New light shines through! And with the coming of this chapter, I shall reveal the fact that I am not inherently evil!

Okay, that sounded weird. It just bugged me for a long time, and I had to write it down somewhere. But here it is. Chapter 5. And I promise you will not be disappointed. Should you be disappointed about anything, don't hesitate to tell me (via review or private message), and I will see what amendments I can make.

I am capable of giving hope as much as taking it. Hope you'll be able to guess who is it in the first part.

Disclaimer: No, no, Terrorking doesn't own Hannah Montana. He will not deny his sheer wit and great imagination, however.

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Why is everything dark? How long have I been here? Where am I? Where are Mom and Dad? What is going on?

I was starting to think I was to stay here forever.

I don't even know where this place is. I think I'm in the middle of nowhere. There's absolutely nothing here, just darkness and lots of it. I can't even see or feel myself; it's like I was suspended in some separate dimension or something. The darkness was scary. I felt really really lonely, and afraid. Did I ever mention I am actually still afraid of the dark?

And it's not just dark here. It's cold. Cold and unfriendly. I had no coat or blanket to cover myself, only the shroud of darkness that surrounded me, which offered no warmth. I had no arms to wrap around myself for comfort. I couldn't feel my legs, my head, my guts, nothing. My body, if it existed at all, was impalpable. I felt only cold, fear, and loneliness.

So why am I here?

I think I'm beginning to lose consciousness. My brain seemed to be slowing down, as if I'm dying. How did I know that? After all, I had no body. Yet, something told me, or I sensed, my life was in danger.

Then I felt a rush of warmth, of affection, of love. It was a curious sensation. I felt, for the first time since I got here, I had a friend. A friend invisible, but existent. My heart, which I knew existed, but didn't know where it was, began to pump with new energy. The warm sensation coursed through my veins, filling me with hope, and for once I felt secure.

Someone cared for me. Someone close to me, who was willing to sacrifice a part of him-or-herself in order to give me warmth. It was still dark, but it was no longer cold. Suddenly, a new thought came to me: I had the power to get out of here.

But just as I was about to do that, a new negative force pushed me back, imprisoning me in its forbidden arms. I heard a voice, quavering and weak. She sounded really sad.

"Lord, please let Lilly be okay. Please, let her wake up. I can't watch another loved one die before my eyes..."

I felt sad too. I felt sorry for her. It was clear to me she was suffering greatly. But I did not understand, nor could I help. Who was Lilly? Why was she unable to wake? Was she sleeping? Why was that girl Lilly, whoever she was, dying before her eyes? To whom did the voice belong to anyway?

She sounded really familiar, and I began to sense I had some form of connection with her. She felt like a corporeal entity, while I was a ethereal sentient being, untouchable and invisible. She couldn't feel me, but I could feel her. I could hear her, even.

Her voice rang again, this time louder. She was full of anguish and pain.

"WHAT IF SHE NEVER WAKES UP?! WHAT IF THEY HAD TO TAKE HER OFF LIFE SUPPORT?! WHAT IF SHE DIED JUST LIKE THAT?!"

She was screaming, bearing a world of pain in her heart. I wanted to cry for her; she sounded really miserable. Whoever she was, she was my friend. I wanted to give her a hug and comfort her. But how? I didn't have a body. Whatever the case, I felt like I needed to help her. Slowly I grew stronger.

A while later, I learned her name. Miley. And the girl who was dying, Lilly, was making Miley sad. Other voices were talking to her, and after a while, the pressure in her heart lifted. I heard Miley speak to me directly. She spoke to me, and somehow I heard it.

"You'll be fine, Lilly. I can feel it."

I learnt that I was Lilly. So it was me who was unconscious, possibly dying. Yet I did not feel like dying. On the contrary, I felt perfectly awake and alive. Feeling the need to thank her, another voice, this one coming from behind me, speaking in a higher-pitched voice that sounded very familiar, spoke.

"Thanks, Miley. I will wake up, you watch me!"

Miley no longer doubted Lilly's chances of survival. No, MY chances of survival. I began to realise who I was, and how did I get here.

It was a skateboarding competition. I was Lilly, and during my turn, I met a serious accident. I blacked out ever since, forgetting how pain felt like. Slowly I assumed consciousness and became what I am now; a being of pure sentience and nothing else, the meanest spirit.

Anyway, Miley never doubted me again. The creature that bounded me with its arms, the jailer, was destroyed. I was free to break free from this darkness. But I couldn't. Not yet. I wasn't strong enough. I needed more strength, and I was relying on Miley to give me more. Meanwhile I kept swimming in the twisting shadows.

