"BJ?" Georgie was in disbelief. She had never met her cousin but she'd seen pictures and heard stories. The woman in front of her was an adult version of the little girl in the photos. Her cousin smiled, nodded and stepped forward to give Georgie a hug. "I'm glad you finally made it. You've been keeping us waiting awhile," BJ said, releasing her.
"You have. We thought you would be here when you hit your head, however it's a good thing you chose to wait!"
"Whose we?" Georgie asked, her eyes on the second figure behind BJ, still dark against the bright light behind it. She followed her gaze and waved the figure forward. When it finally emerged from the shadows Georgie gasped. "Emily Quartermaine."
The young woman gave her a friendly smile.
"And where is "here" exactly?" Georgie couldn't help but ask the obvious.
"You don't have any idea?" Emily replied.
Taking a longer look around her Georgie did a complete turn. The welcoming, bright light was behind Emily and BJ, also behind her now, too. In front of her in place of the warmth was a cold darkness. Georgie looked over her shoulder and noticed that both Emily and BJ were wearing long, sleeveless and simple white dresses; Emily had a pretty white flower clip her hair.
"This is heaven then," she guessed, turning back to face them.
BJ continued to smile, "Close."
"You are in between life and death." Emily clarified.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't fully given up yet, your determination to stop Diego from harming women prevented your fate from being sealed right away."
"That decision is now up to you," BJ added.
"So in other words I can choose to stay with you here, or go back for a second chance at life and hopefully stop Diego?" Georgie felt conflicted as the women nodded. The light was so tempting she didn't want to leave. But how many chances do people get at stopping death?
"Georgie, you're the only person who actually knows whose doing this and has the chance to stop him. If you don't how many women will be strangled before someone else ends it?" Emily pointed out.
"But why me? Why not you or Leticia? I wasn't the only one victimized by him," Georgie argued. The desire to have Diego stopped and punished for his crimes was just as strong as the desire to stay where she was, with her cousin.
"Neither Leticia or myself knew who it was when we were attacked, YOU did. YOU saw him face-to-face before he left you to die. That gives you more power than anyone with the ability to end this!"
"Our duty is to guide you to make the decision that's right for you Georgie, and because of that I'm going to add this. Work together with Spinelli on this, and then tell him how you really feel, even if it means sending one of those many emails saved on your computer," BJ ordered with a teasing yet knowing smile, causing Georgie to blink in surprise.
"Yes I know!" BJ confirmed at her cousin's expression.
Emily started to laugh and Georgie couldn't help but join in, but turned around when she heard her name softly being spoken behind her.
The darkness was no longer there and she found herself looking down on the scene taking place on the park terrace. "Is that me?" she gasped at the sight of her body lying on the steps. Emily and BJ stood on either side of her, also watching but not answering her question. Spinelli hunched over her body sobbing as he spoke frantically into his phone, his words breaking her heart. "Someone beautiful has died."
"No. No! This isn't happening, not to me and not to Spinelli!" Georgie cried, backing away in despair.
Emily and BJ looked around at her with sympathetic looks. BJ stepped forward and took her cousin's hands. "Remember you can change this outcome Georgie! Not everyone has a chance to decide his or her own fate but right now you do! Are you going to go back and live? Or stay here and die?"