Michael stood in total darkness. He looked down at his hands, his right arm faded from view. He couldn’t see his feet, and his left eye became blurry and blacked out. What the fuck is happening to me? He thought to himself.

You’re being denied death, a voice echoed in his ears.

Pretty fucked up guy, another voice spoke with a chuckle.

“Don’t pay attention to them,” a familiar voice said, one that wasn’t ringing in his ears, “you’re gonna be fine.”

Michael turned and looked. It was Jenny, someone he had been with a few years before his incident with the crystal. The last person he had been with that hadn’t tired of him. Short, with brown hair, and hefty in size while being beautiful in Michaels eyes, she stood there smiling.

“How did you get here?” Michael asked, having not enjoyed his previous encounters dealing with the minds of the dead. “Am I dead or did you get brought here to fuck with my head?”

Jenny crossed her arms and pouted. “I’m kinda manifested in your memories you jerk,” she said sternly, “you’re about to wake up better than you were when you got a ceiling dropped on you.”

Michael tried to approach her but couldn’t move his legs. “Your heart went out in the hospital,” he said with sadness cracking his voice, “and I couldn’t be there at the funeral to say goodbye.”

Jenny walked over and wrapped her arms around Michael, patting the back of his head softly, “It’s okay,” she said softly, “you were in my heart and I was in yours. That’s what matters.” For a few moments, Michael kept his remaining arm wrapped around her tightly. Tears ran from his right eye as he breathed slowly.

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“The world has gone to shit,” he said in a whisper.

“And you have been busy doing your part to make it better,” Jenny whispered back, “you could have gone and revenged against everyone who ever wronged you but you didn’t.” she wiped the tears from his face. “Instead you only went after people who really deserved it, and not everyone is gonna understand that.”

Michael nodded. “Been killing for years,” he said with a half hearted chuckle, “finally someone got the better of me.”

“You could have jumped outta that hallway,” she said with a straightened face, “but you pushed her out of the way and that is the kind of person you always were. You know she loves you, you who are her big brother, her mentor, her guardian, and while she protects you, you make her smarter and wiser the more she sees you make good decisions.”

“I just use that tactical thinking I had beaten into me,” he said without realizing how much snark was in his voice, “I didn’t do anything that great. In fact, she does more for me than I ever did for her.”

“Michael,” she said as she put a finger over his lips to shut him up, “you know she gets really violent when you aren’t there to guide her.”

Michael nodded slowly.

Jenny smiled, “you’re gonna wake up, and you’re gonna keep showing her what’s right. And you’re gonna learn to love again.”

Michael shook his head, “last time I did that, it fell apart.”

“It ran its course,” she said sternly, “stop taking it out on yourself. Live. enjoy life, even while the rest of the world churns and makes itself miserable.”

She faded from view as he reached out to her with his hand, smiling softly with genuine heartfelt peace.

As she faded, the blackness began to brighten. He found himself staring at a bright light above him. He heard a voice faintly as he struggled to figure out where he was.

“He’s alive again.”