I suggest you listen to the song "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star while you're reading this chapter. You can click on the song above. The song is so sweet and cute, I though it just fit this moment. Since Zanna's a (ghost) and you know, the word fade. It just made sense for me to have this song for this scene.

Again, you should take a glance at the playlist, which is linked on my profile. The tracklist is on the chapter "playlist".

()()()

"Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion."

― Dylan Thomas

Blayze.

  I was frustrated at Zanna. Why couldn't she stay for me? Why did she wanna go and run off to the hospital?

  Zanna always wanted to be difficult.

  For once, could she just relax? Why couldn't she hope, or keep the faith?

  I was sure her mom wouldn't think to take her off life support.

  "...and you know, my thoughts were, her ole body wasn't gonna make it, I swear it. But it did. She made it..."

  Carney's story continued to irk me. No, I'm sure Carney meant-well when telling it to Zanna and I, but the story only had made things grow awkward between me and her.

  But Blayze, think about what Dalton Heimshra's girlfriend told you.Think about what Carney was getting at. Think about what Zanna had concluded.

  I sighed frustratedly, scratching my neck. "Soul mates? I was the only one who noticed Zanna? We were linked?" I was saying this all to myself, trying to come up with an answer, reasoning with myself.

  I had never really noticed her before all of this. Yeah, I'd looked at her that one time, and yeah, we were to have been partners in Mr Morgan's class—but why were we chosen? Matched up? Whatever you'd like to call it.

  If you were any normal person. You would've through that it was just a coincidence that we'd been paired as partners. But to me, I looked it as fate.

  I didn't want Zanna to go. Not when so much has happened.

  I wanted to kiss her, to her hug her, to do anything with her to show her how much I loved her. How much I wanted her to stay. Because right now, the thought of her being gone forever made me wanna do so many things.

  Were mom and dad still convinced that Zanna was my girlfriend? Considering dad lately, hadn't given me any details regarding her condition. I guess, they'd already made it up in their heads that Zanna had just been an excuse, and that telling our son: the girl isn't going to make it, would put him down at his own game.

  They both thought I was beginning to act out. That their son Blayze was starting to crazy because of some dead girl hehe was supposedly amour with. I gripped the staring wheel until my knuckles got white. I was still parked inside Tate's parking lot. And because of me being in deep thought, I knew more than an hour had passed since I've been here.

  My mom was going to have a fit once I returned home.

  At this moment, I could just imagine the house phone constantly ringing, because I failed to follow instructions, and not return home.

  I didn't care.

  I didn't care that I'd be grounded for eternity. I needed to do this. I needed to do this for Zanna. Whatever I was going to do, I was going to convince Zanna to make it. To stay.

  To give her a reason to stay.

()()()

  "Allan!"

  I was ringing the doorbell like crazy. I needed Allan to help me out with this plan. To help me carry it out and to see if I could borrow some money from him, it was already enough that I was broke and that I didn't have my phone on me.

  "Allan!"

  "Al—"

  The door instantly opened revealing my uncle Jake. I was so dumbfounded by his appearance, I didn't know wether to bust out laughing, or cringe at the fact he stood before me, clad only in a pair of boxers.

  Had he been taking a nap?

  "What do you need Blayze?" he asked. I could hear anxiousness in his voice as if I caught him at a bad time. Wait, was he having se—before I contemplated what I'd just pieced together, I heard a female's voice call from upstairs. "Jake, hurry up!"

  Allan wouldn't be home at a time like this, would he? I decided no.

  I stretched my mouth into an awkward grin. "Uh, do you know where I can find Allan?"

  Jake raised an eyebrow at me, when really, I could be doing the same to him. He was a grown man standing at the doorway of his house, wearing only boxers. "Why can't you call him?"

  Seriously.

  I was about to open my mouth, but the female's voiced called again from upstairs, "Jake!" My uncle turned around and the impatience was evident on his face. "Eh, Allan's at his friend Charlie's I think... He lives near Hanson Lake. You'll see Al's car."

  I didn't even get to say anything, for Jake abruptly closed the door.

()()()

  Allan's friend lived near Zanna's.

  When I pulled into Charlie's drive way, I got out the car quickly. I didn't know how much time I had to lose. All I knew was that Zanna could be taken off life support any minute.

  I rang the door bell a bunch of times. "Come on, come on..." And eventually, someone came and opened the door. It was an African American girl, who had her hand on her hip. She raised her eyebrow and said, "Hello, uh, Charlie can't come to the door right now."

