Negative Feedback (Danny Phantom Fic)

Chapter 2

Eventually, after a lot of stumbling in the rain and being completely ignored by everyone I came across, I spotted a narrow alleyway that provided at least a little bit of shelter. I ducked into it, still cradling my camera to my chest, and looked at my new surroundings: some moldy garbage cans, a short stack of flattened boxes, and plenty of miscellaneous trash thrown helter-skelter. My foot collided with a green bottle on my way between the two walls that made up the alley.

"Home, sweet home," I sighed once inside the refrigerator box I'd found propped open and leaned against one wall. At least it wasn't completely falling apart, right? And it kept the rain off of me, which was also a plus...

"Oh, who am I kidding? This is the worst day of my life," I groaned, folding my arms on top of my bent knees and hiding my face in them. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming... But how can any of this be real?"

I peeked down at the space on my left. My Polaroid sat there, not nearly as scuffed up as I thought it would be after I accidentally dropped it earlier. In fact...

"It's not... wet?" I picked it up and held it in front of my face closely. "It couldn't have dried off already. Well, then again, a woman just walked through me today. Why should this be any weirder?"

'Maybe I oughtta take a picture, just to make sure it's still working.'

With practiced ease, I turned it around so the lens was focused on me and pressed the button. There was a click and a flash, and a second later the image printed right in front of me. I grabbed a paper corner carefully and flapped it around to help the picture form faster.

"There I am, miserable and depressed," I sighed when it cleared. "Didn't even have it in me to smile for the camera..."

'God, I look awful.' Hair stringy and limp, clinging to the edges of my face; a dejected and lost look in my eyes, one that could compete with the haunting expressions in the photos taken to document the suffering of people elsewhere in the world; clothes darkened with rainwater and plastered to my lean frame.

"At least it still works," I mumbled, leaning against the back wall of my cardboard home. With my legs crossed, I set the Polaroid down in my lap and held up the picture with my tired arms. 'Maybe if I rest, I'll wake up for real...'

My decision was made, but it was harder to fall asleep than I would have liked. "You won't collapse on me, will you, hovel?" I asked of the refrigerator box. As expected, I got no reply and the rain continued to pour outside of the alleyway. At least it was so narrow that most of the slanted rain couldn't reach me, save for what dripped from the buildings' eaves. "That's what I thought. Thank you for being here for me, hovel of compressed cardboard."

I didn't have anything else to do, so I leaned my forehead on my knees and closed my eyes as if that alone could shut out the unimaginable world around me. The rain seemed to help me for once, since it lulled me into a restless sleep eventually.

~

When morning came, or when the overcast sky got a little lighter, I finally gave up on trying to sleep and instead stiffly crawled out of my box. The roof had sunk down on me, so the puddle I was inadvertently balancing on my head spilled onto the ground and my leg when I was clear of the shelter. "Agh! Brrr... Oh, man, I ache all over. Note to self: don't sleep in a sitting position all night long."

Camera in hand, I crept around spots of broken glass and garbage to reach the entrance of the alley. Save for a few cars speeding past here and there, the streets were deserted at this early hour. 'Great. Now let's--' My stomach rumbled suddenly, sending a dull spike of pain through my abdomen. 'Yeah, let's look for breakfast.'