"Chloe... Chloe..."

Chloe quickly turned on her heel at the sound of her name. She looked hopefully into Phillip's room, not sure if it was possible that he knew it was her standing there. She stepped through the half opened door and walked towards his bed. He was still sleeping and rolled over on to his side.

He continued talking in his sleep, "Chloe... please don't leave me. Don't go. I love you..."

Chloe sighed and wiped a tear from her cheek. She realized that he was dreaming and had no idea that she was standing there. She backed away from his bed and accidentally tripped over the wastebasket by the wall. She steadied herself with her available hand and groaned quietly. Unfortunately, the commotion was just enough to wake Phillip from his dreams. He sat up in his bed and stared at Chloe.

Chloe nervously sputtered, "Phillip... I'm sorry I woke you up. I didn't mean to disturb you."

Phillip eyed her suspiciously. "Jan... what are you doing here?"

"I know that I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but I came here to tell you how sorry I am."

"Well, that's certainly a surprise."

Chloe nodded and tried her best to maintain her composure. "I know... you don't expect that kind of talk from me. But, I am a person with feelings, despite what you may believe. I'm sorry about Chloe... I really am. It shouldn't have turned out this way."

Chloe glimpsed the pain and anger flash across Phillip's eyes as he spoke to her. "You're right. It shouldn't have turned out like this. You KNOW you could have stopped Jason from drinking and driving. You didn't stop him and it killed someone who I love very much."

"I know. I tried to stop him, you have to believe me. I didn't know he was that drunk, or else I would have MADE him stop. I had no idea what would happen. I was stupid, okay? But, I'm TRYING to apologize. Don't make this any harder than it already is. I came here to tell you how sorry I am, not to be yelled at."

Phillip turned his face away from her and looked downward. "I don't buy it. I just can't believe that you would care anything at all about what happened to Chloe. Not after everything you've done to her."

Chloe wrinkled her eyebrows together in frustration. "You don't understand. Things have changed. I have changed. I'm not the same Jan as I was then... I DO care."

"I don't believe that either. You've never cared about anything or anyone in your life besides yourself. That's all you care about. You've never cared before about the pain that you've caused to me or to Chloe, have you?"

Chloe was completely taken aback. She didn't know whether to agree with him, or be shocked. There was an awkward pause as Chloe tried to figure out how Jan would respond to an attack like that. For a reason that was unbeknownst to her, she felt her own anger welling up inside her.

"You know what? I hate to say this at this very moment, but maybe you need to take a good look at yourself. You are one of the most selfish people I've ever met. All YOU care about is yourself, and Chloe. I've seen the way you act towards your own mother, Phillip. It's ridiculous. And the most ridiculous part is that there are people who love you, you have people who care about you, and you still act that way. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't care about people because nobody cares about me?"

"Jan... I didn't know..."

Chloe crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "No wait, of course you never stopped to think about that, because unless it exists inside the little bubble made up of you and Chloe, it doesn't matter to you. I'm not going to make excuses for the things I've done, because they are truly inexcusable. But, I'm not the only one who needs to stop being so selfish. You do too."

Phillip paused and tried to look in her eyes. "You don't have anybody, do you?"

Chloe shook her head, the pain evident in her face as she was beginning to understand Jan much better. "No, I don't. My parents don't care about me. They couldn't even be bothered to come see me in the hospital. And the only person who ever acted like they cared was Jason. And now he's gone too. So, you see... I have nobody. At least you have friends, and parents who love you."

"I'm sorry..."

"Please, don't be. I don't want pity, I just want to move on. Listen, I know that you're angry, but hating me isn't going to bring her back." Chloe sighed deeply, she wanted more than anything to take him in her arms and tell him that Chloe was right beside him, but she knew she couldn't.

Phillip nodded sadly. "I know... nothing ever will."

"I'm sorry, Phillip. I didn't come in here to start an argument, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Thank you... I'm fine. I'll be out of here tomorrow, and back to school in 2 days, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm bustin' out tomorrow too. But, I get to stay out of school for another week."

"Lucky you..." he responded sarcastically.

Chloe nodded in agreement and started to leave. "I'm gonna let you go back to sleep now. But please, think about what I said, because I know I'm going to."

"I will... and I'm sorry I got so angry. It's just hard to deal with this. I thought I was going to be with her forever."

Chloe stood at the door and nodded sadly. "You really did love her, didn't you?"

Phillip looked downward and smiled slightly. "More than anything..."

Chloe stepped outside his room and shut the door behind her. She quietly whispered, "She loved you too..."

She sighed deeply and leaned against his closed door. Chloe had often wondered what caused Jan to act the way she did, and now she was starting to understand her. Not to mention that seeing Philip from someone else's eyes was a completely new experience. She still loved him deeply, but she could see why their relationship was so flawed. Chloe silently prayed that Phillip WOULD think about what she had said, he was too good of a person inside to act like the selfish brat he had become.