Chapter thirty one- Reality

 Hakuryuu... Ashlyn was still crying. The scene around her changed, the white room surrounding her once again. She didn't care. "Send me back." She was sitting on the ground on her legs, her face covered by her hands, muffling her voice.

"What was that, dear?" The unnamed man asked quietly. Even he seemed to be upset at the scene that had just played out.

"Please..." Ashlyn looked up at him from where she sat on the floor, "You must be some kind of god or something...I can't just...Please send me back. I can't just leave like that."

"I can't. I'm not a god."

"Then what the hell are you?!" Ashlyn snapped. "You can do something, can't you?! You have a lot of explaining to do!"

"I know, I know." The man smiled sadly. "I cannot help you. I'm merely a being created from your thoughts."

"My thoughts...?"

"Yes."

"Then...you're not real?" Ashlyn wiped her face. "But I'm dead, right?"

"Well..." The man sighed. "It's a bit more complicated than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I've got one last thing to show you," The man offered her a hand. Ashlyn gingerly accepted it and stood.

The room changed again. A steady beeping rang in Ashlyn's ears. She looked around to find they were in a white room, with glass windows on one side. "Is this...a hospital?"

"Mhm."

There was lots of equipment everywhere, several of the machines were attached to a girl lying in the hospital bed. She had overgrown brown hair and pale white skin. The heartbeat monitor beside the bed beeped steadily. Ashlyn frowned, the girl looked extremely familiar. She walked over to the end of the bed and grabbed the clipboard. She scanned over the text, Admission date: March 20th, 2015. Patient admitted on drug overdose. Declared brain dead.

Ashlyn's breathing sped up. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. March 20th? Drug overdose...? She gasped and dropped the clipboard as a sharp pain radiated from her head to her toes. Ashlyn felt herself getting lightheaded. She could feel someone catch her as she fell.

~

Ashlyn was walking home from the local library. She'd just checked out the most recent volumes of her favorite manga, 'Magi'. She was very excited to have a few hours before her mom came home from work to reread them. "I'm home~!" She sang to herself.

"Ashlyn. Why are you home from school so late?" Ashlyn froze. Her mother was home early. Fired for drinking on the job. She blamed Ashlyn for her own mistake, rewarding the teen with a slap. Accused her of wasting her life 'worthless' life on books. Told the teen she won't be getting dinner that night.

Ashlyn ran up to her room, crying. "I'm sick of this..." She sobbed, tossing her backpack into her room. What a great birthday, huh? She looked longingly at the now scattered 'Magi' books. If only I could be in their world. Imagine meeting Hakuryuu? The teen smiled a little at the thought. The fictional black haired prince was her favorite character. "That'll never happen though..." She was dragged back to reality. More tears fell from her eyes. I'm done dealing with this... It's my birthday, and she doesn't even remember. Not like that's the only problem with this picture.

She entered the white tiled bathroom and knelt in front of the cabinet under the sink. Everything in the upstairs bathroom was white. Ashlyn hated it. It was almost painful to look at. The way the light bounced off every surface. She began digging through the cabinet. "Shampoo, body wash, hand soap..." She listed as she pushed the bottles aside. "Bleach..." Ashlyn paused, holding the 'Clorox' bottle in her lap. I hear that's super painful to drink... She grimaced at the thought. Nevermind. She sighed and stood, moving on to the cabinet behind the mirror above the sink. "Pills, pills, pills. What a surprise, Mom." She sifted through the pill bottles. "Aha...Sleeping pills." Ashlyn picked up one of the orange tinted bottles. Sleeping forever? Sounds nice...

Ashlyn fumbled with the childproof top, popping it off and tossing it aside. She took a shaky breath, looking into the bottle. It was close to empty, twenty or so pills left. Reading the dosage limit she chuckled darkly, "Twenty is close to two, right?" She bite her lip nervously. More tears. She didn't want to die, but anything to escape her life was good enough for her. Bottoms up.

