I'm sorry for the shortness in length of my chapters but since I'm new to this whole fan fiction thing, I hope you'll forgive me and read this story anyway.

∞ Isa ∞

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"Paul, you stink. Get your ass out of my face!" I growled, pushing Paul of the couch sitting in the middle of our small house. He fell to the floor, laughing. I wondered briefly why he was – usually, Paul would start pouting at me or give me the silent treatment or something.

I stared at him with a raised eyebrow, and then saw that his eyes were not looking into mine at all, I followed his gaze and noticed that his hand was around my wrist. I swore, 'Oh Shi-' but didn't get to finish because a moment later… I was on the white, carpet floor.

Unfortunately, the carpet did not soften my landing. I fell down – hard. Groaning like Paul would have normally done, I sat up, briefly looked down at my baby blue pyjama bottoms and Paul's black, two-sizes-too-large-for-me T-shirt with the words "G≣ F≣CK Y≣≣RS≣LF… Would you like to buy a vowel?" printed across it in white block letters, then up at Paul, who had once again taken a spot on the couch. My spot, to be precise.

I guess I should give an explanation or something, since last time you tuned into the life of Suze Simon she was in the Junipnero Serra Mission Academy's graveyard, kissing Jesse de Silva, the hottest ghost of all time.

Up to this day, I have never stopped loving Jesse and never will. No one can fill the empty hole inside of me – where Jesse used to be. I say, 'Used to be' because it's true. Jesse is gone.

I remember it all too clearly. Its funny, when you have something you cherish, you want to remember it always but when something happens to the said cherished object and taints it in any way, you want to forget all about it.

For the past week after the kiss in the graveyard, Jesse was there every morning when I woke up, he followed me around the school and when we were alone, he sneaked in a few kisses. He was always there for me when I needed him and always they're to tuck me into bed at night.

But one day when I woke up… he wasn't there.

At first, I thought he was just off in the astral plane or dimension or something. Maybe over at the mission, I thought. But when Jesse didn't turn up for the whole day – I started to get worried.

A day turned into two, then three. By then, I decided to check out what was going on. I talked to Father Dominic and he told me he hadn't seen Jesse either – he thought that Jesse was staying with me for the time being.

Then I started to panic. It would have been fine if Father Dom had heard from Jesse or Jesse was just hanging around the rectory and Father Dom could have been lying – can priests even do that? – But I saw the look in Farther D's eyes and I knew he was telling the truth.

But Father Dominic didn't know where Jesse was, and neither did I. So I turned to the next possible suspect in this little mystery. Paul.

Paul, of course, denied everything I accused him of. I screamed, I cried, I demanded for him to bring Jesse back from wherever he took him, I tried to beat him to a pulp but my emotions seemed to control me and I crumpled at Paul's feet. With a change of heart, Paul comforted me although I had yelled and commanded him to undo something he never touched in the first place.

More days went by and I found myself spending more and more time away from my friends and more into my new job at the supermarket. My work was all that I put effort into, I started off as a trainee and soon enough I was the assistant manager and finally I received the title of manager itself.

Eventually, I earned enough money to buy my own Laptop – a shiny, silver Windows XP installed one – and a quarter of enough money to get a house. Paul, being my only true friend at the time, hitched in his savings – or a small amount of it anyway, Paul always seemed to be loaded – to help me get the place. So when Paul asked if he could move in with me, I accepted.

Our house, although quite small, was oddly beautiful. There were four rooms and a bathroom. One of the rooms was the lounge room, the other one was a kitchen, and then there were two bedrooms. Paul got one and I got the other. My room was black and white; they were the only two colours – other than my silver laptop and coloured clothing – that I would accept in my room.

By then, I had all but forgotten about Jesse. I may have seemed to forgotten about him in other peoples – mainly Paul and Father Dom's – eyes but to speak honestly, I had not. I loved Jesse and I never would stop loving him. I could eat all the chocolate and download all the rock songs I wanted, I would never get over him.

"Suze… Suze!" Paul waved a hand in front of my face. "You spaced out. What's up?" He added, looking at my face. I must have looked either sick or very sad for Paul to ask. Usually he would leave me alone, knowing what I was like when I got emotional. Lets just say that Paul learnt the hard way – by me moaning and screaming to him about Jesse, that is.

I just shot him a look. Paul's blue eyes immediately grew even more pitiful than before. 'Oh. I get it, you're thinking about him again.' Paul didn't say Jesse's name because he hated him – not anymore at least – but because he knew that if he said the name, I would either storm off or go into hysterics.

"I'm fine, Paul." I replied shortly, although I knew I was most definitely not. Paul must have realized this too, after all, we had lived with each other for a year and a half – Paul knew me inside and out. He understood my beliefs and emotions, how my mind worked and even when my period was irregular. It was hard to believe that the Paul I lived with was the same Paul Slater that stranded me and Jesse in Shadowland.

That's because it isn't. Oh, it may be the same figure of Paul, the same blue eyes, brown hair, and trademark smirk. But ever since he moved in with me – ever since Jesse left/moved on/whatever – Paul had been morphed into this funny, smart and caring figure of a man. Sure, he surprised me sometimes, and annoyed me a lot, but frighten me like he used to? Never. He had ditched that plan ages ago. To my relief, he also ditched the seduction act and started to date other girls now.

Paul's once caring, icy eyes were now gone, and in their place was a hot blue fire moulding with passion and understanding – also staring right at the television. "Come on Suze, Mediums on!" I couldn't help but giggle. The only reason we really watched medium was so Paul could spend a half an hour explaining to me what was true in the show and what wasn't. It was actually quite fun most of the time. The show was a little interesting as well as that.

The episode rolled on. 5… 10… 15…20 minutes past before my eyes felt heavy as I pushed my body up to Paul's. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and held me close, staring intently at the screen. I glanced at it before looking up at him and resting my head again. Another 5 minutes of this was all it took before I fell into a deep slumber.

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A small pointless chapter. The next one will be better, I assure you. This only served as an explanation – or an insight if you will – to Suze's life so far. This is set at least a year or two after Haunted, because I haven't had a chance to read Twilight yet.

∞ Isa ∞