A/N: Yup, I know I haven't updated this in months! I kind of had writers block with it so I guess I've just been letting it sit. But guess what, since I have exams now, inspiration has miraculously struck and it seems hell bent on not leaving until I write something. Go figure. I hope you all think this was worth the wait, I really do.

TS: thanks so much for reviewing…and thanks for being so loyal.

Trisha: I'm glad you liked and I apologise so much for the wait.

Redaura: As always thanks for being the loyal reader you are (^_^) You always manage to make my week.

Avari: I am glad you liked. I really think every chapter after that first one is just going to pale in comparison but I trust you to give me an honest opinion. (^_~) Enjoy.

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In the dark, a girl stirred. Something flickered in the depths of her mind and she made a grab for it, and missed. She almost screamed in frustration. It was important, she knew it was important. It was all she did know.

She tried to move but something was wrong there too. She felt too heavy. Trapped. Weighted down. She wondered if she was ill. If there was something wrong with her. She wondered why it was so dark. She tried again to sit up, but stopped. The flicker came again, and again she sent her mind on a mental sprint after the shimmering piece of the unknown.

This time she caught it.

And she did scream this time.

Dirt tumbled in to her mouth and she chocked, fighting suffocation. She pushed frantically against the weight on top of her, understanding now what it was. Horror filling her, welling up inside and taking everything else away from her.

There was a dead woman on top of her.

And she was dead too. Wasn't she? She should be. Her back arched and she pushed up, feeling the body shift. She felt the earth tumble and give and with a renewed sense of horror she realised that she had not even been buried deep. She wasn't sure why she found that so horrible but something in her struck out against it. Some hidden feeling of indignity she should never have come to acknowledge.

The body was forced further up, and struggling she followed it. Breaking out into the cold night air. She rolled, inadvertently taking the dead woman with her, and she sat up, straddling the waist of the corpse. Dumb struck she looked down at the girls face and traced her fingers reverently over the features. She would have drawn the girls eyes closed, rigor mortis had long since past after all, making the body once again pliant, but there was nothing left to close.

The contact did something to her. Sent a series of swift images tearing through her mind, like a movie. The girl on her knees, two men, gun, bullet, and death rushing down.

Rebecca pulled her hand away as if she had been burned and she screamed. The sound tearing through the night air, giving lie to the sense of peace that had been there before. She began to sob, hunching over the body.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" she repeated it over and over like a mantra. She rolled away, instinctively avoiding the hole and curled into a ball, continuing to sob. Something fluttered down to where she lay and cawed once, cutting into her grief.

Bewildered, she blinked, looking up at what had disturbed her, amazed to see a crow, perched so close. It cocked its head to one side and cawed again.

"But…" she said hoarsely.

It cawed again, and then it flew off.

Lying on the ground, Rebecca was momentarily disorientated when her view of the world switched. She was no longer one the ground, she was looking down at herself, at the scene all around her. She shook her head and shakily got to her feet.

The bird circled and for the moment she ignored it. Lifting the dirty hem of her blouse she stared at the place where she had been shot. It was healed now. Not perfectly. There was a network of fine scars that looked like a spider web where the bullet had made the hole. She traced it lightly with her fingers, noting that someone would have to be looking pretty close to see it. She let her top fall again, covering the spot, and then let her finger mover almost idly up across her torso, stopping at her breast where her heartbeat wasn't.

The path the bullet had taken.

It was still inside her.

The bird cawed again, as if reminding her and she looked up at it. She watched it circle and then nodded her head once. She looked at the body of the woman on the ground and thought about putting her back in her resting place. It wasn't much but it was something. Then a smile twitched her lips upwards. A smile that had a bitter edge of cruelty she had never displayed in life.

She would let them find the corpse, and let them find her empty space in the grave. She wanted them to know that death was coming for them.

Rebecca had walked along the streets, not aware she was heading home until she got there. She climbed the stairs to her apartment and stopped. She listened, trying to determine if it was empty. Outside the crow landed on the window sill, causing her to stumble when it showed her that the apartment was indeed empty. She put her hand to her eyes wondering if she was ever going to get used to the sensation of duality. Of seeing through more than one set of eyes.

Her keys were still in the pocket of her jeans and she held them thoughtfully. She went through her other pockets finding her money and her id intact.

"I thought they removed this stuff," she said to no-one in particular, sliding the key into the lock and turning. She entered; still cautious until she had confirmed that there was no doubt the apartment was empty.

She grabbed the remote and flicked the TV on, channel hopping till she found a news station. The remote was tossed on the sofa while she went to the bathroom. Pulling off her dirt and blood stained clothes she turned on the shower and stepped in. The water felt scalding against her cold skin and she sighed. Was there point to showering if she was a corpse? She wondered if she would rot but judging by the healed wound on her stomach she doubted it. Shaking her head she made short work of restoring herself to cleanliness.

Feeling considerably more human she wandered back into the living room, hair dripping, towel tied loosely. Absently she walked to the window and jerked it open; nodding to the bird that still perched there. Then she went to the bedroom. It didn't take her long to find what she wanted. Her black combats, a tight black t-shit that had three slashes across the stomach, meant to look like something with big claws had taken a swipe at the wearer. Her long black hair took the longest to deal with because she had to dry it, but then it always did. She was fully aware she was growing through the motions of normalcy but she couldn't help but feel there was some sort of point to it. Of course she also ruefully acknowledged that she may be just clinging to little human things.

Rebecca shook out her now dry hair that hung in a curtain around her head and half way down her back, slightly wavy. She grabbed a pair of socks, which where, perhaps ironically, pink and pulled them on, covering them with her favourite pair of black boots. Then she rummaged in the bottom drawer of the dresser. She had never been much into the Goth movement but she still had some black lipstick from a Halloween costume and black eyeliner was there somewhere too. When she found them she held them like weapons.

The lipstick was expertly applied and she stared at herself for a few moments after. She had always been pale but either the lipstick or her new status as 'dead' had made that fact even more apparent, more striking. She threw the eyeliner down without using it and stood, moving quickly to the wardrobe. She pulled out her long leather coat and dragged it on. She turned feeling it swish around her ankles and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She felt a lot like she had just donned her armour and was now ready to go into battle.

She strode out of the apartment, not bothering to lock the door or turn off the TV, and marched down the stairs. As soon as she emerged on the street the bird fluttered down to meet her.

"Well then," she said to it. "Show me the way."