Falling

I was falling.

Not the tripping-over-because-I'm-a-klutz kind of falling.

I mean 34000 feet in the air falling.

You're now probably wondering why the hell I was up so high in the sky in the first place.

It wasn't a matter of figuring out how high I could go without running out of oxygen. It was more a matter of getting as far away from certain individuals as physically possible.

Namely the ghost that was chasing me.

Normally, I don't let these less hazardous ghosts get to me. They're just bundles of ectoplasmic goop, one good blast and they're straight into the Fenton thermos. But my anger levels had been threatening to bubble over that afternoon, which was probably because my parents caught me in that stupid net of theirs that sticks to me like super glue.

I ploughed my way through the thick of the clouds, struggling not to lose myself in the layers upon layers of clogging mist.

It'd left the comforting stream of green earth far behind as I climbed my way up through the atmosphere. The sky was soft and the warmth from the near sun was welcoming on my cool skin.

I spun around haphazardly, surveying my surroundings with skittery eyes. There was no sign of the ghost that had been previously stalking me with electric shocks.

Elektra…as she was suitably named, controlled electricity. Similar to Technus, but with a much bigger ego. She was probably his cousin or something, all these ghosts seemed to be related in one way or another.

So there I was, panting like a dehydrated lunatic when the crystal clear azure sky vanished, to be replaced by a fog of ugly, choking black clouds. Electricity crackled around me, and I could feel the hairs shoot up on the back of my neck.

Bracing myself for what was about to come, I felt bursts of raging energy flood into the palms of my cool, gloved hands. I hovered above the thick of the clouds, my chest tight with the reduced amount of oxygen and my breathing ragged.

Right on cue, Elektra burst out of the clouds before me, which I found not in the least surprising. I had actually expected her to jump out behind me and scream "Boo!" She was a pretty basic ghost really, when dealt with correctly. Somewhere between the Box Ghost and Technus…who still had habit of blurting out his plans of destruction to his opponent.

So yeah, not the brightest bulb in the box.

Elektra loomed over me in her failed attempt to terrify me at three times my height.

And ten times my width.

Her hair was a shocking shade of red, fanned out around her twisted face by sparks of darting currents like a distorted halo. Her clothes were made entirely or fluorescent material that clashed dangerously against one another and the sickly green of her skin.

"Knew I'd find you Danny Phantom! Not so smart now, are you? And now, I, Elektra, the brightest ghost in the ghost zone-"

I stopped listening by that point, already exasperated from the idea that she was so proud of herself for finding me when I had been the one hanging around for the last half hour waiting for her to turn up. My patience running low, I released one of the burning spheres of emerald energy from my palm and watched as it blasted squarely into Elektra's stomach. The blast thrusted her backwards with such force she did some failed kind of somersault that only made her look more comical.

While she was out of the equation for the moment, I grabbed at my waist. All I needed was the Fenton Thermos, then I could catch this waste of space and head home for some peace and maybe the ability to be back before my ten pm curfew. Unfortunately, my life is never that easy, and it was only then I realised the thermos was not clipped to the belt on my hips, but on the table in my parents' basement, with a ghost still locked inside.

It was Technus, ironically.

"Aw crap.."

Cursing under my breath, I tried to come up with a rapid backup plan. Normally, Sam and Tucker would be here to help me find a solution (though they wouldn't have let me be as stupid to forget the thermos anyway…) but seeing as obviously neither of them could fly..

As I scanned my thoughts to try and think of a way to get rid of Elektra, a massive volt of static ran through my chest, knocking the wind out of my and setting my hair on it's end.

The ghost's laughter pealed in my ears, rising my temper as I struggled to get back to my feet while she simply grew maybe a couple more metres. I couldn't believe I'd let my guard down. My anger threatened to spill over, and I felt a searing pain shoot down both of my arms. Without thinking, almost fuelled by instinct, I fired a pulsating orb of ectoplasm at Elektra.

She dodged it, chucking, causing my fury to simply increase. Balls of startling energy began to ricochet out of my hands, hitting the taunting ghost at all directions.

There was a long silence, broken only by my heavy breathing as I doubled over in my exhaustion. I had to be coming down with something, using that much energy didn't normally wear me out as fast as this. Unless the static shock had interfered with my powers…which was more than likely when it came to my bad luck.

