If things get real for me down here,

Promise to take me to before you went away,

If only for a day.

If things get real for me down here,

Promise to take me back to the tune we played

Before you went away

Half an hour later, PJ pulled off the side of the road, into a beautiful park. The trees were all big willow trees, falling over the river, which gurgled all the way down to the mini waterfall, that had rocks above it, and beautiful wildflowers growing on the banks. He got out, walked around to the other side of the car, picked Jo up, carried her to the edge of the waterfall, stood her on her feet and got down on his knees on the rocks, all ready for the big moment.

"Hey Joey, you can take off the blindfold now" he told her, feeling incredibly nervous about what he was about to do.

Jo smiled a smile that could light up the darkest room, and chuckled. She thought she knew where she was, because she could hear the gurgling and rushing of water, but she was mistaken.

"Peej, seriously, what are we doing here? I am supposed to be at work" she exclaimed while reaching up to undo her blindfold.

"Don't you worry about that, I sorted it out with Ben before." Typical Jo, he thought. She cares far too much about that thing she likes to call work, he thought, which brought a smile to his face, because he cared about work too. But right now, he thought, he wouldn't miss out on doing this, this exact moment, for the world.

As Jo undid her blindfold, PJ took in a deep breath and plucked up all the courage he could manage to fit into his body.

My silence solidifies,

Until that hollow void erases you

Erases you so I can't feel at all.

But if I never feel again,

At least that nothingness will end

The painful dream,

Of you and me.

Jo felt so ashamed, but she didn't know why. All she knew is that he died because of her, and because of that, the shame would never leave her. She was destined to carry it around on her back until the world caved in and nothing else existed. "Until the end of the earth", she heard PJ whisper in his soft caring voice.

She began to ponder all the thoughts inside her head. What if she had said something different, or taken a different route, taken more time to hug PJ for that last time. Would things be any different now? Would that bring PJ back?

Of course it wouldn't. Snap out of it, she thought, disgusted that she could even think about it. What has happened has happened, and it was obviously meant to turn out this way.

If she could turn back time, she would take all those things away, so she could live without regrets, but living without regrets is so hard, and only the strongest people can do it, she thought to herself. And I am anything but strong.

She walked back into Mount Thomas, but as soon as she got within the confines of the town, she felt completely sick, and, once again, turned her back on Mount Thomas, just like it had turned it's back on her just a few days ago.

But as she walked back down that road again, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and fell onto the ground, writhing in agony.

Then she fell into a deep state of unconsciousness.