Drowning that night at the bridge and drowning in that tub of ice had it's differences; like how Allison was there with me now rather than before and how I was drowning now on purpose, but there was one similarity that still scared me half to death.

The never-ending void of darkness.

Either it was the whole "darkness will be around their hearts" starting to take effect on me, or it was the long stretch of emptiness that clouded my vision and my heart, but I knew that whichever it was, I didn't like it. When I had first died, I remembered sucking in that last bit of water and feeling that calmness wave rush over me, but this time, I felt nothing but pain; nothing but a dull ache.

I wasn't sure how long I had been feeling that, since when you're lost in the dark, you kind of lose track of time. It felt like one of those nightmares you have when you wake up in the middle of it and you can't move, because you're still stuck in the dream. You can't do anything but sit there and wait until you woke up, which was where I was now.

Still waiting.

Then the next thing I know, I feel water start to rush back into my lungs, enabling me to move again. When I finally snapped awake, I found myself still in the same tub, in the ice water, but only this time, I wasn't at the clinic. A bright white room stretched around me, reminding me of something similar to a parking garage; a nice one at that.

I cough and spit from the water in my lungs, but I was still breathing. Funny how after you die, you can still breathe. It wasn't until I stopped coughing when I realized that Stiles and Scott were awake now too, coughing just like me. My eyes find them next to me; soaked from head to toe, still sitting in the same bucket of ice as me.

"You guys okay?" I speak out, my voice sounding odd. I sounded like I had just smoked a pack of cigarets.

Stiles looks over at me, the most serious look on his face. "We just died. Of course we're okay."

"He has a point," Scott replies before his eyes stop on something in front of us, making me turn my head. I was confused at what it was for a moment, but then when I realized that it was a tree, I figured that it had to be the nemeton.

Scott moves first as Stiles and I follow, stepping out of the icy water and soaking the tile flooring below us. I try and ring out some of the water out of my shirt before Scott and Stiles start walking towards, starting to leave me behind. You bet your money I chased after them; no way was I going to get left behind in a place like this, wherever this place was.

We all stand around the tree trunk, staring at the largeness of it all. It amazed me that a tree could be this big, but then Deaton's voice rang in the back of my mind with how it had been a sacred place for druids. Scott's eyebrows dig as we stare at the rings around it, realizing that it looked similar to his tattoo.

I wanted to ask if we were sure we were going to do this, but it would have been pointless. We were already here, after all. Stiles and I watch closely as Scott reaches out and places his hand on the trunk of the tree, this fingers barely tracing the lines and grooves. The next thing I know, I'm blinking and I'm no longer standing in a bright white room, but instead a car.

My old car.

"The news said it wasn't supposed to rain," I hear myself groan as I stared out of the window, driving. It was strange to watch myself sit there in this old truck that was now in the bottom of that river, but what was stranger was the person sitting there next to me.

"I just wanted to go to that party," Kaitlin groans, crossing her arms as she stared out of the window. The trees fly by as she watches each and every one, her hair soaking wet as it trailed down her neck and to her shoulders.

I glance over at her, taking my eyes off of the road for a second. "We can go back to my place if you want. I'm pretty sure my parents went to a dinner for work."

Kaitlin doesn't even look at me. "No, just take me home."

I knew that Kaitlin had always been rude towards me, but watching myself ignore all of it was sickening me. I'm not sure how I had managed to stay with her for six or whatever months it was, being how rude and manipulative she was.

Her head slowly turns back towards me. "Wait, hold up. You just said your parents were out, right?"

"Yeah. They probably won't get home until late." I glance at her again. "Why?"

A devious smirk washes across her face, and that was when I remembered what she was going to say next. "Well since Hayes' party got cancelled, how about we move it to your place?"

You could tell on my face that I knew it was a bad idea. "I don't think so-"

"Come on, Corey! Do you know how awesome that'd make you look? Please...for me?" She gives me those signature puppy eyes that got me every time, and looking at them now, I wanted to know why I ever fell for it.

I didn't even hesitate after I saw those. "Alright."

"Yes!" she squeals before snatching my phone from the cup holder, about to call everyone off of my phone since hers had died earlier, and I didn't have a car charger with me. Her face goes from joyful to sour in a matter of seconds when she looks at my lit up screen, forgetting myself why she had done that.

