AN- Hey all. In story three we had Carla come to Niori in a dream after her funeral in order to say goodbye. Later, we had both Erin and Jane mention that they had dreams with Carla as well. We didn't write all three dreams to avoid being repetitive and chose Niori's to write because it was the most important to the plot and thematically. Here are the other two, which would have happened across the few nights after Carla's funeral.

Erin opened her eyes to complete darkness. She was laying on her side on the ground but couldn't tell exactly where she was. Sitting up, she shook her head slightly as her eyes started to focus. In the distance, she could see that there was a white path, so Erin decided to follow it.

She walked, the only sound her soft footsteps. There was nothing around her, just a black so dark it brought a new definition to the word. The only thing she could see was the path she walked on, which gave a soft light, like the glow in the dark stars she put on her ceiling when she was a kid. The path began to slope upwards, a sharp one that left Erin panting the further she climbed. It grew colder with every step she took, until her breath came out in white puffs. Erin shivered, goosebumps raising on her bare arms. Her teeth chattered as she hugged herself, hunching her shoulders to try and keep some warmth to herself.

She should turn around. It was eerie here, sending a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. It made her feel small, made her feel fragile, and she couldn't understand why. Nothing about this place felt right. But deep down inside, there she had a negging feeling that she should keep going, and she had no idea why.

She decided to keep going along the path for at least a few more minutes, but she was wary. She felt as though she should have left a trail behind her just in case the path disappeared, but she realized she probably wouldn't see it in the lack of light, and she didn't have anything to leave behind anyway. She realized that she had nothing with her at all, except for the clothes on her back.

She finally crested the hill, and when she looked up, there was someone in front of her. She shook slightly at the surprise of seeing another person in this darkness… what was this place? She could see that the person was a woman but couldn't make out the details of her face. The other woman jerked to a stop, eyes widening at the sight of Erin. Erin continued to walk until she could finally see who was standing in front of her and she stopped, shivering and panting, and stood in front of the shocked Carla.

"You shouldn't be here!" Carla blurted out, "Damnit Erin, your lips are blue!"

Erin didn't say anything, not even when Carla threw an arm around her shoulders to share warmth. The touch didn't feel real. It was more like the way a heavy fog sat on your skin. It certainly didn't make her any warmer. When Carla realized it, she cursed.

"Come on." Carla pulled her back down the path from where she came. Erin let herself be moved, not even protesting. So many different emotions were going through her head, confusion, shock, and surprise.

Carla was muttering to herself, something about open roads that were far too easy to find. It made Erin frown, nose scrunching up and eyebrows pulling together. She looked back over her shoulder, speaking for the first time her voice was a hoarse whisper, "Where does it go?"

"The end of the line." Was the blunt answer, but Carla didn't elaborate any further.

"Is this a dream?" Erin asked, looking around wildly.

"The hell if I know!" Carla sounded angry, and it made Erin flinch back. Her wrist fell wrenched out of Carla's hold, which made the shorter girl whirl around. The anger fell away from her face when she saw Erin just standing there. She sighed, "I'm sorry, but you can't be here. Not yet."

Erin looked back again, and this time she understood. The path looked no different, but it felt different now that she knew where it led. The realization that Carla was some kind of spirit or ghost hit Erin like a truck. Her eyes started to water at the memory, but she fought to hold back her tears.

"Come on," Carla pulled on her again, "you're freezing." This time Carla gently took her hand and moved with slower steps.

Erin didn't know what to say, not as the two of them walked away from death. It was too harsh a reminder that Carla had been coming from the direction opposite her, and what that meant, "Your funeral…" Erin's words died. God, what was she planning to say, starting with that? It was nice? Lots of people went? Niori had a breakdown? What did you say to your dead friend when you somehow met her on the road to the afterlife?

Carla shuddered, but not from the cold that was slowly dissipating, "I'd rather not talk about that."

"I'm sorry." Erin felt like an idiot. Why would she bring up Carla's death? That had been traumatic, right? She had so many questions, but didn't know how to ask them without sounding stupid or offending Carla.

"I don't blame you- what do you talk about with a ghost, right?"

"Are…are you a ghost?"

"I don't think so…at least, not always."

"Carla, that make no God damn sense!"

