I'M SORRY!!!! Yet again I have taken a ludicrously long time to update and you must feel free to beat with sticks until you are satisfied. HOWEVER. The promise of a new series, (and RA back on the telly with some degree of regularity...) has spurred me on to new heights, mainly because the BBC scriptwriters have STOLEN one of my ideas and I want to get it out in the open before they ruin it.... So chapter five will be up ASAP! Meanwhile, as I tear my hair out and my fingers start to bleed from typing too quickly, enjoy the latest offering...

Four

Freedom to find frustration

Marian crashed through the undergrowth, letting her motions display the anger that she could not feel yet so desperately wanted to. Maybe if she acted as if she was angry she would be able to feel it, just as acting unafraid gave one the confidence to fight one's fears. She had been unable to find her mother in the house and she was beginning to give up hope of ever finding her again, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself to the opposite.

Don't be silly, she's got to be here somewhere. If this is the afterlife then she must be here. Everyone's here.

She needed to find Robin, ask his opinion, which was why she presently found herself in the middle of the forest, searching for him in the mist and strangely dense foliage. It was not the same Sherwood that she was used to in life. Marian found it unnerving that whilst her haven could produce a perfect copy of the home she had loved, the place she had almost loved more than home should be incomplete, a shoddy representation. Mind you, there was something a little unnerving about the entire experience. She had not yet come to terms with the idea that she was confined to this world for eternity. It was too perfect, too dreamlike to be real. Marian shook her head; she couldn't tell whether it was real or not, but she knew that despite slowly losing her sense of reality, she kept on hoping that she was going to wake up to find it all a dream.

"Robin?" she called, expecting to see him. "Where are you?"

There was no reply and the truth hit her like a runaway horse. Robin would not be there. He was not dead. He could not be a part of the afterlife.

The scream of sadness and frustration that had been held back for what seemed like – and could have indeed been – a lifetime, finally broke free, the intensity taking Marian by surprise. Suddenly she could feel, a glorious explosion of emotion bubbling up inside, filling her up and bursting out in one fantastic howl.

Where on Earth am I? Marian thought. Well, she added bitterly as an afterthought. I'm not on Earth, am I?

Wherever she was, it didn't matter. She could feel in this place, all the sorrow and pain and anger bursting through the numbness in full force. Through it all, one feeling stood out. Worry pushed itself to the forefront of her mind, and Marian could sense the rising heart rate that went with panic. She had just realised how helplessly lost she was in the forest, the trees now barely visible through the thick white mist. It wasn't cold, like mist usually was; just oppressive ad heavy.

"Hello?" she called, although she didn't know who would hear her. As far as she could make out, she and her father were the only ones in this strange afterlife, and he was back at the house. For all she knew he was miles away. "Is anyone there?"

"You're lost," came a quiet voice, making Marian scream with shock.

"Who are you?" she asked once she had regained her composure. "Where are you?"

"On your left."

Marian turned and jumped. Another young woman was standing with her in the mist a few feet away.

"Where did you come from?" she asked abruptly, surprise making her forget her manners.

"I've always been here. You just weren't looking for me before."

Marian accepted that. It made about as much sense as anything else in this illogical half-life.

"You shouldn't be here," the woman continued. "Strictly speaking ,the dead do not come into our realm."

"I thought this was the afterlife."

"It is. In a way. You've strayed too far from the path, wandered into foreign territory so to speak. Come, walk with me. I'll guide you back to the edge of the forest."

Still confused by the situation, Marian followed the woman through the mist, jogging to keep up. She seemed to move without effort, gliding along ethereally as if she wasn't really there.

"This is the afterlife. But it is the part of the afterlife where the lost souls gather to wander. "

"I feel like a lost soul at the moment," said Marian darkly.

"But you aren't. Your body has died and your soul is living on. It isn't lost. I, on the other hand." She paused with a sigh. "My name is Alice of Shrewsbury. Perhaps you have heard of me?"

Marian shook her head.

"It is of no consequence. Years ago I fell ill. So badly they thought I had died, although my heart was still beating. My body was saved and lives on, although my soul had already made the journey to the other side."

"A lost soul trying to make its way back." Marian finished for her. "How awful for you."

"It isn't the happiest experience," said Alice. "Especially when you have been searching for as long as I have. This part of the world-" she gestured around at the mist "- is the closest to the true life. That's why you can feel here."

"Can I stay here?" Marian asked. Alice shook her head.

"No. This place is for travelling, transient souls, those who wish to escape and be reunited with their true lives. You wouldn't be able to remain here even if you wanted to. You probably won't be able to find it again."

"How come?" Marian held her chin up in defiance.

