Sorry this one took so long. AT&T decided they wanted money that I didn't have.

As he slipped away into his slumber, he felt strange. like an electricity was in the air, the type of feeling you would get when your limb falls asleep, only all throughout your body.

Cody couldn't move, and his body felt extremely heavy.

"Cody?"

Suddenly Cody found himself standing in the middle of a dark, dark room. He looked around, and it was empty except for him.

"Hello? He called out, confused.

"Cody."

That voice...

Cody could recognize it anywhere.

"Gwen?"

Immediately after saying her name, Gwen appeared infront of him. She was wearing the same clothes she wore at the funeral, beautiful white which seemed to light the darkness in the void.

Cody stared at her, frozen in pure disbelief. How could she be standing here? Was this a dream? The last thing he could remember was falling asleep. Gwen had appeared in his dreams before, but not like this... It all felt so... Real.

"I know what you're thinking;is this a dream?" She spoke suddenly, her voice sounded strange. It was like how he remembered it, only... It carried an electricity almost. It made the hairs on Cody's arm stand up.

"The answer to that question is up to you, Cody. But I need to talk to you right now."

As if caught in a trance, Cody nodded.

"Whatever you need Gwen."

Gwen smiled slightly. "Even after all these years you still are in love with me. Typical Cody. I'd say you were just like I remembered you, but I'd be lying."

Cody frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Gwen folded her arms. "Come on Cody. You can't honestly tell me you haven't changed at all. The life you are living now is completely different from the one you were meant to live."

This threw Cody off even more. "What... What is this Gwen? Why are you here now?" He asked, but he knew the answer already.

"Because. It has gone on long enough. I am here to help you get your life back on track. I know you think you've been alone all these years, but I have always been here for you, Cody. Watching. And I have to say. I'm kind of disappointed."

"Disappointed? But why? What am I doing wrong?" He asked 'Gwen', feeling weird asking that question. He really didn't think he was doing anything wrong. He was just living life... Wasn't he?

"You aren't living your life. You're living in the past." She spoke, answering his inner questions. "Cody. I don't want this... I never wanted this. I want you to move on, Cody. I'm gone. And I can't help you anymore like I did before. But that doesn't mean you can't help yourself. You can make your life alot better, Cody."

Cody rubbed his temples. "But I'm happy with my life the way it is." He said, and deep down something fought against him saying that.

Gwen chuckled.

"You're telling me you're happy living in a depressed stupor, working at a job that you obviously don't like, going home to a pig sty and then doing nothing but watching re-runs of Total Drama all day long? You never were a good liar Cody, and I never was a good people person, but I can tell that you don't want things like this deep down. You have to move on."

Cody thought over everything.

He didn't want to move into a bigger and better apartment because... Because of her. He wanted to be close to her grave, and he wanted to stay in his habit. He was afraid of breaking out of it and leaving her.

He didn't want to leave his job and take up one of the many better offers because he didn't want to break the habit and the feeling of going to his normal job.

He didn't want to clean his house because he had become used to it...

Did he really want to live his life like this? He only asked himself this question a few times before, and he always ignored it, shunned it off to the dark recesses of his mind, but now he can't shun it off.. He has to answer. "Only you can help yourself." Gwen's words echoed in his head.

Speaking of Gwen she continued to look at him, waiting for his response. It was like her eyes were piercing deep into his soul.

Gwen... All of this started with her.

The week following her death, when everyone went home including him, he started to slowly fall into a pattern. He had given up because of her. Given up the fight. He had been up on the highest point of happiness again, and like usual life through him off. So he gave up... This coupled with everything she had just told him put into consideration, he realized the truth.

He had to get over her and move on with his life. And everything she told him was true.

Gulping, Cody turned to her.

"Gwen." His voice was shaky. "Gwen... I... I don't..." He sighed, collecting his thoughts while Gwen continued watching, nodding at him to continue.

"You were the only there for me, Gwen. The only one who truly cared, you made me feel... Alive when I was around you. And when you died I guess... I guess I gave up. Because everytime I got high up in life, I would fall back into the darkness. You were the last time that happened. After you died, I felt like I died with you. I didn't want to try to make things better anymore, I just wanted to try and stay in my habits because I was scared. Scared of being hurt all over again."

He looked away from her.

"But I guess I still am hurting... Maybe I always have been hurting after you died. But you're right... I could have tried to move on. I could have gotten a better life all this time, Hell, I could have gotten a better job, a better house, even friends if I would have just... God I'm a fool."

Gwen stepped forward to him, and pulled him into a hug. "There. You just did it... You're ready now, Cody."

Cody was about to ask her, 'ready for what?' but he suddenly knew the answer. And it was indeed time.

"You're right Gwen."

He pulled himself out of her hug and she frowned at him.

"Gwen..."

The darkness of the void started to brighten up a bit as he continued to speak.

"I..."

Slowly she started to fade.

"Goodbye, Gwen."

Then, immediately after he said that, everything began to go faster. The darkness around him began to become light, and Gwen faded away, but as she faded away, a smile was on her face.

