I want to thank you all for the five reviews! That made me very, very happy.
This chapter is the two's (Lucas and Haley) dream. Haley's is kind of pointless, but oh well. :P
Ah, I don't have much to say, so here's Chapter 2!
Chapter 2- I've Seen This Movie Once Before
(Lyric in title is from the song Done Stealin' by Carolina Liar.)
LUCAS
Lucas stirred awake, lying on his back in the middle of the intersection near his mother's café.
Realizing he was lying in the middle of the intersection was pretty damn stupid, Lucas scrambled to his feet.
Lucas looks around, recognizing the place he was in. Tree Hill.
The town was dead. All the lights were off- even the streetlights- and the only light was coming from the crescent moon above. That was unusual.
What was even more unusual was that there were no cars anywhere, none parked on the side of the street and none making their way to get home. There was no one.
Lucas made his way to the sidewalk, confused for a moment. He saw the first sign of life: a man walking away, towards the opposite sidewalk at the end of the street.
"Wait!" Lucas called, his voice echoing down the street like it would in a cave. Lucas started running after the man, whose pace did not slow down or speed up.
"Wait!" Lucas called again, hoping the man would turn around. Finally Lucas caught up to him. Lucas put a hand on the stranger's shoulder, making him turn around.
Lucas's eyes immediately focused to the man's chest. There was a hole in the man's jacket with blood dripping from it. The man laughed sheepishly.
"Sorry, I never have company." The hole in the man's chest suddenly disappeared. The man laughed again, except now at Lucas's expression.
"Keith?" Lucas said, looking up at his uncle's face. His eyes were happy, just like they always were, but hidden behind the happiness was something blank.
Lucas figured that was the look of death. Shivers shot up and down his spine.
"Am I dead?" Lucas hesitated, and Keith smiled. "No, Lucas. You're in between life and death." Keith explained.
"And this is what 'in between life and death' looks like?" Lucas said, waving around him at the empty street.
Keith smiled, and turned and continued walking.
Right before Lucas's eyes, his surroundings morphed into the hospital.
"So I'm dreaming about this, right?" Lucas said as Keith stopped and turned to Lucas in the empty hallway.
"Lucas, you're in a coma right now. Your life is hanging in the balance, you're not dreaming." Keith said seriously. Keith never was serious. Lucas's face fell as a stretcher sped by with doctors and nurses hovering over it.
They rushed by Keith and Lucas, obviously not seeing them, and Lucas got a glimpse of the boy on the stretcher- blond, about 17.
It was him.
"W-What?" Lucas stammered. Keith looked at Lucas, frowning.
"I didn't take the pills." Lucas remembered as Keith nodded disapprovingly. He suddenly went over what happened. Images of Nathan, Peyton, Haley, Brooke, Dan, and Whitey flashed in his mind.
"Should have taken those pills, Lucas."
"What about Haley?" Lucas said, and Keith shook his head. "That's not important right now, Luke. Right now this is about you. Haley's future is uncertain."
Keith continued walking, and Lucas saw his brother on the floor, crying.
"This isn't fair." Lucas grumbled, and Keith turned around to face Lucas. He was just a few feet away from Nathan, who was still shaking.
"What isn't fair?" Keith asked, hands in his pockets. The hole in Keith's chest slowly started appearing again.
"Being a good guy isn't fair, Keith. Nathan's a good guy," Lucas said, gesturing to his distraught brother. "You were a good guy." Lucas said, looking at the gunshot. Keith looked down, noticing it too.
"Damn thing has a mind of its own." Keith said, staring at it for a couple of seconds before it closed up and disappeared again.
"Maybe there's no point in being a good guy." Lucas muttered, and Keith sighed, walking away.
The surroundings quickly changed.
Picnic tables grew out of the ground, except instead of it being wooden, they were now plastic and blue.
