The Book of Plot Twists

The End of the End (part 2)

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.