Back again, with an update. Not late, so go me! In this chapter I threw in a little bit of Cee's POV, so let me know what you think of that, too.

And I've decided to start naming my chapters, don't know why, but I am.

--- Searching for Peace ---

I promise. I swear I tried to get up and move.

I tried to chase after Jesse.

The second I finally got my legs moving, I ran barefoot across the jagged rocks only to find that he was gone.

He had disappeared out of site.

I broke down in the parking lot and cried.

I didn't care how many people saw me. I just didn't care. Jesse was with some other girl.

There was something going on.

I don't know what, but the fact that he'd been cheating on me scared me. He would never do that. Would he? He said he wouldn't.

Do I really know Jesse? Is this what Jesse was like when he was first alive? Running around with different women.

Did he just fall back into his old habits? Or was he even really cheating on me?

The tears flowed steadily down my cheeks.

And here I thought that things might just work out for Susannah Simon.

But no! Someone has to come around and beat me down. I can't just have a smile, no; I have to have a heaping of shame, regret, or pain.

And as of lately, the pain as been dished out on my plate way to much. I may as well take the whole tub of it.

I crawled over to my car and leaned against the passenger door. I flung my head back and felt relief as the physical pain seared throughout me, matching my inner pain.

I repeated until I couldn't do it anymore and let my head fall loosely to my knees.

The tears were still running down my cheeks, carrying with them the mascara and eyeliner from this morning.

And frankly, I didn't care if I looked terrible.

I just wanted what I saw to have never happened.

I began to think about how long it'd been going on. Whatever had been going on with Jesse and this mystery blonde?

How far had they gone? Is this why Jesse never wanted to go further with me. Because he didn't need to, he'd leave that to his 'chick on the side'.

I never knew how much this could hurt. The pain was too unbearable.

I want to say that my heart shattered.

But it didn't.

My heart didn't break. Although, I wish it had because that pain would have been better. Agonizing pain, but to the point. I somehow knew that a broken heart was easier to fix than what had just happened to me.

I remembered the feeling, I'd felt it before, but never this intense, never this strong. Never did I feel so drained.

I felt my heart beat one minute and the next I didn't.

It was as if it had disappeared. Gone from the inside of my body. Turned to stone, frozen to ice, colored itself black.

Because all at once the tears that flowed down in my cheeks like a river in the pouring rain suddenly stopped. My head rose from my chest and I was sure my face wore a scowl. I focused my gaze on the shinning hubcap of the car two spaces away.

It glinted in the light of the moon. I hadn't realized how late it was.

But then again, I didn't realize the materialization of a ghost. One that I'd seen before but hadn't thought anything of him.

"Not now, Tom," I said, bitterly, still glaring at the hubcap.

"You remember me? Good," he said, answering his own question.

"Can you just go away, I'm not in the mood now," I muttered in frustration.

"You've been crying, why?" he asked me. For someone who looked so grungy, he seemed so sincere.

"What are you? My therapist? Just go away," I repeated, becoming irritated.

"You're not trying to stop the bad things that are coming," he sighed leaning against the car with the hubcap I'd been glaring at.

The conversation from Father Dominic's office floated into my mind…

"I can't say much," he said taking a step forward and lowering his voice a bit, "because I don't know much, but…" he paused again, looking around the room as if someone might me hiding. "Bad things, huge, powerful things are going to happen, and you," he murmured looking at me, "have to stop it," he stepped back and regained his less than a murmur voice. "You won't be able to, though, not by yourself, anyway."

"Wait a minute," I said, slowly, "Did you have anything to do with what happened tonight?" The face he wore showed me he didn't, "Then what the hell are you talking about. This night is the worse things could ever get," I hadn't realized the change in my voice, or the rise in it.

"I guess you're not ready, yet," he said, sighing again.

I couldn't handle it anymore. "LEAVE!" I screamed, not caring if anyone heard me or not. I was done talking to him. I didn't look up; until I knew for sure, he was gone.

I slipped my hand across my face smearing the makeup off and hopefully removing the tears with it.

Moving down my neck, I placed a hand on my chest and was dumbfounded when I couldn't find the beating of my heart.

It was like it was gone.

I looked at my hand in astonishment and was startled when I saw CeeCee's face appear in front of me.

"Huh?" I said to her as she looked at me worriedly.

"Suze, are you alright. You look like you've been crying, and neither you nor Jesse showed at the Clutch tonight," she was kneeled down beside me on the ground, her hand on my knee—either to balance herself or to comfort me.

That's when I realized that Adam was there too. His face showed more worry than Cee's did.

"I'm fine. Sorry, I lost track of the time and forgot about you two," I muttered. CeeCee didn't look convinced but let it slide, stood up and stuck a hand out to help me.

I didn't take it; I pretended not to notice it and quickly stood up using the car door.

"I can't stay, though. I really should be getting home to finish that homework," I said walking around to the other side of my car.

