This is the last chappie you guys! I love you all! ^v^ If you have any ideas for Inspired By, just review or PM me. Summer vacay is goin great! You know, besides the summer homework.

Disclaimer: "No! No!" -Fall Out Boy, Save Rock and Roll

Darkness. Everywhere.

I'm floating in nothingness.

Is this what being dead feels like? It's pretty boring. What happened to "seeing the light?" What happened to "your life flashes before your eyes?" If this is death, then it really isn't much to be afraid of. Unless, of course, you're terrified of being bored out of your mind.

I sigh, flipping myself into a sitting position and blowing my hair out of my eyes, only for it to fall back down. If I'm dead, then shouldn't I have turned into a ghost and gone back to the second floor? Maybe it's a process. Like, I dunno, I have to get approved or something? If that's the case, then I wasn't aware that the requirements involved more than just dying in the hospital.

I've been wherever-the-heck-this-is for who-knows-how-long, and, after getting over the initial panic, have just been floating here. It was more than a little disorienting at first, because I'm used to gravity tethering me down to the ground.

When you have nothing to do, you have to options; you can lose yourself in your thoughts, or you can wallow about how bored you are. Considering the fact that I've been doing the latter for quite a while now, I decide to try the former.

Jack. We kissed. And then died. How's that for a bad ending?

I never really imagined a relationship with him. It's always just been the knowledge of my feelings for him, and the longing. But as for what happens if we actually get together? Hmm.

I suppose it'd be a lot like how we are now, only on a more intimate level. Arms around my waist, my head resting on his shoulder, little kisses… cuddles.

I smile at the thought, and I feel my face heating up a little bit. I've always been a secret cuddler; I have a giant white teddy bear at home just for that. I love just snuggling up to him and burying my face in his white fur. Even though Jack could never replace Curls (named because of his curly fur), I'm sure he'd be a close second.

My smile fades. Not like I'll ever get the chance.

Sensing my thoughts taking a turn for the worst, I move them onto happier times. My mind drifts to school, Mrs. Erdman's class more specifically. I grin. Mrs. Erdman's class is always fun, even on days when we're writing essays or something. The first memory I can think of is when we were working on career projects, and Milton was presenting his.

"Since we're being all serious and stuff, how are babies made?" Jack asked, after Milton had finished presenting and was taking questions.

Milton rolled his eyes, but smirked. "I think that's more of a question for Kiara."

"Oh, I got this!" Kiara, who's chosen career to research was that of an OBGYN (physicians that deal with womanly things, like childbirth) got up and walked over to her twin, bending over next to him and speaking slowly like an adult that's explaining something to a child.

"When a man and a woman love each other very much…" She started with the well-known beginning, causing the class to dissolve into laughter. Jack looked at her expectantly with a stupid grin on his face."…they have sex," she finished bluntly.

"Don't forget squeezing boobies," Mrs. Erdman said, making grabbing motions with her hands. She was referring to the beginning of the project when Jerry had wanted to research an OB/GYN as well because he thought he would get to check for breast cancer, but then decided not to do it because of all the other things that an OB/GYN did.

"Yeah, and you squeeze boobies, too," Kiara added.

"Ejaculate," Eddie said with a completely straight face.

"AAAAAAH!" Mrs. Erdman exclaimed, covering her ears and shaking her head. "I HATE THAT WORD, I HATE THAT WORD, I HATE THAT WORD!"

Just the thought of the memory makes me snicker. Mrs. Erdman is one-of-a-kind. You're never going to find anyone like her.

The hilarious memory fades into another one about Jack, as if my mind can't stay off of him for too long. It was when he had amnesia, after slipping on those bo staffs (which was pretty much my fault, when you think about it). We were sitting together at Falafel Phil's. The guys were off doing… something, and I was talking to him to try and bring his memory back.

"…and the key just exploded. I kinda freaked out a little bit, but afterwards you asked me to dance and…" I shrugged and smiled a little. "Yeah."

"Huh," he said, looking thoughtful. "You think I'd remember that."

I blinked, not sure how to respond to that.

"So, Kate—"

"Kim." The corrections had become pretty much automatic by that point.

"Are we…?"

"Are we what?"

"You know… together?"

"W-What…" I blushed. "What made you say that?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Everything you and the other guys have told me about everything we've done and gone through make us seem really close."

"Oh. Well… we're not."

He cocked his head to the side in curiosity. "Why?" Apparently he also forgot any embarrassment he might have had about the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why aren't we together? You clearly have a crush on me, and even though I don't remember you, I think I might have had one on you. Isn't that all it takes for a couple to start?"

"I…"

At that moment, the guys decided to walk in. I don't think I'd ever been more grateful to see them. "Hey, you two, what's going on?"

His innocent questions got me thinking. A lot. It kinda worried me how easily he picked up on my feelings. It was a completely new Jack, one that had no memory of his teasing about me having a crush on him. Yet, he picked up on it. And he said he might like me back… turns out he did.

Before my mind can start drifting off again, I notice the darkness becoming… different somehow. The blackness is becoming less detached, and more… a part of me? I can't explain it, but suddenly I'm not floating in darkness anymore. I am it. It's like the not-so-scary darkness you get from closing your eyes. That's when I realize my eyes are closed. When did that happen?

I open them.

