Tori stood in front of Andre's door for half an hour now, not knowing what to do. A part of her wanted to turn away. To go home and think this through one more time. She had no proof that Andre's memory was actually true. Sure, a few in the past have been correct, but that could have still been lucky guesses from her part. Most people have financial issues these days and Mandy's boyfriend was an asshole to begin with. All those things could have been lucky guesses and her mind could have just made up visualizations because of all the stress and lack of sleep she had in the last few weeks. There could be a perfectly good, logical explanation to what has been happening to her. At least that is what she tries to tell herself. She knows that it's probably the opposite. She knew that what she saw was too real to just be a trick her mind is playing on her. She knew that it was wishful thinking from her part, because she didn't know how to deal with it if it is indeed true. She knew that what she has seen is a memory from a long time ago. That it is a memory that has burdened her best friend with unbearable guilt. She knows too well how it feels when you hurt someone you care about. She knows too well that even if it's not done deliberately; even if it was an accident; even if hurting the person you love was never the intention, the guilt still stays, as does the pain the other person feels.

She took a long, deep breath and knocked on the door. The noise that was heard inside the house died down, and she heard one of the doors open. Half a minute later, the front door opened.

"Yes?" Andre asked, before realizing who was standing in front of him.

"Hi." Tori greeted with a small smile.

"Oh, hey girl. What brings you to my crib?" Andre asked, still standing in the doorframe.

"I didn't feel like being alone, so I hoped you would hang out with me." Tori lied. Well, not completely. She didn't feel like being alone in the empty house. The loneliness would make her think, and that would bring back memories she did not want to remember.

"Of course. Come in." Andre said as he stepped aside and motioned Tori to enter. She walked into the house and followed Andre up to his room.

"Did I interrupt you on something?" She asked, noticing all the sheets of paper on the ground.

"Not really. I was just cutting some of my songs together. I want to get at least twenty of them done by the end of the month." Andre explained as he picked up the sheets off the floor.

"Why do you need them?" Tori asked as she sat down in his chair.

"The label that had signed me a while ago, you remember?" Andre asked.

"Of course. They signed you after we sang 'Song 2 you', right?"

"Yes, them exactly. I finally got them to listen to a few of my songs, so I want to get them at least twenty. Who knows, if they like enough of them, maybe they'll have me record my own album." He explained.

"That would be awesome! I mean, they used a few of your songs already, haven't they?"

"Don't get me started. Sure, it's nice when they take your songs and someone else performs them. It's great when you hear your song on TV or in the radio. But what I want is to sing them myself. I want to be the guy on TV and on stage doing it. After all, who knows better what my songs mean than myself?"

"That is true. Good luck with that. I know you will show them how great you are." Tori said.

"Thanks, Tori. That means a lot. But first, I got to finish recording my songs." Andre said.

"Maybe I can help. Two minds work better than one." Tori said.

"Do you know how to handle recording software?" Andre asked. He motioned towards his PC. Tori looked and her eyes grew wide at all the buttons and options on the screen. Andre only smiled at her confused expression.

"I… could hit the record button for you." Tori said as she looked back at him, earning a laugh from her best friend.

"Thanks a lot, but I got this covered. Don't worry." He said as he closed the editor. "So? What do you want to do?"

"I don't know." Tori said as she looked down for a moment, trying to come up with something. "We could sing together. See if a few of your songs work as a duet." Tori suggested.

"Sure. Let's try this one." Andre said, handing her one of the sheets. She looked through it. The lyrics were rather happy and the melody was a happy one. It was a typical Andre sound. Happy go lucky melodies and lyrics that bring the atmosphere up either at school, at parties or just when he's hanging around with others. He would seem like someone who does not have a worry in his life. He's good looking, he has a great personality, sings, dances and plays more instruments than some people ever get to see in their lives. And yet, there is something only Tori seems to know about him. Something the guy who swore he could not hold any emotions back and keep them for himself has hidden from the world, even the people closest to him. Tori remembered how he said that he had trouble with keeping his emotions in check since he was a child. That statement makes so much sense to her now. He meant that one moment that changed his life. He was talking about that one day when everything changed for him.

They sang for at least two hours, just happily jamming and fooling around like two people with no worry in their lives. Nothing could be farther from truth, though.

As Tori looked through the sheets, she found a single song that was different. The tempo was much slower, the notes were deeper and the lyrics were sadder. She read through them, taking every word in. It was a song about a kid loosing its childhood innocence. No moment was mentioned, nothing really explained. But as she was humming the melody to herself, she almost felt the emotions of the song.

Andre snatched the sheet of paper out of her hands, making Tori jump out of surprise. He put the sheet on the table behind him. His happy expression was gone. His smile was replaced with him biting his both lips, as if he was trying to prevent himself from saying anything.

"That song was…" Tori began, trying to break the intense silence.

"That song was something personal I wrote a long time ago. I forgot that it was with the others." Andre said, looking down as he played some random notes on the guitar.

"What is it about?" Tori asked. She hoped that he would tell her. Not only would it make it easier on her as she wouldn't have to explain to him what was going on with her, but it also would confirm that was she had seen actually had happened.

"It's something that happened a long, long time ago and doesn't matter. It's no use bringing it up now." Andre said.

