It was dark. Or was it just his eyes closed? Or did he even have eyes? Did he even have a body?

These thoughts flashed through the spirits head. Or did he even have a head? The spirit decided to try and open its eyes, and as it turned out, it did have eyes. It looked around and saw nothing but white; which made sense, considering the spirit didn't know what to see. He looked down where he expected to see his hands, and as a result he saw hands. The spirits body was coming slowly into focus, as he expected to see a body, so he saw his body.

The boy tried walking, and found that when there was nothing around to walk on, so his actions were frivolous. He continued to look around, and the world around him began to change. It started to look like it was composed of clouds or rather these clouds were trying to create something. The spirit just thought for a second. What was the last thing he remembered? He remembered a hospital and a single constant beep from a.....

"A heart monitor" the spirit said aloud. It did not echo. So he was dead, but where exactly was he. Alone it seemed, just like in real life; no wife, no family to comfort him to his death. He had outlived all of his sisters, and his parents, but he wasn't sad about that, he had learned how to deal with death years ago. His life had been devoted to his art. Some told him he should find a wife, but to him there was only one girl for him...someone he lost a long time ago.

The spirit stood for a moment (or perhaps it was hours, as he could feel no sense of time) thinking. "Well...I'm dead....and she's not here. Does that mean I'll never see her again? I spent years hoping one day, just one day maybe we might be reunited....but...."

"But what?"

The spirit froze; he knew that voice, his heart melted the second he heard it. He slowly turned around and saw a sight he had wished he could have seen every day of his life. Tears began to form in the spirits eyes, when he saw his best friend, Leslie, once again.

"Jesse..." Leslie started. They both looked into each other's eyes. Next thing they knew they were running towards each other. Suddenly there was something to walk on. They reached each other and embraced, both of them crying into each other's shoulders. Neither knew how long they stood there, but they loved every moment of it. Finally Jesse pulled away.

"Leslie...I can't believe it's you...can this be real?"

"Yes, Jesse, it's real" Leslie smiled back at him. "This world that you see, it is more real then you could ever imagine."

Jesse looked around but saw nothing. He turned and looked at her and asked her "But I see nothing...what is this place?"

Leslie smiled, "It's anything you want it to be. It's a world where nothing is wrong, and anything can happen."

"Like Terabithia..." Jesse started before he was drawn away from Leslie for a moment. Trees were coming into focus, grass was appearing beneath him, the sky became blue – the world was turning into their make believe kingdom when they were younger. Jesse stared in astonishment before looking back at Leslie and asked: "What just happened?"

"The world became what you wanted it to become, and evidently, like me, you wanted it to become Terabithia" Leslie said matter-of-factly.

Jesse looked around, the trees had the greenest leaves he had ever seen in his like, and it made the darkest green in the world look white. The sky was a vibrant blue, which made the sky on Earth look like a dull grey, the cool wind that was brushing up against him made the air on Earth feel like smog. Jesse looked at the girl he remembered so fondly, but she did not look as how he remembered her. Leslie looked as if she transcended age, she looked like she did the last time she saw him, yet she looked mature at the same time, Jesse stood in awe.

"You're beautiful." He started, but she turned around on him.

"Follow Me." Leslie giggled, before she took off at an intense speed. Jesse tried to follow her, thinking he would lose her soon, but it wasn't the case; he ran and was able to catch up to her extremely fast. Jesse remembered their old times in Terabithia running from the monsters. Tears began to form in his eyes at the memory of the fun times they had together. Would they be able to stay together this time?

The two of them ran, they saw a mountain, and they ran over it – ran over it like it was an ant hill. Jesse was amazed at this ability, he neither felt tired or bored with this running, and he could do it forever. Finally Leslie stopped at the top of another mountain. Jesse stopped as well, finding it odd that he didn't feel tired after the running.

"Do you recognize where we are?" Leslie asked Jesse. He thought for a moment, before giving her an answer.

"Yeah...it's...our world." Jesse said. The two sat down under a tree and watched the world that they created. They saw a pack of Hairy Vultures fly off in the distance, a giant troll rest beside another mountain, and various other creatures that Jesse had created after Leslie passed away. Jesse suddenly got a terrible thought.

"Leslie...will I have to lose you again?" Jesse realized how corny these words sounded, but he was very concerned with the possibility of seeing her disappear again.

"Haha, nope. In this world, we can be together forever." Leslie smiled. "There is nothing else in this world; there is no pain, no fear, no... death."

Jesse smiled at this, but another fear soon took over. "Leslie if I, well, created the world around me, then...did I create you as well?"

Leslie turned around and smile at him. She did not answer but instead stood up and looked at the horizon. "Jesse, stand up and look at what I'm looking at." Jesse stood up and started looking as well. At first he saw only the horizon, but soon he began seeing beyond that. It as if his eyes had become telescopes. He suddenly saw a change in the landscape; the world became more like the town he had grown up in. He saw his school, the playground, and he even saw his old house. Except it didn't look ruined anymore; it looked fit for a king, yet at the same time it still looked like home. And waiting in front of the house was...

"My...family." Jesse said in amazement. He blinked, and his vision snapped back to where he and Leslie were. "If they're there, then..." Jesse started, before Leslie interrupted.

"Then they must be real, because you didn't imagine that you would see your family here. Nor did you imagine that a version of Earth would be here as well. You simply created Terabithia here, well because at the moment you wanted Terabithia to be here. If you had wanted cave or something you would have started out in a cave. It's hard to explain." Leslie said

"Just close my eyes and keep my mind wide open." Jesse said, echoing the words she had told him so many years ago. Leslie laughed.

"Yeah I guess that works well enough."

Jesse got serious once more, looking Leslie in the eyes. "So we can seriously be together forever?"

"Yes! You're awake now, there's no going back to sleep. We are free to be together, with everyone we love forever. Leslie reached out and grabbed his hands. "I'm sorry...I died. I wish that we could have had our life on Earth together."

"I missed you. I tried to get over you, but I never met anyone like you ever, and I never married or had a family. But I painted. I painted and painted, and when I was tired, I panted some more. I painted pictures of stuff in Terabithia, of PT attacking giant trolls, of...you." Jesse blushed at this. Leslie blushed too. They caught each other's eyes, and blushed even more. They pulled into close to each other, and kissed. Jesse had waited a lifetime for this, and he wished that it would never end, and in a place where time did not exist, he met this wish comparatively easy. Eventually they pulled away, and Leslie announced.

"Well, now we are free to do whatever we want, forever. And as King and Queen of Terabithia, we won't have any lack of excitement. " Leslie looked out towards the skyline. "Maybe we should start out with some giant troll hunting."

Leslie started off down the mountain, Jesse waited for a moment before he followed. He took in everything that had just happened to him. He smiled; he could finally live a life with Leslie, and even better this was forever.

And that's what he did.