CeeCee looked at me oddly. I didn't want them to bring up the fact that there wasn't any homework tonight or let her notice that I had left my shoes down by the shore, so I jumped in the car and speeded out of there faster than I should have.

I slowed down on the streets, so I didn't draw attention.

I just wanted to get home. I just wanted to scream into my pillow.

My phone began ringing, but I just kept driving.

I turned the radio on to try to smother the ringing, but Usher's song came on.

I got a chick on the side wit a crib and a ride
I've been telling you so many lies ain't nothing good its all bad
And I just wanna confess cause its been goin' on so long.

I quickly turned it off only to once again be bombarded with the ringing of my cell. It was better than listening to a song that I had too much in common with.

It eventually stopped, but as I pulled into the driveway, the ringing began again.

I saw the name as CeeCee's and pressed the ignore button. I didn't really want to talk to her right now. Nor any one else, so I turned my cell off.

Climbing out of the car, I walked to the side of the house and climbed up to the window of my room.

I wanted to avoid all confrontation with my family.

I threw my junk on the bed and realized how dirty my feet had become. They were as black as my heart felt.

I grabbed my stereo and plugged it into the bathroom outlet, playing a mix of some crappy songs that matched my mood.

I ran a hot bath and dumped whatever soothing crap I had under the sink in.

I just wanted to forget the night.

--- CeeCee's POV ---

"She won't answer," I said turning to Adam.

Suze had just taken off in such a hurry that it startled us. I was worried that something had happened that she wouldn't tell us.

Suze is always full of secrets and the way she acted showed there was something really wrong.

I just didn't know what it was.

The tears suggested that it was Jesse, but he's so good to her that that couldn't be the reason why she's crying.

And the way she didn't say a word about what she was doing suggested that it might be paranormal.

Although, the more I thought about it, the more confused I grew. All I knew for sure was that something was definitely wrong.

I turned back to Adam and saw Jesse coming up behind him.

"Hello," he said, smiling politely.

He didn't look concerned proving to me that he probably didn't know that Suze was upset.

"Hey Jesse," I said, glancing quickly to Adam. He wasn't paying much attention though. I think he was trying to figure out what was wrong with Suze. I know, I still was, I just didn't look so engrossed in it.

"Have you seen Susannah? I tried calling her cell, but she didn't answer. I figured maybe you two knew where she was."

"Uh," I said, slowly. "She just went home. She was here a couple of minutes ago. Took off in a hurry," I paused not sure whether or not to tell Jesse that she was in tears and looked like she was really messed up, "I think there was something wrong," I decided to be brief.

"Yeah, she went home," Adam confirmed.

Jesse nodded and began walking away. I watched nervously. A feeling of deep sorrow creeping up.

Something was wrong, that's all I knew for sure.

--- Simon's POV ---

The music blared throughout the bathroom. I didn't bother turning it down, even after Mom, Dopey and Andy came to complain.

I just soaked in the smell of the thick bubbles and watched the flames of the candles I'd lit dance in different directions.

I closed my eyes and wished that I hadn't seen what I'd seen. That what had happened, hadn't happened.

All of a sudden, the music was turned down to an inaudible hum and my eyes flew open. There was Jesse standing by the door.

Sadly, the first thing I did was check to make sure I had bubbles covering my body before I screamed at him.

"GET OUT!" I shrieked.

"Susannah, what's wrong?" Jesse asked confused. It made it hard for me to stay mad at him.

But the needed heart beat was gone and I was left with shallow coldness and had become unaffected by emotion.

"I thought I said, 'get out,'" I said, slowly and indifferently, enunciating every syllable.

Jesse's confusion just grew. "What did I do, Susannah?" he asked me calmly.

If I had a heart then, I would have broken down in tears.

"Oh don't you dare. I saw you tonight, with that, that, girl. ARGH!" I screamed in frustration. I looked at the tile of the wall and then back at Jesse's face.

The one that could make me smile with one blink, made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Susannah, I—" Jesse began, but I silenced him.

In a slow growl, "Get out," I said.

He looked shocked, but finally left me alone in the bathroom.

I looked down at the bubbles and then at the same tile from before. I reached over to the volume control on my stereo and cranked the music back up.

I searched for the same peace I'd been looking for and found nothing. For the third time today, there was no peace.

After a half hour, I climbed out of the tub, dried and changed into my silk boxers and black tank-top.

Turning off my music, I angrily stormed out of the bathroom and was startled to find Jesse sitting at his spot on the window seat.

"What freaking part about 'get out,' don't you understand?" I asked, aggravated.

I began feeling the same sick stomach as before. This time though, not only was it worse, a light head and much dizziness accompanied it.

I saw Jesse's lips move but everything went black and I collapsed.

I was washed away with darkness, and finally, for the first time today, I found my peace.

---

And she's DOWN!

Sorry it's not longer. Honestly, I'm trying. Thanks for the reviews, they were great! Now, let me know if you still love Jesse? Because that could decide on how I write the next chapter :P Review