authorities know who you are. You'll never be able to hurt anyone else again."
Spectra was staring at him strangely, eyes squinted and focused on his face. "What exactly are you?" she muttered to herself, a high heeled foot taking a step forward.
Sam was in front of Danny in a second, forcing him backwards. "Don't," was all she was able to muster.
Spectra paused, most likely not because she listened to Sam, but in shock. So far no one had been able to move after she applied the pressure over them.
The ghost frowned, eyes finding Danny's glowing green ones. "Interesting," she hummed, head tilted like she was amusing herself with a new science project. "But no matter! As long as you're a teenager, I control you."
Danny felt his knees give when they made eye contact. He knew his eyes lost their glow and were probably wide with shock as her power latched onto his every worry and fear. Around him, students choked and pressed themselves against the walls as the pressure left them and centered on Danny.
His classmates dying, losing his friends to a ghost attack, being alone, no one liking him, dying in his accident, not being considered human-
In the background, Danny heard Spectra's excited shriek. "Oh what a find!" she swooned, getting closer and closer to the Halfa who was slowly curling in on himself.
Family doesn't love him, friends don't want him anymore, his family murdering him on a dissection table god it hurts please stop I'm your SON-
The pressure lessoned all at once and Danny's heart started beating faster than it should. Spectra was standing right above him, a grin on her face. "No way," she whispered, fingers digging into her palms with elation. "This is your biggest fear?"
Danny shook his head, unable to gather a coherent thought. His vision was blurry and his breathing was erratic, perfectly in time with his heartbeat. He was suffocating.
Spectra was still talking. "Your family murdering you is your biggest fear?" she cackled, head tilted backwards and unaware of the shock she was inflicting upon the students cowering to the side. "And they really would, wouldn't they? Because your parents hunt the dead." She took the moment to make eye contact with Danny again. "And you're not exactly alive, now are you?"
If Danny were coherent enough, he would have noticed the confusion, horror, and then outrage of his classmates. However, at the moment it was all he could do to remind himself to breathe.
"Oh but the worst part- the worst part is that it's all their fault," Spectra exclaimed, eyes wide.
Danny gasped, "No! I-"
"If they hadn't been so careless as to place the one button on the inside of the portal, you never would have gotten caught in it."
"It was my own stu-"
Spectra looked down at him with mock pity, placing a hand over her heart. "And if they hadn't been such inattentive parents, you wouldn't be dead."
"I'm not dead!" Danny screamed, desperately, voice caring through the silent hallways.
"Half dead, half ghost, same thing, kid," Spectra smiled. "Either way, you aren't human enough for your parents to love you."
There was a heart stopping moment where Danny listened to her. His mortality was questionable at best, and it took Spectra seconds to pick it apart. Danny stood there, eyes wide as thoughts jumbled and fought each other: some his own, others a creation of Spectra. There was a sinking feeling the longer he looked into her eyes, something hollow and terrifying.
Somewhere in the back of his mind Danny prayed that Sam or Tucker were mentally sound enough to grab a thermos and suck Spectra in before she did any more damage, and when he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes he almost cried with relief. There was a loud BANG and Spectra was suddenly on the floor- not sucked into a thermos like he'd expected. The pressure completely disappeared from the room.
Lancer stood with his arms raised, holding a chair above his head.
After a moment of catching his breath, Lancer smiled at Danny and said, "Surprisingly this isn't the weirdest way I've had to fire someone."
And finally, Danny laughed. There were tears on his cheeks, but as he looked around at his classmates clutching their heads and sinking to the floor, everyone was far beyond their normal emotional levels and could care less what they looked like.
Danny caught the eyes of the students he had been watching the past couple of days. Dash, Paulina, Star, Mikey, and Valerie were looking at him with such a grateful expression that it was almost like he was the one that hit the ghost with the chair.
It wouldn't be until weeks later, among the company of his guilty and emotional parents, that he'd discover the ectoplasm in his blood had been helping to replenish everything Spectra stole from his classmates.
Him being half dead had kept them alive.
Sam and Tucker's arms were around his shoulders immediately, whispering apologies and loving words into his ears. His hand was shaking, but Danny reached outward to clutch the backs of their shirts as they collapsed in a pile in the middle of the hallway. He noticed several other friend groups doing the same.
Spectra's influence was gone, but it would take a lot of work to get the students feeling themselves again. Depression was a disease that couldn't always be beaten. They were lucky it was only a ghost feeding on their misery rather that actually being diagnosed with depression.
Other people couldn't just get rid of their mental illness by knocking it out. As his classmates and friends sat around the hall slowly recovering from the ordeal with hopefully very little lasting damage, Danny vowed to learn everything he could about mental illness.
If Danny wanted to be a hero for everyone, then he needed to be a different kind for some people, because saving the day doesn't always involve using your fists.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
A/N: Not my usual style nor pace. It's slow and the story is developed through a one-sided narration with tiny clues hidden throughout the text.
I'm taking a class on diversity at my college and we skimmed over the topic of mental illness. I've suffered from PTSD since I was 10 due to an accident, and my best friends have either a serious eating disorder, depression, or low self-esteem. I really truly wish mental illness was a disease given to us by a ghost as a plot in a story, but unfortunately it's real and it's hard to deal with.
I wanted to write this chapter as a darker way DP could have handled the episode where they meet Spectra, but instead of it affecting Danny it affects his classmates more. Mental illness among teenagers is no joke. I'm really sorry if you don't like this chapter, but I really had to write it.
Spectra is one of my favorite ghosts if you can't tell already.