The final attempt. The conclusion.

You were ballroom dancing.

Bella wore the most beautiful prom dress you've ever seen. You were still in your casual clothes, looking like an out of place idiot.

But she was happy, being here, dancing with you.

You were both at a carnival in the middle of the night. The flashing colorful lights really brought the area to life, and all the faceless people who were around were spectating.

"This has been such a wonderful day... It was perfect..." Bella whispered gratefully, her head laying on your chest as she swayed with you to the rhythm of the song.

You wish you could say the same, but instead petted her head, making sure her last moments in this dream would be the best moments she ever had.

At this point, you weren't even following any plan or script anymore. You had no idea what else to do. All you could think of was just to kiss Bella and hug her to make her feel happy.

Your last two attempts nearly ruined everything. Yet you still couldn't think of a way to purge her Inner Demon.

You were so confused... Why wasn't any of your suggestions working?

Promising her that you'll never cheat or leave Bella makes her more **** to make sure you meant it, since her first boyfriend constantly made the same empty promises over and over again before ultimately breaking his promise.

All of your compliments and attempts at boosting her confidence doesn't seem to work, as she gets overwhelmed and **** because she thinks you're setting up expectations for her that she has to live up to. No matter how many times you tell her she was already desirable the way she was, she doesn't seem to truly believe it in her heart.

You thought having sex with her would be the answer, but instead, it only reminded her of her second boyfriend when she denied him sex because she wasn't emotionally ready, and she thought it was her fault for that he cheated on her for being too boring. She didn't want to make the same mistake as last time, **** to please you but panicked because she had no idea how.

And in each and every one of those attempts, no matter what you do, she still thinks you'll leave her at the drop of a hat the moment Samantha comes by.

Why? Why was she so utterly convinced you would still leave her even though you've done everything to prove that you only wanted to stay with her?

Think, man, think! What are you doing wrong?!

Come on, what are you missing from this picture?

You search in your memories every single time her Inner Demon showed up.

Each time you fell in its trance, there were always two versions of it. One that controlled your mind to think that it was some beautiful slut lady, the other being the black spectral of what you can only assume was it's real form.

Each time it spoke to torment Bella, it always reveals what Bella's inner thoughts or memories were.

This whole time, you were completely focused on trying to understand and make sense of what her any of her inner thoughts secretly mean. But you always came up with nothing.

You already know Bella hates Samantha and her two ex-boyfriends. You also already know that Bella is convinced that it was her own fault for not being good enough, not being more sexy and desirable like Samantha.

But you were missing something...

What even is Samantha?! Why was Bella always worried about losing to her when that damn bitch wasn't even in her life anymore?!

Why was she always scared about losing to her-

Wait... Losing?

Losing... Losing...

Bella! You lost to me again! No matter who it is, I will take everyone away from you!

That's right... That's what the Inner Demon said to torment Bella-

Wait a minute...

No way... You were completely focusing on the wrong thing.

Holy shit... Holy shit, that was it!

Everytime her Inner a Demon shows up, you always see two versions of it, right?!

You've been thinking about this the wrong way! You shouldn't have only been focusing on the dark black spectral side of it, you should also been paying attention to what Sexy Lady side of it was saying!

An Inner Demon isn't it's own seperate being, you remember that now. The only reason why it exist is because of Bella. It's a part of Bella. It's as much Bella as Bella is to herself.

Her Inner Demon was Bella's inner thoughts. Both sides of it, not just the black spectral one.

Both sides.

You know how to fix this...

"I understand you now." You told Bella, stopping in the middle of your romantic dance together. "I finally understand!"

"John?" She looked up at you curiously.

"Heheheh... Hahahaha... HAHAHA!" You were completely elated, and relieved at the same time. You also felt like the stupidest person in the world for not figuring this out sooner. But you also felt like a goddamn genius!

"John, what's wrong?" Bella worriedly held a hand up to your cheek, probably thinking you must have gone crazy or something.

You grabbed her hand and tenderly rubbed your fingers across her's. "You're completely jealous of her, aren't you? That Samantha girl?"

Bella widened her eyes in fear, letting you go and slowly backing away, "Why... Why are you bringing her up? Why now?"

"You hate her. You absolutely positively hate her, there's no doubts about that." You went on to explain with a smile, "But you also wished you were more like her. You wished you were as sexy and attractive as her. You wished you were just as good as her, because if you were, you'd never have to worry about anyone cheating on you ever again."

"Stop it!"

"You try your hardest to be like her, try to be sexy and desirable, trying so hard to prove to anyone who was willing to spare their attention to you that you were better than her!"

"STOP IT, JOHN! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" She screamed at you, tears forming in her eyes and she covered her ears, "Why?! Why are you talking about her?! Everything was perfect between us, so why?!"

"I can't stop, Bella! Because if I do now, I'll never be able to stop you from tormenting yourself like this!"

Everything was quiet.

All the lights in the carnival turned off.

Bella started breathing heavily again, collapsed to her knees in pain.

The sky turns completely black, not a single star or moon in sight.

