I don't know how long I walked for.

I don't know if I even knew where I was going.

I just know that after god knows how long walking I ended up at the lighthouse.

Of course you did, Caulfield, where else in Arcadia Bay were you going to end up?

All I knew was that I had needed to get away from Blackwell and be alone to get my head around everything that had happened. It was all just too much. I had hung in that moment atop this very same cliff top with Chloe for as long as I could, not wanting to let her go even if I knew that she was right and that she had made up her mind. God knew that I wasn't going to convince her to change her mind once she had made it up; if there was one thing that Chloe Price was it was stubborn. That didn't mean that I particularly wanted to let her, my best friend, go so easily. I had wasted five years of my life out of contact with her, and in the last five days…

DAMNIT, it wasn't the last five days, those days didn't happen.

Chloe died alone, and those five days when we started to put everything right never happened. I don't know what was worse; that they didn't happen or that I remember them and have to remind myself that they didn't happen. To know that the Chloe that had known that she wasn't alone, that she hadn't been abandoned was gone, and that the Chloe that had died… that I had let die, had died thinking that everyone in her life had abandoned her. Hell, my Chloe had known that I had been at Blackwell for weeks before we had bumped into each other on that fateful day, so the Chloe that had died had every reason to think that I had abandoned her; and I hadn't had the chance to put that right.

God that hurt, knowing how much of a crappy friend I was; not only had I let her die but I hadn't even had the chance to maker her last few days better.

I sank onto the bench atop the clifftop and buried my head in my hands as I finally let the tears that I had been holding in flood down my face like a waterfall. It was quiet by the Lighthouse; only the quiet, distant crash of the was far below, and the rustle of the wind in the trees, the peacefulness broken only by my sobs. Much like most of the day's events I don't know how long I sat there crying for my lost friend before she came upon me. In retrospect there was only really one person that would have come out all this way to find me. Most of the others at Blackwells either hated my guts or, whilst friendly, were not the sort to come out all this way just to find me.

"Max?" She asked softly.

Kate Marsh. She shy, kind-hearted and effortlessly beautiful girl that I had talked down from the rooftop of the Prescott Dormitory; although of course that hadn't happened either. My breath caught in my throat as I realised that even though today she was in the build up to the despair that had forced her up onto the roof she had still come out here to find me.

"Kate," I replied, not looking up.

A few moments of silence passed and for a moment I thought that she had walked away; then I felt her hand rest gently on my shoulder as she sat on the bench beside me. She kept her hand on my shoulder for a few moments before she reached out, cautiously and pulled my hands away from my face. I almost shook her hand off and kept my face hidden, I didn't want her to see me crying, but something about her comforting presence stayed my hand. She cupped my cheek with one hand turned my face up to look at her.

I must have looked an total state to say the least. My eyes were red from crying and my cheeks blotchy and my hair was in a mess from pushing through the trees without much care on my way up here; not to mention my flight from Blackwell.

"Oh Max," Kate said gently, and yet there was no judgement in her voice.

Instead the kind Christian girl reached out and took me into her arms. Where before I might have felt a little uncomfortable, as friendly as the two of us had been with our weekly tea meetings, now I only felt a sense of comfort and security as I buried my head into her shoulder, tears springing anew. Kate held me, whispering comforting words into my ear as I sobbed into her shoulder. It was a long time before I could bring my self to draw back from her, by which point my tears had long dried up, and looked her in the eyes. I saw such sympathy and compassion in her deep hazel eyes that I almost burst out into tears again, but I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

"Thank You, Kate," I said shakily.

"Anything for you, Max," Kate replied, then paused and bit her lip. "Who was she?"

"She was my friend," I replied quietly, barely more than a whisper. "She was my friend, Kate… and I let her die."

"Max… there was nothing you could have done," Kate said gently. "Nathan had a gun, you couldn't have stopped him."

But I could have, that's the worst bit.

"I could have stopped him; I could have done something," I insist. "I was in the bathroom with them, i could have stepped out."

"And Nathan would probably have shot you as well," Kate replied firmly, far more firmly than I had ever heard the mild-mannered girl adopt before. "Would your friend have wanted you to get hurt trying to save her, only to die with you?"

"No, I suppose not."

No, Caulfield, you know damn well not.

"I know you don't believe Max, but I do; and I have to believe that God has a plan for all of us; you are here alive and that is the most important thing; God has a plan for you," Kate continued, her hand gripping mine tightly. "I know it seems like its impossible now; believe me I know."

"I know you do, Kate."

She fixed me with a look, clearly something in the tone of my voice indicated to here that I truly did know just know how well she knew that if seemed like it was impossible, in a way that simply shouldn't be possible. In the other timeline Kate had deliberately refused to talk about what was bothering her on that first day, at least until I began to piece it together myself and she began to open up to me. Of course at this point she hadn't done any of that, so she was naturally curious, which reminded me of the Kate that I had known before all of this had started.

"What's going on, Max?" Kate asked after a few moments. "I can tell there's something else going on here."

I don't know what compelled me to tell her; if she had rejected what I was telling her the chances were that I would have fallen back into the despair I had been feeling before she had arrived, but perhaps I told her because I knew that she would believe me; or would at least give me the benefit of the doubt. So I told her, I told her everything. She just sat there, listening to what I was saying. Her explanation fluctuated between understanding, compassion and shock, yet disbelief or disdain never crossed her expression; she probably had her doubts, but she kept them well hidden. Whether it was because she knew that I needed her to believe me, or that she truly did believe me I don't know, but regardless it was what I needed in that moment; someone to understand what I was going through, what I was dealing with. Or at least, in her mind, maybe, the delusion I thought I was having, at first at at least. Until I told her in depth about he down situation, and about the rooftop, then I think she truly believed.

The sun was sinking towards the horizon by the time I finished speaking, and Kate finished asking her questions, sending long shadows across the clifftop; from the lighthouse, from the trees and from the two of us

"What do you think?" I asked cautiously, vulnerably.

"I think that God works in mysterious ways, and that it is entirely possible that he may have made all this possible; can you think of any other explanations other than divine intervention?" Kate replied after a moment. "That someone this way will work out the best for as many people, requiring the sacrifice of as few people as possible, one whom, as you say, willingly made that sacrifice at the end."

"You believe me?" I whispered, hardly believing what I was saying but desperately needing to hear her say the words.

"I believe that you believe it, and that is good enough for me," Kate replied firmly. "Besides, you've never lied to me before."

I nod thoughtfully and squeeze her hand before letting it go. There is still a gaping Chloe-shaped hole in my heart, and I guess there always will be, but Kate has given to me what I gave to her in the other timeline; hope and support, and that was what I needed to pull myself up, brush myself down and to carry on. Knowing that I know what happened to her, and given that Nathan had been arrested, it would be easy enough to prove that she had been drugged, which would remove the stain from her reputation and, with Max's help and those of her other friends, Kate would be able to rebuild her life. Knowing that Kate had turned her attention, immediately and without hesitation, to helping me, I couldn't help but wonder who else in my life would have done that for me, so selflessly putting aside her own worries to help me deal with mine.

"Thank you, Kate," I repeated.

"Anything for you, Max," She did as well, as we shared a hug.

We were both brought back to the moment by the sound of my message notification on my phone. I pulled the device out and thumbed the button and looked down at the message.

Warren: Jefferson's just been arrested. Get back to school ASAP.