Part 23:

"Are you okay?" I'm turning my head and I see him coming towards me, smiling at his spiky hair.

"Yeah, I guess. What happened?" I realize, when he asks if I'm okay, that I have a headache, and God does is hurt.

"You did it." He's smiling now, and he's carefully picking me up and I'm curling into his chest. It's strong, steady. "Well, at least for now."

"I did what?" I'm mumbling as I close my eyes.

"You did it. You saved Adam and Joan. You didn't let Ryan win, although I wish you'd have done it like we'd planned." What is he talking about?

"What?" I'm raising an eyebrow at his tone. It hurts.

"I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Of course you do, Emily. Remember? You ruined my plan," His tone has completely changed. "And now I have to get rid of you the hard way." My eyes are opening, I sense danger. I see that it's not the sweet guy who it was before; it's some new, mean, rough guy with evil eyes.

"Who are you?" I feel the need to get away. I have to, I know it. It's now or never.

"Oh, Emily. I'm your good friend, Ryan." Hadn't he just said something about not letting Ryan win? "Yes, yes." He's laughing but it's not a humorous one. "You totally screwed up the plan." He's not smiling. I feel cold, then I realize it's because I'm flying through the air.

I'm screaming. My head hurts and then my arm hurts as I'm landing on it in an awkward angle. "I'll be back."

Part 24:

I open my eyes and nearly scream from the pain, but also from the dream. He had felt so evil, so completely demented.

"Emily?" There's a girl holding a guy's hand beside the bed I'm in. She looks excited but nervous.

"Who are you?" I feel sweat on my face.

The girl's face drops. "I'm Joan?" She says it like she's not sure.

"It's okay, Jane. The doctor said she might not remember. I mean, she's was in a coma." They seem sort of familiar but the dream threw me off and I feel very confused.

"Where am I? Who am I?" I'm suddenly very concerned for myself. What did he mean, coma? What had happened?

"You're Emily James. You," he glances at this Joan/Jane girl, "you were in an accident."

"An accident?" They nod and I look down at my body, my arm seems to be broken.

"Geez, what's happened to me?"

The girl lowers her tone. "Do you remember God?"

"God? Uh, who doesn't?" Then I can place them. Adam Rove, Joan Girardi. But then I remember the gothic God, the sweet God, I remember everything and can't help but blush.

Joan widens her eyes. "You do remember!"

"Oh crap." I look at Joan. "He's still alive." There are gaps in my memory, but I remember my dreams, the light, remember Ryan flying into a huge tree.

"I know." She looks away. "They took him to another hospital."

"He was in my dream." I look around, afraid. "He said he'd be back." I'm starting to feel tired, maybe it's some medicine I'd been taking.

"He talked to you?"

I nod too enthusiastically and feel the headache starting up again, strong. "Do you need some more medicine?" Adam asks and I quietly agree to some. The nurse comes and gives me some pills and ups my ivy.

"So did he talk to you?" I nod, feeling sleepy again.

"Wait, don't fall asleep." Joan grabs my hand. "Have you talked to God?" I wince and close my eyes.

"No. I thought it was him in my dream-" My eyes feel heavy and my breathing has slowed. "But he turned…into…Ryan."

I faintly hear Adam say, "What if she slips back into the coma?" and Joan gasp before the darkness surrounds me. What if he came again? I can't stay awake forever. But for the moment I don't care. Let him come, I thought, just let me sleep for a while.

Part 25:

It seemed like hours later, but it had probably only been a few seconds. "Emily! Wake up! Adam, we have to do something." Joan sounded hysterical. I was in a dream, or at least about to go into one, I could feel myself floating away.

"Emily." I'm turning, looking all around me. It's him, really him, I can hear it in his voice. How could I have been stupid enough to confuse the two?

"Where are you?" Goosebumps run up my legs, there's no one there. "Come to me." I think I'm in the cafeteria at my school. The floor is cold as I run to the doors, they're locked.

"He's done something and locked us both out." God's voice was faint but sounded urgent.

"What did he do?" The hair on the back of my neck is standing straight up at the sound of his name. "Why can't you come to me?" I'm watching a shadow pass back and forth through the little window on one of the doors.