The walls of the hospital fell, expanding to a much wider landscape. Walls slowly came up to in front of Lucas, the words NATHAN SCOTT FIELD HOUSE sketched where Whitey's name used to be.
"What…?" Lucas asked, staring at the silver etched words in front of him.
"It's 2025, Luke." Keith said, handing Lucas a newspaper. Lucas chose to ignore the fact that Keith managed to get that out of thin air.
"It's been 20 years?" Lucas mumbled, looking at the newspaper. There was a man, tall, with dark hair. He had a fake smile plastered on his face, aged laugh lines around the corner of his mouth.
"Dan's still alive?" Lucas said, surprised.
"Oh wait, I should have known even with a terminal illness Dan will never die." Lucas muttered, staring at the picture.
"That's not Dan." Keith said, pointing to the caption under the picture.
"Nathan Scott rules Tree Hill all by himself." Lucas said, looking up at Keith. "Why are you showing me this? I thought you don't know the future." Lucas said, handing the newspaper back to Keith.
"Did you notice the 'all by himself' part, Lucas?" Keith asked, and Lucas shook his head. "I don't know the future. I do know the consequences of the choices you pick, Lucas. I don't have enough power to see your future, but I do know in this world, you would never have joined the basketball team."
"And Nathan never met Haley." Lucas frowned, looking at the kids walk across campus.
"And what does that mean, 'rules' Tree Hill?" Lucas asked, looking at Keith.
"He turned into a Dan clone, Lucas. He was power hungry, he became so powerful he beat out Dan. And he's been making people pretty miserable since."
"I don't believe it." Lucas said, refusing to think Nathan would turn out like that. "Do you, really?" Keith asked, looking at Lucas. "Do you really think Nathan would have changed if no one believed he could?"
Lucas didn't say anything. "Exactly. Let's go." Keith said, walking away.
The school shrunk into the ground, and up came a city, apartments squeezed together with drug addicts dealing on the sidewalk like it was no big deal. Lucas didn't recognize the town, but he was glad to realize it wasn't Tree Hill.
"Who lives here?" Lucas asked, looking at the apartment.
A scream rang from inside the house. Even being as close to the house as Keith and Lucas were, the scream was still faint and the neighbors probably couldn't hear, especially over the blaring music.
Lucas took off running into the apartment, alerted.
Keith walked behind Lucas calmly and entered the apartment.
There was a girl in the corner of the main room, huddled with a frightened look on her face. Her arms were slung over her head, trying to hide from the man in front of her. Lucas couldn't tell who it was.
She was no older than 21, dressed in black sweatpants and an old looking Pink Floyd t-shirt.
There was a man hovering over her. He was tall, looking about 26, and was even taller than Lucas was. He had jet black hair, broad shoulders, but was very pale. The veins in his arms were popping out, signaling he was very angry.
There were lamps knocked over and paintings. Lucas realized that this man was an abuser. And the person the man was abusing was probably someone important to Lucas.
Instead of asking Keith who the girl was, Lucas simply walked right past the man and knelt down by the girl.
"Hello?" Lucas asked, and Keith scoffed. "What?!" Lucas snapped, looking up at his uncle. "They can't hear you, Luke."
"Who's kid is it?" The man bellowed, and the woman slowly looked up at him.
It was Peyton. Her hair wasn't the same as it used to be. It was long, at least down until her back. Her curls were gone, probably weighted out by the length of her hair, and her hair looked like the man ripped chunks out of it. Lucas looked up at the man in anger.
"It's your kid." Peyton mumbled, trying to muster up the strength to talk to the man in front of her.
"Who is that?" Lucas hissed to Keith, who shrugged, amused. Of course Keith knew who the man was.
"Mommy?" A little girl, about the age of 4, walked into the room. She had blonde, curly locks. She looked nothing like the person Peyton said was her father. Lucas looked carefully at the girl. He expected green eyes- but instead, they were electrifyingly blue. She was hugging an aged purple monkey for dear life, looking up at the man in front of her mother, afraid.
