A/N: I wish I could peronally thank all of the people who left anomyous reviews. I'm undeserving of such wonderful comments.
Enjoy!
Her memories liquefied, flowing in and out of her, staying only long enough for her to reach for them but leaving before she could grasp them. Floating freely, she uninterestedly watched as places and names flashed before her eyes, her curiosity peaking only when a pair of golden eyes could be seen. She tried to focus on the image of a cloaked figure hiding in the shadows, hoping she could make it stay longer before it floated away. She figured most would be afraid of a man in shadows, nervous of what they couldn't see or understand. She felt a mysterious bond with the stranger as if it was her hiding in the night. His eyes stared back at her, and she was surprised at what she found. An intense pain and sadness was barely contained behind the thick eyelashes. It was funny how wrong appearances could be.
An intense feeling of nostalgia came and stayed with her as the words circled in her head. The words were in some way connected to a memory, bittersweet and out of reach of her grasping hands. But did she want to remember? She tried to move, to find solid ground as the feeling of falling became more and more intense. Yes, she wanted to remember, if only to know why those golden eyes refused to leave her.
The darkness that surrounded her, both friend and foe, fought against her and then with her. It had held up its side of the bargain, providing a place where everything was surreal, and nothing mattered. It was she who could not go through with the exchange. The pain she had been through was swift and excruciating, but it was her pain, changing her in ways she couldn't let herself forget. It was the easy way out and she was so much stronger than that.
As she finally reached the ground, catching hold and hanging on, the darkness began to dissipate underneath the strength and beauty of the pure white light...
Jane Doe 146785. Two words and one insanely long number, the only thing written on the world's smallest grave stone. He had fought and pleaded for her name to be written at her final resting place but he had no proof that she was who he said she was. There were no birth certificates, or missing person reports with her name on it. He didn't expect there to be, he didn't have them either. How easy was it to be eased from society, almost as if they had never been.
Saya would stay here, in this dreadful place, without even her name. Would even he be able to make it back here through the maze of other grave sites and Jane Does? He promised himself he would, repeating her number in his head like a prayer, '146785...146785.'
The flowers, freshly picked, wilted in his tight grip. He laid them gently on the upturned ground, somewhere near the place where six feet below her heart rested. He could picture her, still and beautiful, the way he had left her in the hospital bed.
There had been no funeral, no final prayers for the decreased and their journey to the afterlife. While the gravediggers had determinedly gone to work, she had been carried out in a simple oak casket. The lid was already closed and sealed, there would be no final viewings.
She has been dumped into the hole, no matter how gently they went about it he couldn't see it any other way, and then just as quickly as the hole had been dug, she was buried. Everyone had disbursed, other graves had to be dug. Everyone but him.
He stayed crunched down to the ground, occasionally touching a wilted flower or running the cool dirt through his fingers. Then he would stand and make his way towards his car and freedom. Just as suddenly, he would stop and return to the grave of Jane Doe 146785.
The cycle would begin again.
As the sun fell far below the tops of the trees, he had no choice but to admit he didn't want to leave. He didn't want freedom. From now on, freedom only meant loneliness.
A/N: This chapter transitions the story into the next phase. Only about 4 or 5 more chapters to go!