Author's Note: Thanks to all who've read, reviewed and made favorite the story. I know you want to know what happened to Peyton and I will reveal everything... in due time. ;) I hope you are enjoying the story even though it is dark in nature. I had no intentions of making it this dark. Sometimes, my brain just runs away from me...

Disclaimer: Usual disclaimer applies.

Chapter Two: Lost

Peyton Sawyer was lost. It's not that she didn't know where she was; she knew that exactly. She was trapped in her own body. Her conscious mind raced in her dormant body. She could hear voices, the voices of her friends, their prayers falling on seemingly deaf ears were heard loud and clear. The sob of her best friend and the feel of her touch. She could hear and sense all of that, even if she couldn't see it. She could feel them there. Could feel every gnawing stab of pain that coursed through her body.

She wasn't lost. No. She was a prisoner. A prisoner of her own body.

I'm here.

The doctor had come in and asked mostly everyone to leave. Brooke had been allowed to stay since she was the one who had come in with Peyton. The fashionista was also the closest thing to family Peyton had in this town. Her father was too far out for Brooke to notify him and she didn't know what to tell him even if she could. Your beloved daughter was attacked once before by a psycho who tried to rape and kill her and was attacked again by someone who…

"Can I do anything for you?" Lucas asked her. He knelt down beside her, his eyes landing on her blood stained shirt. Peyton's blood. "Something to eat..." he swallowed hard and forced his eyes to leave the blaring stains. "...to wear?"

Brooke shook her head. Her eyes, already red and burning from all the salty tears, produced more. She looked down at her best friend's blood staining her clothes and felt sick in her stomach. For the rest of her life, she would never forget seeing Peyton lying on the floor of her office in a pool of blood. Never forget the cuts along her body, the torn clothing and the implications of what they meant.

"What do I do, Luke?" Brooke asked the other occupant of the room, wondering why someone as good as Peyton had their life in constant upheaval. She hadn't let go of Peyton's hand, had barely moved at all since they arrived. She didn't spare the blond man a glance but instead kept her eyes on her best friend. "I don't know what to do," Brooke's voice was so tiny she wasn't sure that he heard her. She pressed Peyton's hand to her cheek and held it there. "How do I help her?" Hoping for a sign, any type of sign that Peyton could feel her there.

I'm here, Peyton. I'm right here.

Lucas stood off to Brooke's side, staring intently at Peyton's face. He couldn't bring himself to leave Peyton. He wasn't family, he had scarcely been a friend to her in the past three years, but he could not leave her. Wouldn't. Staring at the bright red cuts under her left eye and those dark purple bruises on her neck and wrists. The longer he stared at her, the more his heart broke.

He should have been there. If only he hadn't left her…

How can you be there when you keep running away? Moron, you kissed her and left her. You always run away, he thought ashamed. Time to change that.

"We pray?" he questioned.

Brooke looked to him afraid. She thought on it for a moment, considering the odd of God listening to someone like her, but ultimately relented. Nodding slowly, "Will you pray with me?"

Lucas didn't say anything but simply nodded. In truth, he couldn't say anything. His voice had left him again.

He reached out and touched Peyton's hand in Brooke's. He knew it wasn't enough. Knew that one simple touch could not erase all the pain they have caused each other. Could not ease the pain she was feeling now. Still... he had to try. He had to do something. He had to let her know how much he loved her. How much he still needed her. She had to know... even if he couldn't admit it aloud.

I'm here, Peyton. I'm right here.

- - - - - - - - - -

Lindsey walked the corridors of the hospital quietly. Tears stung her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. Turn after turn in the corridors lead her away from the room Lucas occupied with his two former loves. Every breath brought the memory of staring through the glass door and watching Lucas' (her fiancé Lucas) heart break at the thought of losing the love of his life. Every heartbeat ached with brand new pain as the realization of not being first in his heart, of never being his first, set in.

Lindsey Strauss was lost, and not just in an endless hospital corridor, but in her own heart. Though it broke into thousands of tiny pieces at every thought of Lucas not being able (or willing) to tear himself away from Peyton's side, she still loved him. She still wanted to be the one he chose to come home to. Still wanted to be the one he loved... even if second best. Third after Haley. Hell, even fourth after Jamie. She would love him enough for both of them.

"Lindsey?" Haley's voice was full of concern and broke into her muddled thoughts. Somehow, she found her way back to the waiting area where everyone else was. The brunette walked up to her and pulled her into an embrace. Lindsey knew it was more for Haley's consolation than her own. Still, the other woman had befriended her and made Lindsey feel welcome, even more so after Peyton returned home. She wondered silently if that was because Haley expected Lucas to return to Peyton but wouldn't dare ask... not now. "Okay?"

Lindsey nodded, unwilling to burden her friend with her insecurities right now. "Mm-hmm. Fine," she lied. She was anything but fine. She wanted the floor to swallow her up in that instant. "Just..." She pondered over the correct words. "I don't know how to help him." She sighed heavily, feeling pathetic for feeling so sorry for herself when Peyton was fighting for her life. "I don't even know if he would let me."

Haley's brow furrowed with a mixture of confusion and sympathy. She could imagine what Lindsey was feeling. Torn between wanting Lucas and feeling guilty about it considering the circumstances. She wished she had words of comfort for her friend, but her own heart felt conflicted. As much as she loved Lindsey, she loved Peyton, too. She loved Lucas most of all and knew that as long as Peyton was in the hospital that nothing else would come first. His heart was torn between his love for both women and his guilt over his treatment of Peyton.

"Tragic, isn't it?" Haley questioned rhetorically. "How life can be so wonderful and so cruel in the same moment?"

Lindsey assumed that she meant her engagement to Lucas and Peyton's attack, but something in Haley's eyes made her question that. At any rate, she didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Is there any change?"

Haley's face was once again full of concern. "The doctor hasn't said anything to us. He just went back into the room with Lucas and Brooke."

Haley wouldn't voice how bad it was, but Lindsey could imagine. "God..." Lindsey said aloud even though she had not meant to. "I was so mean to her last night. I was rude for no reason at all. To her and to Lucas." She remembered Peyton's face when she knocked on the door last night. Remembered Peyton's shocked green eyes batting away tear and she had to do the same thing now.

"You can't feel guilty, Lindsey. You didn't know this was going to happen to her." Haley left out the part about being mad with both of them as well. She never made mention of seeing them kissing in Peyton's office. They all had enough to deal with right now. "It's just a bad thing. Sometimes bad things happen to good people." She meant that. Peyton may be a little lost right now in her life, but she was a good person.

Over Haley's shoulder, Lindsey saw Lucas walking out of the room holding Brooke steady in his arms. She cried against his chest as nurses rushed into the room behind them. The blaring alarm sounded and seemed to resonate throughout her entire body.

She could see Lucas' face and could see the prayers he whispered as well as the soft words he said to Brooke. She wanted to run to him. To hold him, comfort him, and tell him everything would be okay... but she knew it wouldn't be. Whether Peyton lived or died, nothing would ever be the same again.

All the friends stood by each other, huddled together once again. Banding together, supporting each other, and giving each other hope. Once again, she was not included. Always an outsider looking in. Always second, never first. She felt invisible again and hated herself it.

Walking away, she wondered if Lucas would notice. She wondered if loving him enough for them both was fair: to him and to her. Walking away, she wondered if the love of her life could feel her there. Wondered if he cared at all...

Still, she couldn't stop herself from caring. Couldn't stop herself from loving him. That would be like trying not to breathe.

I'm here, Lucas. I'm right here.