AN: I'm so sorry that it's been forever guys. I appreciate the reviews, but I was wanting to not do what I'm about to do. I promise, it is necessary.

I finally lift my gaze. I cannot see anything due to the tears welling in my eyes. Ryan's leaning on my right arm comfortingly while Sharpay holds my left hand between us. I still can't believe that she flew in from Paris to be here. But then again, my life has been full of surprises lately.

After taking Ry home last Sunday afternoon, I laid in bed with him to take a nap. When I woke up, I wish I had still been dreaming; instead of living out my worst nightmare.

FLASHBACK

"Hello?" I answer into my phone groggily.

"Dude, Troy! Thank God you're okay! Where are you?!" Chad half yells into the receiver on the other end.

"I'm at Ryan's. What do you mean, 'thank God you're okay'?" I respond, still not fully awake.

Ryan sits up a bit and kisses the fingers on my free hand. "Who is it?" he whines.

I whisper in reply, "Chad.".

"Dude, Troy. I can't even say it out loud. You have to get home right now." Chad's voice is stern with a tone of urgency.

"Okay. Let me clean up a bit and I'll be right over."

"No dude. Get here NOW." He states plainly before disconnecting the call.

I quickly put my shoes and socks back on and start to stand up when Ryan's hand grabs me lovingly.

"Can't it wait like, 20 minutes?" Ryan pleads.

"No babe. I think something's wrong with my folks." I say as gently as possible. His grin falters into an accepting visage. "Come with me?" I ask. He doesn't even think twice about it. He jumps out of the bed and throws on his trusty flip-flops. He's already half way out the door.

"Are you coming or not?" He jokes at my surprised expression.

HSM – SY HSM – SY HSM – SY

We arrive at my house within five minutes. Wait, let me correct myself. We arrive at what was once my house; it's currently a pile of smoldering rubble.

"What happened?" I asked the first cop I could find.

Officer Hessel, to whom I would be formally introduced later, looked at me and scoffed. "I don't have time to answer a nosey teenager's question. Why don't you just go home and wait for the newscast like everyone else." I knew that he was disoriented while trying to watch everything that was going on but his tone was far from kind. It didn't even sound like he was stressed out. It was condescending and full of mockery.

What is the natural instinct when faced with sudden stress? Fight or flight. He just severed my last nerve and that's why my right hook landed him on the ground. That's also why I had two dozen officers wrestling me to the ground as well.

One finally gets me cuffed and lifts me from the dog pile. He shoves me towards a cruiser and states, "What's your name kid?"

By now I'm completely exhausted and I still have no idea what has happened. I take a deep breath and say, "Troy Bolton. This is my house. All I want to know is what happened." The tears are starting to flow freely and Officer Morel wrapped me into a huge bear hug.

Once I'm calmed, He asks me what took place between Hessel and me. I told him and he answered with a left cross to the offending policeman's jaw. I'm released from the cuffs and walk to Ryan and an injured Chad.

"Will somebody please tell me what's going on?" I inquired. Chad took a breath; winced at the pain that it obviously caused, and told me.

"Your dad brought me inside so I could grab that CD I let you borrow. You know, my Corbin Bleu album." I nodded acquiescence. "We walked into the kitchen and turned on the light and the next thing I knew, I was thrown against the wall and the house started to crumble around me."

My mouth fell agape in shock. "That's when I lost consciousness." He concluded.

END FLASHBACK

I couldn't sleep for three nights. Thank God that Ry let me stay at his place instead of moving in with my Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry in Denver. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Just great!! Now, Fr Carter is going to talk about how saintly my folks were. He's never even met them! He's only giving them a Catholic funeral as a favor to Gabriella and her mom.

FLASHBACK

I step into the morgue with Ryan holding my hand as tightly as possible. "I know this must be difficult, son. But I need you to identify the corpses." Dr. Topolski states. I nod numbly as I look upon the charred remains of my mother. I agree that it is in fact her, avoiding the expulsion of bile that's rising in my throat. We then move to my father and I can see that every bone in his body was crushed. He no longer had a shape. He was just a puddle on a bed. I ran out of the room with Ryan in tow. This will definitely go down as the hardest day of my life.

HSM – SY HSM – SY HSM – SY

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Troy. I went to school with your parents. Though we weren't the closest of friends, we did travel in the same circles. I want you to know that I grieve with you." She gave me a hug into which I melted. After pulling me away, she allowed Ryan to hold me from behind and looked us both in the eyes.

"Do you want to know what happened?" I nodded. "I told your mom that I found notes from my husband proclaiming his love for your father. I wanted to warn her in hopes that we could stop them before anything happened." Suddenly, my mouth went dry.

My voice started to sound without my conscious control. "They were arguing over the phone while Dad and I were on the bus with the team. He kept saying things like, 'don't you know me better than that', 'honestly are you that stupid', and 'could you really blame me you—'" At that moment I started to sob. "'—you frigid harpy'!" I couldn't control myself any longer. I collapsed onto the sterile tile and cried so hard that I vomited; just like when Ryan broke my heart.

Dr. Topolski squatted next to me and hugged my back maternally. She also held Ryans hand and I could see hers squeeze his comfortingly.

"The charred marks on your mother's face show us that she was very close to the heat source. I ran a toxicology report and diagnosed that the actual cause of death is carbon monoxide inhalation." She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"You mean she was burned alive?" Ryan asked.

"No. She stuck her head in the oven. She was dead before your father found her. Your dad as well did not suffer at all. When he was knocked against the kitchen wall during the explosion, he hit the corner of the china hutch and one of the decorative fell landing at the base of his skull. The puncture wound severed the brain stem and even though he was alive for another five minutes, he was paralyzed and felt no pain."

I set up onto my haunches and she wrapped me again in her arms. I could feel her kissing my forehead in a soothing manner.

END FLASHBACK

I look up one last time to see the matching coffins being lowered into the ground. All of my cousins are throwing clumps of dirt onto the graves and Ryan stands like he said he would. I fully shift my weight into Sharpay's embrace as both Mr and Mrs Evans place a comforting had on my shoulders. Then came the final nail to seal my heart forever. My angel and his melodic tones…

"Oh Danny Boy! The pipes, the pipes are callin'
from glen to glen and down the mountainside!"