The Evil Within

Goodbye

The bright flash that signaled Jack's defeat quickly faded away as Sara's eyes readjusted and Stephanie and JaCorey regained consciousness. When they finally got to see normally, they came across a most horrible sight- Jack, on the floor and bloodied.

"Jack!" Sara shouted as she rushed over to Jack. He could barely keep his eyes open, let alone try to move. Sara sat down, and slowly rested his head on her lap as this could possibly be the last time they could interact. "...Are you okay?"

"...Man... You really did a number on me with that move." Jack slowly said as the white aura around Sara faded.

"You don't say... But you remember what happened?" Sara asked.

"Control, power, the battle... Everything. And I had no control whatsoever..." Jack slowly replied before coughing up blood.

"Are you okay?!" Sara asked, worried as JaCorey finished a 911 call.

"The ambulance is making it's way here." JaCorey said.

"...Heh heh... I'm afraid, it might be too late..." Jack slowly chuckled as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"What?! No!" Sara shouted. "No no no no no, please don't die on me!"

"...I'm sorry sis, but... I'm afraid I just won't last this long... Even if I still had that aura..." Jack slowly said.

"No, just try to stay alive. The medics are trying their best to get here." Sara said, tears in her eyes.

"I don't know if they'll make it through the school though. You really ravaged the place Jack, maybe even messed up the staircases a bit." Stephanie said sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry sis... But my time has come..." Jack struggled to say.

"No! Please, please don't die!" Sara said, not wanting to lose her brother. Jack slowly held his hand out and Sara gently clasped it. "...Please..."

"...Goodbye... Sara..." Were Jack's final words before he shut his eyes for good. His hand went limp, and Sara gently set it down, knowing Jack was gone.

"...Goodbye..." Sara said before she began weeping. A few seconds later, she felt an arm on her shoulder. Ceasing the tears, she looked at her shoulder to see a skeletal hand there in a comforting position. That hand belonged to the grim reaper, who gave Sara a reassuring look.

"...I'm... So sorry this had to happen..." He slowly said in a dry, hoarse voice. "But you can never stop death once it starts... Your brother-"

"Foster brother." Sara slowly corrected.

"Thank you. Now I was saying, your foster brother lived the most he could out of his life... And I understand that he had no control of his body at the moment. I watched the whole incident play out, and I wish... Oh how I wish I could have done something, but I was powerless... The most I can do, is take his soul to the right place, and because he had no control... Because he was an innocent spirit... He is destined for heaven..." The grim reaper said, trying to comfort Sara. "...May he forever rest in peace..."

"...Thank you so much..." Sara said before hugging the hooded skeleton, who returned the embrace. It only lasted a few seconds before they parted to let the grim reaper do his job. He took his scythe, and slowly dug it into Jack's chest, fishing for his soul. He later pulled it out in the form of a white ball of light, before stowing it in one of two satchels; one labeled "heaven" and one labeled "hell", and he had placed it in the heaven satchel.

"...Goodbye, dear mortal..." The grim reaper said before he vanished in the blink of an eye. Tears still running down her face, she embraced Jack's limp body for a few seconds before she set him on the ground. She crossed his arms before planting a kiss on his cold forehead.

"...Rest in peace... Jack..." Sara said, full of sorrow as medics arrived to see what had happened. "...He's gone..." Sara said somberly as a medic walked over and felt no pulse from Jack.

"We will take him to a funeral home, once we clean him off, but I'm so sorry this had to happen, but are you perhaps related to him?" The medic asked.

"He's my foster brother, and I shared close ties with him." Sara said, wiping away the last of her tears. "When and where will he be at?"

"Probably in three days, at the Vermuelen funeral home in Plymouth." The medic replied before hugging Sara to give her comfort. He parted so he could assist in carrying away Jack, but not before Sara stopped them. In one of his pockets, was a locket that contained Jack's and Sara's pictures. She held it in her hand; it was something to remember Jack, her brother...

"I'm so surprised that he kept this all that time... In memory... I shall set it in here..." Sara said to herself as she set the opened locket on the spot where the grim reaper collected Jack's soul, and she, JaCorey and Stephanie simply joined the medics as a voice echoed through Sara's head, a familiar one...

"Thank you Sara, for doing what you did..." It said.

"You're welcome... Jack..." Sara simply said to herself as she headed out of the school. Looking back, she saw a familiar ghost peek out one of the broken windows, waving at her. She waved back before turning back around as the ghost assumably vanished from sight, a new paranormal addition to the school that would stay behind beyond the school's reconstruction, and memorialize the events that happened there...

The End