Gordo ran through the bright hospital corridor, until he saw Matt sitting in the chair, and a teenage girl standing not so far away from him. The teenage girl rushed up to him immediately.

"Are you Gordo?" she asked.

"Are you Victoria?" he responded, and she nodded her head slowly.

"I found your number on the fridge, and I was panicked, and I thought that you were a family friend, so I called you, and someone named Miranda-" she quickly tried to explain, but Gordo interrupted her.

"How is Mrs. Mcguire doing?"

"I don't know. I went to Matt's house after school today, and I asked if I could meet his mom, and we went to go find her, and she was passed on the floor of the bathroom. She was not breathing then, and she did not have a pulse. Matt rode in the ambulence, and I drove Matt's car behind them."

Gordo glanced over to Matt, who was slumped over in a chair, with his head in his hands.

"How is he doing?" he asked, in a careful whisper.

"He won't talk to me, at all, since we got here."

Just then, a raven-haired girl ran up.

"What happened?"

Gordo gave her the quick rundown of events.

"Are you Matt's girlfriend?" she asked, pointing to Victoria.

"Yeah. Are you Miranda? Nice to meet you," she replied, sticking her hand out for Miranda to shake.

"Are you feeling okay?" Gordo asked Miranda.

"I get queasy every time I see pickles, but other than that, I feel fine," she said sarcastically.

Victoria was extremely confused for a second; she thought that Miranda had the flu; but once she saw the way Miranda rested her hand on her stomach, she knew. She concluded that Miranda and Gordo were the two friends of Lizzie that Matt had told her about.

"I really hope that she is alright. Losing your entire family in one year would be tough on anyone," Victoria spoke up.

"So Mr. Mcguire is really gone?"

"That is what Matt told me."

The trio sat in silence as they waited. Victoria walked over to Matt, and placed her hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Matt, are you feeling okay? Do you want anything from the cafeteria, or anything?"

Matt just shrugger his shoulders, not even looking up at Victoria.

Victoria looked back at Miranda and Gordo who were obviously uncomfortable in the hospital. The last time they were in this hospital, they lost their best friend.

Suddenly, the doctor opened the door, and immediately, Matt stood up. Victoria, Gordo, and Miranda all stood up, and followed behind. Victoria noticed that the doctor was not making eye contact with any of them.

"I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do."

Victoria did not know what to say, and she stood with her mouth agape. She watched as Matt started to cry, silently in the middle of the hospital.

"Matt...I, ummm," she tried to say, as tears escaped her own eyes.

"They were supposed to save her...my mom is dead. I have no one alive who wants to live with me," Matt sobbed.

Victoria tried to hug Matt, but he pushed her away.

"Get away from me. There is no way that you would possibly know how I feel," he shouted angrily. "Give me me keys."

Victoria, still shaking, handed him over the keys.

"Matt, please. Can we just talk?"

Halfway down the hall, Matt looked back with angry eyes.

"Talk about what?" he said, and he stormed down the hall.

Victoria turned to Miranda and Gordo.

"Can I have a ride to his house? I want to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Victoria asked. Gordo volunteerd, and they rushed to follow Matt in his car.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------How could she die? Why couldn't they save her?

I tore down the streets of Hillridge in my car, until I reached my house.

I opened the door to my house, throwing my keys down on the counter. I knew exactly what I was looking for.

Something that would drown out my sorrows.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lauren, how could this happen?"

I was sobbing, running through my house of a heaven, looking for my guardian angel.

I finally found her, picking up some books, at her mail pickup.

"LAUREN! What happened?"

"I don't know. Stuff like this happens sometimes. No one can prevent it, not even an angel."

I grabbed her shoulders, and shook her.

"Where is my mom now?"

Lauren shook her head, and sighed.

"I don't know. Please let go of me."

I released my grip of her shoulders, and wiped the tears from underneath my eyes.

"Why would my mom do something like that?"

Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

"LIZZIE! My baby!"

I whirled around to find my mom running towards me. She quickly wrapped me up in a hug, but before I knew, she disappeared.

I turned around to face Lauren.

"Where did she go?"

Lauren shook her head, tears welling up in her own eyes.

"I did not think it was true."

"What was true?"

A single tear ran down Lauren's cheek.

"Your mom...committed suicide, and left your brother all alone to fend for himself. She died for a very selfish reason. Lizzie, your mom is not coming to heaven right away," Lauren said in a comforting tone, almost motherlike.

"My mother is going to..." I started.

"No, your mother is going to Purgatory," she immediately interrupted me.

"What's Purgatory?"

"Until your mother can prove that she is true of heart, she has to stay there. She will join you sometime or later."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria knocked on the door of the Mcguire house again. Matt was not answering, and it was very cold outside. She shivered, and wrapped her coat around her tighter.

The door swung open, and Matt appeared, disheveled, and his eyes bloodshot, as he had been crying.

"What do you want?" he slurred, and as he talked, Victoria could smell that his breath reeked of alcohol.

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay, but you obviously are not."

"Go away," he exclaimed, and Victoria stepped back, hoping the alcohol would not influence him to make a bad decision.

"Matt, I don't know how it feels, but I want to help you get through this."

"That's right, you don't know how it feels," he slurred again, lurching towards her.

"What have you done with the Matt that I knew?" she asked the drunk boy standing in front of her.

"I don't know, maybe you should try the yellow pages or something," he said, laughing at his own joke. "But I would would be willing to get to know you better."

He wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her on the lips. She immediatley pushed him off.

"Get off of me!" she yelled.

"What's the matter baby?" he sneered. "I want you," he whispered in her ear.

