Sorry it took me so long to update guys! I was on vacation. But I have returned with a hopefully decent chapter.

"The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see others suffer the way they do."

- Unknown

"Ready?" She asked softly.

He didn't know what to be ready for.

"Yes."

The corners of the girl's mouth lifted into into a smile as she reluctantly released her grip on his hand, her eyes red and puffy as tears dripped down her cheeks, landing on her T-shirt.
"I can't come with you," she said, shaking her head.

Her hair had fallen into her face again, strands of it hanging over her eyes. She made no move to fix it. She didn't seem to care.

"Why not?" Danny asked. It was clear that she wanted to. And he didn't want to leave her alone in the light, no matter how peaceful it was being there. It just felt wrong.

She sighed, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "Danny, I don't think I could go with you if I tried. This is something you have to do on your own. And you don't have much time left."

"At least tell me who you are," he said, a bit angry at her lack of cooperation. "And what is it that I have to do? And how do you know my name?"

"You ask a lot of questions," she said, a hint of sarcasm creeping into her voice. "And I can't answer all of them yet. But I'll tell you what I can."

She shifted her feet, looking nervous about what she was about to say. She seemed calmer now though: her tears had stopped falling, though she still looked pretty upset. "I can't say what you're going to see," she began, taking a breath. "Because I'm not really sure what it will be. But I know it's going to be something important."

She nodded her head in assurance, exposing her bruises again. Danny couldn't help but stare.

"Very mysterious," he said, already pretty sure she wouldn't elaborate.

The girl laughed softly, pulling her long brown locks behind her head, now fully exposing her neck and the finger shaped bruises. "I suppose you want to know about these too? I saw you staring."

Embarrassed, Danny looked at his sneakers, noticing a small rip in the side of his left one. He needed some new shoes.

"It's OK," the girl said, sounding sincere. "I'd be curious too."
He looked up at her and saw she had a strange look in her eyes, like she was a million miles away. She looked like she was remembering something sad, her eye's starting to glisten with more fresh tears.

"It was a robber," she said, her lips taking their time to form each word. "He broke into my apartment through the window. I was home alone and woke up when I heard the window break. He did... horrible things to me and then killed me, right there in my bed. I still remember his hands locked around my throat."

She touched her bruises, running her fingers across them. They were marks of something that couldn't be undone. "My little sister was there too. He killed her the same way. I saw it happen, after I died, and I couldn't do a thing about it. I didn't know how. I looked for her everywhere, but haven't seen her for ten years. Since that night. I haven't stopped looking though, just in case by some miracle, I can see her again. That's one of the only things I really care about anymore..."

Danny didn't know what to say. What do you say to someone who's been through that? 'I'm sorry' just wasn't enough. This was totally broken.

He'd had a growing suspicion that the girl was a ghost, but actually hearing her say it was another thing entirely. It made everything so real. It was sad that she'd died so young. Sad that she never got to do the things she must've dreamed of. And she was obviously still grieving for her sister. She actually had to watch her die, watch the light leave her eyes. That wasn't something you could just forget.

Danny did the only thing he could think of: he hugged her, throwing his arms around her back, bunching up her T-shirt. It wasn't out of love, but out of respect. This girl had been through hell and back, but she still believed in something. She was still looking for her sister after ten years, impossible as finding her seemed. Hopefully someday she would.

"Thank you..." she whispered in his ear, returning the hug and leaning into him.

"I don't even remember the last time someone hugged me like this."

Her voice was full of longing for the love she hadn't gotten to feel, for the people she never got to say goodbye to. Why was life so cruel to this girl? What did she do to deserved any of what she got?

"I'm gonna find her, one day," she said, her voice cracking. "But you have to do something else. Don't get too caught up in what I've told you. You still have a life left to live. Use it."
"You do too," Danny said, stroking her hair. "Even if you don't believe it. Make it count."
He could only hope she'd be with her family again one day, that she could let go of the past and move on to a brighter future.
She smiled and pointed to the direction where she'd come from, where the blue light seemed just a little bit way out, into who knows what.

"Just keep walking over there. It won't take long."

Danny nodded to her, taking a step forward. He didn't know exactly what would happen once he reached the bright light. Would he have another vision? Or go somewhere else entirely?

"Wait," he said, remembering and turning back to her. "You never told me your name. Or how you know mine."

She smirked. "It's Kassy. And that's a secret. Now get your but over there." She pointed in the other direction again, giving him a light shove.

Danny started walking faster, not forgetting about the time limit Kassy had mentioned. He wondered what happened when that time was up. Did the light just disappear? But then what happened to the people in it? Where did they go? Where would Kassy go?

"Kassy?" Danny said, at the edge of the brightest part of the light, turning to look at her one last time.

She was looking back at him, her eye's meeting his own in reluctant acceptance of what was to come. She was used to being left alone, but it still hurt her every single time, like a fresh stab wound on her already broken heart. She only held his gaze for a second, before looking away. "Yeah?"

"Are you going to be OK once I go?"

She didn't answer right away, choosing to look down at her bare feet like they were the most interesting things in the world. "I won't be OK. Maybe someday I will be, but not now. For now, I'll just exist. I guess that's what I've been doing for a while now. Just existing."