"The only thing Brooke ever gave to her best friend's daughter." Keith filled Lucas in about the monkey, and Lucas looked at Keith. "You can tell me about a stuffed animal but you can't tell me who this guy is?!" Lucas asked, and Keith held a finger up to his lips and shushed Lucas.
Peyton's eyes softened at the sight of her daughter. "Honey, go back in your room." Peyton said, trying to make her voice sound brave. The girl looked up at the man, but obeyed, dragging her feet back to her room.
The man looked back down at Peyton, his eyes still cold and hard.
"Who's child is it?" He repeated again.
"Yours!" Peyton said again, and the man suddenly kicked Peyton. She clutched her stomach in pain, and Lucas stood up.
"Again, who's child is it?" The man growled.
"Lucas Scott's." Peyton murmured after a pause.
"What?" Lucas and the man said at the same time. The man drew back his foot and repeatedly kicked Peyton in the stomach, who gasped in pain.
"Stop this!" Lucas yelled, closing his eyes. "Keith, I swear to you, stop it now."
There was a silence. Peyton's gasping stopped, the music outside silenced.
Lucas opened one eye, and he was back in the middle of the street. Keith was standing in front of Lucas, waiting.
He was also preoccupied with pulling out his intestines through the wound in which he was shot.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Lucas said, and Keith's head snapped up, realizing Lucas opened his eyes. Keith shrugged, stuffing his intestines back into the hole. He pushed on both sides of the wound, closing it.
"Sorry." Keith laughed. "I get bored."
"So you play with your stomach?" Lucas snapped.
"Yup." Keith said casually, walking off.
"How can you be so calm about it?" Lucas whispered. Keith stopped; half turned, and looked at Lucas.
"That's life." Keith reasoned. "What? 'That's life'?" Lucas mocked. "Life is when perfectly nice and decent guys get murdered by just trying to help a kid get through a rough spot?"
Keith shrugged. "Let's go, Lucas."
"Tell me what happened with Peyton and her child." Lucas said, and Keith nodded.
"You got her pregnant one day." Keith shrugged simply. "Now, you were being less than a good guy, Lucas. You left her. You left her alone, without any friends, with a daughter. No one believed in her, Lucas. She ended up there."
Lucas was about to protest, but Keith continued walking.
"Can you show me something good this time?" Lucas asked, and Keith sighed, stopping again.
"If you ask these many questions, you may never wake up." Keith said, and Lucas raised his eyebrows, as if urging Keith to answer his question.
Keith groaned. "Fine, fine." He said, and continued walking. He mumbled something incoherent about how Lucas didn't understand the purpose.
"Do you want to see yourself if you chose Brooke instead of Peyton or Peyton instead of Brooke?" Keith asked, and Lucas laughed. "What do you mean, Brooke? We're just friends."
Keith sighed. "Just pick, Lucas."
"Fine, Brooke." Lucas shrugged, a bit curious, and Keith smiled slightly, and the surroundings changed to Lucas's room. Lucas was sitting on a chair, his laptop on his bed, and Peyton was sitting on the bed beside him, smiling.
Brooke suddenly opened the door, and Lucas looked up. "Hey. We were just…" Lucas stammered.
Brooke, hand on her hip, looked at Peyton.
"I'd like to talk to my boyfriend." Brooke said, and when Peyton didn't move, she added, "Alone."
Peyton shot Lucas a look, got off the bed, and walked to the door. "Nice job not hitting on him." She said, a slight smirk on her face.
Peyton smiled, turning back to Lucas. "Luke, I'll get those CDs later." She said, smiling wider. "Thanks for the sex!"
Brooke glared at Peyton, who left. Lucas stood up, holding up his hand. "She's joking."
Brooke didn't say anything.
"I was trying to call you." Lucas said, and Brooke laughed. "You mean when you weren't hanging out with Peyton?"
Lucas sighed. "Come on, Brooke, you never called me back."
