His body searched the dark fog, looking for an answer, looking for some type of clue to lead him to his death. Something. To be with Gabriella was his priority.

"Troy... "

A soft, melancholy voice rose from the fog.

Troy looked up as if he was being pulled towards the voice.

"Troy... "

The voice was cherubic and sweet, and rose Troy fo his feet. It was like a metropolis of fog, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, but he pushed on. He dragged himself through the heavy fog, breathing heavily, but didn't give up for one second. He looked up, watching at the fog became even thicker.

"Gabriella!" He screamed into the fog.

"Troy!"

"Gabriella?"

Suddenly, his eyesight and hearing became clear as adrenaline began to pump quickly through his strong veins. His breath became visible in front of him, and suddenly, the need to run became very, very strong. He was clueless as where to run, but he knew one thing.

He had to find Gabriella.

Troy bolted into one direction, running as hard and as fast as he could, looking aimlessly around as different places to see a glimpse of her.

His legs began to feel like weights were slowly pulling him back.

He dragged himself on, until his legs no longer could even move.

"GABRIELLA!" He yelled as loud as he could.

"Troy?" The voice was close.

"Gabi!" He sobbed and tried to stand up. "I'm coming! Stay where you are! I won't let you go!"

"Please, hurry!" She yelled.

Troy put all his might into dragging himself into the direction of her voice. He gripped the unstable ground and used all of his strength to pull himself. It was the hardest thing he had ever done. He wasn't about to give up, though.

He would find her if it killed him.

One hand after another, he climbed towards the voice.

Just like one step at a time.

It seemed like hours were passing, but it was only a few seconds.

Finally, he saw her...

The fog cleared, and a beautiful goddess stood in front of him. Her dress was long, white, and flowing in the imaginary with beautiful gold, sparkling lace at every end of the dress. All throughout the dress were little twinkling sequins which sparkled as if they every single little disk was polished individually and hand-sewn on to the dress. Her fingernails were semi-long and painted white, clipped and clean to perfection, in which it contracted with her light olive skin, softer and more beautiful than ever. Her eyes were gently touched in black eyeliner and just a touch of mascara held her eyelashes up and out. A blended white and peach mixture of solution set itself into place as she blinked, and set itself under her eyelids, too. Nothing more than a beautiful, natural shade of foundation and lip gloss added the finishing touch to her angelic face, which was softer and showed that she could be a soft person. Her dark brown, usually straight hair hung down in soft curls, but wasn't too curly. They were perfect. Her headpeace was made of beautiful white lilacs and lillies, which in fact were completely real and not fake, and all sewn perfectly in line. It sat gently on the crown of her head, as is a finishing touch to the beauty that already portrayed itself in front of Troy.

He stood mesmorized by the beauty in which stood in front of him, a beauty which no other man ever had the chance to see. It was like she was a fake, porcelain doll which people were afraid to touch because its beauty and grace portrayed it as a fragile object.

Troy didn't want to touch Gabriella, because she was so beautiful.

The weight was lifted off his legs.

He stood up very, very slowly, as if not able to believe the sight in front of him.

"Gabriella?"

"Troy?" She reached her hand out. "Save me... "

He held his hand out, and slowly reached out towards her beautiful body. Their fingers were millimeters apart, and they reached closer and closer and closer-

GOOOOOOOOOOOOD morning Baton Rouge!

Troy's eyes shot open.

This is Eric Igneo with Good Morning America, channel 98.7 on your radio. It is the 1st of October in 2009, 7:00 AM, and we're here first to give you the weather for-

He was lying on his stomach on the bed, his head turned to the side where the alarm clock and his radio sat on his dresser. His fingers and toes were all numb. One of his arms was hanging off the side of the bed and both feet were hanging off the bottom of the bed.

He saw four tall boy Budweisers sitting on the dresser.

Sitting up, he was dazed for a minute, as to be thinking about where he was and what he did the night before. He was dressed in a semi-tight grey american eagle tshirt, with A. Eagle written in blue on the left side, in bold handwriting, and the holey jeans he wore the day before. He even still had his socks and his black sneakers on. His brown hair was flat on his head, and his blue eyes looked straight ahead at a beige looking wall. The bitter-sweet taste of alcohol rested on his tongue. He looked over toward the tall boys, and picked each up, swirling it around a little.

Each was empty.

Behind those was a large bottle of liquor - half full.

He got drunk last night.