Danny nodded sadly, turning and walking into the brightness then, just barely assured that at least Kassy would still be someone, somewhere. Where that was he didn't know.

The light flickered out of existence, like someone had turned off a light switch, and, just like at the start of his last vision, left black nothingness in it's place. The black wasn't like the light. It gave no feeling of peace, but it gave none of danger either. It was just there, like a placeholder for the main attraction.
The blackness didn't stay long, just like the last time.
It blanked out in a flash of blinding white so that he found himself in his bedroom, sitting on his bed with it's blue comforter and pillows.

Everything looked the same as he'd left it, some clothes thrown on the floor, posters on the wall, and his door shut. His window was open however, letting shining rays of sunlight into the room and a slight breeze that ruffled his hair, pushing strands of it over his forehead.

"What the hell?" he said, looking around, stopping when he caught sight of a figure lying on their stomach on the carpet.

It was a girl, her long red hair spread out around her like a curtain. She wore a blue headband and a loose black, long sleeved T-shirt and was looking up at him from the floor, her mouth a straight line.

"Jazz..." he said, in barely a whisper.

"Hi Danny," she said, her voice warm and familiar . It sounded like she was longing for something, something she wanted desperately but couldn't have. Her eyes were trained on him, deep pools of blue.

She stood up and Danny could see that she was glowing very faintly with a white light that encased her entire body. She looked beautiful

But people didn't glow as far as he knew... only ghost's did.
Danny got up and stared at her, not believing what he was seeing.

Jazz padded over to him in her socks and put her hand on his arm in a comforting way. It was as cold as ice, and sent shivers up his whole body. Just like Kassy's...

"No," he said in disbelieve, staring at her hand like she'd just reached up and slapped him in the face with it. "You can't be... Not you. It wasn't your time yet. I would've known sooner. J-Jazz? It's not true, right?" It was one of those questions that had an inevitable answer.

She nodded her head slowly and smiled at him affectionately putting her arms around his neck, giving him a hug, making him gasp from the sudden cold. But he didn't pull away. In fact, he leaned in closer, putting his hand in her red hair, so much like that of their mothers, just wanting to feel the touch of the sister he missed so much.

It was completely silent in the room for a moment as the two sibling embraced each other, tears trailing from the younger one's eyes, sorrows unspoken.

"Jazz what happened?" Danny asked, his voice breaking before he could finish the sentence.

Jazz brushed Danny's raven locks from his forehead and, not missing a beat said, "You already know. You just don't remember."

He broke away from the hug then, holding his head in his hands. So she'd died when he was still there, likely on the day he had his accident. "I know! And I need to. Something bad happened that day and I need to know what! So tell me!"

She flinched at his sudden outburst and sat down on the bed, crossing her legs. Her beautiful glow seemed so out of place in his plain, ordinary bedroom. "I can't Danny. You have to remember on your own."

"But I can't! Can't you see that?" Wet, hot tears dripped down his face, leaving dark spots on his shirt. "I don't know how to do this."

His sister took his face in her hands, wiping away a tear with her finger, and said, "You have to remember Danny. You have to."

The last thing he saw was the pained look in her eyes, and in the the way she frowned. Then she, and the his bedroom were gone in a flash, the darkness taking their place.

He heard the sound of someone sobbing, undoubtedly himself but he didn't feel anything. Just total emotional numbness.
His sister was gone. And he didn't know how, or why. She had so much life left ahead of her, so many plans. Now she'd never get to do them. Maybe somehow there was a chance she would, in another place, but it wouldn't be with her family, with him.

That realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Could that have really been the last time he'd ever get to see his sister? And he'd just screamed in her face.

He was starting to hear someone talking frantically from a distance, and a bright white flash rushed through the darkness, obliterating it.

He closed his eyes out of fear, and when he opened them, he was in a different room, sitting on a leather couch, wrapped in soft blankets. He was still freezing though, shivers racking his body.

He was exhausted and could barely move to investigate, or maybe go search for another blanket, but from what he could see he was back in the living room with the french doors. There was a fire in the fireplace now, crackling and splitting embers. It barely warmed him at all, even though the couch was only a short distance away.

His head was killing him and he put a hand to his forehead, his eyes widening when he felt the heat coming from it. On top of everything else, now he was sick.

"Little badger?" a voice said from across the room, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching the couch.
Vlad. Apparently it was possible for things to get worse than they already were.

Vlad appeared in front of the couch, looking shocked by his sudden awakening, and hugged Danny unexpectedly, pulling the teen into a sitting position and readjusting the blankets to put them around his shoulders.

Danny didn't have the strength to push him away, no matter how much he wanted to. Or the urge to make his headache any worse by moving.

Vlad put his own hand to Danny's forehead, pulling away as soon as he touched it. "You're burning up," he said, surprised.

Danny was debating whether or not to tell the billionaire about his vision of Jazz. He could definitely help him figure out if what she said was true or not. If he chose to help that is. It was possible he already knew and just hadn't said anything. Maybe it wasn't something he 'saw fit ' to tell him, even if he deserved to know.
He had to try.

"Vlad..." he began. "I need to tell you something."

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