This was a really hard chapter for me. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read/follow/review my little story. I'm extremely grateful!

I don't know how long I've been sitting on the bench when I come back to reality. I'm in the same position that I was when I dropped my phone; sitting, elbows resting on knees, face buried in hands and the tangle of my hair. I could have been here for hours for all I know. I lean to the ground and pick up my phone, which is blinking with a new message.

M – Dad and I are in Arendelle working on funeral arrangements. We sent some of your friends to pick you up from camp. See you soon, sweetie.

The time of the message says that she only sent it a few minutes ago. I should go pack up, I think vaguely. I stand up and slowly make my way back to my cabin, where the other girls are definitely asleep. Packing takes the work of a moment, since I never unpacked in the first place. All of my movements are painfully slow, as if I were walking through jelly. Once I zip up my bag, I go back outside to sit on the edge of the porch and wait.

My gaze moves upward involuntarily. If I was at home, I'd be looking at the swirling ceiling patterns that I've become so used to. Out here, though, I see only a midnight blue sky and the myriad constellations that are peppered across it. Two more stars. There are two more stars tonight.

I hear a car door slam, and a few minutes later Tooth is at my side, hugging me around the shoulders. She doesn't say anything, and neither do I, and we stay that way for a while. Then she stands up and holds out a hand to me. "We should get back," she says. "North, Bunny, and Sandy are in the car waiting." I nod and take her hand. She slings my bag over her back and we walk quickly to her vehicle. Being in her presence has somewhat lifted the sensation of moving in slow-motion.

As she puts the bag in the trunk, I settle myself into the front passenger seat, nodding a greeting at the three guys smashed together in the back seat. Even in the state I'm in, I have to stifle a smile at seeing them. The ride back is a silent but very fast affair, and I spend all of it looking at the stars from the car's window.

When we finally reach Angie and Kevin's house, I'm surprised to find that the lights are on. Of course, my parents are there. I give Tooth's hand a squeeze and smile at the three in the back. "Thanks for the ride…and for being good friends," I say, and I can feel the tears pricking at the corners of my eyes again. I don't want to cry in front of these people, for some reason. Tooth gives me a small smile and retrieves my bag for me. "Of course we'll be here if you need anything at all," she says.

"Thank you." I turn towards the house and walk up the sidewalk to the front door. The first time I did this, I was so scared. What if they don't like me? What if I don't like them? Turns out, they loved me. And I love them.

Before I can turn the handle, though, the door swings open. Mom. It feels strange not having seen her in person in so long; she's changed. Her hair is shorter, her clothes aren't ones that I recognize, but fundamentally she's still the same person that I left three years ago. Her eyes and her smile are the same, even when touched with sadness. I drop my bag and launch myself at her open arms. "Elsa," she whispers into my hair as we hug. Then another presence joins the hug, wrapping around both myself and my mother. I look up into my dad's face and smile slightly. "Hi dad."

An hour later, when we've settled back to the living room, the joy of being reunited is starting to slip away and be replaced with grief. Mom's hand is still holding my own, and she pats it now – a reassuring gesture. She told me that they left Anna in Burgess with the Frosts. She only knew Angie and Frank from their infrequent visits, so my parents thought it would be best to come without her.

"They were some of our best friends," she says. "I can't believe…"

"I know."

"Do you know what the last thing Angie said to me was? They were just leaving our house, were halfway to their car, when she turned around and said, 'I can't tell you in words how grateful I am that Elsa came to live with us. She is the greatest blessing we've ever received.'"

More tears start to spring into my eyes. Damn it, stop crying! I don't think I even cried this much when I had to leave Burgess in the first place. I didn't cry like this when I had to leave without saying goodbye to Jack and Anna and my other friends. I have never cried like this. "I miss them, mom."

"So do I, sweetie, so do I."

My dad comes back to the living room with his phone in his hand. "I was just talking to Kevin's lawyer. He said he'll be able to take care of the legal side of everything, but –" he cuts off abruptly when he sees me and mom.

I can't help but laugh. It's either that, or cry more. "We're a mess."

He nods. "I'm surprised I'm not more emotional. I don't think it's hit me quite yet, and until it does, I need to get this done."

Mom makes a sound of agreement and sits up more. "What day will the funerals be?"

