Title: Flashlights

Rating: T

Genre: Tragedy/Romance

Language: English

Summary: Gabriella revisits the day when Troy was involved in a fatal drink driving accident. The story is better than the summary, please read! oneshot Troyella

It's my first HSM oneshot…hope you like it! And please Read and Review, I like feedback (please be nice)! Um, there's a swear word in it, if any of you really care…

It was Saturday night. Gabriella walked through the streets. It was silent, the stars were shining brightly. She stopped in front of a familiar looking house. She took in the colour of the timber porch, the white swing at the front, the neatly trimmed garden…it looked exactly the same since the day Troy had his accident. A tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered that day.

Flashback

"Hey Troy!" Gabriella said as Troy turned up at her front door.

Troy leaned against the frame, smiling. "Hey," he said softly.

Gabriella leaned in to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Troy held her close to him by the waist, enjoying every moment. They finally broke apart.

"I love you," Gabriella whispered to him.

"I love you too," Troy looked into her eyes.

Gabriella looked back and smiled. She kissed him on the cheek.

"So where are we going?" Gabriella asked eagerly.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Troy teased.

Gabriella pouted. "I hate that line,"

Troy laughed. "Come on," He held his hand out for her to take. Gabriella stepped out of the house and locked the door behind her. Gabriella looked around for his car but when she didn't see anything, she furrowed her brow.

"Where's your car?" she asked, confused.

"Well, seeing as where we're going isn't too far away, I thought we wouldn't need to take a car…is that ok?" Troy replied, concerned.

"Course it is, Troy! Walking in the moonlight with my boyfriend…that was always a thing in my dreams," Gabriella sighed happily.

A comfortable silence followed afterwards as they walked hand in hand through the Albuquerque streets. Troy broke the silence.

"Was I in your dreams?" Troy whispered in her ear.

Gabriella turned to look at him. "Yep, even before I met you, you were a part of me,"

Troy stopped walking. Gabriella stopped as well and looked at her boyfriend quizzically.

"You know I really do love you, right?" Troy asked.

"I think so," Gabriella replied.

"I know so," Troy said, before pulling her back into a kiss. After a while, they both pulled away.

"I love you," Troy repeated.

Gabriella laughed. "You've said that around ten times today already Troy!"

"But I do love you. I love you more than I love anything else in the world! I would give up my own life to protect you!" Troy defended.

"Awww…that's sweet,"

Just as Gabriella finished saying that, a pair of blinding flashlights shone on her. Gabriella turned away from Troy and saw a big truck heading her way and screamed. Troy turned to the truck as well, before shouting, "Gabriella!"

As much as she tried to move, she was frozen. She felt someone shove her and the next thing she knew, she had fallen over and was on the footpath. She heard the screech of breaks as the truck stopped.

She picked herself off the ground and screamed. Troy was on the ground, lying there lifelessly as the man from the driver's seat swaggered out. Gabriella fell to the ground crying.

"Troy, wake up! Troy!" she sobbed as she cradled his head in her arms.

Troy looked up at her, the usual sparkle in his blue eyes slowly diminishing, and raised his arm weakly. "I love you, Gabby,"

Then, his arm fell down and his eyes closed.

"No! Troy, no, I love you! You can't leave me!" Gabriella wailed.

Gabriella cried and cried. "No, Troy come back! I need you! Troy, I love you!" Her tears were dripping onto his face.

"Troy…" she sobbed.

"Hey babe, wanna come over to my house tonight?" the drunk driver asked.

Gabriella looked up at Troy's murderer. This was the idiot who killed the love of her life. This was the idiot who took Troy's young and precious life from him. This was the idiot who took Troy away from her.

"So…how about it?" the guy asked, a smile lingering on his face. It was obvious that he didn't know what he had just done.

Gabriella went up and slapped him as hard as she could, before punching him straight in the nose.

"You son of a bitch! You took Troy away from me! How could you?"

She kicked him straight in the stomach.

"You took the only person who really loved me in this world. You took away the only person I cared about!" she tried to stay strong, but ended up breaking down to the floor, crying.

The bystanders, who had already called the ambulance, were shaking their heads.

"Poor girl," a woman said.

"And the boy…such a young life," another man said.

An elderly woman shook her head in pity. "I know how she feels; a drunk driver killed my husband as well,"

Gabriella took Troy's limp hand in hers and held it up to her face.

"I love you Troy. I really do," she whispered.

As the sound of ambulance sirens sounded, a thought raced through her head. She never told Troy that she loved him back. He had told her that he loved her, but instead of saying "I love you too", she had made fun of him. She cried harder. He had also told her that he would do anything to protect her, even if it meant giving up his own life.

"No!" she screamed.

The eyewitnesses nearly fell over from shock from her sudden outburst.

Gabriella looked up at the sky. "Take my life instead! If there's any justice in this world, take my life instead!"

Rain drops began to fall down from the sky, mingling with the tears falling onto Gabriella's cheeks. The ambulance officers, with much difficulty, tore Gabriella away from Troy. Gabriella looked at his lifeless form on the stretcher, and collapsed again, sobbing.

End of Flashback

Gabriella wiped her tears away furiously. She didn't want anyone to know that she had been crying.

She walked up and knocked on the front door. The door swung open.

"Gabriella! It's nice to see you again!" Troy's mother exclaimed.

"Likewise, Mrs Bolton," Gabriella said politely.

Mrs Bolton beamed at Gabriella.

"Do you know where I could…" Gabriella began.

"He's in the lounge," Mrs Bolton finished for her.

Gabriella smiled at her before proceeding into the lounge.

A basketball game was on TV. A figure was lying lazily on the couch. Once he heard the door open, he turned around.

"Gabby!" Troy grinned.

"Hey," Gabriella said weakly.

Troy immediately noticed something was wrong. He walked over to her and lifted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes.

"What's wrong, baby?" he asked, anxiously.

"It's nothing, Troy," she said unconvincingly.

"It's has to be something if it's making you cry," he insisted.

Gabriella sighed. "I just, I just thought of the day when you saved me and how that, that guy got you into a coma and I thought I had lost you,"

At that, she began crying again. "Sssshh…" Troy rubbed her back and gently carried her onto the couch as she sobbed into his chest.

"Hey, it's ok, I'm healthy and alive and I'm never going to leave you," Troy whispered into her ear.

"I was so scared Troy. I thought I really lost you," she whimpered.

"But I'm here, Gabby, and I won't be leaving you, ever," he replied.

He rocked her gently back and forth. Her tears slowly subsided.

"Do you promise, Troy?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"I promise, Gabby," he said sincerely.

Gabriella smiled. The sparkle was back.

Like it? Hate it? Please review!! I tried to make it sound as if Troy had really died in the beginning…I'm not sure if the trick really worked. I spent 2 hrs actually writing this and about an hour on editing, so please do me the favour of clicking that blue/purple/green (whatever you guys decide it is) button (aka the review button)!!