SUNNYVALE

(51) WELCOME TO THE OTHER DIMENSION

Sam wakes up lying down on a couch, with a familiar setting presenting itself to her: it was the Morgan's household, only it seemed to much different now. 

Not only the impressions inside her body were much different, but also her vision that seemed like it was slow with a quickly-changing world around her. The furniture were exactly the same than when she would come and pick Kristie up because she and Alex were playing PlayStation together. 

Speaking of which, the brunette appears, her piercing blue eyes almost smiling as much as her lips. 

"Hey, Sammy, you okay?"

This is when the memories from what happened near the river came back into her mind: last thing she remembers was waking up at the exact same place next to Shelina and Christen, only to have a blackout until now. 

Weird thing was that her wound had totally dissappeared.

Frowning, Sam remains silent, not sure why a ghost would talk to her - could ghosts even talk? 

At her great surprise, another familiar face appears: Leah Williamson, with who she has been to grade school with, brings her some the, her face deformed by a smirk as she realised Sam's face now. 

"Do you think she will faint again?" the Brit asks Alex, who cracks a smile. 

"Nah, she should be fine now" the brunette says. As Leah hands Sam a drink - and this time, she would feel Leah's fingers as she grabs the mug she was handing her - Alex adds: "You must be very confused."

Sam frowns.

"Y-you two are d-dead" she settles, closing her eyes.

"You're not going crazy, if that's what you're wondering right now" Leah immediately says, putting a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder.

But this didn't have the expected effect, as Sam gets on her feet, terrified. 

"This isn't possible, h-how-"

"You are in an alternate dimension" Alex slowly explains to her, nodding her head slowly. Forcing Sam to sit down again and then getting in front of her, she says: "You're where Kelley's victims go when they are killed by shadows - we have been living there ever since, and could only return to the other dimension in a ghost form. We tried to warn you, but-"

"Wait a second" Sam orders, burying her face in between her hands, "Does that mean..."

Of course she was right.

When Kristie appears at the door, Sam immediately runs to her sister and basically jumps into her arms, crying like a baby. Unused to such a display of feelings, Kristie nevertheless hugs her sister back, her smile illuminating the whole room.

Pulling away, Sam dries her tears and asks:

"H-how...? I-I don't understand-?"

"You are in the In-Between, Sammy" Kristie carefully explains, as the sensation on her sister's shoulders seemed too real to be true. But it was, and Kristie then say something Sam will never forget: "This is a dimension that was created when the curse was spelt over Sunnyvale, where the souls are not quite dead yet, neither are they alive..."

"But... y-you?"

"I am in a coma because of the drugs. The only way to uncover what was going on and escape the grip of being possessed was to overdose and getting to the In-Between"

"B-but, you did this on p-purpose...?"

Kristie nods.

"Listen, I will explain everything later - but for now there is something you must see."

***

In the meantime, in the real world and the usual dimension, two weeks had gone by already, as time in the In-Between was very slow compared to the normal timeline. 

Kristie was still in a coma, while her sister, Shelina Zadorsky and Christen Press disappears from the surface of the earth. The new town's sheriff, Mary Zadorsky, efforts to find her daughter and the other teenagers that disappeared was useless up till now. Meanwhile, Kelley O'Hara had also disappeared, as rumours has it she fled from Sunnyvale to escape her violent father. 

Abby, on the other hand, did not disappear: indeed, as soon as her friends and one of her lovers disappeared, Crystal was brought to the hospital with a deep wound on the stomach. Tierna was the first person she saw after being discharged from the private clinic she was hospitalised in, and Abby's heart broke when she heard about what happened to the others, especially Sammy. For two weeks, Tierna and her have spent almost every day together, trying to find a way to bring the third part of their relationship back. 

Crystal went back home about a week ago, under the care of her mother, who is a nurse. The only times Abby and Tierna were able to visit her, she would just stare into emptiness, convinced that she had lost Shelina forever. 

Consumed by guilt, Crystal and Abby had in common a deep sense of responsibility for what happened to the others - but, opposingly to Crystal, Abby was determined to find a way to bring them back from wherever they went. 

Tierna, who was studying some books in the living room with Tobin, did not notice it when Abby enters their house, as the door was opened and nobody else was there. 

"Oh, Dahlkemper, long time no see" Tobin ironically says, raising her eyebrows.

Let's put it this way: although Tobin knew from the moment they saw them together that her little sister and the blonde were in love, she wasn't too fond of Tierna dating one of Satan's heir, whose sister was the devil incarnate. 

Abby blushes, as Tierna gets up and hugs her tightly, before saying:

"Good news: I don't think Sam and the others are dead"

"Mh okay" Abby lets out, confused, "but where are they then?"

Tobin takes over, feeling like this wasn't moving quickly enough:

"This old-ass book says that the witch, while casting her bloody spell, created another dimension in the process without meaning to, where her victims go once they're slayed by the shadows."

"And how is that a good news that they're there exactly?" Abby insists, frowning. 

"Well" Tierna continues before Tobin gets the change to do so, "all this time, the ghosts were not threatening us - they were trying to warn us. And I am sure they are helping our friends right now. We gotta have faith."

Abby feels her eyes getting filled by tears.

"How can I have faith when I am responsible for all of it?" she asks, before bursting out of the room. 

When Tierna runs after her, she is already long gone in the starry night.