You don't know me. I'm a bug on a wall, a spec of dust on the shelf. I'm everywhere, yet nowhere at all. I've seen everything-done everything. That feeling people get when "something tells them", that's me.

Look around. See the fighting? The planning? The hunger for power? Me. All me. I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty great. Everything I wanted when I was alive, I have now.

Except one thing. The thing I'm working on. I'm pretty close to it, though. I've put ideas into peoples' heads, forced them to do things they had no business doing. Right now, I'm pushing the biggest idea I've ever done. I'm going to force more actions than I ever have combined. It's a pretty big task, but I've got the ability to do it.

Right now, they're together. Talking. Planning. Fighting. Waiting for someone to come and rip it all apart.

It's cute. They think that they can settle this themselves. They think that if they just sit and think aloud long enough then all of it will come together. Oh, if only they knew what I have in store for them.

The moment the clock strikes six, I will be jumping into action.

Oh, and would you look at that? It's 5:57 already.

5:58

5:59...

6:00.

And so it is time. Well, better get a move on. Don't want to keep them waiting.

A large gust of wind, some shimmering bright light, a loud piercing screech seemingly coming from every direction. Ah, what an entrance I have made. By the horrified and confused looks on their faces, I can tell that I've made quite the impression.

Katianna holds a gun to Wanika's head, Emily holds one up to her's. I don't know what happened before I got here, but I don't care. I'm here for one reason only.

"Drop the weapons," I command. They're so in shock at my sudden appearance that everyone--even the powerful Katianna--doesn't hesitate to listen.

The one called Amelia looks at me curiously, trying to put together a puzzle to which she only had half the pieces. She doesn't seem intimidated by my presence, however. If anything, she seems almost glad I interrupted.

"What...how...who?" Emily stutters. She too tries to figure it out.

"One of two things is going to happen here!" I yell in a booming voice that causes each one of the people in front of me to tremble. "Either you will do as I say and all will be well, or you won't and all will be hell. Your choice."

They look around at each other, trying to decide what to do. Of course, I already know the answer. No one would willingly pick the hard way.

"What do you want us to do?" Katianna asks in a way that show she's trying (but failing) to hide just how much I intimidate her.

I smirk. They had no clue what was coming to them. "Give me the book." Horrified and surprised looks scatter across the room. Hushed whispers spread between those who thought I had no idea. Silly children, it wouldn't have been possible without me.

"Uh, well, the book kind of... exploded," Emily nervously tries to explain, her voice trembling in fear of my reaction. She glances at Amelia and then Wanika. Katianna stands there trying to figure out a way to escape. Except this time, there was no way out for her.

I fake being surprised and then angered. I yell at them about how stupid they all are and question how they could possibly let something so special slip from their grasps. They try to reason with me by saying that they had no clue what happened, but I don't care. This is all just a game to me.

Spending an eternity in a universe of blank-nothingness got too boring for me to just stay there.

In my life--my human life--I wasn't particularly bad, but I wasn't particularly good; I didn't believe in God, but I didn't not believe in God--thus condemning me to an in-between state of Heaven and Hell. Which was a thousand times worse than either.

There was something special about The In-Between, though. Floating around in a giant state of a color more dull and mind-numbing than gray, was a bundle of paper tired together with a leather-backing just begging for someone to come and find it. I'd never seen anything but the other lost souls in the boring abyss, but somehow this... possession made its way there.

Some spoke of a time where an abandoned religion would allow you to bring one thing into the after-life. It was my best guess as to what the papers were doing there. The second I touched them, they revealed to me things that no one else in The In-Between had ever known about. There were ways to get out. Ways to view the real-life world below. Ways to give yourself a second chance.

I had no choice but to jump on it.

And now I was too far into it to get out. Too addicted to the power to even want to.

Katianna somehow gets the thought it a good idea to express herself. She straightens up, puts on her brave face, and stomps right in front of me. She leans in close enough for me to smell her eggy lunch on her breath. "Who are you? I demand to know!" She harshly exclaims.

I lean in even closer, smiling to reveal my whiter-than-paper teeth. "Baby, I'm the thing you've seen in your nightmares but never had the courage to confront."

She backs away, her sudden bravery instantly disappearing.

