"You're not done yet. No-no, you can rise again."

There was a muttering that came to his senses first, followed by a loud ringing. His head hurt and everything was bright. A white light enveloped him, escorting him back to the land of the conscience, it was aggravating really.

"You're not done yet." The voice came again, but it sounded more as though it was speaking to itself than him.

"Wh-what" Ossie finally managed.

"Your alive at last. You're not done?"

"Who are you?"

"Are you closed?" The voice sounded louder, speaking to him as if he was deaf. The light started to fade, and things gradually came into view, the darkness was creeping back. Ossie could feel the pounding in his head start to subside slightly, leaving behind the feeling that he was some child's dreidel.

It was still dark outside, and the rain hadn't let up any either. The only lights where that of the computer towers, and a couple of illuminated monitors. Ossie sat up with some effort and put his hand to his head. The feeling was wet, sticky. His hair was matted with blood. He let out a grunt and scanned meekly from where he sat, searching for the source of the voice. A great discomfort fell upon him when he found it. The figure was small, wearing some kind of dark cloak. He assumed that the being was female, his guess based on the knotted mess spilling out of the hood, which shrouded Its face.

As Ossie looked upon her, a feeling of forlorn  crept upon him. Much like that of the gypsies he'd seen in horror movies. The pair stared at each other for a few moments. The silence was broken as she shuffled towards him. Ossie would have scrambled back himself if he hadn't been so disorientated.

"Are you open?" She spoke at last in a soft voice.

"N-no."

The lady shook her head side to side in a rather aggressive manner. "Too bad."

Ossie flinched, the room filled with light, briefly illuminated. Lightning flashed outside, violently streaking across the sky, spreading like cracking glass. It lasted for only a few brief seconds, but that was all the time that Ossie needed to see it. To see her. It was definitely a girl, surprisingly fair underneath the mop heaped in complete disarray on her head. She appeared young, which he hadn't expected. It was her eyes however that shocked him. They were green, and cloudy, the iris contained a burst of hazel. Her eyes were intense, but It was her stare that unnerved him. It was like that of a wild animal, one that locked its sights on its prey. Ready to lunge at any moment. Wild and unpredictable.

Ossie jumped, as the thunder clapped, residing after the lightning that had brought him that now unwanted glance at this strange girl. She crept closer, kneeling over Ossie, she wasn't tall or intimidating but her presence was discomforting all the same.

"I have a mansion."

Ossie didn't respond, unsure of what she meant, what he was sure of was that she was crazy, and he had to arm himself somehow. He glanced to his left, and saw a stapler laying on the floor a few feet away. Perhaps he could wield it as a weapon. The girl's eyes traced his own looking at the lonely office supply. Than they found his and he froze.

"It's nice." She shrugged. "won't do you a lot of good but if that's what your into." The girl smiled and stood up. Leaving Ossie to tremble slightly, on the floor. He watched as she walked towards the stapler. Her stroll consisting of broken dance moves, as she proceeded along on her course. The girl stopped to do a spin, elegantly balancing on one leg, and then bent, her body parallel to the ground as she reached down for the stapler.

Lightning crackled and the girl stood to watch it. The talons of electricity scraped across the sky, then she turned her head, slowly. He couldn't see the eyes veiled beneath the hood, but the feeling of unease gripped him all the same. Ossie reached out a hand, stretching for a desk, struggling to pull himself up. She just stood watching him from across the room in silence.

He felt odd to be intimidated by such a little girl, now that he was gazing upon her from a higher perspective, he could tell that he was a good half a foot taller than her. Ossie wasn't sure what she was doing here or how she got in for that matter. It was possible he hadn't locked the door, and she followed him on his way in. He breathed heavy, aching. The pain in his head wasn't so intense anymore, but as the feeling numbed, his body made him more aware of its presence. His knee was nagging him, throbbing whenever he tried to put weight on it. He was also sure he had a decent bruise on his hip. A gift from his earlier encounter with a computer desk. Ossie leaned on the table in front of him, taking the bulk of the pain off.

The girl crossed back towards him, papers flowing up from the ground as she did so. She moved in quick jerky movements. Eager to reach him, but stopping cautiously until she was just an arm's reach in front of him. She extended the appendage which held the stapler. It hung lifelessly from her hand. He stared at her and she stared back, forcing him to back down.

"I'm not gonna eat ya. Take it."

Ossie raised one eyebrow at the awkwardness of it all, and slowly made to grab it. As soon as he clasped his hand around it, she shuddered backwards.

"I don't know what your fascination with that thing is mister-" The girls voice trembled as she took a step back, "but you can buy a whole bunch of them. You see-" she advanced on him connecting with her stare again, cheer resurfacing in her vocals, "I have a mansion for you."

"What are you talking about?" Ossie set the stapler on the desk neatly, noticing her watch him carefully as he did so.

She didn't seem to be harmful, as he had originally thought, no. But he was still uncomfortable, not able to read the situation at all. If only he could figure out what she wanted, so he could help her. Than they could both be on their way. Ossie had no further wishes to spend the rest of his night in this mausoleum, where his career died. However, the files on the desk seemed askew. He took a stack and tapped them on the table, forcing them to align under his influence. There was something calming about organizing.

"Stop it." She said losing her playful tone

"What? I'm-"

"I said Stop! Your freaking me out doctor!" The girl held out two hands, and took a deep breath, and lowered them with her exhale.

Ossie eyed her, unsure of what just took place. "Sorry, I was just trying to straighten out all this rubbish."

"leave it."

Ossie let a stack of papers drop, watching them waft to the floor.

"You are the best business man, I have a mansion for you, can you sell it?"