She points the screen towards me. "Who's Jade?"

I watch myself glance at the screen, not realizing then how angry she was at me. "Oh, she's just a friend of mine-"

"Just a friend?" she snaps back, her eyes hard. "I don't want you talking to her."

Even now watching this all again made me angry. "What? She's been my friend since-"

"It doesn't matter," Kaitlin growls, opening my phone to reply to Jade. "If I find you talking to her again, I swear to God-"

"I won't talk to her again," I hear myself say, making my head fall into my hands. I remembered fearing so badly that she was going to say I'll break up with you, and now that I saw all of this go down again, it made me furious first off to see that she had used me like this and that I didn't retaliate. I was her perfect little pet, and in the end, she was the one who cheated on me.

My eyes look back to the screen as she replies to Jade, a text I never got to see until now.

Leave Corey alone or else I'll make sure you do.

I wanted to reach out and take that phone out of her hands, but this had already happened. I couldn't change anything in my past, and I didn't want to. But seeing Kaitlin sitting there treating me like that infuriated me. I hated that she robbed so much time from me and turned me into something I'm not just to use me. I regretted dating her every single time her name came across my mind.

When I blinked again, I was no longer in the car watching the scene. Instead, I was outside in the rain, standing at the forest tree line. I watch my truck drive past as I back away into the woods, stumbling upon something before turning around. My heart races when I find that it was the nemeton, right where I had drove past all of those years ago. It fascinated me to see how all of this was so connected; that maybe it really was fate.

My boney fingers reach out and place my hand on the rough texture before I blink once again, no longer standing in that forest and in the rain. Darkness overcomes me for a moment as well, something I was already starting to get used to. I waited to wake up again; to gasp awake to find Allison's face again.

But I was wrong.

When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't back in the clinic. It was like my subconscious was still trying to tell me something; something that I needed to know before the lunar eclipse. I had a gut feeling that it was worth my while, but I wanted to go back.

I gasped awake like I had the first time I awoke here, still in the ice tub, covered in mistletoe. Water still filled my lungs as I coughed and spit, trying to regain the ability to breathe again. It wasn't until I looked over at Scott and Stiles beside me when I started to panic, since there was nothing there. They weren't anywhere in sight, along with their tubs.

I was alone in this personal hell.

I quickly scrambled out of the tub as I look around, only seeing a vast open space of white. The nemeton was gone, the tubs were gone, and most importantly, Scott and Stiles were too. I wasn't sure if this was what was supposed to happen, but something told me that something was wrong.

"Corey Walker," I hear a voice speak out, causing me to turn around and see a figure standing there at the end of the room. I had to squint to see that it was Jennifer Blake, out of all people. Maybe this really was my personal hell.

I step closer, still squinting. "What are you doing here?"

"My physical appearance being here isn't what matters," she says too formal, giving me goosebumps. "What matters is why."

I furrow my dark eyebrows. "What do you mean why?"

When I got closer, I realized that her hands were folded in front of her, something odd for Jennifer Blake. "That's something you'll have to figure out on your own."

I could tell that this wasn't who I really thought it was. "Who are you?"

"I'm a person without a face to you," she says. "I only wear one for your well-being."

I stare at her, wondering if that was supposed to be a riddle. "Are you my subconscious or something?"

"Something like that," she says, lifting her chin slowly. "Consider me the person inside of you who gave you your abilities, if you will."

I was more than confused now. Something about the way she spoke chilled me to the core, and I knew that I didn't have time for these questions. "Why are you here and why am I still stuck here?"

Jennifer takes a step towards me now, her heels clicking on the tile flooring. "I'm here for you, Corey. I'm here to explain things to you. I'm here to tell you the rules."

"Well start explaining," I say quickly. "I have to be somewhere."

She laughs at me then. "You really don't get it, do you?"

I stare at her suspiciously, wondering what that was supposed to mean. I wondered why my ability had to wear her face, but I guessed that it was to get my attention. "Excuse me?"

"You have nowhere to be," she says simply, not bothering to sugar coat it. "You bent the rules the first time you died. We can't allow you to bend them again. You're stuck here, Corey, and there's no way back."

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well damn, Corey. always getting yourself into trouble, aren't ya?

Buuuut look what I created yesterday because I got too excited (:

Don't forget to vote and comment loves!