Chapter 3

"That's a good look for you." Smith couldn't help but comment.

Alicia smiled as she looked at her new "invisible" outfit: a pair of baggy brown capris, a black tank top, the long hair no longer in a ponytail, and her scholar glasses were gone. "It was my favourite outfit." She cocked her head to one side. "Is it just me, or is somebody about to die?"

"Come on." Smith said, grabbing Alicia's hand. "We want to be ready, and also to blend in."

By the time the pair arrived at the hospital, they had already chosen their visible costumes. Smith was a male nurse looking at his clipboard while keeping an eye on the target room. He nearly did a double take when he saw that Alica had chosen to be a skater chic, looking extremely bored. "You sure that is a subtle look?" Smith whispered as the two of them entered the elevator.

Alicia shrugged. "This was all I could think of...and besides, haven't you heard that appearances can be deceiving?"

"Fair enough." Smith tried to hide a smile. He checked his watch. "We're a little later than I had planned, but don't worry, we'll still reach our destination in time."

The elevator doors slid open and the pair walked out. "These hospital maps are always so confusing."

A scream echoed down the hall. "That would be a good start." Smith muttered to himself. A split second later he changed back into his invisible form, running down the hallway with Alicia following close behind.

Unseen to everybody else but themselves, Smith and Alicia entered the hospital room. There was a heart monitor in one corner, but it now had a high and continuous beep. A young girl lay pale and motionless on the bed as the mother sobbed by the bedside. The father paced around the room, tears streaming down his cheeks. "My little girl." He whispered repeatedly. "My little girl."

Smith looked to see Alicia slowly backing out of the room. "Her? We have to defend her?!"

Smith smiled. "Well, actually, I have to defend her, and you have to watch and learn." He took another look at the dead girl and recognized her as being the bully girl that had taunted Alicia only hours before.

"But Sarah, why did it have to be Sarah?" Alicia ran her hands through her hair and stamped her feet out of pure frustration.

Within moments, Sarah's spirit lifted from her body. "Mom? Dad? It's okay, I'm here." She slowly slid off the hospital bed and walked right through the jelly-like wall.

"Sarah Campbell?"

Sarah turned towards his voice. "Who are you?" She caught the sight of Alicia standing sulkily behind him. "Oh it's you. And I suppose you brought your 40 year old boyfriend to laugh at me? I always knew you were a whore."

"I am NOT forty years old!" Smith protested.

Alicia crossed her arms. "I just knew it. Do you not have any memory of the shoot-out that occurred at school? Just as ignorant in life as in death."

Sarah's confident smile instantly vanished. "Dead? Did you say I was dead?"

"Shot in the back, died of complications." Smith motioned to the hospital bed.

Sarah's gaze eventually returned to the pair standing before her. "I'm dead? But, why, is, Alicia standing here?"

"I never said I wasn't dead." Alicia replied bitterly. "Be VERY glad that I won't be representing you in front of Judge Othniel."

"Judge who?"

"Ah Ms. Campbell," Judge Othniel came into the room, dressed as a doctor and carrying his black bag. "Let's get a good checkup for you to determine where you shall go."

Sarah shot a confused look at Mr. Smith and Alicia. "Go?"

"He's here to decide your eternal fate." Smith interpreted.

"Is there even anything to decide?"

"As a matter of fact Ms. Campbell, yes there is a decision to make. Do you remember what happened in the fall of 1999?" Judge Othniel took off his glasses and stared straight into her eyes.

"Well, that was my first year of high school, does that count?"

"Yes Ms. Campbell, that does count. More than you ever really knew." Judge Othniel put on his glasses again.

A scene from the past began to play.

A thirteen year old Sarah Campbell with glasses clutched her binder and textbook as she nervously wandered down the hall. Suddenly a young boy crashed into Sarah, knocking all of the books out of her hand.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." The boy said, bending down and helping Sarah pick up her books. "My name's Billy Thompson, I'm a freshman. You new here too? I saw you in Band class."

"Uh yeah, I'm a freshman too." Sarah smiled and shook Billy's hand. "Listen, uh, since we don't really know anybody else, want to grab some lunch together?"

The scene cut to Sarah standing behind Billy in the lunch line. Looking around the cafeteria, she saw a bunch of kids waving and motioning for her to come and sit at their table—popular looking kids. With only a backward glance, Sarah abandoned Billy in the lunch line and went to sit with the popular kids.

"Abandoning Billy Thompson could have been overlooked as a mild offence Ms. Campbell, until you decided to not just ignore his existence, but to make it completely miserable." Judge Othniel shook his head as another scene from the past began to play. A fourteen year old Sarah stood in the hall in contacts and the latest fashions, surrounded by all of her popular friends, all giggling and gossiping. An insecure looking Billy walked down the hallway with a pile of books in his arms. Walking past the group of girls, his eyes rested on Sarah and he smiled for a couple of seconds before quickly adverting his gaze.

"Oh my god, did you SEE how he looked at you Sarah?!" A brunette giggled. "That was SO lame."

"Disgusting is more like it." A blonde replied "Who is he?"

"Like I would know, or even care." Sarah sighed and tossed her own perfect blonde tresses.

"Your honour." Mr. Smith spoke up as the scene faded. "During that time Sarah was, like any normal teenager, caught up in a world of insecurity. She found that security in her friends that she made, and was thus scared that she would lose them. So she did everything in her power to fit in and keep those friends, as the saying goes."

"At the expense of others, Mr. Smith?" A third scene began to play.

"I hate you!" Billy screamed, waving around his shotgun. "I hate all of you!" Two shots were fired, and Alicia reeled over and landed onto the floor, a blank look on her face.

"If we continue on into the future, we will find that young Mr. Thompson was tried and convicted of two accounts of murder: yours and Ms. Chang's. Sentenced to time in prison...but was found dead from committing suicide, before he even stepped foot into the jail. Not to mention all the grief and pain that all three of your families faced."

"I had no idea I was like that." Sarah said slowly, seemingly as if she was snapping out of a daze. "They tell us and show us all the time how destructive bullying can be, but I never realized that I myself was doing it."

"Ignorance." Alicia muttered under her breath.

Smith leaned closer and whispered in Sarah's ear. "What if you could go back and correct your biggest mistake?"

"I could do that?"

"Only if you can prove that you're sincere about knowing your mistake to Judge Othniel."

"Judge Othniel, I can only hope that I can go back and prevent myself from making the lives of so many people around me miserable." There was a genuine honesty in the girl's voice. "I promise that I'll stop myself from making the same mistake."

There was a little smile on Judge Othniel's face. "Then you must go back and try to right the wrongs that you have committed. You will have three days, and three days only. Nobody will recognize you, you are a free agent in the universe, with the blessing of God Almighty and his court."

BOOM.