The Small Ghost

IX

Phantom woke up, his tear-stained face reminding him of yesterday. How had everything gone so wrong in such a small amount of time? Just thinking about what he did made tears well in his eyes and he had to fight to keep them from spilling. He was definitely going to be sent back to the GIW - if he had  ever left - after his mistake. He hurt Robin, Batman's protege. He  hugged his knees tighter, the sleek material of his suit gliding softly over his skin. He reminded himself that he is a ghost, and they are human. Humans hate ghosts, especially halfas.

A single knock sounded but Phantom was too broken to do anything about it. The door opened and a familiar smell wafted into the room. Robin was here.

"Phantom?" The ghost boy flinched, keeping his head low. Robin furrowed his eyebrows, not knowing what made Phantom go back multiple steps. He used to look up at  Robin, but now he was trembling slightly and avoiding eye contact, just like the first day.

"Phantom, look up at me." Robin put as much ease as he could into his voice, but he still  noticed the boy flinch before slowly raising his head. Robin's lips pursed when he noticed the white glow from the bracelet around his small wrist.  Robin stormed out of the room, anger coursing through his veins. What had they done while he was out?

"Wally get Batman down here, now," Robin ordered while he paced the room, trying to reel in his emotions. It didn't work.

As soon as the zeta tube announced Bruce's arrival the small teen couldn't contain his anger.

"Seriously, Batman!" The boy yelled, surprising everyone. "You guys put a new dampener on him!? How- Why- Geez!"

"Calm down Robin and I can explain," Batman spoke, ignoring the boy's outburst. Robin took a shaky breath, carding his  as he tried to calm down. "Now, after Phantom hurt you-"

"I did it to myself."

"-we," Batman glanced up and Robin knew who he was talking about, "thought it best to  give him a power-dampening bracelet, considering how he felt about his collar we thought it would be easier for him to deal with a bracelet instead. We can't have him hurting anyone else if he goes out of control again."

"So let me get this straight," Robin massaged his temple. "You put a bracelet on a scared little boy, making him think we're the bad guys again and you're afraid of him hurting someone?"

"He doesn't think-"

"Yes, he does!" Robin cried. "When I went in there he wouldn't even look up at me until I told  him to! You made him afraid of all of us! All of you did!" Batman was surprised to hear how much the bracelet had affected Phantom. He knew the boy wouldn't like it, but he hadn't thought for him being afraid of them again. He looked at Robin, hiding his feelings as usual.

"What's done is done, by the end of the week, if we think he's fine, he'll be allowed to have it removed." Batman turned to leave. "For now, he'll have to get used to the bracelet."

Robin seethed as Batman left, stomping back into Phantom's room. The boy flinched, a small whimper escaping his shaking body. Robin's anger dissipated, replaced by his sadness that they could do this to him.

"Phantom, please, don't be afraid." Robin took a step towards him but Phantom shook harder, making him sigh in defeat. "I'm sorry."

The door to his room shut and Phantom lifted his head. Did Robin just apologize? Why would he apologize to a monster like himself? These people confused him, but he knew one thing: they all hated him and wouldn't stop to hurt him. He couldn't get too close  to them, they would just hurt him even more.

He hugged himself tighter, wishing he could just disappear.

-----

Robin went to the gym.  He had to let his anger out on something. He wrapped his hands and  started punching the bag chained to the ceiling. With every  blow, he felt himself calm down, his anger turned to sadness. Why had  they thought the collar wouldn't affect him this way? Phantom probably  feels likes he's in prison still, just with a better environment. He  panted heavily, cleaning up from his breakdown. After a quick shower, he  decided to head back to Phantom's room with some food.