I glance over at Emily, waiting for her to say something. Anything. It seemed odd to me that she hadn't yet recognized what--who--I was. After all, she was the reason for it all. "Awe come on, Em, don't you feel it? Can't you tell? Some deep part of you must know the answer to your friend's question!" I say to her.

She stares at me in confusion, not having the slightest clue of what I was going on about.

"Oh Emily, I'm offended. How could you not remember me?" I continue, crossing the floor over to her.

I grab her hand and bring it up to my heart just like I used to do. She starts to question me, asking me what it was I was talking about. The other "important" people around us whisper to each other, each of them trying to figure out my riddle.

I silence her and grab her chin. "Look at me, Emily. Look at me and you will see." I tilt her head up to mine and stare deep into her eyes. She begins to tremble, realization dawning on her.

"You...why...how?" She mutters.

I take my hand and brush the back of it against her soft pale cheek. She looked so different from the last time I saw her.

But I guess that was my fault.

"My rose. My love. I've come for you," I sweetly whisper. Tears begin to form in the crevice of her eyes. The tender fondness between our past selves has sewn us back together.

Katianna's face scrunches up and Wanika's turns into a gaping surprise. Amelia tries to put the puzzle together, falling just short of completion. There was just one piece she was missing and she was not able to find it.

I grab Emily's chin again and gently kiss her, the spark of two soulmates reuniting passing between our lips. Everyone gasps, not sure what to make of the situation. Their feud and struggle for power had been long forgotten.

We part and I draw her in. I'd been waiting a long time for this.

See, time moves differently In-Between. One second here is nearly a century there. I floated around for hundreds of years before finding the book. And finding the book led me to a special motion that could keep my precious princess alive for much longer than she was supposed to.

"Hunter, I've missed you so much," she heartbreakingly whispers.

"I know," I whisper back, "I've missed you too."

Our beautiful moment was cut apart by the group of onlookers begging for answers. "I'm sorry, but could someone please inform us of what is going on here!" A certain snappy one shouts.

Aria, one who wasn't easy scared, was standing up to me.

I turn to face her. One flick of my hand causes her mouth to glue shut, panic rising within her. She lifts her hands to try and get me back, but stumbles in surprise when nothing happens.

I laugh at her shock. "I drained your powers. You can't use them against me."

Samson rushes to her side and begins to inspect her mouth. He moves to her mouth to heal it open, but finds I have drained his as well.

"You people have yet to realize just how much strength I contain. Without me, you would be nothing! I made you!"

They start to argue back, but I hush them all. Emily (formerly known as Evelyn) begs me to tell her and them what I mean. I tighten my grip on my girl so that she doesn't get scared and push away when I answer.

With Samson and Aria still struggling towards the wall and Emily right on my side, I began my story.

You know, I always dreaded the moment I would come clean to those around me. But at the same time, it had to be done to get her, and I kind of liked the idea of someone knowing the great power that I had. Because if they knew, then I could finally get the praise that I deserved.

And believe me, I deserved some praise. Putting these big plans into action was not as easy as it seemed.

I told them about my human years and how I fell in love with the most beautiful girl in the world. I told them about how everything in life was going perfect--until it wasn't.

I told them about the horrible accident and my bloody and painful death.

I told them about how I found the book. And how it told me what I needed to do to give my beautiful girl--who was barely alive--many more years on earth.

"I was able to manipulate time in a way that humans thought was impossible. The book gave me an opening into hours before the crash, before my death.
"There was a boy with a horrible sister. She pretended to be loving and kind, but really she hated him and wanted him gone. She deserved to die, and my girl deserved to live. I made the boy see her in her true form, and I rose the anger in him until he lost complete control of himself. That girl's soul left her body, and my girl's went in it."

I could feel Emily's eyes widen and her heart pound (and not in a good way) at my explanation. "You killed a girl? For me?" She asks, horrified by what I said.

"I didn't. He did," I justify.

"Yeah, but you made him!" She screams, pushing away from me. Her friends and enemies in the room stay silent--a good choice on their end.

"I didn't make him do anything. The thought was there, I just nudged him in the right direction," I explain. The look in her face didn't change, so I continued with the rest of my reasoning. "You were doomed to the same fate I was, but you deserved better. I gave you a chance to change your eternity! To do something good!"

