Maria frowned and brushed tears from her face, trying to find the words to purge her turbulent thoughts.

"Death," she wrote finally. "Some people say that it is never final, that it is a new beginning. A new beginning for the souls lost to us. A new beginning for the people they have left behind.

They had looked so peaceful there, lying on the sidewalk together…always together.

Max had died with a small smile on his face. He went to his death willingly, perhaps knowing Liz waited for him on the other side. A modern day Romeo and Juliet in which even death could not conquer true love."

Maria raised her head and took in a gulp of air. She could hear Michael stirring restlessly in his sleep across the room, his pain over losing a brother and trusted friend still deep.

She bent back over her work, knowing sleep would not come to her tonight until she had finished.

"I remember us all standing there in shock, unable to move as Max laid down and closed his eyes, breathed his last. Isabel started screaming then.

Her scream went on and on…I can still hear it in the back of my mind, a hysterical scream full of pain and hopelessness. The Ice Princess crumbled…right before my eyes.

Michael had dropped to his knees beside them, trying desperately to bring them back, both of them. He instinctively knew Max would not want to live without Liz. He tried..and tried. He knew it was hopeless, they were too far gone. The sound he made when he finally gave up…the keening noise of a lone wolf…I will never forget it for as long as I live.

Alex had just stood there, stunned, even when Isabel had thrown herself into his arms. He didn’t move, he didn’t even blink. Just stayed as still as a statue, like the game we used to play as kids. Liz, Alex and me, so long ago…..his parents eventually had to lead him away, with Isabel still clinging desperately to him. He just lost his spark.

As for me, I was numb. In one fell swoop, one moment in time, I felt as though I had lost my family. It was as though I had died in that same car accident that killed them.

Thats when I knew we would never be the same again.

Life would go on, the four of us would graduate and go to college, regain some of what we had lost….and we would remember Max and Liz."

She turned from her writing to smile gently at Michael.

"They say death is never final. I hope you are happy wherever you are, Max…Liz. I’ll see you on the other side. But for now, I have to live my life without you."

Maria closed her journal, put it away and walked to the bed. She crawled under the covers and lay there, starting blankly at the ceiling with tear filled eyes.

They say death is never final….

And up above, two stars winked.