I'm not as happy with this chapter compared to others, but its needed to fill in the blanks I've created. Things finally start to come together after this and certain things make more sense. Lyrics are "Dustland fairytale" by the The Killers. Review! Tell me what you think!

"Change came in disguise of revelation, set his soul on fire
She says she always knew he'd come around
And the decades disappear like sinking ships
But we persevere, God gives us hope
But we still fear what we don't know."

Brooke:
One year and three weeks ago:

"Lucas, I want nothing more than to be in your life, completely. But you and I both know that's not what you want, and it probably never really was." I looked up at him, trying so hard to be strong and not let any tears fall from my eyes, tears that had been growing for the past month, the past month that led up to this moment, I knew I would eventually have to let go of Lucas, because as hard as it would be, there was no way around it, we weren't meant to last. I looked at him one last time before I walked out. I knew I had to make a quick exit or he'd start talking and I would lose it, right there in his bedroom.

Before I closed the door I heard his voice, pained, "Brooke, Wait." I didn't turn around. I couldn't, I'd spent too much time making sure this was the right thing to do. I knew in my heart no matter how badly it hurt that it was.

Haley:
One year ago:

I walked into Lucas' room that morning not sure of what I would find. There he was sitting on his bed, making the worst attempt to tie a tie that I'd ever seen. "Here, give it to me." He didn't hesitate, he just took it off and handed it over to me, I placed it around my neck and tied with ease, and then placed it back around his neck. I didn't ask him the overused questions, "Are you okay?" I knew in that moment words weren't needed. I just sat down next to him, and he knew I was there. After the longest period of silence I think the two of us have ever shared, I stood up slowly, "Come on, Luke." He got up slowly brushing at his suit absentmindedly, "You know, a week from today they we're getting married. Now I'm burying them." I wrapped my arms around him as tightly as I could, hoping with my whole heart that the closeness would melt all of his sorrow and grief away, making him whole again. "I won't leave your side, Luke."

I didn't pretend to know what he was going through, I didn't talk, telling him things I knew weren't true. I just let myself be there with him, I kept my arms wrapped around his body as if our lives depended on it. And in that moment his probably did. If you had asked me just a few days before if I pictured the week ending with my arms around my best friend as we walked towards the funeral to the two people in his life I didn't know how he could possibly begin to live with out, surrounded by people gathered around the cascat, their bodies covered in black. I never would have believed you. I somehow still don't.

Peyton:
One year ago:

I should have had all the right words to say to Luke, but I didn't. I was just as clueless as he was, and when I seen him sitting there, surrounded by everyone in their house? I felt even more clueless than usual. I made myself walk towards him. He stood up when he seen me, or maybe he didn't see me at all. But I wrapped my arms around him, almost scared to, I didn't want him to back away. He didn't. He grabbed a hold of me just as tightly and started to cry. "I'm so sorry, Luke." I wanted in that moment more than anything to take all of his pain upon myself, "I wish I could make it all go away." He backed away and looked at me in a way he never had, "Peyton, what do I do?" I didn't know how to answer him, I wanted so badly to have the right response, the one that would set his mind at ease and make him be able to get through all of this better than I was ever able to, but I didn't, so all I could say was, "I'll help you, I can promise that."

Lucas:
11 month's ago:

I'd never in my life felt the need to go for drugs, or drinking, or any of that. I was Lucas Scott, what need could I possibly have? It's funny how everything can change in the time it takes to get a phone call. I'd tried keeping it together for the past month but it wasn't working. They could all see it but they didn't know the extent. Peyton was trying so hard, it made me want to get better for her at the least, but I couldn't. So instead I grabbed my phone and made a phone call that before I even knew it, decided my fate. I talked to a guy about getting some drugs, something to make me numb, and there it was, I knew I could change my mind, be a normal person and work through it. But I didn't. I think a part of me didn't want too. Looking back I don't know if I made a mistake.

Peyton:
10 months ago:

Most people get the luck of going through life with one mom, or if they had two, they'd have seen it as a good thing. I didn't at first. Finding out my birth mother was alive should have been the best thing that could have happened to me, but it wasn't for the longest time. It changed everything, I couldn't wrap my mind around why my dad never told me, in the seventeen years of my life, how he never managed to mention to me, "Hey, you were adopted. Your birth mother? Yeah, she's still alive." I felt more betrayed than words can explain, and not only did I have to deal with the fact that my dad never felt the need to tell me all of these things, I had to deal with the fact that this woman, my mother, had decided to wait seventeen years to talk to me. It was too much at once and instead of running towards her, I pushed her away.

I regret that. Because now, here I am, going through the loss of a mom again, and I all I could think about was the fact that I pushed her away for so long. All of the time I wasted, I didn't know how to deal with that. But it was beginning to seem I didn't know how to deal with much of anything, because the opposite was happening with Lucas in the past month, we we're close, yes, but yet he was pushing me away, something he'd never done. My whole world was falling apart.