Jerome was silent as he held his head in his hands. His elbows were propped up against Mitch's still chest, which was on top of a bed in a dark hospital room, the only light being from the small window that went outside to the hallway, and from the monitors over Mitch's bed. The ambulance rushed Mitch over to the hospital as soon as possible, but by the time he got there, his heart had stopped. The doctor believed that Mitch was dead seconds after he was hit by the truck. They let them have a spare room to keep him in until his burial, which none of them had any idea how expensive it would be to have a proper funeral. Jerome hadn't left the room since they arrived, and the others were talking with the nurse and the doctor outside.

Jerome's cheeks were still wet from crying, and he had stopped when the ambulance had arrived, but once he heard the news that his best friend was dead, he had broken down again. He still had tears rolling down his cheeks, and showed no embarrassment crying in front of his friends, and they didn't seem to mind, as they all had their share of tears as well.

Jerome snapped to attention as he heard the door open behind him, and he quickly used his jacket sleeve to wipe the tears off of his cheeks. He turned to see Ian in the doorway, and the man walked in, shutting the door behind him. He went and pulled up a folding chair lying against the wall next to Jerome's, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you okay man?" Ian asked.

"No." Jerome stated simply. "If I had been out there, if I had gone out instead of him, this maybe wouldn't have happened."

Ian looked at Mitch, then back at Jerome, trying to think of something to say. "I should have stopped him." He finally said. "I was out there before he jumped in front of that truck to save that girl."

That made Jerome perk up. "A girl? Did she happen to be in winter clothes? I think I might've seen her earlier."

Ian nodded. "Yeah, she was just standing in the middle of the road. The truck driver didn't see her, and Mitch pushed her out of the way. I'm sure he expected to go tumbling down with her out of harm's way, but, well, you know..." he said, gesturing to Mitch's body.

Jerome huffed, feeling another tear roll down his cheek, but Ian didn't seem to notice. "I'm sure that's how Mitch would want to go out. Like a hero. What happened to the driver anyways Ian?"

"Arrested."

Jerome felt a little disappointed in that answer, but he didn't quite know why. He just put his head in his hands again, Ian remaining silent.

If only it had been me... if only it had been me...

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Mitch startled awake into a field of pure white. He scrambled to his feet, observing his surroundings. The landscape was white, and nothing else. He looked down to see that there was no ground either, just more white. He also saw that one of his legs was at a very painful looking angle, but Mitch felt no pain coming through it. He also saw the blood on his hoodie and his shirt, making him gulp. That's when he remembered what had happened. The girl in the road, the car accident, and all the pain...

"So, you're awake."

Mitch whirled around to the sound of someone speaking behind him, and saw the same girl he had pushed out of the street. She had a look of mourn on his face as she looked him over, and her voice seemed to have a type of echo to it.

"W-Where are we-"Mitch said, but stopped as his voice had also come out in that weird echo.

"Well," she replied, "we are in the middle of nowhere. Literally."

Mitch gulped. "Am I...?" he said, eyes widening. "Am I dead...?"

The girl nodded. "Yes. Where we are in the middle of the world of the living, and the afterlife."

Mitch backed away, a look of disbelief on his face. Another memory flashed in his head, one of Ian yelling for him over the fence seconds before he had died. "B-But... my friends! Knowing Ian and Jerome, they'll find some way to blame themselves for this! I'm not ready to leave them yet!"

"That's why you have an option."

That made Mitch snap into attention. "What do you mean?"

The girl laughed. "There's a small loophole in death, and that's if you die in the same way as another spirit has, and in around the same place, that spirit has the ability to bring that person back to life, but that spirit will no longer be able to roam the world of the living as a ghost, and that spirit will be confined to the afterlife, where they will stay until they are eventually forgotten and fade away, like the others."

Mitch could feel a smile forming on his face. "Then I can go home!" he said, fist-pumping the air. He stopped when a sudden realization came over him. "Wait, but doesn't that mean that you...? And that you'll...?"

The girl, contrary to what Mitch thought she was going to do, laughed and smiled. "Yes, I'm dead as well. I died on that same street the same way, hit by a car, ten years ago. Only, I wasn't being all heroic and saving someone else, even if they were already a ghost. Yes, I will move on to the afterlife, but I don't mind. I only came into the living world as a ghost to look for someone else..." she said, her tone becoming sad for a moment, before becoming happier again. "But that's beside the point, there is still a catch to coming back to life, but I don't remember what it was... So anyways, what will it be?"

Mitch didn't even need to think about it, he thought, even if there was a catch, it would be worth it to be with his friends again. He nodded his head. The girl nodded as well, and a blue light appeared under Mitch's feet, a green one under the girl's.

The light only got brighter, and began to obscure Mitch's field of view. Mitch cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled. "Hey! What's your name anyways?!?!?"