"This is a strange place, the afterlife. The world, reality is different here. Things are relative. It has a life, a consciousness of its own. It is keen that nothing should disturb the natural order of life and death."

The mist was beginning to clear. Marian could make out the shapes of the trees and the vague outline of the forest path in front of her. She turned to Alice, startled to find her guide appearing to fade, growing less distinct with every passing moment.

"What's happening?" she asked, alarmed.

"Time's running out." For the first time there was life in Alice's ethereal voice, a fighting spirit behind the words. "Just as you cannot remain in the place of lost souls, so I cannot leave it. I cannot stay by the border much longer. You must go on alone."

Alone. The word seemed more foreboding than she had ever found it before. Alone in this strange world with a mind of its own.

"You are brave and strong Marian. You have the necessary will to fight your way through. I know you are something special. No one wants to get back to the true life as much as you do, not even those of us who still have a stake in it. You would not have found us otherwise." Her shape was almost completely lost to the lingering tendrils of mist; only her voice remained strong, panicked and despairing at how little time she had left.

"The barrier between the worlds has been breached. They will do anything in their power to rectify the anomaly and keep things as they were before. You can't let them, Marian. This is your chance, your only chance. Take it and don't let it go. For the sake of all of us who may never make it back, take this opportunity to return to your true life."

Her voice faded with the last of the mist, leaving Marian alone on the edge of the forest, Knighton Hall looming high in front of her.

"I will," she whispered. "I will take this opportunity. I hope you find your way back."

The numbness that seemed to emanate from her home settled heavily over her again, although she could remember fear and she knew that she would be feeling it ordinarily. What was the opportunity that Alice had spoken of? How was she going to take it if she didn't even know what it was? Could she dare to hope that she might be able to get back, to rise from the dead? Dare she hope for the impossible?

Marian sighed and looked up at her house, immaculate and calm, and she thought of her father within it. Did she really want to leave and go back to her old life, with all the troubles that went with it? This life offered her all she wanted and needed. Apart from emotion, she corrected herself. And her mother.

Frustration. It was faint, but it was there, a little stronger than a memory but not complete, like words on a page all but washed away until only the vague shapes of primeval letters remained. She turned her mind to something else, sitting down on the grass in the shade of the forest canopy and pondering what Alice had said. She wouldn't have to make the decision straight away, she hoped, and she needed time to work out the lost soul's cryptic messages.

The barrier between the worlds has been breached.

What was that supposed to mean? The line between the true life and the afterlife had been brushed away perhaps. But what did that signify? Surely living people weren't suddenly going to start falling into the world of the dead for no reason. She imagined a hole in the middle of Nottingham square, with unsuspecting peasants falling into it. Maybe it would become the Sheriff's new favourite form of execution – death by leap into the unknown.

Before she could think on it any further, Marian heard something that made her forget that anything was troubling her at that moment. She scrambled to her feet to try and find the source of the sound. Someone was singing, a light, quiet melody floating on the breeze. She hadn't heard the tune for so long that she could barely recognise it, but her vague memory spurred her on as she weaved in and out of the trees at the edge of the forest in search of the voice's owner. It was the song her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. Marian had never heard anyone else sing it, and she dared to hope that following the tune would lead her to her mother. That would be one thing that would keep her here, despite her promises to Alice. Her whole family back together again.

She skidded to her halt as the melody faded, and she drew back – from what she didn't know – as it was replaced by a roar of frustration. Again, she recognised the tone.

"Guy?" she said in disbelief.

She saw him then, a flicker in front of her, indistinct, like a mirage. He looked around and their eyes connected.

"Marian?"

She nodded, dumbstruck, taking another instinctive step back as he moved towards her.

"I…" he began, stopping in his tracks, but he was cut off by another voice, this time unfamiliar and unnerving. They both looked around for its owner but there was no visible source of the sound.

The barrier has been breached. We must fix the disturbance!

"Come on!" he said, holding out his hand to her. "I don't have much time…" He was already fading, like Alice had done, and before Marian could make the decision he was barely a shadow, his voice a whisper on the breeze.

"I'm sorry," he finished. "I'll find you, I promise."

Marian found herself alone in the forest once more, the only sounds being provided by the surrounding nature. She knew she ought to be angry on seeing the man who had caused her descent to this intolerable place. She ought to be scared at his sudden reappearance in her afterlife. But she wasn't, and even if she had been capable of feeling, she wouldn't be. The only thing she thought of was hope. Guy was here, in the afterlife somewhere, and he was very much alive. This was her chance.

The only thing left to do was decide whether to take it or not.

There we are, the $64,000 question... Will she stay or will she go? I SWEAR BLIND that the next chapter will be with you before Saturday 28th of March even if it KILLS me!

Other than that, please forgive me for the wait and please review!