Thank you so, so, so much for all the reviews! And sorry for not updating sooner. I'm trying to get better at that. And I hope everyone likes this chapter, because I sure do.

It was a warm, sunny day in the summer. Lucy was sitting on a bench in Central Park, her mind concentrated on the book in her hands. She could hear the happy laughter of children in the distance and the birds in the trees were merrily chirping away. It was one of those days that Lucy loved. A day that she could just relax and enjoy life. It seemed like nothing could, or would, go wrong on such a perfect day.


"Hey Luce."

Lucy looked up from her book and smiled when she saw Lizzie standing in front of her. She was wearing a white summer dress and she had left her hair down that day so her blonde waves framed her face. To Lucy, she seemed angelic.

"Hey, what're you going here?" Lucy asked. She closed her book and set it on the bench, then she stood up.

"I just wanted to see my best friend," Lizzie answered, grinning, "Come on, let's go feed the ducks."

Lucy nodded her head and followed her friend to the pond. Feeding the ducks was something they did together often. In fact, it had been how they had first met. They'd both been three years old when Lucy's dad and Lizzie's mom had taken them to the very same pond. Lizzie had cried when she had ran out of bread to feed the ducks with, and when Lucy saw, she decided she'd share her bread. Soon they became inseperable, and they remained best friends to that very day.

The two of them were standing at the edge of the pond, throwing the bread at the ducks, and giggling like little children when the ducks would argue over who got what piece of bread. This was how Lucy wanted it to be forever. The two of them, best friends for the rest of their lives. They'd eventually get married and have children, and when they did, their children would be best friends. It was just how it was supposed to be.

Hours seemed to pass by as they remained at the edge of that pond. Finally, the sun began to set. Lucy turned to her friend to tell her that she should get home. When she looked at Lizzie's appearance, she gasped. The white dressed suddenly had a blood stain around Lizzie's stomach.

"Liz, are you bleeding?" Lucy asked. She could hear the panic in her voice. Lizzie looked down at her dress, then touched her hand to the stain. Lucy could see that blood was now on her best friend's hand. When Lizzie looked up again, her eyes, which before had been soft and warm, were now filled with fear. The carefree girl Lucy had been spending the day with had suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a girl who was terrified. And she seemed to be looking at something behind Lucy. She motioned for Lucy to run, but instead, Lucy turned around.

The sun was gone now, replaced by dark storm clouds. Standing behind Lucy was Patrick, a look of rage in his eyes. Lucy looked over her shoulder and saw that Lizzie was gone. At that moment, Lucy knew she had to run, but she couldn't feel her legs. She watched as Patrick pointed his gun at her, but she still couldn't move. A sick, twisted smile formed on Patrick's face as he put his finger on the trigger.

"You killed me, Lucy."

That was all he said before pulling the trigger.

Lucy shot straight up in her bed, shaking and sweating. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. That had only been a nightmare. Patrick wasn't back to kill her.

How could he come back? He was dead from the other nightmare that had happened, the one Lucy had yet to wake up from. Only Lucy knew she would never wake up from the nightmare. It was a reality for her. The school shooting had happened, and Patrick had killed seven students and two teachers, nine innocent people in total. And if that didn't make Lucy sick to her stomach, the fact that she had killed a person did. Sure, Patrick wasn't innocent like the people he had killed, but he was still a person, and Lucy had shot and killed him. She didn't know if the guilt from that would ever go away.

Knowing that she wouldn't get any more sleep, Lucy got out of bed and went to the living room. She sat on the couch and flipped on the tv, figuring she could find something to watch that would numb her mind for just a little while. There wasn't much on at four in the morning except for infomercials and a Law and Order marathon. She quickly skipped the marathon on the tv guide, knowing it would be nothing but murder, murder, murder. And that was the last thing she needed to watch. Finally, she found an old episode of Friends. Changing the channel to TBS, she got comfortable on the couch and tried to let her mind focus on the comedic issues of Ross and Rachel and nothing else but that.

Unfortunately, her mind couldn't stay on the show and no matter how hard she tried to let it stay there, Lucy couldn't stop thinking about the day ahead. All the funerals for the victims of the shooting were being held that week, and today, it was Lizzie's. Lucy was already dreading it. Since the shooting, she'd only seen her parents, and occasionally one of her uncles. Now today she'd have to go out and see almost everyone she knew. She'd see Emily, her other best friend that she hadn't even been there for. Lucy had no clue what Emily did or didn't see during the shooting, and as selfish as it sounded, Lucy didn't care. Emily hadn't seen one of their best friends die and Emily hadn't killed anyone, so as horrible as it sounded, Lucy didn't care about Emily at the moment.

The other two people Lucy didn't want to see were Lizzie's mom and little brother. Those two were like her other family, and yet she hadn't been there for them, either. This was for a different reason, though. Less than a year ago, Lizzie had lost her dad to cancer. Now that Lizzie was gone, Lucy couldn't even bear to imagine the grief the two of them were feeling. Lucy couldn't even think about what it would be like to lost two family members less than a year apart.

And now today, Lucy would have to face all of them. She'd have to deal with them asking if she'd heard Lizzie's last words, if her last moments were painful, or if she had gone quickly. She didn't know how she was going to get through that day.

Lucy had been so deep in thought that she hadn't even noticed her mother enter the room and sit on the couch next to her. It was the hand her mother placed on her shoulder that finally knocked Lucy out of her thoughts. Lucy turned to face her mother and saw worry written all over her face.

"Baby, what are you doing up?" Her voice was soft and caring, something that Lucy needed at the moment.

"I couldn't sleep," Lucy answered.

Lindsay simply nodded at her daughter's answer, then she pulled Lucy closer and let her rest her head on her shoulder. For Lindsay, she knew exactly what it meant when Lucy said she couldn't sleep. It meant either she'd had a nightmare about the shooting, or she was too wrapped up in thought to even have the chance to fall asleep and experience a nightmare. Lindsay wished that there was something she could say, something she could do, that would make her daughter feel better. Having been in the situation before, though, she knew that it didn't matter how many people tried to make you feel better. The pain would never go away. It would only get easier as time goes by, like it did before.

"Mom, are you going to be at the funeral today?" Lucy asked.

"Of course I will be. Your dad will be too," Lindsay said. She felt Lucy nod, then it grew silent between them again, the only noise in the room being tv show.

Eventually, Lucy began to feel her eyelids grow heavy. She wanted to sleep, but she didn't want to have another nightmare. Only this time she knew if she had a nightmare, she'd wake up and have her mom there to comfort her, and at the moment, that's all she really needed. And she realized, as she began to drift to sleep, having her parents at the funeral today would be the way she'd get through it.