When he finally realized what was going on, he slammed his hand on his ongoing radio, switching it off. Then, tears started pouring from his cobalt eyes. He pulled his knees to his chest and sobbed a couple times as he rocked himself back and forth, chanting to himself the words he always told himself at the beginning of the day.

"You need to pull yourself together, Bolton. You're a man. You are 20 years old. You are on the LSU college football team."

But, that didn't help.

He cried even harder.

"Gabi baby... " He quivered. "I'm so sorry... So, so sorry... "

He felt horrible for everything he put Gabriella through. Getting her pregnant, leading her to believe he didn't love her, denying her in front of everyone at his high school, being a selfish asshole... Things like that made him ever so much regret that one night that he wanted know more about her cousin Mark.

That is why Troy went to her house in the first place. No, not for questions for Spanish. No, not to sleep with her. Not to try to hook up with her.

He just wanted to know how her cousin Mark was doing.

They had been best friends until Mark graduated two years before Troy. When Mark graduated, he moved away and never tried to contact Troy again.

That's all he wanted from Gabriella.

But, something pulled him to her, something very strong and very, very passionate. Butterflies flew around in his stomach when he looked at her.

That is love

True love.

And now, he's left lifeless, sitting in a bed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a hangover, and crying over someone he knew for a mere ten months.

Someone he dated for only six.

And now, he had no life and no will to live or carry on. Compared to his old life, he felt like nobody liked him anymore (although that was very untrue because he still had girls, his best friends, and every bit of fame he did in high school), not because he got a girl pregnant, but because he chose a path that meant raising his son. But, he had his beautiful son that depended on him day in and day out, and that was now most important to Troy...

He set his face in his knees and sobbed a couple times, his body jerking as he tried desperately to stop the tears and to stop the nonsense of worrying about Gabriella over a year after her death. He still couldn't decide whether August 8th was the best or the worst day of his life. Sure, it was his birthday, but Gabriella commited suicide that day because she felt as is nobody loved her. But, it was a good day because Talon was born on that day.

Should it be a good or bad day to celebrate?

His senses calmed a little, but the crying didn't stop. He felt helpless, as if he was chasing after something that was not there.

He was chasing after something that wasn't there.

Suddenly, a scream.

Troy bolted out of his bed and into the room beside him. His eyes were wide, his body was shaking violently, and he was panting. His heart beat very, very quickly, and his breathing rapidly increased. He looked around, balling his hand up in a fist, as he was ready to fight to the death for his son.

He sighed in relief.

"Talon... " Troy walked towards his son's crib and picked him up out of it. "You can't scare daddy like that... "

Of course, Talon passed it off as if he did nothing wrong. His innocent face showed nothing but confusion. His blonde hair layed flat over his head, like his daddy's, and his blue eyes were a little bloodshot, because he obviously had just woken up.

Troy set Talon back in his crib. "I'll be right back." He grabbed Talon's sippy cup out of his crib and went into the kitchen, rinsed it out, and poured some cold milk into it. Then, he raced back into Talon's room and handed him his sippy cup before Troy grabbed a couple things before taking Talon in his room.

He set those on his bed.

"Talon, you wanna sleep with me for a while?"

Talon dropped his sippy cup and help his arms up, as if to say 'I'm game'.

Troy picked him up out of his crib and his sippy, then walked down the hallway to his room. He set Talon and his sippy on the bed, then pulled a couple pillows around Talon, since he rolls around.

He changed Talon quickly and found his blanket beneath the pile of things he brought into the room, covering him up with that. Talon layed back with his sippy and held it up as milk poured down his throat.

Troy cuddled up to Talon, wrapping his arm around him protectively. He stroked Talon's blonde hair, looked into Talon's blue eyes, and wondered where he would be today if he never would have had sex Gabriella that one time, just under two years ago.

He wouldn't have Talon.

Gabriella might not be dead.

Troy wouldn't be having nightmares.

He would still be with his Ally.

And he might not be scared of every girl he sees.

Talon pulled his sippy cup out of his mouth and looked over at Troy. "Daddy?"

"What Tal?" Troy looked into his eyes and ran his hand across Talon's side.

A small, creviced grin slipped from the side of Talon's mouth and then he let out a giggle.

"You're crazy." Troy smiled at Talon. "You're just like your mom."

Talon set his sippy cup in Troy's hand and rolled over.

"I'm setting this right beside you, okay?" Troy set the sippy up by Talon's feet and pulled the pillow closer to him. "You just go to bed. Daddy's right here... I won't let anything happen to you."