I opened the door to the car and threw the lit match in.

I stumbled slightly back over to where I had been sitting before.

And I watched the car go up in flames.

I thought about how if I waited long enough, the gas would blow, too… and it would take me along with it…

Which was all part of the plan.

I silently started saying my goodbyes.

I said goodbye to AJ… telling him in my head that I loved him… thanking him for saving my ass on more than one occasion… and that I'd see him on the other side.

I said goodbye to Aunt Kendall, and I thanked her for everything she'd ever done for me, all the secrets she kept, all the times that she sat down and cried with me, all the times she was there for me.

I said goodbye to Lucy, Cara, Uncle David, Uncle Zach, Ian, Gabby, Miranda, Spike, Emma, Aunt Binx, Marissa… even Ryan.

I said goodbye to my mother… almost cursing her in my head, but then I changed my mind.

I thanked her for being the best mother she ever could be.

I thanked her for lying to me when she knew I wouldn't understand.

I thanked her for never being cold to me like some mothers were to their teenage daughters.

I thanked her for loving me.

I watched the car as it was being consumed in the flames.

I braced myself for the explosion.

'I'll see you soon, Daddy."

Then, out of nowhere, another car swerved in.

AJ got out, and my mother soon followed suit.

"Lea!" She shrieked as she started towards me.

"NO! Stay away from me!" I screamed at them.

AJ ran at me and put his arms around me. I struggled.

"Baby, please! We-we have to get you out of here. We have to get you back to the hospital.

"No!" I screamed. "I have to stay here! I want to see my daddy! Please!"

AJ turned to my mother.

"Get back in the car!"

She opened her mouth as if to protest but followed AJ's instructions and got back into the car.

AJ grabbed me by the shoulders and tried to look me in the eyes.

"You can't stay here."

"No, AJ." I wept.

"Please, I can't lose you!" He was crying, too.

I looked over at the car…

And I knew…

The car was about to explode.

"AJ, you need to go."

"I'm not leaving without you!"

"No, AJ, I'm being serious! The car!"

"Yes! The car is on fire! We need to get you out of here!"

"No! AJ! The car is about to explo-!"

AJ suddenly threw himself onto me and we ended up on the ground 10 feet away…

Then, it happened.

The car exploded.

The pieces flew everywhere and AJ sheltered me in his arms.

I watched as pieces of my mother's car were scattered all over the place, some now ashes, others large hunks of flaming metal.

I looked up at AJ for half a second and then buried my faces in his chest.

I wept.

He stroked me soaked hair and kissed the top of my head.

"It's okay…" He whispered… but I could tell that he was crying too.

Being in AJ's arms was helping a little bit…

But I felt myself getting more and more lightheaded by the second.

And I saw a light.

And then I saw my dad.

Then, it was black.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw that I was sitting at the top of Miller Falls, once again, next to my father.

"Hey." I whispered, too afraid to look at him. He was probably ashamed of me, I mean, I stole a car, I got wasted, I committed arson… God, what the hell was wrong with me?

He looked over at me and saw that I was crying.

"Hey," He put his arm around me. "What's wrong?"

I sniffed.

"You should hate me."

He kissed the top of my head.

"I could never hate you."

"Are you kidding? I blew my mother's car up, and I almost got myself and a lot of other people killed."

He sat there for a moment and laughed a little.

"I thought that was all pretty badass."

I looked up at him and started cracking up.

He laughed along with me, and then, when we stopped, I looked at him again, studying his handsome face, his big eyes, his nose, everything that I never really saw…

"How is it that you possibly know what to say to make me feel better?"

My dad smiled.

"You're my kid, aren't you?"

"Well… yeah… but it seems like in this town, you never really know."

I winked and he nudged me as we snickered.

"You know, you really are your mother's daughter."

"Once again, everyone says that."

"NO, really. Your mom was a badass too, you know, back in the day."

"She's still pretty badass."

"Well…"

And we laughed again.

"You know, you remind me of Bianca too… she set her mother's house on fire once."

"NO WAY."

"Way!"

"Wow… Pine Valley's pretty damn cool."

"If you had it any better, you'd be in Heaven."

…

That comment created an awkward silence.

"Well, you know, I kind of wanted to be there…"

"Well, it's pretty nice up there but I'll just tell you this… there's a lot of reasons why you want to die. But, there's double the amount of reasons that you want to live."

"Wow… that was deep."

And we laughed again.

He kissed the top of my head again.

"I love you, Lea."

"I love you, Dad."

And he hugged me.

I was crying again.

"Dad?"

"When will I get to see you again?"

My dad laughed again.

"Whenever you want."

And I hugged my dad as tightly as I could.

Then, at the worst time… I woke up.

Thanks for reading! I'm going to include a concluding chapter and an epilogue after this one. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! The final 2 chapters should be up soon. Thanks again and please review!

-Emma :)