|FULL CIRCLE|

Josiah and I waited for Harley in the dark backyard. I didn't like it one bit, but we sat in the exact same spot me and Larson sat in the last time I was with him.

There was a party going on upstairs, perfectly syncing up with my previous memory snippets. They are all starting to make sense now, although I'm not loving the turnout.

The beast jumping from the roof with its gnarling teeth bared was an all to prominent memory that I couldn't help but play through.
I could have "died" that night, and my adventures in the after life would have ended there. Although, I would be in the dark place if Josiah hadn't come to my rescue.

I noticed myself inching a little closer to him just in case something else comes jumping from the roof.

I glanced over at him, for a second imagining it to be Larson's smiling face instead of Josiah's serious stare. He wasn't looking over at me, his eyes were focused on the full moon that peeked down at us through the skeleton trees.

The bright light illuminated his beautiful face, highlighting something different. I studied his face harder, wondering how long the changes had been there.

Tiny hairs were poking through all over his jaw and upper lip. I know a beard isn't that strange of a thing on a guy, but Josiah has never had one before. The thought has never crossed my mind, but he looks exactly the same everyday, perhaps because he is just a memory I have of the real Josiah, or JT I should say. So why not today?

It was a silly question to ask, the kind we shouldn't waist time on, so, I changed it.

"Josiah, where are we?" I asked.

His head rolled over to look me in the eyes. His eyes have been tired lately. They hang low like they're sad or maybe bored. Perhaps he's growing restless with helping me; maybe to him I'm a lost cause. Why does he follow after me, protecting me, when I'm sure there are many other people that deserve his help more?

I could tell he was listening to my thoughts, he does that when I ask a question. He's no doubt editing his answer to what he thinks I want to hear. Answer the question. I thought.

He smiled a weak smile and turned back towards the great light in the sky. "This is Leslie's house."

I should've guessed that with the massive party and all. "Why did I go through all of that trouble to come here?"

"You came to blame her." He said bluntly.

I thought about the creepy little letter I left in the jewelry box up there. It's your fault this happened..

Well if not her fault, then whose? I still blame her. If she wouldn't have caused such a scene at the prom, I would have never called Baylor to come pick me up, and we would have never wrecked. So yes, I still blame Leslie.

Josiah didn't object. I assumed he heard those thoughts too, maybe my bad attitude is a lost cause as well.

Suddenly, we heard crunching and panting, indicating the mad woman also known as my former self had arrived.

We didn't move as we watched her pace over to the flower bed. I wasn't sure what she was doing. All I could see was her bent over body carefully shuffling through the dirt and stones. Oh yeah, she needs a stone to break the window. At least she had enough sense to prepare ahead of time instead of trying to use her fist.

Suddenly, the blaring song ended and the night was quiet except for the drunken teen laughter and shouts. The song that I heard in the memory now began. This is exactly how I saw it the first time, so that means it must be true. A part of me was hoping that I had misinterpreted it. There's still more to go I guess.

Harley climbed up the vines quite well considering her circumstances, apparently adrenaline rushes are a real thing. I've always thought that concept was exaggerated, but seeing Harley climb up a vertical brick wall, I believe it. Perhaps her determination plays a part in it too.

Josiah took my hand unexpectedly, and we were suddenly in the dark bedroom upstairs.

I took my chance to look around before she made it up. I see now that it makes more sense for this to be Leslie's bedroom. Harley never had nice things, and this room here was full of nice things.

A huge walk in closet door hung open, revealing its contents to me as if mocking me. Several pairs of shoes lay in its floor, and colorful clothing lined it's walls.

Her dresser had many bottles of perfumes and lotions sitting out in no particular order on its surface.

I opened her jewelry box, the one that would have a paper note added among its contents shortly. It was filled with various pieces of jewelry, many of which seemed like real diamonds. Judging by the size of this house, they probably were.

Suddenly, a piercing sound echoed in the room. She made it up. I sat down in the middle of the queen size bed, preparing to watch the following events.

As expected, she followed the exact actions she took the first time.

She didn't even seem like a person anymore. Her leg was cut pretty badly, but she seemed able to completely ignore the pain. She breathed erratically, although some of it sounded like sobs. Her hair was completely tangled and she had bits of leaves and dirt all over her clothes. She payed no attention to her surroundings, or to the fact that she just climbed a wall like a wild animal. She broke into Leslie's house and all she's worried about is writing a stupid note. I believe she is unraveling. Her layers are peeling back, exposing her dark parts whether she wants them to or not. She has no control over herself anymore.

Right on cue, the door swung open. Harley was finally torn from her deranged stupor, and she stumbled over the chair tucked under what seemed to be Leslie's makeup table.

The ray of light from the open door just missed her body that was sprawled out in the floor, but it did illuminate the person in the door. It was JT. The light lit up his face in a perfect, almost angelic view. If I wasn't so mad at him, I would have thought he was beautiful. Perhaps this is why I chose him to be Josiah. He was one of the last faces I saw alive.

He didn't seem to notice Harley. I got the impression he was looking for someone by the way he scanned over the room briefly, then re-closed the door.

Harley hopped up, and ran out the door. I've been wondering what happened between the door opening and harley sitting on the dock, now's my chance to find out. I followed her out the door. The party hadn't made it to the second floor yet, but it was at full swing down below. It sounded as if a hundred people were down there.

She leaned over the railing, scanning the crowd. I assumed she found her target by the way she took off down the stairs and into the crowd.

I spotted Leslie in the middle of the makeshift dance floor. That's obviously who Harley is after.

I jumped over the railing into the crowd, of course not affecting anyone. It was easy for me to walk right through the lake of people compared to Harley who had to push and shove her way through.

We made it to Leslie at about the same time. She wasn't facing our direction, but I recognized her bouncing blond curls.

Harley suddenly shoved her from behind, and screamed out something inaudible over the blaring music.

Leslie stopped herself from stumbling and slowly turned to face her attacker. She was startled to say the least, but I think it was mostly by the appearance of Harley.

"Ew gross! What are you doing here?" Leslie yelled.

"It's your fault!" Harley screamed, ignoring her insult.

Leslie looked around, chuckling. "What are you talking about?"

"Baylor. He's dead because of you!" She made another attempt at a shove, but her effort was weak and she didn't quite make contact. In fact, she had trouble regaining her own balance.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, but you're not stealing all the attention of my party for one of your acts." Leslie said. She obviously didn't believe Harley about Baylor's death, but I doubt she would care anyway.

"I'm so sick of you!" Harley yelled back. Her stature was swaying.

"What's wrong with you freak? Are you drunk?" Leslie laughed loud. "You are drunk!"

"I'm not!" Harley responded, although it nearly knocked her from her feet. Something was wrong with her.

Suddenly, she collapsed to the floor.

Leslie's next action out did all of her previous evil deeds. She dumped what was left from the red Solo cup in her hand onto Harley's face. "Ugh, typical. She's out cold. Can someone come get this drama queen out of my house?"

If I wasn't a ghost, I would have punched Leslie in the face. Anger burned within me, wishing to defend what was left of the old me.

Two boys that I didn't recognize picked up Harley's limp body and carried her through the staring crowd. I followed them all the way out the back door, and into the backyard. They didn't stop to put her down until they were at the edge of the woods. They carelessly dropped her in the grass, and returned to the party, laughing amongst themselves in the process.

I bent down to check her out. She looked terrible. Sickly even. She was pale, and motionless like she was dead already.

I looked up to Josiah knowing he would be there. He looked the worst I had ever seen him, like he would either puke or burst out into tears any second. He answered my silent question with heavy eyes.

"Not much longer now." He said in a heart breaking voice.