"You've got a visitor."

Josh looked up at the guard in the white jacket, surprised. He hadn't had any visitors since he was put into the Smithson Institute, a high security mental institution. He had received phone calls from his parents, but never had anyone come to see him before. He stood up and walked toward the guard, his arms in front of him, wrists together. As the guard put the handcuffs on him, the possibilities ran through his mind. Could his parents be there? Was it anyone from the lodge, anyone who suffered from his prank? Could it be Sam? His heart ached to think of his friend, and the woman he had fallen for over that year after his sisters went missing. Did she forgive him? Could she be there to see him? He followed the guard down the hall to the meeting room, a room separated by bullet-proof glass and a pair of gray phones so each person could talk to each other. As he sat down, he saw the person who had come to see him, and his heart sank a little. He was happy someone had come to see him, but he had hoped it was Sam.

Chapter 1: Chris

"Hey, man."

"Hey." Josh spoke back into the phone receiver, trying to sound as normal as possible. "What're you doing here?"

"You know, just wanted to see how you're doing."

"Gotcha."

The silence weighed heavily on them for a moment, until Chris broke it again. "So, how *are* you doing in here?"

Josh's head bobbed up and down in a nod. "I'm good. They got me on a new kind of medicine. Brexipatrol, or something. It's helping."

"It is?"

"Yeah. Haven't been seeing things, been thinking more clearly."

"So, you ready to get out?" There was a hint of concern in Chris's voice, almost like he was testing Josh.

"No, I need to be in here. After what I… after what happened. I need to get healthy. I'm not there yet."

Chris nodded. "Do you remember much of anything from… the incident?"

Josh slowly shook his head, hanging it in shame. "I… yeah. I remember all of it."

"Crazy." The way he said it, Josh know he meant the situation. He still inwardly flinched a little. "So you know that Emily and Matt are…"

Josh waited for a moment after Chris had trailed off. "… no. Emily and Matt are what?"

"They broke up. Had this *super* huge fight once classes started out in the quad. They can't even be in the same room together anymore."

"No. God, really? Is it… is it my fault?"

"What? No." Chris waived his hand dismissively. "Everyone knew they weren't going to last. If it wasn't that, it was gonna be something else."

Josh's head fell again, and he slowly shook his head.

"It shouldn't have been me, though. I shouldn't have put them in that…"

"Stop." Chris cut him off. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known they were gonna climb up the freakin' fire tower." He shook his head. "Mike and Jess are still together. What happened made them a whole lot closer, I think."

"Really?" He looked up to face Chris.

"Yeah. They seem to talk about more than just sex now."

Josh couldn't contain a chuckle. "Well, that's good." Silence encompassed the two for a minute before he broke it again, hesitation in his voice. "So, uh, you and Ash?"

A small smile broke on Chris's face. "Yeah. Me and Ash."

"How'd it happen?"

"Well, she kissed me that night, right before I…" Chris paused, not sure if he wanted to bring up anything specific about that night. "Well, about a month after, she came to see me. I think I was the first person she saw."

"She was gone for a month?"

"We needed time to process what happened. But she did, and she came to see me first."

"And then you guys got together? A little making out?"

Chris let out a small chuckle. "Well, that's what it started as. She said she didn't want to waste time anymore, so we…" His smile widened.

"Yes!" Josh's hand flew up in a fist, his smile wider than it had been for longer than he can remember. "Yes! I'm proud of you, Cochise! I knew you had it in ya!"

Chris waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I wasn't in it for that. I… I love her, ya know."

Josh nodded. "Yeah. You've had it bad for her for a while. I'm really happy for you, man. I'm glad that… that something good came out of that night."

Without warning, the red light came on in the back of the room. Josh knew what that meant. "Damn."

"What?"

"The red light means we have, like, one minute left."

"Oh. That sucks."

Josh fidgeted for a moment. "So, hey. Thanks. Thanks for… coming by. I haven't seen anyone for a while. I appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it. You'll see me again soon."

"Awesome. And, if you could," he hesitated for a moments one last time. "could you let everyone else know that I'm doing better, and that I'm sorry?"

"Of course. I'll see you in a few."

"See ya." Just before Chris hung up the grey phone receiver, Josh yelled out. "And rock Ashley's world for me, bro!"

The two let out a small laugh as Chris shook his head and hung up the phone. He placed two fingers to his head in a mock salute, and with a smile, turned to leave, looking back one more time to see Josh in his prison orange uniform being escorted away by two prison guards.