  I frowned. "But, I just came over here for my cousin Allan. You see, I need to talk to him."

  She laughed a little and gave me a smile. "Oh, then why didn't you just say so? Come on in."

  I followed her into the house, and into the kitchen. Allan was talking to an Asian girl, who looked unimpressed. "Dory, can you please just do the calculus for me?"

  "No, I won't," she answered shortly. "You just need to apply yourself a little better."

  "Um, Allan?" I said to my cousin.

  He looked at me, and his eyes widened. "Yo, cuz! I haven't seen you in forever! I heard you got suspended!"

  I rolled my eyes at his exclamations and shook my head. "Yeah, yeah...uh, I need to talk to you for a minute."

  Allan nodded in understanding. "If Charlie wakes up, come and tell me. Alright?"

  The two girls nodded at him.

  Once we stepped onto the porch, sitting on a long red bench. Allan told me to spill.

  I told him all about Zanna. I tried to make the circumstances as believable as possible. But his look told me otherwise; bordering between disbelief and completely freaked out.

  "So, you're telling me, you've been talking to a ghost?"

  I sighed and nodded. "Yes, but she's not dead yet, and her mother might pull the plug. I need to get to the hospital before then, but first, I need you to lend me some money."

  For about a minute, Allan didn't say anything. He just crossed his arms and with his hand under his chin. For a few minutes he sat in deep thought. I wanted to tell him, I didn't have much time, but that wouldn't make things go quicker.

  I even doubted he believed Zanna was a ghost.

  When you had a brain like Allan's, most of the time, things didn't happen fast. "I think I can scavenge some money," he said slowly. "But please don't lie on me...I hope you aren't using the money to buy some drugs. I might drink from time to time, and perhaps smoke a little weed...but I've never been a druggie."

  I rolled my eyes. I knew he still wouldn't believe me, but I was glad that he was still willing to give me some money, though.

  "I'm not using them for drugs," I stressed. "It's for Zanna."

  He laughed. "Cuz, I know you need the money for a girl, but you're lyin' about the rest. I've seen the movie Ghost, and that shit's not real."

  I wasn't even going to try to convince Allan anymore, besides, he even said, "You know if you'd just asked, instead of coming up with some lame-ass story, I would've still given you the money."

  I just nodded.

()()()

  I got out of my car, and headed inside hospital building, making my way straight to ICU.

  On my way over here, I'd stopped at a gas station and refilled my car and bought a play store card. The cashier had been mystified at my urgency for her to start up the gas pump and to scan the play store card. She had said, "What's got you in such a rush?"

  I had told her that they were about to pull the plug on a girl I loved, and before they did so, I'd like to be there.

  The cashier's eyes had about teared up, and she didn't charge me for anything. She said it was on the house.

  I thanked her, and once my car was filled with gas, I sped to the hospital.

  Once I entered the hospital, I got inside the elevator, and pushed on the button with the number 5 hard. I needed the elevator to hurry up to floor 5 quick!

  C'mon! C'mon!

  At this point, I was the only one in the elevator, and very grateful for that too.

  In my heart of hearts, I knew in some mysterious way, that Zanna's mom was going to pull the plug.

  I just knew.

  Reaching the Receptionist's desk, I saw that Jessica wasn't there. She must've been consoling Fei—who may have been going through another break up.

  I knew dad could've been anywhere. He could at any moment, catch me wandering inside his workplace, grab me by the collar, and drag me to his car, and back home awaiting my punishment. Cuz I was sure mom had already let dad know that I didn't follow directions.

  Gratefully, dad wasn't anywhere in sight, nor were Zanna's mom or sis in the room, where Zanna's comatose body rested.

  Now that I thought about it, I was surprised that I hadn't ran into any of the hospital staff.

  Yet, there was Zanna, ghostly Zanna, sitting next to her body with a face full of tears that made my heart feel a certain way. Like her face full of tears were killing me.

  "Zanna!" I ran over to her, putting both my hands on her arms. "You're not gone!"

  She smiled at the sight of me and nodded, with a chuckle. "Nah, Blayze. I'm not dead yet." She said it so bittersweet that I wanted to hug her. But I wasn't sure if I could, or if she'd let me.

  "I'm not sure if you're dad's told you already, but my mom made the decision to take me off the ventilator." She stared at her body when saying this. "I'm not mad or anything. It was my mom's choice, and she was doing what's best..you know, why keep up false hope? But..."

  She didn't finish her sentence.

  "Zanna, look at me."