"Friday."

The rest of the week goes relatively quickly, compared to that first night. I spend most of it sitting in the living room with my mom, talking about things that don't really seem to matter anymore. It is such a mysterious place, the land of tears. Tooth comes almost every day, just to see how I'm doing. North, Bunny, and Sandy do the same, and together they do a pretty good job of cheering me up. I genuinely laugh when they're around. It's Bunny who reminds me that I never told Jack that I was leaving. I send him a quick apology text for disappearing, but I don't explain what happened. He'll find out eventually, anyway.

I wake up Friday morning with a feeling of dread already settled in my stomach. The ceremony itself is a blur of black to me; the only part that I really remember is going up to the caskets before they closed them and saying goodbye to my second parents – not guardians, not anymore – one last time. I prepared cards to give them, to take with them into the earth, and I slide the first one into Kevin's breast pocket before bending down to kiss his cheek. The second one goes into Angie's folded hands, and I kiss her forehead. I'm not crying now, my tear ducts are dried out. I stand there are look at them, so peaceful now, but at the same time so unnaturally unexpressive. Their faces, that were always alive with emotion, are now still and cold. I can't stand it, but I can't look away. Remember these faces.

I stand there with the coffins until my mom touches my shoulder from behind, to direct me back to my seat. I bow my head and walk slowly to the chair that is waiting for me, with the words I left with my parents echoing in my head. They're stolen words, but I love them, and that makes them mine, too. And now Kevin and Angie's as well. "All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems…But all these stars are silent. You – you alone will have stars as no one else has them…In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night…You – only you – will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure…and your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you…It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh."

Only you will have stars that can laugh.

When we return to the Robinson's home that night, dad mentions that he'll have to sell the house. I whip my head back to look at him. "What?"

He looks me squarely in the eyes, something he wouldn't do when we decided that I had to leave home three years ago. "We have to sell the house, Elsa. You're not old enough to live alone."

I think I knew deep down that I wouldn't get to stay here, but the thought of leaving is unbearable to me. I stop in the middle of the sidewalk and stare at the house that's become my home. On an average Friday at this time, Angie would probably be making supper – which undoubtedly would be her homemade pizza – and Kevin would be coming home from work soon. I would be hanging out with Tooth in my room, and at six we would all be down in the dining room, eating off paper plates so Angie wouldn't have to do dishes and laughing at Kevin's ridiculous work stories, like we did every Friday.

"When?"

"When what?"

"When will I have to move out?"

Mom and dad exchange a look, and dad answers, "Soon."

"How soon? And where will I move to?"

"Elsa," my mom starts, "your father and I have already talked this through and this is what we're going to do, okay? So don't freak out."

"Okay." It's easier for me to agree at this point than argue. Let me hear what they have to say, and then I'll decide whether to freak out or not.

"This house is going to go on the market sometime next week. Some of Kevin and Angie's relatives are all coming up to clear out the house, pick up personal belongings and everything so we won't have to worry about that, but you'll have to be out of the house by then. You're going to come back to live in Burgess with us."

"But what about Clara? What am I supposed to do?"

"You will remain as Clara, for the time being."

I think about this for a moment. I know I don't really have a choice in this, just like my decision to leave Burgess in the first place, but I still have the desire to fight it. When will I ever get to make a decision for myself? And why do bad things keep happening to the people that I love? "What if I don't want to go back to Burgess?"

My mom gives me a quizzical look. "Why wouldn't you want to go back? It's your home."

"No," I shake my head for emphasis. "This is my home." I gesture at the house in front of me. "My friends are here. I don't know anyone in Burgess anymore. Anna doesn't know who I am. Jack doesn't know who I am. My other friends have forgotten me. I don't want to have to start over, not again."

My dad comes over to crouch in front of me. "Elsa, look at me." His voice is stern, but not harsh. I look at him, and we hold eye contact. It's a staring contest, and a battle of wills. "We're out of options. You have to come back with us, honey. You will be Clara for as long as it takes, and then be Elsa again. Be whoever you want. You'll make friends, the same ones you had before. It will work out. It always does."

I nod. My dad can't be moved when he makes a decision, and there's no point in fighting it. I won't like it, but I'll go. And maybe it will be okay.