Though she never doubted me again, I sensed she was still sad. She was crying, lonely and feeling hopeless. I learned that Lilly was paralysed and mentally incapacitated. My corporeal self was more damaged than I thought, while I was unharmed, a mere consciousness, a soul.

She came closer. I felt it; she was coming closer to me, but where was she coming from?

I heard other voices speaking to me, but I couldn't hear them clearly. They were caring, but I didn't feel strong enough to respond, until a voice, this one a deep male voice, tried to contact me.

"You'll be fine, Lilly. Your Mommy and Daddy are here. We can't stay by your side forever, but you'll always feel us in your heart."

My father spoke to me. He too, felt closer than anyone, but I only just remembered him. How come I never thought of him earlier? He was my father! And my mother? Why couldn't I hear her?

They left my side shortly, their lack of presence stealing the warmth around me. I wanted desperately to drag them back, but they were gone before I could reach them. I wanted to cry; I was awfully lonely.

Then someone came and restored the warmth in the air. Our hearts were now intertwined. It was as if I lived somewhere in her heart and as well as mine. She grasped my hand and spoke to me.

"Lilly..." She roused my attention.

My hand. I felt it. After a long period of centuries, I became aware of my unmovable body. I was lying on a soft warm comfortable surface, my body broken, but my mind intact. She held my hand and spoke with heartfelt sincerity. I heard everything she said, including the last lines of her speech, the words that fired me up all of the sudden.

"Daddy told me that by giving blood, we are now metaphorically sisters, bonded by blood, and that by giving my blood, I would be helping you a long way. I feel that connection too; why will I be talking to you here and now if I had felt that you wouldn't be listening? I knew you were always semi-conscious, just not physically able to respond right now."

So Miley could sense me too. I mustn't believe I was alone any more. She sensed me just as I sensed her. She heard me whisper to her, just like how I am listening to her words. And the warm feeling that drove back the cold, that was Miley's blood. And my father's as well. No wonder I heard them clearer than anyone else.

"I can't watch another loved one die, not again. Lilly, you don't know how much it hurt when my Mom died. I swore to myself at that time to never again let someone close to me die. Of course, no human has the power to prevent someone from inevitably dying, but I was hurting lots at the time. Please don't make me feel that way again, Lilly. Not just me, your friends and family too. Don't leave us, Lilly. Please."

No Miley! I promise! I won't give up! I will wake up and come back to you all! Don't cry, Miley! You don't know where I am! I am getting stronger!

As I mentally yelled out these words, I felt a new strength inhabit my left hand, and without second thought, I clenched it into a fist, to show them I was awake. I felt my hand grasp and hold on to her cold clammy hand, giving it a feeble squeeze.

I was awake, and they knew it. It was very tiring to keep my fist clenched, and soon I dropped it in exhaustion. But that was the first time I felt my corporeal self in so many centuries swimming in this awful darkness.

She left my side, but she promised to return. I awaited eagerly.

She did return after that. Many times too, and with each time she contacted me, I felt stronger. The darkness seemed to be ebbing away, and I was able to fly out of here if I wanted to.

Finally, when she spoke to me on the fifth time, the darkness receded completely. Meager strength filled my physical self, meager but still enough for me to lift my eyelids. Determined to get out of this limbo, I heaved those heavy eyelids open. Brilliant light flooded my eyes. I had returned into the land of the living once more.

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"She's still asleep, then?" Oliver whispered for the fifth time. Miley nodded stiffly.

Another week had passed. Lilly was still unconscious, and on the third visit, Miley was beginning to doubt whether Lilly was going to wake up soon. It might take years or even a decade before Lilly saw light again. Years that Lilly will never get back, and in between those years, all the things she will miss...

At these thoughts, Miley began to tear up. Surely I must have run out of tears by now, she thought, half-annoyed at herself. She had been crying almost ceaselessly for this past week. Out of hopelessness, and loneliness. And fear, even. Again, she began to question the notion that Lilly would be alright.

But Lilly was getting more responsive. With every visit, she seemed to become more awake. She never opened her eyelids, but her left hand, the only part of her body she was able to move then, grew stronger and stronger. They were getting more and more hopeful that she might wake up, but at the same time, hope seemed to be draining out. It was highly unlikely that Lilly would wake up this week.

"The doctor did say if she doesn't wake this week, she ain't gonna wake up for another week." Robby Ray whispered gently from behind Miley, standing over Lilly's unconscious form.

"Dad! How can you say that? Can't you see Lilly's hand?" Miley glared at her father indignantly, showing him Lilly's hand to prove her point. It was lying still, but moments ago it was squeezing Miley's hand feebly, like it had done a few times before.