  She stopped staring at her body, and looked at me. "What Blayze? What is it you want to say? I'm going to be gone from your life! Yay, for you! You'll be able to regain your popularity! I won't be that annoying distraction in your life! Besides, I'll be in a better place. I'm sure of it." She slumped down and shook her head. "I'm scared Blayze."

  I frowned, but didn't say anything for a bit. Why did she have to say those other things? Like regaining my popularity, or about how she wouldn't be this annoying thing hovering over me like some damn fairy?

  Yet, the thing was, she said it right then, that she was scared, like I was. In all actuality, I was terrified. If she was so sure about going to a better place once she left this earth, then where did that leave me? When I was with Zanna I felt like I had a purpose; I felt like a better person. Popularity, and wether or not I looked cool, didn't matter anymore. When I was with Zanna, it was a splendor in the grass. You know?

  Zanna and me had our fun times, our sad times, and times when we were pissed off at each other. But that had been the beauty of it for these past few days. She'd seen the ugly and uncool side of me, and I'd seen the parts of her that I thought weren't there, and that were freaking beautiful. So awesomely beautiful, that if I woke up tomorrow and was told that Zanna wasn't living anymore, my life couldn't somehow go on. Hell, before I knew her, I wondered how I stayed alive.

  I felt alive when I was with her. And now she was going to be gone from my life... Forever.

  "I love you." The words escaped my lips before I could even think about it.

  Carpe Diem they say, and if she was leaving, then what was the harm in those three words? I meant it, if that mattered. I freaking meant it.

  The moment ceases us. And so it be true.

  Zanna gave me a look of surprise. She pressed her lips together, and covered her face. "Blayze stop. Wh- why haven't you left yet?"

  She kept shaking her head. Saying, "Not true. Not true."

  I walked over to her, and I took her hands from her face, and I saw that she was blushing. She laughed half-heartedly, still shaking her head. "Blayze, please...I don't need this right now." Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

  I continued to hold her hands. Looking her into her eyes, I said once more, "I love you, Zanna."

  She didn't say anything. A tear escaped from her eye, and she bit her bottom lip.

  I brought out my phone and went to the music app.

  This was now or never. Once the melody to  her favorite song "Fade into You" started to play. I held out my arms and asked Zanna, "May I have this dance?"

  She nodded hesitantly.

  At first she couldn't look me in the eye, but then I put my hands around her waist, and she put her hands around my neck.

  I wanna hold the hand inside you...

  I wanna take a breath that's true...

  It came natural to her and me, as we swayed to the music letting the music just carry us.

  Fade into you...

  Strange you never knew...

  Fade into you...

  There was something bittersweet about this moment. Her and me, just there, in the hospital room, alone.

  Anyone could've came in and saw that I was just dancing with myself. Yet, it would've been a sad scene cuz her soon-to-be lifeless body was in the bed, and I was dancing with her ghostly form, that was crying her eyes out at this beautiful moment.

  Someone could've just came in at any moment, ruining this significant picture in the process, but with God's grace no one did.

  I wanted to kiss her. I so badly wanted to feel her lips on mine. Just before she left. I wanted a taste of her.

  She had her head on my shoulder, but I stopped dancing the moment the song carried onto the instrumental.

  Zanna lifted up her head to see why I stopped. I smiled at her. "Blay—" she began.

  My lips claimed hers. I didn't how she'd react towards this. She just needed to know how much I cared for her. Words didn't seem enough.

  Zanna was so surprised, it took some time before she started kissing me back. I wanted to tell her to stay, that I loved her, and that she'd changed my life a lot in these past few days for good. That I couldn't see my life going on without her. But the kiss was enough for me to send those messages through to her. With her lips on my mouth, the music seemed sweeter, the atmosphere was more warm. I felt a certain way that I knew would always live amongst my memories. She wasn't gonna leave, she was gonna stay right here with me.

  And telling from that, I knew Zanna would be with me forever.

  Soon enough when I didn't feel the taste of her lips anymore... I realized she faded away.

  Fade into you...

()()()

A/N: This story is as finished as it'll be, for the time being. I'm gonna post an epilogue and some deleted scenes later. However, don't hesitate to comment or vote. It'd really be appreciated. This story took time and dedication, considering I procrastinate a lot, and it can be hard to stay concentrated on something, which makes it very hard to reach a goal.

We came through. DG and I (Reid)... We're going to be posting other completed stories on here very soon. So don't hesistate to read to the other stories we have to offer.

  Oh, and please check out She Sat Beside Me in Class (written primarily by DG, while this story here was written primarily by me).

  Thank you!