After my classes, I left for the book store to see if Elizabeth would be there. She wasn't. She wasn't in the orphanage neither. Running out of ideas, I ran back to her house. My shirt was drenched in sweat and my heart felt as though it could pound out of my chest. But yet, I ran to her. I wondered, why was I doing all of this? But I laid that thought aside and ran.

I peered into her window and saw clear signs that the house was empty. I couldn't think of where to go. I leaned on the door, and found that it was opened. Not thinking of the consequences, I went inside. On the coffee table, there was an album lying open. It was a picture of what looked like her, her parents, and her older brother, looking as though he hadn't slept in ages, but nevertheless, smiling. They looked happy, as in a content sort of happy. The parents were in the middle, with their arms lovingly slung over their two children. Elizabeth didn't seem to be any older than 16. Brian seemed to be 18. She wasn't smiling much, she almost seemed to be smirking, but she seemed happy, enough. As I turned the pages of the album, I saw more family pictures, all of them were happy, and that was good enough for me.

But then, after a picture of the family again, there was a picture of a tombstone. A grave. I could make out the words Bruce and Elaine Matthews, Forever Loved. They had to be Elizabeth's parents. There were pictures of the funeral. Elizabeth was dressed in black, with blank eyes, as though she had no life, no emotion other than the deep sadness she felt. Brian seemed to be in grief beyond tears. Then, the album ended with a picture of the family once more. It seemed so sad, as though the pictures told a story. The story of their family. I closed the album, and stepped back outside. Then, the thought came back to me, "Why was I going through all of this trouble for Elizabeth?" I couldn't answer it myself, all I knew was that I had to go see her again.

Later that day, I went to the cemetary, to visit Jamie, as I always did. And in the cemetary, I saw Elizabeth, crying and standing near a tombstone. The same tombstone that was in the album. I walked over to her, she was trembling. She had a cut lip and was silently crying. She had that same blank expression that she had held on her parents' funeral. Full of only sadness. I stood next to her, she didn't move or even turn her head, but I knew that she could feel my presence. She still stood there, trembling. I put my hand on her shoulder. Even though my hand was a bit wet from my sweat, she touched it as it was on her shoulder. She looked at me, I stared into her deep blue eyes, they seemed to tell me something.

"Landon," she said softly.

" Ya," I whispered, smiling.

" Wha, what are u doing here?" she asked, wiping away her tears.

" I came to visit someone," I said softly.

"You lost someone too?" she asked, almost sadly.

"Ya,"I answered, closing my eyes, thinking of Jamie. A single tear rolled down my eyes, and I knew that Elizabeth had somehow felt it.

"Don't cry Landon. Whoever it is, may not like it if you cry. The loved one you might have lost, may cry too up there in heaven," she said soothingly.

"Are there tears in heaven?" I asked her.

"It depends on what you believe. Crying is good for the soul. It helps say words that can't be expressed in any other way. True tears that come only from a pure feeling can be worth more than a thousand words, and can last for more than a lifetime," she said. It was true. My heart felt broken inside, as though a huge chunk of it had been ripped out. The hurt inside was shown through my tears, the tears that I had cried from the loss of my Jamie. The tears that I knew would leave a mark that would last a lifetime.

"Sometimes you just need to move on," she said.

"But it's hard," I answered her.

"Yes it is, but there will always be someone close to you to help you move on. Someone who you know you can depend on."

"Are you that someone?" I asked her teasingly. She looked at me straight in the eye, as though trying to read my soul. As though trying to interpret my thoughts and the words that I never said.

"I can, if you want me to be. But you have to promise me something," she said, arching her eyebrows a little. This felt familiar.

"Anything."

"You can't fall in love with me," she whispered. I knew I couldn't I knew for a fact that I couldn't love someone other than my Jamie. No matter what, Elizabeth could never be Jamie, and no matter how close we COULD get, I knew that I'd never be able to love her the way I had loved Jamie.

"I promise," I said. My heart rate seemed to increase, and I all of a sudden, felt as though this was wrong, that I shouldn't be talking to her. "I, I , I have to go Elizabeth.Thanks for talking to me," I said quickly and awkwardly, I headed towards the cemetary gates, and took a quick look back at her. She was standing as she was before. Her face showed no tears or hurt. It showed nothing whatsoever. Then I heard her call back.

"Sometimes, shutting yourself away from emotion can be a worser pain than death itself." I stared at her empty face, emotionless.

I stared back into her deep eyes and ran. I didn't have a specific place in mind, I just knew that I had to run. Run away from my fears. My fear of falling in love again.