It's funny, the things that go through your mind when you think you're going to die. Like the fact that I had never fallen in love. The fact that I had just turned twenty-one, and the fact that I had spent most of my life avoiding people... well... avoiding love, more than anything.
As everything ran through my mind, I was suddenly falling through a mist. I no longer saw the guys at the top of the building trying to catch me, nor Times Square at all. I thought that I must be in Heaven. But if I was in Heaven, why was I still falling? All of a sudden, I landed right smack dab on someone as pain radiated throughout my body.
"Ow!" I yelled, checking my body for injury. Nothing.
"Man! That hurts every time! You'd think it'd get easier as time goes on."
I looked over and the hottest guy I'd ever seen got up and brushed off his pants and adjusted his dress shirt. He had perfect brown hair and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen.
I sat on the... well... what I thought was the ground... looking up at him in disbelief. "Who are you?"
"Stellan Blaze, at your service." He gave a slight flourish. No matter how he moved, his brown hair fell perfectly back into place. Even though he appeared to be in modern dress, his mannerisms told me that he had been around a lot longer.
My mouth opened in disbelief. "What are you?"
His eyebrows rose nearly into his hairline. "Oh! Where are my manners?" He reached down and offered her a hand, helping her up from the mist. "I'm your spiritual guide."
I scoffed. "You have got to be kidding me!" I started walking into the abyss, not sure where I was going, but this was just too much. "Let me out of here!" Then understanding donned on me. "What is 'here', anyway?"
He smirked. "This is the Inbetween."
I nodded, looking around as I placed my hands on my hips, taking in the mist. "Yeah! Sure! Why not? Makes perfect sense!" I said in disbelief, my voice filled with sarcasm.
He sat on a cloud and looked at his fingernails, completely casual. "The longer you fight it, the harder it's going to be."
I scoffed, stomping my foot. "Take me back home!"
He smirked, folding his hands on his knee, obviously enjoying this a bit too much. "You weren't at home in the first place."
"I don't care!" I yelled. "Take me home anyway!"
He smirked, shaking his head. "Can't."
"Yes, you can!"
"Sorry." He looked at his nails, waiting for me to get it out of my system. "No can do."
I looked around and, as far as I could tell, we were completely alone. The realization donned on me as I turned to face him. "Am I dead?"
He gave me a kind smile, shaking his head. "No, not yet."
I nodded as tears fell slowly down my cheeks. "Then where am I?"
He stood and slowly approached. It was then that I noticed that he was a good head taller than me. "As I said, this is the Inbetween." He reached up and caught one of my tears with his thumb as kindness filled his eyes. "You're asking the wrong question."
Then I understood. "Why am I here?"
"Now that's the right question." He sighed as he let his hand drop from my cheek, tilting his head to the side. "As I recall, you made a wish. Remember?"
At first, I didn't remember what he was talking about, but when I thought about it, everything came back to me. "Yes, I remember."
His lips curled into a smile, sexy without trying to be. "And do you remember what you wished?"
Now that I was calming down a little bit, I realized that he was being as gentle with me as possible. After all, one didn't fall off a building and live to tell about it... well... not usually.
I nodded as it started coming back to me. "I wished I could be empathetic, more understanding toward others." I sighed. "I wished things could be different."
He raised an eyebrow. "And?"
I sighed. "I wished that I could be different."
"Why?" he asked, leading me to sit down on a cloud beside him.
I was surprised that I didn't fall to the ground. Whatever I imagined I was sitting on felt like it, even though I couldn't see it. "Since the accident, I haven't been whole. I'm damaged."
A crease formed between his eyes. "Why dis you say that?"
I sighed. "After the accident, I never felt the same. In fact, I never felt much after that."
"When you were eight years old, right?" he asked, truly concerned.
I nodded. "Since the accident, I haven't been able to feel empathy for others."
He nodded. "Do you have many friends?"
I shook my head. "Just Shay, my roommate and best friend. I met her when I first moved to New York."
"Why did you move to New York?" he asked, listening thoughtfully.
