Seeing Double

Body Snatcher: A Flashback

They had the whole night to themselves. Fenton told his parents he was sleeping over at Tucker's and he told Sam and Tuck not to expect him online.

"In the early days... well, I spent most of my time invisible," Phantom began.

They arranged themselves on the roof at Casper High with a big picnic blanket and sleeping bags. Not that Phantom would be doing any sleeping.

"I would just float aimlessly through the halls here at school, you know? Watching my classmates continuing their lives without me."

They both kept their eyes tactfully directed at the sky as Phantom spoke, but Fenton was gently running his hands through Phantom's hair. Reassuring little pets. Urging him on.

"Sometimes I was watching m-myself," Phantom continued.

This was the hard part.

"I thought of him as this eerie human double," Phantom said, awkwardly pausing to clear his throat. As if he still had an actual throat in his weird ghost body. "Um, and I watched him stumble through the school day like a duck stranded in the middle of a frozen lake."

Fenton's only reaction to the words was a quiet little sigh.

"You just looked so disoriented. Like you didn't belong and you knew it."

A humorless chuckle. Phantom stole a glance to read Fenton's expression. The human was smiling ruefully.

"I'm sorry." Phantom shrugged. "It was hard, especially in those early days, not to feel resentful."

Fenton shrugged back. It would be better if the guy would just say something, but he was stubbornly silent.

"So I kept my distance from 'Danny Fenton' and from my former best friends. I found myself spying on the A- Listers instead."

Fenton huffed.

"Okay yeah, on Paulina," Phantom said. "Let's be real dude. What fourteen year old kid wouldn't follow his crush into the girl's locker room, if given the chance?"

Fenton sputtered and opened his mouth to retort, but Phantom shushed him.

"Hey, you said you didn't want to talk. Well buckle in, I'm just getting started." Phantom smirked. "Anyway, I didn't mean to possess her. It just sort of happened. I guess I got too close. And it freaked me out, I wasn't used to gravity anymore. She was at cheer practice at the time and they were telling me to do a cartwheel or something."

Now Fenton was chuckling.

"Yeah, I fell flat on my face," Phantom said. "Got out of there real quick and Paulina, well, she seemed kind of dazed? But she was fine. Hadn't even noticed I was there... why'd you stop petting me?"

Phantom nuzzled his head against Fenton's shoulder.

"What are you, a dog?" Fenton said.

Without hesitating for a second, Phantom barked and Fenton rolled his eyes.

"Down boy!" Fenton said, laughing and ruffling Phantom's hair.

Phantom grinned.

"Continue the story," Fenton said.

"Right." Phantom closed his eyes. "Anyway, after that I went to the mall to experiment. Possessed all sorts of people. Young, old, men, women. The hardest part was carrying on talking to whoever they were with."

"But you're great at talking," Fenton said. "It's your talent. For real."

"Yeah, but, like..." Phantom sighed and opened his eyes. "Look, if I possess this middle aged man who's shopping with his wife I gotta stick with her and carry her bags. I gotta pretend I know what she's talking about. There was an incident where I didn't know the name of this one guy's kids...."