"After…after my body…" Carla struggled, eyes closing and swallowing loudly, "Once it was gone, I realized I could see this path, when no one else could. I tried to take a few steps…and it let me. I walked all the way into someone's dream. Something pulled me back, like I was bungee jumping. I think I can make a trip back, but I can't stay."

"So keep trying! Even if you're a ghost, you can stay with us! This has to be possible, we all know I've had my fair share of ghost experiences.. there has to be a way!" Erin practically shouted. You could hear the hope and desperation in her voice.

"No Erin." Carla was gentle, even as her simple answer broke the fragile hope that flared in Erin's heart, "It's good, what's waiting at the end. I'm going to be happy there. That's what I wanted to come back and tell you. I can't stay, not like this."

Tears stung Erin's eyes, but she gave a jerky nod. She wasn't going to beg, not when there was such a contented tone to Carla's voice. When was the last time Erin heard Carla sound truly content? She couldn't remember and it did break her heart a little more, knowing she only found it in death.

"How can you do this?" Erin asked, not willing to let herself ask the question she really wanted to let herself as the question she really wanted to.

Would Carla come back again, even if it was only for a little while? Or would this be the last time she saw her? Erin couldn't stand the thought of it.

"I don't know…" Carla answered, "but…maybe it's because I died in between?"

"In between? What does that even mean, Carla?" Erin asked, confused again.

"About that…" Carla explained a part of it, about the battle with some sort of God in a place between worlds. Erin was too stunned to say anything, "That's only my best guess though. I brought Eomer with me the first time, and I've gotten a bit better every time. Maybe someday I'll be able to do more than just go into a dream."

Erin's question was answered, and it made tears fall from her eyes. This wasn't the end afterall, "You'll come back? Please Carla, we miss you so much!"

Carla smirked, "Sometimes, when you need me. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

The nothingness was broken by a light starting on the horizon. It was small at first, a tiny pillar of orange and white, growing with every step she and Carla took towards it. The light was getting brighter, so much that she had to shield her eyes with her hand.

"Make me a promise." Carla said, taking a step back. Erin already missed the half-there feeling of her hand, "If you find yourself here again, just wait for that light. Don't follow the path again."

"I'll have to someday." The thought wasn't as terrifying as it should be. Maybe it was because it was hard to fear death, when she was walking with a dead friend who seemed perfectly fine.

"Yeah." How was it possible to sound sad and wistful at the same time? Carla managed to do it with one word, "I'll be waiting, that time. We'll go together. If I'm not…don't seek me out. Never try and find me."

"Promise." Erin didn't understand how she even got here, let alone if she find her way again. She was glad to have Carla's warning anyway.

Erin suddenly realized that Carla was about to go into that light, "Carla, don't go! We have so much to talk about, I have so much to say.."

The coldness was gone, replaced with burning. It wasn't painful, more like the feeling of the hot summer sun on unprotected skin. A thought passed through her mind, fleeting and far away, that if she stayed too long, it would consume her too, and she had no idea what waited for her if it did.

There was a hollowness in her chest, but it felt like something had hooked itself into her and was gently reeling her in. She felt like a fish on a lure, but she didn't struggle. Erin let it take her, even when it pulled her away from Carla.

"Erin, I have to go. Be sad for now, but don't waste too much time on it. Don't let Jane or Niori either. I don't want to have come back to just kick your ass into gear." It was hard to hear her, like Carla's voice was hidden beneath static, but Erin still managed to catch it. It was the last thing she did.

Erin looked up at Carla, but she looked so far away. Erin was being pulled back into the darkness, as light the light completely consumed Carla. More tears rolled down her cheeks but were quickly blown away. The darkness had completely surrounded her again.

Erin's eyes opened, blinking furiously against the sunrise that was peeking in through the gap in her curtains. She heard Frodo's even breaths behind her, with the calls of birds coming from outside. She sat up, letting the sun spill over her and shaking away the last bits of the dream. "Frodo?" She asked, as she wiped away a few tears from her eyes.

Frodo sat up, and when he saw her, his expression looked concerned, "Erin, is everything ok?" He reached for her and held her in a tight embrace.

Erin didn't say anything. She contemplated telling him everything as they never kept secrets between them, but a part of her wanted to keep this secret for now. "Nothing. Sorry. I was just having a dream".

Frodo squeezed her tighter and kissed her on her forehead, "Well, how about I make you some breakfast and we go for a nice walk to help clear your mind?"

