In the Dead of Night You Went Dark On Me

I Was Gonna Conquer the Sky

It was another successful day. At least, it was for one Jack and Maddie Fenton. Their new ghost prevention technology seemed to go off perfectly. On their scopes, they had seen several spectral creatures quickly depart the area. There was one technical glitch. There was a large splatter in one of the classrooms, but once they found out it was Danny's class they wrote it off quickly. Their son was always affecting their equipment. It wasn't his fault of course, he was younger when the ghost portal was created, so he ended up more contaminated with ectoplasm.

When they finished their school test, Jack and his wife drove around taking care of any ghosts that decided to make a mess of their city. They saw a strange medieval peasant and marionette doll fly away from the school, but there were no alarms going off. They followed the ghosts until they lost sight of them, caught several smaller ghosts that decided they loved vandalism, and found several ecto-contaminated areas around the city that they were able to take samples from. There was a report of several tornado ghosts that took many of the students and just placed them randomly throughout the city.

Together, Jack and Maddie were able to capture eight of the thirteen ghosts on their own, and they heard on the radio that Phantom had captured the other five on his own. As much as he had initially despised the ghost, he was glad he finally knew he was on their side. Overall it was a very successful day. He was hoping to make it even more successful, by talking with his son.

He knew he had told himself he was going to allow his boy to come to him on his own time, but maybe he just needed a little push. He could maybe help him with his school work, or they could just hang out together like normal. The first step he was planning to take was making his son his favorite food. The only problem was, he couldn't figure out what it was. So instead of actually making anything (a meal that would most likely end up burnt anyway) he had stopped by Nasty Burger and gotten the two of them a regular burger and fries.

Jack kept the food bag off of the counters, not wanting it to get any more contaminated by ectoplasm. The front door opened, and slammed shut. Jack quickly moved from the kitchen to the front room, giving his son who was already halfway up the stairs a happy (not forced), "Hey Dan-o."

The boy in question froze where he was, his entire body becoming extremely tense. He barely turned his head to look back at his dad, and Jack felt his heart break piece by piece at the distance between him and his son. "I was hoping to talk with you. I got us some Nasty Burger. We could eat it somewhere that is not the kitchen."

The pause was a lot larger than Jack would have liked. "Uh, sure. I'll be down in a minute. I just need to put things away."

"Sure thing. I'll be down here whenever you're ready." Jack watched as his son made a b-line to his room, and heard the door slam shut. His body was tense in ways no seventeen year old's should be, and it looked as if he was in severe pain. He hadn't heard his name on the report of students and faculty that had been abducted by the tornado spirits, but maybe he had been. If any of those damned spirits hurt his boy, there would be something worse than hell to pay.

Ten minutes had passed before the door opened and Danny made his way back downstairs. He had changed into a different hoodie, and Jack watched as his son practically limped down the stairs, using the handrail as a crutch. "Were you caught in the crossfire of a fight Danny?"

The only answer his son gave him was a shrug of his shoulders that seemed to be just as painful as walking had been. Jack was going to suggest a walk, but that was out of the question now. "Let's go eat on the back porch."

The two Fentons sat on the back patio, sitting in opposite seats at the table. Jack handed his son the food, and watched as he hungrily ate the burger. It was terrifying to watch, it seemed as though Danny hadn't eaten in months. The burger was gone before Jack could even take two bites of his own. The fries he ate were gone just the same. Wordlessly, he handed his boy the extra burger he got. It was going to be a late night snack, but his kid needed it more than he did. "Danny, have you been eating enough?"