Could he sell it? Of course he could! He was "Oz the Wizard", he could sell anything. Well used to be able to, that was back when he still had a job. Anger surged through him. Papers filled the air fluttering down like angry moths. She stared through the rain of parchment he had created.

"you are a lot like me. You mutter a lot in your sleep."

Ossie opened his mouth to ask, but a point of her head, to where he had lay for unknown hours explained it to him. He wondered how long he was out. How long he had laid on that cold floor. Wondered whether he made the right decision or not. He glanced at the window, in retrospect he should've known he'd never make it through on his first try. Jumping through it was out of the question now, with his leg feeling the way it was. He had the feeling he wouldn't even be able to out run this girl if he needed too, despite being an all-star in track. Yes, he tried to push to be the best at everything he did, just as his father had taught him.

His father's taste for the best now disabled him from pushing his way out through the window. Ossie looked back from the glass aperture meeting her gaze.

"So can you fix the mansion? Sell it to some classy folk?"

He said nothing he just wanted to run from his old life. There was nothing left for him around here, he wasn't sure he could sell another property, he wasn't good enough.

"I gave you a stapler." She smiles glancing back at it and then at him again. She seemed childish to Ossie, and obviously had some kind of screw loose. He wasn't even sure if she was telling the truth.

"Wh-a-a-a-at about for Faye. You seemed to miss her a bunch. If not for a box of staplers, you can do it for her." Ossie's heart sank. She was long gone. More rather he wished to disappear as far away from her, forget about her.

"No mister? But you love her."

Ossie shot her a look and took a step towards her.

"Please doctor, no sir!" the girl hollered as she tumbled backwards, seeking refuge behind a desk. It was pointless for her to hide; he had collapsed forgetting that his knee couldn't take the full weight of his body. He groaned and gritted his teeth.

"Don't say anything more about her, that floozy and I are through."

"Oh, sorry mister, your friend than. Do it for that Oscar fellow."

Ossie let out a week laugh. Boy did she know how to hit him. Seriously, was she sent here for the sole purpose of ridicule, to remind him of his suffering. When he only wished to dismiss everything his old life contained from his memory.

It was hard though, he didn't know anything else, he grew up raised by his father, no trained by his father. To do one thing, he was never truly happy, how could he be when he was never truly loved. Thus began his obsession, giving in to his father's whims, work for himself, work hard, be the best, and then, surely than and only than he would gain his admiration. Than he met Faye. He ignored her at first, but she was just too interested, and they just made to good a pair. For the first time, he felt free, there was more to life. Most of all he felt love, and he was alive. His father saw it all other wise. No good would come of love, it was a distraction, a crutch. He didn't think it possible. Faye became a wedge that drove them even farther apart. Now he was gone, she was gone, the legacy he helped build, his crowning, the peak of his efforts, they were all gone... No he didn't think that he could do it, as far as he knew he himself was gone too.

"Mister!"

Ossie must have spaced out, staring into the oblivion. She was rocking back and forth on her heels, lightly tapping her hand on a desk in front of her, she was obviously getting impatient,

"Are you the wizard or not? I have a mansion that needs your magic, if you leave now you can still catch Jack."

Pfft. Leave now. That was all he wished to do. Ossie glanced back towards the window, the pavement outside beckoning him. He gave up all thought about using that route. That route, was blocked by his father.

The reflection's stare bore into him, his eyes cold. He stood with his arms crossed, muscles bulging beneath his suit. The scowl could barely be seen beneath the thick white beard.

"You planning to run?" the voice came with thunder, shaking the very room.

"Leave me alone."

Oscar Godwyn took a step in the air reaching one hand out to touch the glass. Lightning streaked across the sky tracing a new crack in the window. He was trying to get in. The ghost of Oscar Godwyn was coming for him.

"What do you want!" Ossie shouted, making a run for it. He collapsed to the floor, his knee throbbing. He looked up to see his father staring down at him, then like a cold gust of wind, a chill swept through the room. He heard Oscar's last words disappear with him on the wind.

"Finish what you started."

Ossie laid on the floor, breathing heavy he rolled over to see the gypsy girl standing over him, a hand out stretched.

"Come on mister wizard."

"D-did you- "

"Apparitions created inside your head, also known as hallucinations. Hallucination, an experience involving the apparent perception of something nonexistent."

Ossie stared at the young lady, her hand still offered to him.

Am I crazy? He thought to himself. Ossie began to entertain the thought, maybe there was another option. Maybe he could leave. He replayed her words inside his head.

She said he was the best, she recognized him as the wizard. Oz the wizard. She came for him, not that "Oscar fellow". His father wanted him to finish what he started. Yes, he would take the job, he would leave, he would rise again, and most of all, he would be the best.

Ossie grasped her hand, and with astonishing strength she helped pull him to his feet. He glimpsed the desk as he rose. Yes, he could have his own office again, his own building even. He locked eyes with her, and of course he would have his own fleet of staplers. He was going to leave it all behind.

"I Ossie Godwyn am open."

"You'll do it?" a wide grin growing across her face.

He nods, thunder clapping as he shook her hand. The veins of lightning pulsing once more on the grey sky. Neither of them flinched. She tilted her head to the side, her smirk beaming.

"Nice, then follow me."

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Hey everyone! sorry to break the trance, I really appreciate all of you who made it this far and those who haven't, but mostly the ones who have ;) If you guys/girls can comment and let me know what you think, it'd make me very happy. [constructive criticism is good too]

(Ossie could hear the clip clop of hooves echo on the lonely cobblestone. Creeping closer and closer... Jack... Please stay tuned for chapter five!)