Lucas looked at Keith. "Why are you showing me this?"
"You told me to show you choosing Brooke over Peyton. This was the crossroads in your relationship, Lucas." Keith said, motioning back to the scene in front of them.
"Now you know how I feel!" Brooke said. "Look, I know it's been difficult for you lately, loosing Keith and your heart condition and giving up basketball." Brook hesitated, looking down. She looked back up at Lucas.
"I feel that I've been keeping you close to me to try to protect you from those things, like I'm hanging onto the two of us for you, but not for me." Brooke said, and Lucas sat down.
"I'm sorry I kissed Peyton. I should have told you." Lucas said desperately.
"It's not about that, Luke! It's not. I mean, I thought that it was, but it's not about her. It's about me." Brooke said, sitting on the bed in front of Lucas.
"I love you, Lucas." Brooke said, and Lucas smiled. "And I probably always will. But we go days without having a meaningful conversation, and I used to miss you so much when that happened. But it never seemed like you missed me. And I guess because of it, I stopped missing you."
"It shouldn't be like this, Lucas." Brooke said, shaking her head.
Lucas looked up at Brooke. "Brooke…"
"I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore." Brooke said, frowning slightly. Brooke leaned in, kissing Lucas on his forehead.
"Brooke." Lucas said, grabbing her arm. Keith nudged Lucas. "This is the good part." He said. Lucas didn't remember this part.
"What?" Brooke said, still frowning. "What do I have to say to make you stay?" Lucas said, and Brooke looked down. "There's nothing left to say, Lucas." She whispered, standing up, but Lucas pulled her back down.
"You told me at the wedding that you wanted me to show how I feel about you, but that's hard for me, alright? I've gone through life not knowing how to feel. But those words I said to you the day of the thunderstorm- I still stand by them."
Brooke's eyes softened a bit.
"If you chose to end it right here, right now, then fine. I will fight every step of the way to show you that we can work, Brooke. But even if that doesn't work out, I want you to know that as I grow older, as we continue to change, grow apart, maybe, I just want you to know I'll always be in love with you. You were my first… Everything. You have a place in my heart that no one will ever have. And you're wrong, Brooke. I miss you every second of every day. I can never sleep because I wonder where you are- what you're doing, if you're thinking about me, if you're laying awake missing me like I do you. And when I do sleep, you're the only one that's in my dreams. You're the only one, Brooke. You'll always be the only one that I want."
Brooke smiled slightly, still a bit unsettled.
"I love you more than anything." Lucas whispered, his final attempt. Brooke smiled, just a little more, leaning in and kissing Lucas.
"What kind of dreams do you have?" Brooke whispered, and Lucas thought.
"I can show you." He said, now smiling himself. "Come here." Brooke said, rolling her eyes, and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"That's all I had to say?" Lucas said, slightly annoyed that he hadn't thought of that. Keith nodded slightly. "It's never too late to change that, Lucas." Keith said, walking out of the house. Lucas ran after him.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas said, catching up with Keith. "When Brooke came to your room that night, she wanted to see how you were doing. She wasn't intending on breaking up with you."
"W-what?"
"She saw you with Peyton, it broke her heart. So she lied to you. She told you that she didn't miss you anymore, but that was a lie. When you were out looking at colleges with your mother, she missed you. She just saw how Peyton looked at you, how you looked at her. And you know Brooke, she jumps to conclusions easily. But in her heart, she still wanted you. All you had to say was 'I love you'." Keith explained, and Lucas stood there, stunned.
"Like I said, it's never to late to change that." Keith said, then tapped Lucas's chest where his heart was.
"What does your heart want, Lucas?"
There was a buzzing of electricity, and everything went black. Lucas opened his eyes, looking up at the bleak hospital ceiling.
There was someone holding onto his hand. Lucas looked over, and Brooke was there, holding onto his hand, her head resting on the bed. She was asleep. Peyton was in the corner, a blanket wrapped around her, asleep.