"First of all, you're drunk. Second of all, your mother just died, and third, you are DRUNK," she yelled.

"Don't talk so loud," he said, clutching his head. "I don't feel so hot."

Matt puked all over Victoria, and she stepped back disgusted.

"Matt, go get by the toilet, and then go to bed. I don't want you to do anything more stupid. I am going to wait here tonight, to make sure you are alright, but after that I never want to see you again," Victoria said, crying.

But before, Matt could do anything else, he started to yell at her.

"Victoria, I love you."

"SHHHH, be quiet, Matt."

But he persisted.

"I have only known you for a couple of days, but I love you so much already."

"Matt, go to bed or something."

"You don't love me the way that I love you," he said, and with that he passed out on his front porch.

Victoria sighed, and dragged him into his living room, taking his shoes off, and propping him up on the couch. She grabbed the phone to tell her mother what had happened, and sat down on the chair next to him.

This was going to be a long night.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up, and the bright lights of morning shined into my eyes.

Light. Could someone turn that down?

I look around. Victoria already went ahead to school, since she never wants to see me again.

Crap.

Just then, I realize what I had said to her. There is no way that I will be able to get her back now.

Today is Tuesday, but there is nothing that can get me to school. It will just be the same as when Lizzie died, hushed whispers in the hallway.

I will just stay here until someone comes to find me. Which won't be Dad, the only member of my immediate family left, because wait, he doesn't care.

The doorbell rings, and my head starts pounding. I hate hangovers with a passion. I open the door, and it is my grandparents.

They both hug me like I am some delicate child, but after a couple of minutes, I ask to be excused to my room. They look at each other worridely, and not knowing what to do, they go ahead and excuse me, and go back to making funeral arrangements.

On the way up the doors, I see my mom's room, and I curiously open the door. There is a eerie presence, knowing that my mother died in this room, but I need a clue as to why she did this.

I sift through papers, and find what I was looking for.

Divorce papers from dear old dad.

I rush back downstairs, to find my grandparents still sitting there, in shock that their daughter is dead.

"Are you going to call Dad?" I asked.

My grandparents look at each other nervously.

"We just assumed that...well...that you did not want any contact with him."

"I justed wanted to know."

I rushed back upstairs, and shoved the papers into my backpack for another time. I would go talk to him when the time came, before the funeral.

He should come see his mistake.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I eventually went back to school, but could not concentrate. After third hour, I decided that I could not take it anymore, and bolted towards the door. I ran to my car, and drove to the nearest gas station, and found all of the pothead losers hanging out.

"Matt!" one of them said, greeting me. "Decided to join us again?"

They all looked up at me. Every single one of them looked up at me, of course they all knew my name. I used to be one of them.

I sat down next to a girl with black lipstick, and dreadlocks.

"Hey, Matt. How was life on the dark side?" she asked, and I looked up to see her face. It Melina, who I used to date on and off.

"Sucks."

They all nodded, very mellow. Especially Lanny, who used to be my best friend.

"We thought we had lost you, Mcguire. When you actually straightened yourself up was the warning sign, and then you started dating cheerleaders."

"Well, I'm back now."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria nervously sat at the lunch table with her cheerleader friends. She watched as Matt Mcguire made a run for the door, skipping school.

"What's up with you and Mcguire?" one of the girls, Mindy, asked.

"Nothing, not anymore."

"Right. Is that why you have been watching him all day?"

"We had something, and now its over. He was a jerk, and I don't really want to talk about him and I anymore."

"Okay. He and I dated about two months ago, but we broke up in two weeks. I think he has dated about every cheerleader."

"So he is a player?"

"No...Matt? He is a real gentleman. But you know, it's kind of weird, because in middle school, he was the biggest pothead in the school," Mindy said, leaning into Victoria.

"What?"

"Yeah, I know. Kind of hard to believe, once you compared him to his sister."

"Was she popular?"

"Every guy in school wanted her. She was pretty, smart, and sweet."

"What about Matt?"

"He was actually arrested at the end of our eight grade year, and his parents sent him to rehab. He cam back to ninth grade a whole new guy. Clean-cut, soccer star, and he had dropped all of his loser friends. But, when his sister died, he started to revert, until you came along."

"Me?" Victoria asked, pointing to herself.

"I have never seen him as happy as I did as when he was with you."

"Well, he was a jerk on Monday night. After his mom died, he shut me off, went home, and got so drunk."

Mindy was captivated.

"He threw up all over me, and said some pretty weird things. I never want to see him again. And after what you told me, I am pretty sure that he just skipped school to go get high."

"Yeah I know. I wish there was someway we could help him. He needs help, really bad."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I watched as my loser brother got high on the TV. And we were so close to keeping him away from that stuff.

I still remember that day that he was arrested. It was the same day that my parents had their first huge fight.

FLASHBACK

RING RING

As the phone rang, I rushed to get it. I was eagerly expecting a call from Miranda, who was going to tell me how her date with Danny went.

But, as I answered, another voice answered back, that I recognized as my brother's.

"Hello?"

"Matt? What do you want?"

"Where are mod and dam... I mean, mom and dad," he said, giggling. It was obvious that he was stoned out of his mind.

"Where are you?"

There was a slight pause at the other end.

"policestation," he mumbled. "I was arrested for minor in posession. They found it on me."

I dropped the phone. I knew that my brother had some problems, but I had no idea about this.

"MOM! DAD!" I yelled.

They both rushed to my side, and I picked the phone off the floor.

"It's Matt. He was arrested for having pot."

My mom started to sob, and my dad started to yell at my brother over the phone.

He hung up angrily, and announced that my "loser" brother (his words), would be spending the night in jail, and then going straight to rehab.