he finds a picture of her in his bedroom, tucked in a drawer. he shows it to summer, tells her where he found it, and summer just stares at him, big eyes tearing up, and he turns away, he can't stand it anymore. he pulls out a silver cigarette lighter and burns it, flames curling up to the sky.
/
after the accident (or was it really?), they're broken. the funeral was small, with only close friends and family and a teacher, here and there, and jenny thinks it's best that way. zach and dee go to a bar, and they ask her along. she doesn't have the strength to resist.
/
she tries to believe she's different from them, she's different, she won't be destroyed. but she finds herself in her bathroom, pressing tom's pocketknife against her skin. she's just as weak as them, only worse, so much worse. she hooks up with michael the next day, ignoring the feeling of disloyalty.
/
summer's the next one to go. suicide, they say. they find michael in her bedroom, sitting on her bed and staring at nothing.
/
nobody can bring him back. he ignores the doctor's soft words, staring at his friend. he counts it off in his head. three down, four to go. he has a feeling he's next, though he doesn't want to go like michael. insanity doesn't appeal to them. he finds himself in a stripper club, instead.
/
it's the middle of winter, and he stinks of death. he sits by summer's gravestone, tracing the inscription. jenny tells him he'll freeze to death, but at this point, he doesn't even care. let him die, so he can go to a happier place.
/
zach has a stroke. it was one of the most unexpected things that had ever happened. the doctors say it could have happened to anyone. jenny doesn't believe him
/
she wonders if she's gone down the same path as michael had. sanity was not something to be taken for granted. she tries tequila for the first time. the burn in her throat is welcomed.
/
this couldn't be happening. dee couldn't be dead. dee should be the last one to go. and it was julian's fault. it was, wasn't it. she wants to murder him. he's haunting them, but there's not much left to haunt. die, julian, die.
/
five down, two to go.
/
tom jumps off a bridge. he could, of course, say it was for sport, but nobody was that stupid. it was early january, the water was freezing. but he didn't want to live anymore.
/
jenny sobs over his cold, broken body. there wasn't anyone left. julian couldn't do anything. she was ready to die.
/
he finds her as she sits by tom's grave. he kisses her. she throws a pebble at his head.
/
"someday you'll understand."
"never."
"you will. trust me jenny, you will."
/
julian's child is beautiful. she dies at childbirth.