She looked up at you- No... She looked up behind you, feeling absolute terror.

Her Inner Demon's arrived.

But this time was intentional. You wanted it come.

You turned around to face the Inner Demon once and for all.

A beautiful sex goddessA terrifying black spectral with a face-

No. You see it for what it truly is.

Instead of being **** to, you walk up to her Inner Demon completely on your own volition.

"W-wait! John?!" You heard Bella call out behind you, "NO! John, I'm so sorry! Please, I won't scream at you again! Please come back!"

You pushed on, your sights set forward on her Inner Demon.

"Mmm, yeah baby, come to me! I'll satisfy you so good in a way that other girl can't even dream of achievingEveryone leaves me eventually. I'm not good enough. I'm never good enough. No matter what I do, I can't beat her..."

"JOHN!" Bella screamed as loud as possible to convince you to return, "COME BACK, PLEASE! I'M SORRY! I PROMISE I'LL BE BETTER! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE MEE!"

You notice how hazy your vision was. Everything in the dream was slowly getting swallowed by darkness. The sense of dread and anger filled the air, spurring you to run faster to her Inner Demon.

You gotta hurry before she wakes up. If she wakes up, it's all over. Everything that's happened here so far will be for nothing.

"Yes! Yes! I knew you would choose me over her! Hurry to me and I'll make you all mineI'm never good enough to beat her. I'll never even compare to her. I'm boring. I'm pathethic. I'm worthless. Compared to her, I'll always be nothing..."

You sprint across the dreamscape as fast as you possibly can, even as you felt gravity shifting and making feel like you were floating.

"John... Why did you leave me?" You heard Bella's soft broken voice echo around you.

You knew what you were doing. You just gotta hurry, almost there!

"...John..."

You reached closer to the Inner Demon, the two images of it conforming into one single person. A person you recognized, a person who's familiar to you after you've spent all this time with her in her dreams.

Finally. Finally you can see her. Her true self.

"I'm not going to leave you! BELLA!" You screamed back, "I LOVE YOU!"

You reached out and hugged her Inner Demon.

Everything in the world stops.

You take back control of her dream, and **** her to stay asleep just a little bit longer.

Gravity shifts back to normal, and you land on your feet as you held her Inner Demon closely in your arms.

The sky turns back to normal, and the Sun comes back to shine a ray of light on you.

The shadow that was swallowing the entire dream world receded back as the sun started shining brighter than ever.

The Bella far behind you stops crying, looking up at you in confusion. "What...?"

You hugged her Inner Demon tightly, whispering in her ear, "You're Bella Cardigan, aren't you?"

The Bella behind you, the one you've been dancing with, watching movies with, had a picnic with, she disappeared without a trace.

The Bella in your arms though, she opened her eyes and leaned back to look at you.

It wasn't the teenage Bella you've been hanging out with this whole time in your dream. It was Miss Cardigan, your adult history teacher. The one from the real world.

"I'm... I'm Bella Cardigan?" She asked, like she was unsure of the answer herself.

You knew it. You've been going at it wrong this whole time.

You brushed a strand of her hair away and took her glasses off. Then you kissed her to your heart's content.

She kissed back, although not as strongly as she was before. She seemed lost, confused, like a newborn baby. But she still trusted you enough to embrace you as she returned your kiss.

You have some idea what was going on right now. Her entire mind is wide open and clear, completely **** and exposed. In this state of mind, you could tell her anything you wanted and she would believe you without a second thought.

Now was your chance to manipulate her dream and plant your idea inside of her.

A small suggestion. Something that might not actually be true in real life, but something she needs to believe in order to purge her paranoid jealousy away.

You've seen enough of her face by now to guess what she sort of looks like. You concentrated, forming a person to appear behind her.

A girl. A young teenage girl who wore the same school uniform as Miss Cardigan once did back when she was a teenager.

Samantha.

You gently turned Miss Cardigan around, "Bella, I think you need to have a heartfelt talk face to face with someone."

When Bella saw your fake dream version of Samantha, she stepped back in shock and had a brief look of fear. But you calmed her down by pressing your hands on her shoulders to reassure her that you were here to protect her.

"H-Hey there... Bella." You made your dream puppet awkwardly wave with a guilty expression. "It's... been a while, hasn't it?"

"S-Samantha?" Bella looked closer, almost unable to believe her eyes. "What... What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since University."

"Heh... Yeah... I've been, like, away and stuff." Samantha Puppet said vaguely, before continuing, "Look, I have something to tell you... So please just shut up and listen, okay? It's hard for me to admit it."

Bella frowned, but nodded.

You made your Samantha Puppet give a nervous sigh, "I... I'm sorry I stole Oliver and Erin from you. I'm sorry I made them cheat on you."

"W... What?" Bella whispered in shock.

"I just couldn't stand it. Seeing you so happy and being in love and stuff. Look, I'm just gonna straight out admit it; I'm jealous of you, okay?! There. I said it." Samantha admitted with frustration in her tone, "Now it's out in the open. Happy?"