Cody jerked awake.

His sheets were covered in sweat.

He turned over on his side, looking at the alarm clock next to him which read "4:21 AM".

What was that? Was it all a dream? He could remember it all so vividly... It felt nothing like a dream. Maybe it was a dream? Caused by all the Total Drama he was watching? No. It couldn't have been a dream... She was there and now... She was gone? It felt like something inside of him was... Different. Like a blanket was pulled off of him somehow.

And weirdly. Cody felt alot better.

Maybe this was all a sign, or something. Maybe it really was time for him to finally move on... And to accept it. To accept that Gwen is gone, and that he can make his life better.

"Only you can help yourself." She had told him.

And it was completely true. Every single word of it.

-Fast Forward: 2 Months Later-

"...If PyC == True... And... Done!"

He punched in the last few lines of code, and then saved all the changes he made to the program right as the clock behind him hit 7:30 PM. Cody had worked extra fast today, because today was the day. His last day at the company.

And he couldn't feel happier.

He turned off the computer and then walked out of his office and into the hall, then took a right to his boss's room, the door to which was open.

There behind the desk, was his boss, sipping a cup of coffee.

"Cody, Cody, Cody. Take a seat."

Cody obliged, pulling a chair up to his boss's desk and sitting down, a small smile on his face.

"Ah Cody. You've been a fantastic employee all these years you've been with us. I'm honestly sad to see you going now. I hope whatever company you move onto next will treat you great. It's been a pleasure working with you, Cody Anderson." His boss held out his hand, and Cody took ahold of it, shaking his hand.

"The pleasure is all mine, sir."

Cody got out of the seat, saying another goodbye to his boss, before walking out of the building and up to his new car which he had bought after selling his old one. It was a brand new 2014 CTS SEDAN, and Cody loved it to bits. It ran so much better than his old one.

He pulled out of the drive way, taking one last look at the old office building he once worked at, the smile not leaving his face.

Once he got home, he was going to finish packing up his things to move on over to the new apartment he had looked at and picked out. This new apartment was in a better part of Toronto, out of the dangerous neighborhood he currently lived in.

It took him a few days to fully clean up the month old garbage which had collected up in his apartment, but he had to admit, once all that stuff was gone he felt alot happier and better.

After cleaning up the trash, he contemplated throwing his old Total Drama DVDs in the garbage, but he decided to keep them. It was true, he had moved on, but he still wanted to keep them. Just for old times sake.

The digital clock in his car read 7:36, and he decided he had enough time to do something extra.

So, he pulled off his usual path, no longer feeling the usual tinge of anxiety that came with doing something like that, and then pulled up to the building where 'Gwen' was. He hadn't visited her grave ever since she had came to him in his dream, as he had decided to finally move on, but he had to do something here, right now while he still could.

"Hey there, kid. Haven't seen you in a while. Where ya been?" The guard took a sip of what Cody presumed to be beer before chuckling. "Ah well, I don't really care. Make it snappy, kid. Closing in a few, you know the drill."

Nodding, Cody walked through the now open gates and maneuvered his way through the rows of graves until he found her.

Regardless of being here, Cody's smile still was on his face, albeit lighter than before.

Stepping over to her grave, he sat down in his usual spot infront of her.

"Hey Gwen."

No response, but something strange was in the air. It almost... electrical.

"Well Gwen, I'm finally doing it. Finally getting a better job, moving into a better apartment. And you know what that means."

No response.

"Means I won't be able to see you anymore. Unless I drive all the way out here of course. But strangely, I'm not that sad about it, Gwen. I feel alot better now that I'm finally doing this. You were completely right; only I can help myself. But in a way, you were also wrong about it. If it weren't for you 'visiting' me that night, I probably wouldn't have done this but... It just is strange. I'm not sure how to explain it."

Still no response, and the skies above him through colorful rays of Sunshine across the darkening sky.

"But I'd like to just thank you, Gwen. Thanks to you, I can move on now."

He sat like this for a few more minutes, smiling at her headstone.

"Hey kid, times up. Up and at'em." The guard called from behind him.

Cody rose up to his feet. "Well Gwen, I guess this is it. Goodbye, Gwen. And thanks for everything."

Then he began walking away, back to the gate, not looking back.

Once he got into his car and pulled out, he looked at the building and graveyard a final time, the Sun setting above it. It may have been a trick of the eye, or his mind playing tricks on him, but Cody could have swore he saw a glimpse of Gwen standing on her grave, smiling at him as he pulled out of the drive way.

And there we go! I'd like to thank all of my readers for sticking with this story. And again, I apologize for the long stretch of time it took for me to put this chapter up. AT&T and all that jazz.

I'll admit, I put a little bit of myself into this story. I have been in a pretty terrible mood for the past month, but slowly I'm starting to get over it and move on in life. I wish I hadn't had waited so long to write this chapter, since now it looks a little... Weird. But I think it turned out pretty nice. So once again, thanks to all my readers! Please, do leave your thoughts on the story and criticisms in the reviews!

Until next time,

~Twisted