"Hey, that's what the doctor said! Do you seriously think I want to believe that?" Robby Ray rebutted angrily. Miley looked down, avoiding his gaze. Of course, Lilly had been like a sort of daughter to him, the two families being rather close to one another. Obviously he cared for her as much as her parents did.

"Hard to watch her waste away like this, isn't it?" Jackson commented, looking at the life support machine with distaste.

Miley eyed it and stared down at Lilly's unmoving face for another long while. The doctor said Lilly was now stable, and visits were no longer only five minutes long. They could stay all day if they wanted to. Yet there was nothing much to say each time. They just stared at Lilly most of the time, hoping she springs up all of the sudden, as if by wishful miracle.

"Today, Matt Marshall came and talked to me." Miley began, telling her best friend about what happened on the day of the visit like she had done five times before. "He said he missed you too. Out of everybody, I least expected him to be worried. Sounds like a serious boyfriend, eh? Looks like everybody misses you. Even Matt is worried.

"There was a test in biology today. Ms Kunkle kept postponing the test for you, so that everyone could take the test together. Finally, she decided you weren't coming back for a long time, so she went ahead with it. And oh yeah, there's going to be a school dance next Friday. I'm not sure if you can attend it. Even if you wake up, you will not be able to dance anyway. I'm sorry Lilly.

"Hannah staged another concert in Los Angeles two days ago. I swear, I nearly broke down crying on stage when I was to sing "True Friend". Luckily I composed myself and held it together until the song was over. Then I said goodnight to all the fans and dove back stage covering my mouth to stop myself bursting into tears in front of everybody. It was quite embarrassing, actually. I think the fans noticed I was about to cry when I sang the song. In any case, everyone backstage were alarmed to see me run off the stage in tears."

Robby Ray gave a dry sniff. He vividly remembered the embarrassing details of that night's performance. Miley had charged backstage and crashed right into his arms, who was utterly bewildered. Miley then proceeded to cry into his chest. The stage dancers were no less mystified than Robby Ray, and everyone backstage were shocked to find Hannah Montana acting in such a manner.

Speaking about the mundane took a while, but it didn't make for pleasant conversation, as there had been no conversation in the first place; Lilly was completely silent. Feeling coldly disappointed once more, Miley stood to leave.

"Let's go." She said simply, bordering on tears. Robby Ray and Jackson agreed with curt nods. Oliver too stood up reluctantly, casting one last look at Lilly.

"We're done here, I guess." Oliver whispered to Lilly.

"See you soon." Jackson echoed before the party of four trooped out of the room.

Once outside the room, they began to leave for home, until Miley doubled back into the room, having left her purse on Lilly's bed.

"Why did you even NEED to bring a purse?" Oliver said disapprovingly, while Miley raced back into the room. She reached the door, carefully opened it and walked in without making any sound.

What she saw blew her mind away.

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The lights in the room shone brightly, yet the bulbs flickered occasionally like a moth. Above Lilly's bed shone a light that came from a newly replaced light bulb, casting white rays on Lilly like a spotlight. And there, on the white bed, with electrodes and tubes sticking into her arms and other parts of her body, looking around with a confused expression on her face, limbs no longer hung in slings dangling from the ceiling, sat a medical miracle.

Lilly Truscott was awake. Alive.

Miley staggered, nearly fainting from shock. Walking up to the bed slowly, she saw Lilly turn her head towards her, still staring as if confused and overwhelmed by the light.

Miley crept up to her side and whispered disbelievingly, "Lilly?"

Lilly kept staring. She looked utterly disoriented.

"Lilly?" Miley repeated, unable to believe it herself. Seconds ago, her heart stopped pumping momentarily, and she was a little weak-kneed.

Lilly blinked innocently and spoke in a childish voice.

"Who are you?" She asked.

Miley grimaced, visibly hurt, but she swallowed the lump in her throat. She had expected this; that Lilly might not remember her. Still, it hurt terribly to find the person whom you were so worried about not being able to even recognise you. The pain was numbed somewhat by the warm ray of hope and happiness that shot through her body; at least Lilly was awake and alive, though not well.

As gently as possible, Miley asked her, "I'm your friend, remember? I'm Miley."

Miley. Miley. Why does that ring the bell? Lilly thought.

"I don't know you." Lilly finally said.

Miley fell silent for another minute. The silence permeating the room like an acrid haze now began to press down on all of them, its nature ominous and heavy.

"You are Lilly, remember? You fell during a skateboarding competition and got hurt really badly. You were in a coma for more than a week." Miley reminded her, struggling to keep the tears under her voice suppressed.

Lilly shook her head innocently. "I don't remember anything. Who am I?" she added.