~

"N-None...None of that was real?" Ashlyn's voice cracked. "I-It was all fake? A dream? All...All of that was just...a manga..." She remembered everything now. Every last detail from her life. "Is...Is that why when I remembered things about...M-Magi...it was in black and white?" She looked at the white haired man in shock.

"I'm sorry, darling."

Ashlyn clenched her teeth. "And I...I killed myself..."

"You're still alive, sort of." The man spoke. Ashlyn realized he reminded her of Undertaker from Black Butler. The reaper was another favorite of hers, no wonder he'd end up some creation of her thoughts. "You're being kept alive by those machines." He pointed to the ventilator.

"A coma..." Ashlyn's throat felt like it was closing.

Suddenly, a woman entered the room. She was tall, with brown hair and matching eyes. "Hi, Ashlyn, honey..." Ashlyn recognized her instantly.

"Mom." Her tone was cold and hard.

"Happy birthday, sweetie." Her mother placed a bouquet of brightly colored flowers on the bedside table. "Not only that, it's an anniversary for me too." She smiled sadly. "I'm still clean. No drinking anymore."

Ashlyn swallowed hard, "She didn't care until I died." She grew angry, "Serves her right."

"She's clean, though. She stopped drinking once she found out." The Undertaker-based man reminded.

"I don't care." Now having all her memories back, Ashlyn felt she didn't regret her suicide. Although she was deeply pained to realize everything she'd experienced with Hakuryuu and everyone else was a lie. She could've sworn it was real. All the pain, the love, the hate. All of it. All lies. Merely a dream, likely induced by her drugged state.

"Are you sure?" The man asked, "Our thoughts are the same now, you know."

Ashlyn realized her mother hadn't noticed the two of them yet, and was continuing to talk with Ashlyn's body. "Why can't she hear us?"

"We're not real."

"What even is 'real' anymore?"

"What you're seeing, the girl in the hospital bed, that's real. She's you."

"Wait a minute," Ashlyn realized something. "You're the one who told me you'd grant me one wish."

"Yes...That's true."

"Are you the part of me that wanted to die that day? Like...my suicidal thoughts or something?"

"Something like that."

"Then why would you say you're on my side? You made me kill myself!"

"I didn't do anything. I just came up with the idea." The man shrugged.

"This is your fault."

"If it's my fault, and I'm you, doesn't that make it your fault?"

"What...?"

"Anyway, look." The man pointed to the doorway. "It's too late."

A doctor was talking with her mother, who was crying her eyes out. "...I think it might be time, Mrs. It's been ten years."

 Ten years?! Ashlyn gasped.

"Y-You said I could keep her here however long I wanted!" Her mother weaped.

"That's right. I can't force you to do anything. It's just a suggestion."

"I-I can't...She might..." They both knew it was hopeless. "Alright..." Her mother agreed sadly. "How does this work?"

"We just turn the ventilator over there off. I'll give you the honors." The doctor walked farther into the room.

"Ok..." Ashlyn panicked a bit as her mother walked over to say her goodbyes. "I'm sorry I didn't realize, sweetie. I know it doesn't change anything...Goodnight." She reached her hand over and flipped a switch on the ventilator.

"No!" Ashlyn jumped forward, but stopped as the machines slowed to a stop.

She looked back at the Undertaker-like man, but he was already fading away.

Ashlyn watched, tears in her eyes again. She was sad that her 'Magi' world wasn't real, but she was terrified of what would happen next. She didn't know what would happen to her now. Do I go to Heaven? Hell? Nothingness? Do I stay in this ghost-ish form forever? She almost didn't want to find out. "I want to go back!" She cried, falling to her knees. She wept into her hands, not caring about anything going on around her. Not like they could see her anyway. "I just want to go back..."

Why couldn't I get a happy ending?

~

Author's Note-

And...That's the end.

Song, just for the hell of it- Gospel by Panic! at the Disco