Erin smiled, "That sounds wonderful, do you mind if I just stay in bed a little longer?"

Frodo nodded, got up, and walked into the kitchen to start preparing breakfast. Erin closed her eyes again for a few moments and sighed. She really did miss Carla. She felt a light breeze on her forehead and quickly opened her eyes. Carla was standing over her, with that same smirk she always had on her face. Erin took a sharp breath in and was about to call out, but Carla was gone.

Erin rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed, "What a dream".

l.l.l. .

Once upon a time, Jane read some book or another where the main characters could enter someone's mind, and that mind always appeared as a place, a metaphorical setting that represented the person they were in. She couldn't really remember the name of the book, or even the plot, but the concept always stuck with her. She always wondered what her 'happy place' (as she dubbed it) was, what her mind would look like. She had figured out what Niori's was (her grandmother's beach house), guessed Erin's (she was willing to bet it was her childhood bedroom), had no idea what Carla's was (when she thought of Carla's happiness, a place never came to mind, but people), and even less idea what her own would be.

When Jane finally figured it out, she couldn't imagine how she hadn't realized it before. The answer was so obvious that she felt like an idiot, even as it made her smile. She was standing in the middle of a tiny room, one that was awkward and tilted to one side. There was a hole off in one corner, covered by a hatch half off its hinges and that would lead to a rickety ladder. If she looked out the small window cut into one wall, she knew she'd see the ground a few feet below her and trees all around. There was a corkboard haphazardly hooked up on one wall, with pictures printed out in a collage with stickers and tickets all around it. There were notes scrawled in Sharpie, with Niori's curvy letters, Carla's straight and bold writing, Erin's tiny cursive, and Jane's highly stylized words all writing out comments of love, support, and sometimes sass to each other. Jane stepped closer to the board, tracing Niori's 'Always remember: WWND' and a smiley face. God, Jane had forgotten that- Niori's advice when it came to crushes: what would Niori do? Carla's bold and underlined 'NO!' was beside it. That led Jane to the picture closest to it. It was a polaroid from the summer before middle school started, when they were about ten years old and awkward as hell. Niori hadn't hit her growth spurt, Carla hadn't gotten past her gangly sharp edges, Jane's hair was braided pigtails that hung down to her waist, and Erin's big smile glinted with silver braces. They all looked so young and innocent, with smiles that showed they had no idea what kind of suffering could happen in the world.

"Whatever happened to that board?" a voice from behind her asked, just as Jane reached out and touched four ticket stubs to The Fellowship of the Ring, "I remember you took it to your room eventually, but it disappeared from there too."

Jane turned, and Carla right out of fourth grade was standing there. She was just like Jane remembered, a tomboy to the max, with scraps on her knees from falling over and over, never willing to slow down or watch her footing. It made Jane realize something about herself as well- it wasn't only fourth grade Carla, but given the braids hanging heavy on her head, it was little Jane as well.

"I took it down when my parents redid the house," Jane looked at another picture, the four of them and their dates at the eighth-grade grad dance. She couldn't even remember the boys' names anymore, since they all went to a different high school, "I stored it in the attic and I just never got it back up. It's probably still there," she didn't know what her parents would do with it now that she had disappeared from her world forever.

"I wish we kept it up," Carla's voice was wistful as she joined Jane by the board, "imagine all the things we could have added."

They had abandoned the treehouse at some point in grade nine, when the place was too old and too small for them. It stayed standing for a long time, but eventually the weather rotted it out. Jane had cried when she discovered the floor at fallen out, even if they hadn't used it for years. Jane imagined how it would have gone, how the pictures would have grown with them. How the messages would have changed, from silly to reminders that they were strong. The tickets would have stayed, even if the bands or movies would have changed.

"Me too."

Carla grinned and tapped one of the pictures. It was Jane and Carla, arms around each other's shoulders with big smiles on their lips and joy shining out of their eyes. They were eleven or twelve, standing in front of this very tree with lumber and tools around them. They were both holding hammers and the treehouse could just be seen in the corner of the picture. It was the day the treehouse was built. A few weeks before, Jane's father had agreed to build a treehouse in a tree in the woods behind their house. Carla stayed the night before the build was scheduled, and when they got up in the morning, Jane's father was gone. He'd been called into a business meeting and didn't bother to tell her. Jane was disappointed but was used to her father rushing off to work and canceling all their plans. It was when she saw the look on Carla's face -a lot of pity and some understanding- that she realized that that wasn't as blasé as Jane grew up thinking. Before Jane could get embarrassed, Carla looked at her in steely determination and said "We'll build it." By God they had given it their best, had even gotten a few floorboards up, but they couldn't have gotten it up by themselves. Thankfully, Jane's older brother had taken pity on them and called his friends to help build it. By the end of the day, they had their very own treehouse. It was crooked and looked shabby, but to Jane, it was one of the proudest moments of her life.

