❛ Phantom Hazards ❜

❝ In The Moonlight

˗ˏ précis ˊ˗
it's hard for sam to sleep when her best friend was out fighting crime, especially when he came stumbling into her room at night covered in blood.
warning: blood
┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Sam's fingers lightly brushed over the hard binding of the books, her eyes scanning over the sideways printed titles.

It was late, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness enough to properly see the books lined neatly on the shelf. Probably too late to be trying to solve her insomnia by reading books, but there she was, anyway. Not that she could even guarantee that she'd be able to find a book that would keep her attention long enough for her to fall asleep. Her thoughts were usually far louder than anything else, her own voice whispering worries and doubts to herself in the hushed quiet of the night.

She blamed Danny.

Though she would never say that to his face, of course. He'd probably just get that oddly adorable kicked puppy look if he knew Sam was losing sleep because of him. That was why he didn't know about her late night problem. No one did, except for Jazz.

Her insomnia started with the whole 'ghost thing', because seriously, how was she supposed to fall asleep at night knowing there was a chance her best friend was out almost getting himself killed? When she tried to lay in bed and close her eyes, all she could think about was if Danny needed her help, and what would happen if she woke up in the morning and he was gone. She would push the thoughts away by telling herself that Danny could handle himself just fine and that he'd most likely tell her if he needed help, but it didn't really do much. She just didn't know.

That was why she had decided to tell Jazz.

Thankfully, as Sam had been hoping, Jazz had really lived up to her reputation and goal as a psychologist. Though Jazz wasn't actually one yet, the older girl still recommended Sam a few books- ones about dealing with significant others at war. It wasn't quite what she had been expecting, but it was similar enough she supposed, and Jazz had insisted they would help. However, Sam had yet to actually read the books.

Sam sighed and retracted her hand from the bookshelf, the dark wood covered in dust. Maybe she could find something else to do; she wasn't really in the mood for reading at that moment, and honestly she wasn't even sure if she could.

She glanced over at her bed, the red comforter pulled back from where she'd gotten up earlier, and reluctantly dragged her feet over to sit down on it, the fabric shuffling softly. The moonlight was streaming in through her windows, illuminating her room in an eery glow that reflected off the many surfaces. Again, her thoughts drifted back to Danny. Was he asleep right now? Or was he out fighting a ghost? Sam flopped onto her back on the bed, her eyes tracing over the faded lines on her ceiling and internally cursing the boy who she couldn't stop thinking about.

The light shifted as clouds slowly moved past the moon, and she watched the shadows dance along the walls with mild interest. She wasn't quite sure how much time passed, but she could feel her eyelids beginning to droop, her vision blurring in exhaustion. Perhaps she would finally get a couple hours of rest.

She was almost asleep, her eyes closed, when something caught her attention and dragged her back into awareness. Sam blinked her eyes open in annoyance and confusion, her lips pulled down in a frown. She sat up and scanned her room blearily. She wasn't sure what had woken her up, but everything looked the same. Nothing was knocked over or missing, the moon still shining among the stars. However, the room was almost suffocatingly silent now, causing unease to itch under her skin. Was it just her imagination?

A sound echoed through the room and it took her a second to recognize it as a faint knock. She whipped her head around to stare at her windows in surprise, specifically the glass doors leading out to her balcony.