Previously…

I didn't understand what they were talking about, but I groggily raised my hand towards my stomach. Instead of the soft feel of fabric, I only felt moist grass. The agony that was around where my hand was started to fade. The forms started to blend together and fade and their sobbing voices sounded like they were coming from farther and farther away. I just wanted to close my eyes. One of the voices came out clearer, "Stay with me, Danny."

A thought registered in the back of my mind, "But you didn't stay with me," as if I unconsciously recognized the speaker and what they were saying.

It didn't matter though. The darkness was closing in, and I didn't even mind anymore. It seemed welcoming. It didn't seem like the darkness that lurked at the edges of nightmares. It was the darkness that welcomed you at night, telling you that you could finally fall asleep after a long day's work. I couldn't find any reason to continue fighting the darkness.

And I was the last to go.

End Day 3

I could hear before I could see. The voices were strange at first; sounding like they were pushing through deep water, but it became clearer. The foreign sounding words began to sound more like English, and eventually I could even register what some of them meant. "He's fading; give me some… come on kid stay…Daniel. Come on, you can make it. Daniel, DANIEL! Nurse, where's the…" and everything turned black again.

The next time I woke up my vision came with it. The sharp sterile smell stung my nose, and the only sound was the slow continuous beep of a heart monitor. I sat in the stark white room, by myself for a while, giving myself a personal test of all of my abilities. I felt my pulse, checked my vision by trying to read distant motivational signs, pressed my hand against my forehead to feel my cool temperature. I then moved on to the abnormal abilities. I turned my hand intangible and swooped it through the clean sheets, I made a low power ecto-blast in my hand, and when I tested flight the IV yanked me back down. All were more difficult than usual, but still possible. Just as I flicked my hand back into visibility, the door creaked open. My sister was there, flyways sticking up out of her hair at every angle, and deep bags under her eyes. In her hand was a steaming paper cup of coffee, and she sure looked like she needed it, but as soon as she saw me she set down the cup and engulfed my in a hug. After a long time she released her grasp, and began to nervously twirl her hair. "What?" I asked, surprised by how hoarse my voice sounded.

"Sam and Tucker are in the hall… they want to talk to you."

"Fine."

My older sister poked her head out of the door and called them in. With heads hung low, they made their way towards my bed. I glared at them despite their inability to look me in the eye. "Are you waiting for the formal denunciation of my status as Danny Phantom, I really thought you would've wanted it to be more public than this."

"We're sorry."

I didn't respond so Tucker continued, "We should've known how tough it is for you. We're your best friends."

I scoffed, and Sam picked up after Tucker. "I know we don't deserve your forgiveness, but we are so, so sorry. May we please have a second chance?"

"Okay," I replied.

Sam and Tucker exchanged glances; "Well, what does that mean?" asked the techno-geek.

"It means that I acknowledge that you spoke and I agree with you."

Sam was bewildered, "You do?"

"Yes, you don't deserve my forgiveness. And… and you want a second chance? I offered you a second chance and you two spat it right back in my face! You had every chance in the world to apologize, but no. It took me getting," I realized with dismay that I didn't actually remember why I was here, "in the hospital for you to finally see how ignorant you are. We had a deal, and nothing you guys do will change that. You are not forgiven."

Sam had tears dripping from her face and Tucker was shaking with shock, having never seen me this mad before. My eyes burned with pure hatred. "Get out of my sight," I sneered.

And, as if running from an angry tiger, they scurried out of the room. Jazz placed her hand on my shoulder and sighed. She waited for a few seconds before saying anything, "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

"Not at all."

Jazz seemed a little disappointed in me, and an awkward silence swelled through the air. I quickly changed the subject, "So, what exactly did happen?"

"Oh, you don't remember do you? Well, before you started your ghostly wail you got impaled by the Fright Night's sword. Then you passed out, and Danny, I thought you were dead."

She blinked away tears, but my mind caught on to three very important words. "I passed out?! So, I transformed?"

She nodded. My stomach dropped and panic began to course through my veins. "And did anybody see?"

She nodded again.

"I'm assuming mom and dad know now, how are they taking it?"

"Oh, you know. Denial, anger…"

"Bargaining, depression acceptance," I interrupted her.

"What? Well, not yet. How would you know?"

"Those are the stages of grief, Jazz, you memorize them pretty quickly when you have to constantly deal with ghosts."

She sighed, "Yes, I guess they are going through the Kübler-Ross model."

"So, they think I died, I'm just a ghost to them now?!"

"No, Danny. It's not like that."

I glared at her. "Then why aren't they here," my voice hissed.

She looked frantic, "Uh… well, they're just in the cafeteria, I'll go get them for you," and she scurried out of the room.

It took longer than one would expect for my parents to get her from the "cafeteria," but they eventually came. Their features were down-trodden and their smiles were broken. I wanted to yell at them, be bitter towards their vacant faces and forced hellos, but that would just prove me to be the monster they thought I was. Instead I smiled, "Hey mom, dad, how are you?"

"Fine, Danny," my mom replied with a voice tinged in harshness, "And how are you?"

"Okay, considering the circumstances."

Silence filled the room once more. It made me feel uneasy, my parents keep glancing towards me then flicking their angry eyes away. I couldn't take it anymore, "So, do you have any questions?"

"Jazz filled us in," my father replied bitterly.

"On everything?"

"Well, no, she never told us why you would keep it from us," my mom replied.

"You're ghost hunters," I whimpered.

My dad's expression hardened, "But you were our son!"

Anger burned through every fiber of my half-dead body. "Were," I echoed, "I'm still your son!"

My mom flinched and took a couple of steps back, but upon seeing the tears I was trying to blink away her face softened for the first time since she stepped in here, "Danny, he didn't mean it like that."

I dropped my head, not forgiving them for their carless words, but also not wanting to get in a fight. I felt a strong hand grasp my shoulder and when I looked up I was greeted by my dad's dark blue eyes. His anger was now replaced by a solemn expression with a small hopeful smile brushing across his face, "Maybe, there's some way your mom and I can fix this."

"But dad," I whispered, "I'm not broken."

The door was pushed open and a blonde-haired doctor in a stark white coat came in beaming. "Ah, Daniel," he began, "Glad to see you're finally awake."

He ushered my family out of the room, saying that he had to do some standard post-coma tests to examine neural ability. "Exactly how long was I out?" I questioned.

"Oh, about three weeks," he replied casually.

"THREE WEEKS! How are things? Is the town safe? Have the ghosts been wreaking havoc? Is everyone okay?"

He looked nervous about my inquiries and instead of answering them just said, "It's nothing you need to worry about now."

I glanced outside the window and noticed a faint glowing green that was immediately recognizable as a ghost shield, "So it's that bad?" I thought.

I went through the standard tests and some not so standard ones involving to my ghost abilities a million thoughts raced through my mind. "Does the town accept me? Can I get rid of all of these ghosts?" but there was one thought that I put at the top of my priority list.

There is someone I need to make amends with.