She and Carla had carved out a place for the four of them, a place that was just their own. It was a place where they could escape the world when they needed it or a place to share secrets. Erin and Niori squealed over the place when they came the next weekend, but it had been her and Carla who created it. The treehouse belonged to all four of them, but Jane always felt it belonged to her and Carla most of all. It was her and Carla who had scrawled their names on the first board they put up. After she found the place fallen, Jane saved that plank, even with the names so faded they had almost disappeared.

"You died Carla," Jane whispered, barely able to get the words out from the pain they caused her.

Carla ignored her for a moment, long enough to run her fingertips over a picture of ninth grade them, probably the last picture they stuck on there. It was them bowling, lit up under blacklights, an action shot that none of them knew was being taken. Niori and Jane were one team, and the picture showed the shock on Jane's face just after she managed to get a strike and Niori jumping up and down in excitement at their win. You could just see Carla and Erin's bewildered profiles from where they sat. Finally, she said, "One of us had to die."

"Carla-" Jane started, but the other girl shook her head and cut her off.

"I mean that literally. The magic that let us travel back and forth between worlds needed the life of someone from our world to end it. If we didn't close the door, then someone else would have eventually tried to use it all over again."

"How do you even know that?"

"Well Jane, let me tell you a story," and Jane could barely believe the one she heard. It was all about beings from in between worlds and how one of them had been pulling their strings for a long time. Jane finally understood how she had gotten to this time and place. Once she thought understanding would bring her comfort, but knowing the truth now, it only made her hate it. Knowing how little control she had had over her life for the past few years, it was more of a burden than anything. It was a burden Carla had carried for months and one Jane would now carry for the rest of her life. It wasn't one she'd ever tell Niori or Erin. When Carla finished, Jane didn't know what to say. All she could manage was a soft 'oh'.

"It had to be one of us and I was never going to let it be one of you."

"You should have given us the choice!" Jane snapped, feeling the anger that she'd been suppressing under grief since she saw Carla's body- how dare she die and leave them? How could she do that? How could she make that choice and leave them to live with it?

"And what would that have accomplished? We could have what, argued about who would be the sacrifice and then draw straws to decide? It was the middle of battle Jane. I had no idea where you and Erin were, and I didn't have time to talk it out with Niori. I only figured it out when the time came and by then it was a little late for explanations."

"She set you up," and Jane felt angry tears sting her eyes, "by telling you and only you the truth, she made it so you were the only one who'd be able to do it."

"Yeah she did," Carla admitted bitterly, "I was the one she wanted to be the martyr and I filled my role perfectly."

"That's not fair!"

"I will be angry about how much she used me until the end of time, but I still made the decision. I could have been saved, but it would have left it open for some other bad guy down the line. So I chose."

"You should have survived! You should have come back to us! Damnit Carla, you should have said screw our world and chose to live!"

Carla actually laughed at her, "That's a lot coming from you! You wouldn't have paused before agreeing to die for the world!"

"I wouldn't-"

"Jane, from the very minute I met you, you've been determined to help others. You're really going to tell me that the little girl who started her first day at a new school by telling some bullies to stop picking on a kid without even knowing their names, wouldn't have sacrifice herself for her entire world? For the friends and family who are still there? You've always been the best of us Jane, and that would have shown itself here, if I had let you."

"Best of us? You're really saying that, after all this?"

Carla sobered, smile fading away. She grimaced, "The first time we were here it brought out the best in us. When we came back, it brought out the worst of us. We all fucked up, but at least you fucking up started because you didn't want to hurt a friend."

"It's not that noble," Jane wished it had been, that her lies and deceptions had only been about others, not about protecting herself.