More darkness. But it's dotted with blurry white sparkles… stars?

Annoyed that it had taken me so long to figure out, I attempt to sit up. I realize two things; One is that sitting up means I was previously on my back, and last time I checked I was already in a sitting position. Two is that my head hurts. Bad. It's not really a headache as much as it is an external pain, like I hit my head on something. Or rather, my head was smashed into a wall a couple times and then beaten with a guitar that left splinters. I groan and lie back, squeezing my eyes shut and willing the pain to go away.

Another thing realized. I'm lying on solid ground. Solid, bumpy, crunchy ground. What the heck?

"Oye, I mean hey, you guys, I think she's waking up…"

"Kim?" another voice says.

I never realize how much pain could muddle your thinking until now. I groan again and open my eyes, squinting through the blurred colors in order to make out the face above mine. And it feels like there's something wet on my head. It runs down around and into my ear, leaving me with an uncomfortable squishy feeling.

"Let's get her up against the tree," a third voice suggests.

"Be careful. You don't wanna move her precious blonde head around too much, it might cause more damage," says a fourth.

I feel myself being picked up and carried a short distance (groaning a little in protest), before being sat down again; only, this time, I'm leaning against a rough surface. A fifth voice apologizes.

"Jack…?" I murmur, recognizing the last tone as his as my mind and vision clear up.

"Yeah, Kim, I'm right here."

There's a three-second beat as I process the information.

He's kneeling next to me.

He's here.

Next to me.

Alive.

I lunge forward and practically tackle him in a hug, briefly pulling back to plant a chaste kiss on his lips before hugging him again. I ignore the wave of pain that results from the sudden action. "Jack. You're okay! I thought… I thought…"

He pats my back awkwardly, not sure how to deal with my sudden change in demeanor. "I, um, you, I mean…" He struggles with what to say next.

"Finally," the fourth voice from before says. "It's about time you two got together."

I pull away from Jack to see Kiara looking at the two of us with a smirk on her face.

Wait.

Kiara? I lean back against the tree. Next to her are Milton, and Eddie, and Jerry, looking at me with a mixture of concern and relief on their expressions… but how are they all…

Oh. I must have made it to the second floor, then. That explains all of this. Still, something's… off. Multiple somethings, in fact, as I think about it.

They're not glowing. Not green, not white, not anything.

It's nighttime. On the second floor, it was daytime. What's the point of transitioning to night time? What do they do at night? Sleep? I highly doubt that.

Jack's face is completely unharmed. Last time I checked, he had some pretty bad scratches on his face from Brendan's floor.

I zone out for a couple of seconds while I'm thinking about all of this. When I snap out of it and start paying attention again, Milton is speaking to the others.

"…ambulance should be here any second now," he says, "though do you guys think they'll come out this far into the woods? There's no way. One of us needs to go flag them down."

"I'll do it," Eddie volunteers. Jerry offers to go with him, and the two of them walk off.

Ambulance? What? What's the point of an ambulance if you're dead? Can ghosts get sick?

I notice that Jack is staring at me. "What?" I ask.

"What are you thinking?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"You look really confused. Do you know what's going on?" He speaks slowly, as if afraid of overloading me with information. The thought annoys me a little bit for some reason.

"Uh, I'm assuming I'm on the second floor."

He frowns. "Second floor? Of where?"

I frown as well. I'm so confused. "The hospital…"

"What hospital?" He blinks before turning around. "You mean that one?"

I gape at the dilapidated white building. How are we not inside of it?! How did we get out?! I thought we were dead!

I must have says the last part aloud, because Jack's eyes widen. "You think we're…" He shakes his head. "No, no, no. Kim, we're not dead. How could you…" He turns to Milton. "She's really confused, man. Should I tell her what happened?"

The redhead shrugs. "I don't see any harm in it."

"Okay." Jack turns back to me. "Look, Kim. Here's what happened. That branch—" He points to a large tree branch about three away. "—fell and hit you in the head, pretty hard from the looks of it. You've been out for the past five minutes or so, and you're bleeding." He shakes his head, smiling a little bit. "You scared us all pretty bad. Whatever you think happened to us is probably part of a dream."

"A dream…" I echo faintly. A dream. So we never went into the hospital. We never met Victoria, or any of the other ghosts. None of us died. And… I blush a little bit.

Jack and I never kissed. So when I kissed him just now… whoops.

"It was all a dream," I murmur. Milton calls Jack over to talk about something, and I'm left to my own thoughts. It was all a dream.

Something vibrates in my pocket; my phone. I stiffen, heart pounding. It couldn't be…

I look down to see which pocket it's in. As I do so, my hair falls down in front of my face, and I catch a glimpse of something that makes my heart skip a beat; the faint remains of a blue streak.

I let out a whoosh of breath and grab my phone from my pocket, quickly unlocking it. The screen goes white. Black letters in a bubbly script appear on the screen:

It wasn't a dream.

OOOOOOH! Who saw that coming? I did. XD Remember to review and submit any ideas you might have for Inspired By. ^v^

It's been a lot of fun you guys. I appreciate all your reviews and favorites and follows and everything!

(! hr after posting EDIT: 'Old Habits Die Hard' is done. There is no epilogue or anything after this. The ending is supposed to be all mysterious. Make of it what you will.)

Until next time,

~BP