"Weiss! Weiss Thompson!" she yelled back with a wave.

"Mitchell Hughes! And if you happen to see the ghost of George Washington, tell him I said 'Hi'!"

Weiss laughed as everything blurred and Mitch blacked out.

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Jerome and Ian sat in silence until they heard the door again, this time it was Ty poking his head through the door.

"Hey guys, we need to go, the others are already to go."

Ian sighed and stood, pulling on the hood of Jerome's hoodie. "Alright, come on Jerome."

Jerome didn't budge. "I want to stay. I can't even stay with my best friend for a while longer?"

Ian and Ty exchanged skeptical looks. "Look Jerome," Ty said. "It's not like we all want to, but the doctor doesn't think we should stay."

Jerome stubbornly growled, turning to them. "Seriously-" he said, before being cut off by a very loud series of coughing behind him. He felt his heart stop and a confused look formed on his face as he saw the looks of happiness and surprise on Ian and Ty's faces. That's when he heard he heard a weak voice behind him that he thought he would never hear again.

"Hey, did I miss anything?"

Jerome whipped around to see Mitch sitting up in the bed, holding his chest painfully, but with a smile on his face. "MITCH!" Jerome yelled, grabbing Mitch in a tight hug, with a look of happiness and disbelief on his face. Tears were once again on his cheeks, but this time they were tears of happiness.

"Hey, hey," Mitch said with a wince. "I just got hit by a freaking truck! That hurts!" Jerome pushed himself off of his friend, not bothering to wipe the tears off of his face.

The others had walked in as well, sharing happy expressions, except for the doctor, who had a look of complete confusion on her face.

"B-but," the doctor said, disbelief lacing her voice. "Your heart stopped, your neck was snapped, and you suffered a fatal blow to the chest. In short, you should be dead."

Adam just shrugged. "Does it matter? Our friend is alive." The others quickly agreed, but Jerome was able to catch a short glimpse of something in Mitch's eyes. Guilt possibly? Jerome didn't know, so he just ignored it.

The doctor looked at all of them like they were crazy. She sighed and told Mitch to try and get in a position where she could check his wounds. He nodded and without a problem, swung his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up straight. The doctor examined his legs first, because according to her, his left leg should have been broken to the point where it should have been working no longer. But Mitch was able to move it just fine, and this just made the doctor more confused and frustrated. His neck was perfectly fine as well; the bones had seemed to mend themselves and put themselves back in place. She mumbling things like "This is impossible" under her breath as she went to check the wound on Mitch's chest as well. They all gasped (except for Mitch), when they found that the wound, that should have killed Mitch, just like his other fatal injuries, had completely healed, leaving only a pale scar.

The doctor left the room, her arms in the air. "Ha," Jason said. "I think she just had the world's biggest 'NOPE'!"

That made them all laugh, but like the doctor, Ian and Quentin were genuinely confused about Mitch healing and recovering like that. "Not to alarm anyone," Ian said. "But the doctor was right. Mitch, you should be dead!"

Jerome and the others frowned, but Mitch just looked away. "Well," Mitch said. "They do still hurt, but I don't think I died. If I did, then I wouldn't be here would I? What, you think I'm a ghost?" Mitch laughed, and waved his arms around, making poorly attempted ghost sounds.

That made Quentin laugh, but Ian wasn't convinced. Jerome just laughed along with his friends. My best friend is alive, Jerome thought. I don't know how he could survive multiple fatal wounds, heck, he shouldn't have, but I don't care. He is alive, and that's all that matters.

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Mitch eyes peeked open as he saw the sunlight pouring in from his window. The hospital had kept him for another day after he was revived, and it took Mitch some pretty clever lies to get himself out of there faster. He had gotten out late last night, and Adam had driven him home, since he was the only one who was up until 1:00 in the morning that night. Mitch was exhausted, so he just quickly changed and fell asleep almost the instant he had hit the bed, not bothering to wake anyone else just to say he was home. He felt bad about lying to Ian about his injuries, just playing it off as a lucky break. Truth was, he just didn't know how to explain what had happened to him to them. He didn't know what that 'catch' was that Weiss had mentioned either, and he didn't know what to expect, so he decided to wait to tell them.

He sat up in his bed, stretching. Damn, I must have slept awkwardly or something, he thought, because my back hurts like hell. That's when he noticed something peculiar on his bed. It was a feather. Mitch picked it up, examining it closer. It was smooth, and pure white. Mitch began to notice that there were more feathers lining his bed as well, of all different sizes, yet they were all the same perfect white. What the hell? He thought as a look of surprise came over his face. As if on cue with his surprise, he felt something twitch behind him. At the same time, he saw something in the corner of his vision, and that made his heart skip a few beats.

He shot up out of his bed,running to stand in front of the mirror that was hanging over his dresser. No way... he thought as his eyes widened in disbelief. Because on his back... were a pair of wings.