I sighed, thinking back. "I wanted to start over, to go where no one knows me so I could be who I wanted to be."
He raised an eyebrow, smiling. "And did you?"
"Not really," I replied.
"Why?"
I shrugged. "I tried, but people eventually saw that I was different and then treated me differently."
"Except for Shay," he corrected.
I nodded. "Yes, except for Shay. She was the best friend I'd ever had."
He tilted his head to the side. "You had a friend before the accident, too. Didn't you?"
I nodded as tears formed in my eyes, threatening to spill over. "Yes."
He nodded. "So, is it safe to say that maybe it wasn't others completely."
"I don't know." I sighed. "But now it's too late."
"Not necessarily."
My head snapped up. "What? How?" I motioned over my body, still dressed in the goofy 1920s Flapper outfit that my crazy friend had dressed me in. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm dead!"
He smiled, shaking his head. "No, not yet."
"What does that even mean?" I flailed my arms, having had enough of this.
When he took my hands, a calm sensation washed over me unlike any other feeling I'd ever felt before. "It means that you've been given a second chance."
"A second chance?" I asked. "But how is that possible?"
Stellan's lips curled into a smile. "Did you or did you not make a wish on New Year's Eve?"
I let out my breath in a rush. "Yes, of course I did," I snapped.
"And we'll work on your temper."
"I do not have... oh."
He raised an eyebrow, a smile lighting his lips.
"Okay, okay," I replied. "What do you mean 'work on'?"
He shrugged. "Holiday wishes are the most powerful wishes in any realm."
"Realm?"
He nodded, smiling. Already, I could tell that his patience was endless. "That said, you made a wish on New Year's Eve and it's been granted."
"My whom?" I asked, completely confused.
He pointed upward. "Well, let's just say that you've attracted the attention of the higher ups."
I looked up but saw nothing but mist. "Okay." I looked into Stellan's eyes. "You mean—"
"Um huh," he said, cutting me off. "And you've been given a second chance."
"Okay," I looked around. "So, I get to go back?"
He shook his head. "Nope."
"Then, what's the point?"
He gave me another kind smile. "The point is to give you your wish to be a better person, to learn empathy for others." He took my hands as he looked into my eyes. "Tasha, it's never too late to change. To strive to be better. Not even now."
I nodded, understanding. In order to go to the next level, I had some work to do. "Okay. How do we do this?"
He tilted his head to the side. "You will visit twelve realms over the next twelve months where you will learn twelve virtues."
"Twelve?" I asked, unable to believe that this was happening. "Why twelve?"
Hs shrugged. "Why not? It's a wish for the new year, right? Aren't there twelve months in a year?"
I nodded, more confused than ever. "I guess so."
"But there's some stipulations," he said, taking me in.
"Of course there are." I shook my head as I folded my arms across my chest. "Which are?"
"Well, for one thing, you must do as I say."
I raised an eyebrow. "Everything?"
He nodded, smiling.
"Okay, I'm out of here!" I yelled, looking around for a door. "This has to be some kind of joke! There's no way that I'm going to agree to be someone's sex slave!"
"What?" His voice rose three octaves. "Where did that come from?"
"You said that I have to do 'everything you say'," I challenged.
He scoffed. "I assure you that I am an honorable man."
"Sorry." I shrugged.
His smile faded as he looked into my eyes, as if looking into my soul. "You've not had a reason to trust and not many people who have earned it. But you can trust me."
I nodded, relenting. "Okay. What else?"
"You said you tried to be someone else," he replied. "In order for this to be successful, you must agree to be yourself at all times. No pretending to be someone else."
"Agreed." I nodded once. "What else?"
Stellan tilted his head to the side as a crease formed between his eyes.
I scoffed. Obviously, he couldn't read minds, which was probably a good thing. "What other stipulation do you have?"
Stellan's gaze was piercing, sending chills over my body. "You can't fall in love with me."
I stood there, stunned. Of all the things I thought he would say, that wasn't it. But then again, I had a hard time feeling anything. So, what could it hurt?