"You're Lilly."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Miley. Your best friend."

"Where am I?" Lilly looked around, staring wildly. "How did I get here? I'm scared! I don't want to be here! I want to go home!"

Miley was afraid; Lilly might exhaust herself. Holding her friend gently by the shoulders and lowering her down to her bed again, she said, "You'll be home soon. Just lie down and wait. I'll be right back."

"Okay." Lilly replied obediently, rather like a young child. Miley walked quickly to the door, tears of both suppressed joy and sorrow streaking her face. She tried to stay calm, but when she left the room she couldn't stop herself announcing to the world the bittersweet news. The "sweet" part in "bittersweet" took over temporarily, in the heat of the moment.

"SHE'S AWAKE! LILLY'S AWAKE! OLIVER COME QUICKLY!"

Within seconds, nurses and doctors arrived, alarmed by the sudden call. The three visitors also rushed to Miley, completely bewildered.

"Lilly's awake?" Oliver asked weakly, not believing it. Beside him, Jackson and Robby Ray stared wide-eyed.

"YES! YES! SHE'S AWAKE AND ALIVE! I EVEN TALKED TO HER!" Miley ran up to Oliver and gave him a back-breaking hug, beside herself with joy. Jackson and Robby Ray had wide smiles on their faces, and the doctor who was attending to Lilly all the time, Doctor Larry Sharp, also arrived in a hurry.

"Good Lord! She's awake! It's a bloody miracle!" He exclaimed to a nurse outside the door, apparently summoned here.

"Doctor Sharp! She's awake!" Miley squealed. The entire group of people entered the room in three seconds.

Once in the room, however, Miley felt saddened. Upon re-entering the coldness of the ward, the "bitter" in "bittersweet" took control of Miley like an ambivalent storm; one moment euphoria, the other, depression. Lilly was very scared and confused, pulling her covers up to her neck in alarm upon seeing all the nurses and doctors surrounding her. She used only her left hand, and was unable to back away from the surrounding people. Miley felt a cold chill that had nothing to do with the room wash over over her; a terrible wave of disappointment, and sorrow.

Walking up to Dr Sharp, Miley said flatly, "When I spoke to her, she didn't remember me. She was also acting like a child. I wonder if her brain's damaged. She was able to sit up, though, and her left side was functioning properly." adding the last bit brightly, she glanced at the doctor's face.

"Very curious. Very curious." Dr Sharp mumbled, watching Lilly closely, staring her straight in the eye, while Lilly was backing away from him, frightened.

Turning to Miley, he said, "I need to keep her under close watch now that she is awake, to check if she is completely fine, not counting the obvious paralysis and mental impairment. I'm afraid I must ask you to leave." Turning to Robby Ray, he added, "You may not come back until we have informed you it is alright to do so."

Robby Ray nodded. Before turning to leave, he asked the doctor, "Her parents will know about this, right?"

"Oh yes. We will inform them immediately. We will also be keeping them in touch with Ms Truscott's condition." Dr Sharp said briskly.

"Thank you. Okay, time to go." With that, the party reluctantly left the room to the nurses, watching Lilly struggle against them piteously.

"Who are you people? Why are you here? Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Let go of me! HELP! HELP!"

By the time Jackson slid the door close, Miley was staggering in tears. It pained her tremendously to see her friend in such a state.

"Come on, Miles. I'm sure she'll be fine. She's awake now, isn't she?" Jackson said, trying to comfort his sister. The euphoric Miley minutes ago had become depressed all of the sudden.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just...sh-she sounds s-s-so scared, and...what a poor thing..." Miley choked. Robby Ray pulled her into a hug.

"But she's awake, no matter how bad the other troubles are. At least, she's awake. And it's all thanks to our support. You saved Lilly's life, remember?" He said warmly. Miley released a dry sob.

"Yeah. I guess you're right. At least she's awake."

Turning away from the door, the group headed for home, due to return when they were notified once more. Despite all the sorrow and pain to come in the future, Miley knew that, at least, she had her friend back.

Miley. Lilly. Miley. Lilly. Why do they all sound so familiar? Do I know these people? Am I really Lilly? Then who's Miley? Why are these people attacking me? I don't like it! I don't like it! I really don't like it!

"STOP! STOP! MOMMY! DADDY! HEEEELP!!!"

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Poor Lilly. I really felt for her when I wrote this chapter.

It took little more than three hours to complete, but I'm pleased with the turnout. Anyway, I'll promise to get on quickly with the next chapter. I'm not so nasty as to make you all wonder what happens to Lilly next.

Don't worry. This is a promise I will keep. Expect to see it in at most two days time.

Terrorking Tragedian.