However, Elektra slowly, her steadiness almost painful, climbed back up to her full height which seemed to be ever increasing. She towered over me, her mottled green face flushing in pure rage.

"You are going to regret that, Phantom! Just you wait and see what I, Elektra-"

I rolled my eyes again, and was contemplating just heading back to earth, when I saw the ghost raising her hands to the many rolling black clouds, sparks fizzling from her skin. I began to retort with one of my many bad quips which I had a store of for occasions just like these, when a deep groan of thunder rumbled above our heads, the sheer volume almost deafening.

A flash of blinding light occurred to my left, barely seconds after then thunder had rumbled. I felt frozen to the spot, watching Elektra in a disturbing mix of terror and awe as her power drew stronger, like she was feeding from the clouds above. Lightning flagged down even closer than before, possibly a couple of inches from my face at the very least.

I jumped awkwardly, as well as you could jump when you were already hovering in the air, mentally kicking myself in a start to get myself back together. I soared along the runway of clouds, giving serious competition to any aeroplanes passing by.

I forced myself to not look around, to keep moving forward through the sky with the angry lightning at my heels.

The clumped mass of deathly dark storm clouds were catching up with me, stalking the shimmering blue heavens and poisoning them with their hatred.

A bold streak of eye-watering light blasted behind me, so close it scorched the edges of my brilliant white boots. Cursing loudly, I tried to speed up and instantly regretted using up all that deplenishing energy earlier.

Elektra was closing in, and I could feel myself slowing down, no matter how loudly my brain screamed at me to move faster, my body just couldn't seem to find the energy.

And there was no escape. I was either trapped up here, or harming the people I loved back on solid ground. I faintly heard Elektra screech words in her mocking manner, but I was only focused on what was above me. Halting dead ion my tracks, glued to the spot, I was forced to shield my eyes from the impossibly bright light surrounding me.

People often contemplate how they are going to die.

But I never thought it would happen to me like this.

The electric ray struck my forehead first, the world seeming to freeze as I felt the stabbing pain burn through my skin. My skull felt like it was exploding in slow motion, my brain being torn apart piece by piece like wet paper. The agony rippled down my spine, washing through every nerve in my body like a tsunami as it slowly killed me from the inside out.

And then I heard the sound. A horrific, terrifying noise, that sounded like an animal being tortured in the most cruelly pain inflicted way. I strained my ears to work out where the sound was coming from, and it took me a minute to realise.

It was me. My screaming.

The ungrateful world began to spin once more, and I found my body convulding uncontrollably with screaming waves of electricity, writhing in pure agony.

And then I was falling.

The icy wind ripped through my billowing hair, whistling cruelly in my ears. My body spiralling towards the earth headfirst, I searched desperately for that tiny source of warmth buried deep inside myself. I forced myself to focus on it through the torture, clamping my eyes tight shut and waited for the soothing glow to engulf my spasming, dying body.

I felt the waves of light stroke my waist and hips…before they faded away into nothingness. I cried out in anguish, trying again, and again, and again, until it eventually dawned on me. I couldn't even revert back to my human form. There was so little energy left inside me that I couldn't even relapse into what my ghost side normally used as a last resort.

Choking back a sob, I thought of my family and friends as their faces flickered into my mind.

The last thing I had said to Jazz had been an angry retort, a lie fuelled sentence that had only been devised to hurt her back like she had hurt me.

Would they ever know how I died?

Would they ever know if I died?

Sure, someone may stumble across the dead body of Danny Phantom, declare it on the news that the ghost hero of Amity Park was gone for good this time.

If there was ever a body to find, that is.

But what about Danny Fenton? What would happen to him?

What would happen to me?

Would I just be labelled as a missing person, along with the millions of other lost teenagers?

My family would never know.

I'd never see any of them again.

Not Dad, or Mum,or Jazz or Tucker….or Sam.

I hadn't even told her how I really felt about…well...it didn't matter now anyway. From the look of it, I was only a few minutes away from impact.

Leaning back into the fall, I braced myself and felt my mouth open unconsciously as I screamed while my body shuddered with the electric pain.

I wasn't ready to die yet.

And then all of Amity Park,
came to watch and awe…
As the powerless ghost boy,
Fell to the floor.