"Andre…" Tori said in a pleading voice, but he wouldn't have any of that.

"I said I would not talk about it." He said in an angrier tone. Tori looked at her friend. She had no choice now. It must be true, because it's something still affecting him this strongly. It's something that still brings him pain. If it didn't matter anymore; if he really was over it, he would not have kept the song. He would not have ripped it out of her hands like that.

"Is it when you climbed that tree when you were young and fell down?" Tori asked, looking at Andre. His head turned extremely fast as his eyes landed on the half Latina. He looked at her in disbelief. He wanted to say something, to deny it, but no sound made it out of his throat.

"H-how do you know?" Andre asked, his words barely above a whisper.

"I saw it." Tori said, a part of her relieved that she now knows the truth, yet another saddened about it.

"What do you mean you saw it?" Andre asked.

"There is something I haven't told you." Tori began. "I have had these visions for a while now. I've seen the whole thing. You kicking the ball up, climbing that tree and falling down. I've seen what happened to your grandmother."

"What the fuck do you mean with visions?" Andre asked, jumping up and dropping his guitar. Tori jumped back out of fear, never having seen her best friend this angry. Andre snapped out of his rage immediately when he saw Tori's fear filled reaction. "I-I'm sorry, Tori. I…"

"It's okay. I know it's hard to believe." Tori said.

"I don't understand…"

"It began the day I ran off from school during lunch. The whole day, whenever I touched someone or someone touched me, I saw something. I saw a memory from that person, and not just any memory, but a painful one. I saw something that caused so much pain to them that it still had an effect on them. When you placed your hand on my shoulder that day, I saw a part of it. And then, when you hugged me the next day, I saw another part. And today I saw the final one when you hugged me. I saw the complete memory." Tori explained.

Andre stood there, dumbfounded. He did not know what to say to her right now. He doubted anyone would in his situation.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Andre asked.

"Would you have believed me? I didn't understand myself what was going on, but now I do. And I want to talk to you about what happened." Tori said.

"There is no use talking about it. What happened, happened. It can't be undone, okay? So why talk about it." Andre asked, his voice becoming heavier; his throat beginning to ache. He covered his mouth with his hand, in hopes to silence what was to come. But it didn't help, as his breaths turned sharp and quick while tears slowly formed in his eyes.

"You said yourself, even if you can't change the situation, it's always easier to have someone with you. That's what friends are for." Tori repeated his words, hoping that he would finally understand.

"This is different, Tori. This isn't something that happened to me. This is something I did!"

"But why are you blaming yourself?" Tori asked, her voice getting louder this time.

"Because it's my fault!" Andre yelled, before covering his eyes with his hands and wiping away his tears.

"Andre…"

"I did not listen to her. I did not listen and climbed that fucking tree. Because of me, she got hurt. That's why she went crazy, Tori. It's because she saved my life! I would have landed on my head had she not caught me. But that fucking branch hit her in the head and gave her a trauma so severe that she never recovered. She used to be one of the smartest women I even knew. She always knew what to do; always had advice for my mother or my aunts. And look to what I reduced her. She can't last a day by herself because she would end up hurting herself. She forgets where she is, what she was doing. She forgets names, where she lives, fuck she sometimes forgets who her own children are. Who I am."

"Is that why you are living with her?" Tori asked.

"Yes. I am taking care of her because she is like this because of me!"

Andre screamed out before he dropped to his knees. His shoulders were trembling while silent tears run down his face and fell onto the floor from his chin.

Tori slowly walked towards him and kneeled down in front of him. She wrapped both arms around her crying friend, glad that she wore long sleeves again.

"You were a kid, Andre. You did what kids do. Nobody can blame you for that." Tori told him, trying to calm him down.

"B-B-But I..:" Andre tried to say through his sobs, but Tori wouldn't let him.

"Do you really believe that your grandma blames you? Do you really believe that anyone blames you for being a kid? I'm sure that the only thing your grandma feels about that is happiness because you didn't get hurt too seriously." She said, but Andre only shook his head.

"Tell me, would you blame your kid or even grandson one day for something he did when he was still a kid, even if it had such consequences on you?" She asked him.

"I-I don't know."

"You do. And I know your answer. You wouldn't, not for a moment. Nobody should blame a child for its mistakes. And nobody is blaming you but you yourself Andre." Tori said, tightening her grip around him. "You need to forgive yourself, Andre. You need to let it go. Just imagine how much worse your grandma would feel had something happened to you that day." Tori said.

Andre wrapped both his arms around Tori, crushing her in a hug. He cried himself out that day, releasing all the stored emotions he had buried inside all these years.

A few hours later, he finally had no tears left. Tori's words had done something. They raised that question in his mind; the question if he truly was the only one blaming himself.

"Where is your grandma now?" Tori asked, finally having noticed why something felt off the whole time.

"She is at my aunt's place. They know I have a lot of work these days so they decided to take care of her for a few days." Andre explained, his throat still sore from all the crying. "Thank you for listening to me."

"Don't thank me. That's what friends are for." Tori told him.

"If you ever need something…" Andre began.

"I know. And the same goes for you. Don't forget that." Tori said. Andre hugged her back, glad to have her in his life. Tori was still good old Tori. No matter what was going on in her life, she still had the time and strength to take care of her friends. Andre knew that already, and found out again today.