"I don't know." The shadow is slowing down.

"Is that you?" I'm asking the shadow.

"No! Get away from there." I'm turning as I hear God's voice behind me. It feels like he's whispering in my ear.

"Is it Ryan?" My throat feels like it's closing in. "Am I back in a coma?"

"Let me in, Emily." Ryan is saying from behind the locked door.

I'm getting as far away from the door as possible, but I can't take my eyes off of the handles. They're jiggling back and forth.

"Where are you?" My head is tipped back and I'm crying to the ceiling.

"I'm behind you." I hear it in my head.

"God!" There he is. He's on the opposite side of the cafeteria, by the other exit. His brown jacket is rubbing at the glass, trying to clear it?

"Open the door, Emily." I'm suddenly weary. What if it's Ryan? Could he really do that? "It's me, Em." I'm a few inches away but turn and look at the other door. The one where the door handles are no longer shaking.

"It's me, Emily." He's turned into the gothic God.

"I, I," I don't know what to say. A tear is slipping down my cheek. I'm very confused, my headache is returning.

"Behind you!" His face looks concerned and I barely have time to turn before I see Ryan disappear into the cafeteria, through a broken door. "Emily, Emily, you have to open this door." He's not watching me, he's looking over by the stack of trays.

"I'm sorry." I'm coming over and turning the handle. It's locked. "It's locked." I'm glancing behind me.

"You have the power." It sounded phony, like something a teacher would tell a student. "Do it for me." His voice is lower this time, sweeter, but his eyes are still glued to the trays.

"Ok." I turn the handle as good as I can, considering my other arm is still in a cast. It's turning, it's turning, almost there, and…

"Duck!" I don't want to, but I do. And it keeps the knife from hitting me in the head. I'm watching the end vibrate back and forth. "Emily," There's command in his voice now. "Open the door, it's almost there."

"Don't do it, Emily." I try to ignore Ryan who's dangerously close behind me…and I do it.

My hand is warm, my eyes are closed. I can hear God, muttering things in my head. "Almost there." And then my hand isn't warm, it's hot

"You just couldn't leave it alone, huh?" I hear, seconds before something is thrown on me. I'm laying flat on the floor. Something heavy is on me, it's messing up my breathing.

"Em, are you okay?" God's voice is ice, ice cold.

"Ye-ye-yeah." I can barely get it out but I figure it's better to let him get down to business than worry about me.

I'm closing my eyes against the bright light. When I open them, everything is dark, the power is out. Then two bright figures light up. Ryan is red from the fire that creeps and crawls around him. God is light blue from ice. I see a drop of water drip from his hand, it reminds me that somewhere, something on me is cut and bleeding down my leg.

"It's about time you fight. Just never thought it'd be over her." Ryan says my name with disgust.

"Leave her out of it." They're circling each other. If this had been a book, or maybe even a movie, I probably would've laughed. It looked like a strange imitation of Star Wars. "She's done nothing to you. We've done nothing to you."

"Wrong." Ryan laughs. "She messed up my plan. You messed up my plan. Nothing ever goes right around here."

"Then I hope you aren't planning on winning." Ryan's face is scrunching up and he's throwing a fire ball at God. I think I tried to yell, but it was silent, except for the sound of the fire turning to ice and making a circle, now going straight at Ryan.

"This is pathetic." God is saying. It's like there's suddenly a storm inside the building and hail rains down. Big, softball size hail. It's like God put a protection ring around me, a bit late, but it stops the hail from getting anywhere near me.

"Fine. You want it to be a little more interesting?" The heavy weight is lifted off of me and I feel myself levitating. The pain in the back of my thigh is so intense that I stop breathing. I think I would've stopped completely if God hadn't started talking inside of my head.

"It's going to be alright. Breath." And I did. Right before it was knocked right back out. Ryan threw me into the wall and I crumpled to the floor.

"Better?" My eyes were closed because blood from my forehead had gotten inside, burning them. "Happy now? You're precious little slut might be damaged forever." I couldn't wiggle my toes.

I heard a loud something. It was as loud as thunder. There were a few more sounds, and then everything was silent. My world had gone black. Is he dead? Was all I could think, even though, technically, he already was.