Bella slowly walked up to Samantha, "You were jealous... of me?"

"Of course I was, you idiot!" Samantha snapped, "I was completely jealous of you! Everytime I see you, I always hated how... how stupidly cute and pretty you were. And how you had an actual love life and everything." She turned away with a huff, "And here I was, sitting in the corner, picking up boys who only want me for sex and nothing else. It's pathethic."

"But... But I thought you..."

"You thought I was what? Sexy? Confident? Perfect? Someone so good, she could steal all of your boyfriends without even trying? Yeah right..." Samantha scoffed, "I'm a joke compared to you. Oliver and Erin actually really liked you for who you were. They only went after me because they were horny bastards, and I used my body to take advantage of them. Now those two idiots think they're hot shit, just because I let them fuck me. They moved on to the next girl the moment they got bored of me."

You have no idea if anything you're making her say is true or not, but you really really hoped Miss Cardigan didn't question any of it and just believed every single word.

Miss Cardigan had a considerate look, taking in all the information. "Wow... I never knew... This whole time, I was... I considered... I was so scared that I wasn't..."

"Hmph. Now you know." Samantha harrumphed as she turned her back to Miss Cardigan, "Look... Just forget about everything that happened back then, all right? Because of me, you ended up turning out to be such depressive bitch who can't even land a guy in her thirties anymore. I can't stand how easy it was to make you topple so far down. Makes me feel like I got jealous to a nobody." You made Samantha walk slowly away, before getting her to briefly glance back, "You're better than you think you are. Better than me, at least."

Miss Cardigan watched on with a gaping mouth as Samantha disappeared from view.

Phew... Ouch... Glad that was over. It took every ounce of concentration you had to keep that image up. Man, faking a location is a lot easier than faking a person. Especially someone you don't even know that well, or never even met in the first place.

Now that everything was said and done...

You kissed Miss Cardigan on the cheek to grab her attention.

She turned back towards you, looking like she just had her mind blown and gained a new perspective on life itself.

"John, how did you... How did you manage to find her?" She asked you.

"Oh, uh, well, you know... Uhh..." You stuttered, quickly coming up with a lie, "Facebook?"

She smiled and laughed as soon as she heard that, wrapping her arms around me to cuddle with.

I hugged her back, savoring the pleasant silence now that everything was finally over.

My history teacher's going to be just fine... I can feel it.

"John." A familiar voice called out to you. You looked around to see John hold his wrist up, "Good work and all, but hurry and wrap things up smoothly. It's almost time for her to wake up."

Right...

"Bella-" you began to say, only for her to interrupt you.

"I love you too."

...

Wait what?

You looked at her in surprise, "What?!"

She giggled, "Earlier, you told me that you loved me. I love you too."

Oh... Right, you did tell her that in the heat of the moment, didn't you? You almost forgot.

"I can't believe I fell in love with one of my own students..." She blushed, "I hope you feel lucky right now."

"Uh- Well- Yeah. I kinda do, actually." You chuckled embarassingly.

BRING RING RING RING RING RING RING

A loud ringing interrupted your cheerful moment, and the dream starts to become blurry.

"Oh... I have to go wake up now..." Miss Cardigan sighed sadly, before giving you one last kiss on the lips, "Thanks for taking me out on this date. I had a lot of fun."

"Y-Yeah, anytime." You stammered.

"I won't ever forget this." She pulled away from you and started waving as the space between you two grew in distance, "Sweet dreams, John!"

"I'll see you later in school!" You waved goodbye to her.

She slowly fades out from existence.

You open your eyes.

You're back in the labyrinth again.

John was already there, waiting for you on a sofa seat with a giant bucket full of popcorn.

"That was the best fucking romance movie I've ever seen." He complimented, stuffing his face full of popcorn. "I'd give it a 4 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes though. Not enough sex scenes."

"Shut up." You grunted.

He chuckled, tossing the popcorn away and standing up to face you. "In all serious, congratulations John. You've managed to handle that with more finesse that I thought we were capable of having."

"Thanks, I guess..." You shrug, before asking, "So what happens now?"

"Well, for starters, Miss Cardigan's going to be completely in love with you once she wakes up. So, nice job there. Secondly, her Inner Demon has now shrunken to the size of that none-existent dollar bill that I said you lost earlier. So, also nice job there."

You sighed in relief, "Fuck, what a trip this has been."

"I'll say." He chuckles, "Man, wait until Carl and Sigmund hear about this. I can finally settle a bet between the three of us now."

"What? Who?"

He waved you away, "Bah, you'll meet them in another life. Anyway, it's almost time to wake up. Relax and have some fun in the real world. Get another blowjob from your sister. God knows you deserve one after everything you went through..."

Before you could even say anything in response-

"John! Shelly! Wake up! I made Saturday breakfast!"

You opened your eyes, calmly yawning and stretching your arms and legs. "I'm up!" You shouted back to your mom.

You felt like you had a really tiring, yet satisfying dream... Can't seem to remember any of it though...

Ah whatever, it's a Saturday. At least you don't have to go to school.