Wanika steps closer to me, questioning my story. "You expect us to believe that Emily here isn't Emily?"

"I don't care if you believe it or not," I calmly state, "but it's true. Her real name is Evelyn Rose. She died in a car crash."

Emily winces at the reminder of her past life and Wanika stares at us with crazy eyes, wondering how on earth any of this could be true.

"Haven't you ever wondered where your powers came from, Wanika?" I ask her. "I gave them to you. To give you an equal chance against everyone else."

She is at a loss for words. She knows that what I'm saying is crazy, but also that it is true. She doesn't want to believe it, and yet she does. And I can tell by the way that Katianna and her two friends are looking at me that they believe it too.

"What was the point of all this?" Amelia questions, still very confused.

I don't really have an answer for her. "My amusement," I say. It's the closest thing to the truth.

Wanika, angry about how I've been playing with them like dolls, stomps to the other side of the room. She stands next to Katianna, signaling that she has traded sides.

I knew that would happen. But the game isn't over just yet.

"Wanika, there's something I have that you want," I state, coaxing her back over to where she should be.

She rolls her eyes at me and folds her arms across her chest. "Please, I don't want anything from you anymore," she angrily exclaims.

Oh yeah, she's finally realized that I'm the one she's been contacting. It's about time.

I snap my fingers (mostly just for show) and the thing I'm holding from her appears in front of me.

Katianna gasps and every muscle in Wanika tenses up against her skin. They both silently stand there in shock, not knowing if it was real or not.

Sibyl spins around to look at me and then turns back around to her sister and her master. I gift her with the emotions that Katianna robbed from her when she was just a child. She doesn't know what to do, and neither does anyone else.

Aria burns with jealousy and hatred. She never liked Sibyl. She wanted to be Katianna's only partner.

Wanika runs and wraps her arms around her twin sister, not even caring about all the things that had happened between them before. She was just glad to have her back.

Katianna stands frozen, remembering how she felt about Sibyl when she thought she'd lost her forever.

Emily tenses up, remembering that Sibyl was the one who shot her best friend in cold blood. Her anger was burning almost as hot as Aria's.

Poor little Amelia is confused as ever. She looks at me in disgust at the things I've admitted to doing.
Little does she know that I'm the reason she's even walking.

Then, out of nowhere, chaos begins to erupt. Katianna starts freaking out and Emily is clawing at me to let go of her so she can attack Sibyl. Wanika holds her sister as close as possible and begins to scream obscenities at Emily for wanting to hurt her.

"She killed our friend!" Emily reminds us all.

Wanika doesn't seem to care about any of that, she's just glad to have her family back.

I release Emily and she lunges at her (former) friend. Wanika, who didn't expect a thing, stumbles back in surprise. She trips and falls onto Aria, which pisses Aria off. Aria pushes Wanika sideways, knocking her into Samson. Before I know what's happening, they're in an all-out brawl. Punches are thrown, hair is pulled, it's the first fight I've seen in years that didn't involve use of any supernatural abilities.
Probably because I took them all back.

Surprisingly, Katianna quickly calms down. She takes Sibyl's hand and they sink back against the wall.

I watch as Aria fumbles around for her weapons from earlier. Looks like the ending I've predicted is coming sooner than I thought it would.

I appear next to the original evil duo and lay a hand on each of their shoulders.

"You guys were always my favorite," I whisper to them. Nearly all of my power floods willingly from my finger tips and into their souls. Before they can respond, I send them back to their house where the book waits patiently for them in one piece.

I only have enough juice left in me for the one thing I did all this for.

I grab Emily--no, Evelyn--and yank her out just as a gun goes off and blood flings everywhere. We explode into a world of light, finally alone. Finally together.

_________
THE END!

THAT WAS A HELL OF A RIDE WASNT IT!?!?! DO YOU HATE THIS ENDING AS MUCH AS I DO :D
Haha. I finished a book in a year. That's crazy guys.
It feels like I just started it yesterday. Was May (or was it April?) really over six months ago????

Thank you SO much for taking this journey with me and sticking with this story when I failed to upload for months at a time. I'm so grateful for my readers who gave me the motivation to keep on writing <3

Please friends, don't hold back. Tell me EVERYTHING running through your head right now!!!!!

I love you all!

<3