"Brooke." Lucas whispered, nudging Brooke slightly. She woke up, and suddenly pulled her hand away, shocked. "I should wake up Peyton." Brooke said uncomfortably, standing up.
"Peyton." Brooke said, shaking Peyton slightly. "Your… Boyfriend," Brooke said, sounding hurt about saying that. "Is awake."
Peyton opened her eyes, looking at Lucas. Brooke walked out of the room, and Peyton jumped up.
"Lucas!" Peyton said, running over to him and hugging him.
"Peyton." Lucas whispered, pulling away. "I don't think that kiss was a very good idea." Lucas whispered, and Peyton stared at him. "What?" She said, running a hand through her hair. "I should get the doctor." Peyton mumbled, ignoring what Lucas said. She turned, but Lucas grabbed her arm.
"I don't think we're a very good idea."
Peyton pulled her arm out of Lucas's grasp. "I'm going to go see Haley. Talk to me when you're thinking straight, alright?"
HALEY
Haley opened her eyes, confused. She was in a meadow, green grass stretching as far as Haley could see. There were flowers everywhere, all different colors. It was beautiful, and the sun was shining brightly down.
"Haley." A man said behind her, and she turned around. There Keith was standing. "Keith!" Haley said happily, pulling him into a hug.
"What are you doing here? Where are we?" Haley said, and Keith frowned. "Haley, do you know what happened?"
Haley shook her head. "What do you mean, what happened?" She asked. Keith ignored her, and pulled a small, compact mirror out of his pocket.
"Why do you carry that around?" Haley asked, laughing slightly.
"Look at yourself." Keith said, handing her the mirror. She opened it, looking at herself.
She stared back at the reflection in horror. Her face had cuts all over it, her eye was swollen. "What happened?" She whispered.
"You don't remember?" Keith asked, and Haley looked up at him. He was frowning. "Oh, this is bad." He whispered to himself.
"What's bad?" Haley said. "What's the last thing you remember, Haley?" Keith asked, and Haley shrugged.
"I was at Karen's." Haley said, and Keith smiled, relieved.
"I was sitting at the table with Karen and Lucas and Karen just gave Lucas a book that we found." Haley said, and Keith's smile dropped.
"Oh, man." Keith whispered, rubbing his forehead. "This is not good." Keith said, pacing. Haley stared at him. "What?!"
"You lost your memory." Keith said, and Haley laughed. "Right, Keith. I can't wait to tell you this dream when I wake up." Haley said, and Keith shook his head.
"I gotta fix this." Keith mumbled, walking away. Haley ran after him. "Fix what?"
"Your memory!" Keith said, walking over to a tree. There was a little pond near it. "Put your head in the water." Keith said, and Haley laughed.
"It's your memories, Haley. If you don't put your head in there in say, two minutes, you'll wake up married and pregnant and not knowing how that happened." Keith said, motioning to the water, which was shimmering, unlike normal water would.
Haley hesitated, then walked over to the pond. "Say hi to Lucas for me." Keith said, and Haley dunked her head in. Her eyes wouldn't shut, but the water didn't sting her eyes.
Memories flashed before Haley's eyes.
And just like that, everything went black.
"Haley?" A voice said, noticing Haley's eyes slowly opened. "Nathan?" Haley mumbled. "No, it's Peyton." Peyton responded.
"Peyton." Haley smiled. "I just had the weirdest dream." She murmured, looking at Peyton. She looked around. "Where am I?" She asked, and frowned before Peyton could answer.
"So Keith was right." Haley mumbled.
"Keith?" Peyton asked, and Haley nodded. "He said I got in a car accident." She said, feeling weak.
"I'll go get Nathan." Peyton said, rushing out of the room.
Haley watched Peyton go. She tried to make sure all her memories were still there, and surely, they were.
"Thanks, Keith." Haley smiled slightly, looking up towards the ceiling.