"Oh you're damn right it wasn't," Carla agreed almost lightly, "You have an envious streak that twists you up and makes you selfish. That's your fatal flaw Jane- you see what others have and want it for yourself, and sometimes you talk yourself into doing whatever it takes to get it by justifying it as if they have it, why shouldn't I? That's what you did with Elijah and all the lies that went with it. But in the beginning, when you first started to get feelings, you resisted because you knew it would hurt Erin."

"How…how do you know that?"

"As cliché as it sounds, being dead does give you some clarity. And I know you Jane. It's like all those times you held back because you wanted us to be happy," Carla pointed to the board, a picture of Erin holding a science fair trophy. Jane had wanted to compete but didn't because she knew how much winning it meant to Erin. There was a scribbled out Niori + Brian, the boy who Jane had liked but never said because Niori had been interested too. It was Niori's first boyfriend and Jane congratulated her friend even when a part of her was heartsick, "and yeah, you swung way too far the opposite way with what you pulled with Elijah, but at least you started out with good intentions that led to hell. The rest of us went full scorched earth policy from the beginning and did it to hurt others."

"I don't regret what I have with Elijah, but God do I wish I had done it differently," Jane still wondered how it would have gone if she had been honest from that very first kiss. What if she had explained her feelings to Erin from the beginning? It probably wouldn't have gone over well, but nothing could be worse than what the lies had gotten her.

"Understatement of the century," was the blunt reply, "but you learned your lesson, right?"

"God yes," Jane would never make a mistake like that again. When it came to her loved ones, no more lying. Even if it would make things harder, she would be honest about the things that mattered.

"Good," Carla said, smiling again, "and while you're at it, remember to put yourself first in some of the smaller things sometimes. Erin and Niori are big girls who can deal with someone else getting something for once. Just don't overdo it."

"Oh believe me, lesson learned on that front," more quietly, "I never want to feel that alone again."

That made Carla look away, and then it was her turn to have grief take over her features, "You won't be, never like that. You, Niori, and Erin, you'll figure it out. And to be another cliché, I'm always going to be there too, even if it's not in the way I want to be."

"Please…please don't go," and somehow Jane knew this was coming to an end, that it would be very soon that Carla would be gone.

"I want to stay, more than anything. It's not fair and I wish this hadn't had to happen. If there was any other way, I would have taken it. I want to live, to be there and watch everyone grow. But it is what it is because what's the alternative? If one of you had died because of me, I never could have lived with myself. If it had to happen, I'm at least glad it happened this way."

"How do I live my life without you in it?" Jane asked in a whisper, "when you've been there so long? You're one of the most important people in my life," the thought of life without Carla was like imagining life without a limb.

"Live it as best as you can, and I'll live my afterlife as best as I can. It's not forever. After a long life, you'll find yourself walking my way, and I'll be there to greet you," Carla pointed out one more picture, a page torn out of an eighth-grade yearbook. It was the 'Most Likely' page, where the four of them were in Halloween costumes – four of the five Spice Girls- under the caption 'Most Likely to be Best Friends Forever', "truer words have bever been spoken."

Jane grabbed Carla into a tight hug and didn't try to stop her tears. She held on for a long time, and when she did pull back, Carla was crying too, "Thank you, for coming here and telling me this. Thank you for letting me know you're okay," she couldn't bear to thank Carla for saying goodbye.

"Coming here?" There was a bit of a sparkle in Carla's wet eyes, "Who says we're in your mind right now?" It took a minute for it to click, but when it did, Jane's mouth fell open in surprise. If it wasn't hers, then it had to be Carla's, "There has never been a place that meant more to me than this safety hazard. This place represents everything that has ever mattered to me and all the best parts of me. When you told me if finally came down, I cried myself to sleep. I tried to find the board with our names on it, but I didn't. I figured it had rotted away and broken."

"I took it," Jane replied, "I couldn't just leave it out there. It's ours."

"So's this place," Carla gestured, "and it'll always be. When you have kids, find a tree, and help them build one of their own. Make sure they have a place of their own for when they need it."

The thought of children sent her mind whirling, but she just nodded, "Promise."

"Good," Carla hugged her again, just as Jane began to feel a pull, "remember to live."

Before Jane could reply that she would, the treehouse was gone, and her fuzzy mind was blinking awake. She sat up, realizing she was alone in her bed. Carla was gone and Jane's face was still wet with tears.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance

I hope you dance (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance (Where those years have gone?)

AN- The lyrics are taken from the song I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack.