I fell back onto my bed, my muscles screaming in agony.

There had been literally ten ghost attacks in one night alone.

Not to count the three that had happened earlier today while I was in school.

Sam and Tucker did their best to cover for me while I slipped away to take care of the ghosts, but Lancer found that I had ditched anyway.

I have a week's worth of detention and a note for my parents in my backpack.

My dad had already finished yelling at for the night because I'd come home at almost mid-night, and my curfew is still ten.

It only pissed him off more when I told him to chill out.

Even my mom seemed kind of ticked that I would talk back to my father.

To be perfectly honest, I sort of felt guilty about it, but considering that I was so exhausted from today's events, I didn't give it much more than a passing thought.

The next morning, I crawled out of bed thankful that it was Saturday.

Sam, Tucker and I had planned on going to the mall to hang out together.

I checked the time. It was only twenty minutes later than I said I would meet them.

I called Sam's cell phone.

On the second ring, she picked up.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hey Sam, it's me." I replied.

"Danny. Tucker, it's Danny." She said.

For a second there was silence, then Tucker's voice came on the line. "Danny? What's up?"

"Nothing. Guys, chill out, I'm fine. I just wanted to know if we were still up for the mall." I said, fidgeting with something on my dresser.

"Wait...you're ok?" It was Sam's voice this time.

"Yeah," I responded. "Why?"

"Uhh..." Tucker stammered.

I sighed angrily. "Look, either spit it out or I'm getting off."

"You should come over to Sam's house. There's something we should tell you. It's about the ghost zone." He said.

Giving a growl of anger, I said I'd meet them there and I hung up the phone.

I had just descended the stairs and I was pulling my shoes on when Jazz walked into the living room.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

I dropped my voice to a whisper. "Tucker says he found something to do with the ghost zone. Cover for me?"

She ran a hand through her hair, then nodded. "Ok, but you have to go now."

"Thanks. I owe you one, Jazz." I replied and opened up the front door just as I heard my dad call my name.

I changed to ghost behind our trash can, then I flew through the air toward Sam's house.

On the way to her house, I started thinking about what could possibly be wrong this time.

Nothing immediately came to my mind, so I guess I would just have to wait till I got there.

Right as Sam's house came into view, the box ghost popped up out of nowhere and scared the crap out of me.

Within a matter of minutes, I had him contained in the Fenton Thermos and was back on my way to Sam's house.

I landed on Sam's balcony window and knocked twice, paused for three seconds, then knocked twice more.

Our signature knock. Not that Tucker needed to know that.

I had been coming to her house in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep.

Lately I'd been having these awful nightmares and Sam would always calm me down.

Not that Tucker needed to know that.

The thing about my nightmares was that I had the distinct feeling that they weren't just nightmares.

I had the scary feeling that most of what I was seeing in my dreams was real.

Anyway, Sam opened the door and pulled me inside.

I changed back to human. "What's going on?"

Tucker stood up from her computer chair. "Come take a look at this."

I crossed the room and stood beside Tucker.

He sat back down in the chair and used the mouse to point out something on the screen.

"This is our old map of the ghost zone." Tucker said, then used his mouse to click over to a new window.

"And this is the new map of the ghost zone that we created a few days ago." He said.

I nodded, remembering our trip into the ghost zone together.

The image loaded, and I noticed an area that was red.

I immediately pointed to it. "What does that mean?"

"That indicates a threat to our world. I did some digging and I zoomed in on that area as much as I can. It seems that there's been a make-shift hole busted out in the center of the ghost zone."

I squinted at the screen. "What does that mean for us?"

"It means, that's the reason all the ghosts are getting out." Sam interjected. "There's a hole in the ghost zone, that can't be blocked the way that the Fenton portal can be."

I ran a hand through my hair. It immediately flopped back into my eyes.

"Can I take a look at this?" I asked Tucker.

He stood up. "Yeah."

I took his place and brought the image up to full size.

A small, grainy version of Skulker was half-in, half-out of the new hole in the ghost zone.

I groaned. "How am I supposed to close this?"

"I don't know, we just thought that you should know." Tucker said.

"Well it isn't really my problem." I said, feeling my anger returning.

"What?" Sam asked.

I turned around in her chair. "I know that you guys view me as some sort of hero, but I don't know if I can fix this. And frankly, that doesn't really bother me. Ghosts get in and out of the ghost zone all the time. And besides, the hole doesn't even lead to Amity Park. Why should I be concerned?"

"Umm...maybe because most of the ghosts are there because you sent them back there? And when they get back out they're going to kick your ghost butt?" Tucker said.

I swallowed. "Maybe. But for right now, they're not coming after me. So I'm not concerned."

I stood up from her chair and stretched. "Are we still going to the mall?"

They both just stared at me.

"What?" I demanded.

"Aren't we going to at least try to fix this?" Sam asked.

I shrugged. "We could. Or we could go see Zombies 4. It's playing in the theater downtown."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Danny, be serious. Please. You know that we can't leave the ghost zone like that."

I groaned. "I seriously don't see how this is my problem."

"You're Danny Phantom! That's how it's your problem!" Sam yelled.

I shook my head. "That's not only who I am. I'm also Danny Fenton, just human. So how come it's still my responsibility? There are other human's around here too."

Sam squinted her eyes. "What's going on with you?"

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"That's not the Danny Fenton or Phantom I know. What's going on?" She asked again.

I shrugged. "Maybe I just don't care about solving everyone else's problems. Maybe I just want to be selfish for once."

"Man, I've gotta agree with Sam. This isn't like you." He said.

"Guys, I'm fourteen. Every other fourteen-year-old gets to be a little selfish now and then." I argued.

"Yeah, but every other fourteen-year-old isn't half-ghost." Tucker responded.

My anger flared. "You know what? Fine. I'll fix the stupid ghost zone. Meet me at my house at eight."

I put just enough menace in my voice to let them know that the subject was dropped.

Tucker and Sam looked at each other for a second.

"Do you wanna watch a movie?" Sam asked.

"No. I don't." I said, my anger still raging inside me. "I've gotta get out of here."

I changed into ghost form and I flew out of Sam's window and into the sky.