She wanted so desperately to turn around and fall into his arms and say “I love you” over and over again. When she heard Max call out her name, she stopped, hoping that maybe he would say something, do something that would convince her she was wrong. She wished he would say something to make things all right. Then they could live happily ever after. But he didn’t. He stood speechless, a tortured look on his beautiful face. That look only pained Liz even more, and his speechlessness only confirmed her feelings: she couldn’t stand in the way of Max’s destiny, his purpose in life.

“No matter how I think we grow,
you always seem to let me know,
it ain’t workin’, it ain’t workin’.
And when I try to walk away,
you’d hurt yourself to make me stay,
this is crazy, this is crazy.”

She only hoped there was one part of his destiny that maybe he wouldn’t fulfill, and that part was Tess. The mere thought of Max holding Tess the way he held Liz made her stomach turn and her heart sink. The thought of him kissing her left her breathless, the way she was breathless when she saw them that rainy night when she was closing the Crashdown…

So she walked away. After a while she stopped feeling her legs, they just walked on their own, as if they were on automatic. She reached Maria’s tired old Jetta and fumbled for the key. When she opened the door and sat down, that’s when it hit her…hard. She sobbed uncontrollably as her trembling hand turned the key in the ignition.

When Liz arrived home she had managed to calm down, but her breathing was still erratic. She took a deep breath before she entered her house. Her parents thought Liz was with Maria and her mother in Texas for a couple of days. That was the excuse she had used. She was surprised it had worked considering she didn’t bring any bags with her. But her parents had stopped asking questions a while ago. She tried to sneak past her mother who was sitting on the living room couch drinking a cup of tea and reading a book, but her attempt was unsuccessful.

“Liz?” Asked a concerned voice.

“What Mom?” Liz answered shakily.

“What’s wrong,” she said flatly.

“Nothing. Allergies,” she lied, avoiding her mother’s gaze.

“You don’t get allergies.”

“It’s nothing, Mom. Bye,” Liz said as she moved quickly towards her bedroom. Liz used to be able to open up to her mother a lot more. But ever since she found out about Max, Michael, and Isabel, she built this wall between her and her parents. She always felt like she was keeping something from them. Well, most of the time she was.

When Liz closed her door she almost jumped when she saw Maria sitting on her bed. She looked at her, a frown embedded on her face.

“Hi,” Maria said in a tone of voice that Liz had never heard come from her friend before. It was…sad. It sounded worn out and hopeless.

“Hi, Maria,” Liz said. Her need to be alone faded when she saw the hurt in Maria’s eyes.

“Oh my God,” Maria said when she realized that Liz’s face was red and her eyes were swollen.

“What.”

“It’s over isn’t it? You and Max,” Maria said. Liz nodded solemnly. Maria got up and hugged her best friend. Maria let a small sob escape, but she fought the tears with a deep, refreshing breath. “It’s hard isn’t it?” Maria asked.

“Yes.”

“I really needed a friend.”

Now Liz realized that she did too. A hug from her best friend was a good remedy for a broken heart.

“Me too,” she whispered. Maria withdrew and wiped a tear from her eye. Maria was quiet and sullen; no jokes, no sarcastic remarks. Liz noted a vast change from the Maria she had known the last time she had broken up with Michael. Liz knew it was obviously different this time around. She was in too deep. She couldn’t just walk away. She knew it was different, she needed him too badly. But still, seeing Maria like this was strange for Liz. She tried to remember the last time she saw Maria cry. She believed it was in second grade. Maria’s father had always given her a birthday card with a five-dollar bill tucked inside. He signed it simply, “Dad.” It meant so much to Maria because she believed that if he remembered her birthday then he must love her. She thought there was still a good chance he would come home again, make her life better. He would stop her mother from seeing a different man every week. But when her ninth birthday came, her birthday card didn’t. Two days later she sat in Liz’s room and waited for her to return from dance class. When Liz got home and entered her room Maria looked up at her shocked face with a single tear running down her cheek. “Hi,” she said, not making any attempt to wipe the tear from her face. So maybe Liz had heard Maria use that tone of voice before.

Before then, and every time after, Maria shrugged off everything that ever hurt her with a joke. Laughter was always her medicine. A mask was always the best way to hide her pain. But now…the reality had set in. She knew Michael was too far away from her now, but she wanted him in her life. No, she needed him in her life. She loved him.

“Michael’s in a place in his life where I can’t be with him. He pushed me away and there’s nothing I can do about it, ya know?” She said.

“I know what you mean,” Liz said.

“So I’m just gonna leave it alone, now. Maybe it really is for the best. Maybe for once in his life Michael made the rational, logical choice.” Maria let out a small laugh, “figures…Listen. I should go, I just needed to vent I guess.”

“No, Maria. Don’t go,” Liz said. “Sleep over. Let’s rent a movie, or do facials or something. Like old times.”

“Maybe tomorrow Liz,” Maria said as she turned and walked towards the window, she stopped once more to turn and face Liz and smiled a weak half-smile. “Thanks babe,” she said before she headed out the window and disappeared down the ladder off Liz’s balcony.

Liz sighed. Then she suddenly realized that she hadn’t showered or changed her clothes for a couple of days. Before she did anything else she needed to take a shower.

“Max will you say something?” Isabel said she drove down the stretch of road. Max was next to her in the passenger’s side, looking out at the world blurring by him, deep in thought. Tess and Michael were in the back seat.

“I don’t feel much like talking,” Max said.

“It’s for the best Ma—“ Michael began, but Max cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear it, Michael,” Max snapped. Max was hurting, and not even Michael seemed to understand it. How could she finally say “I love you” to him and then walk away? He ached for Liz. It was a familiar ache. It was the same one he had felt before that day at the Crashdown. It was a piece of him missing. He wasn’t whole without Liz in his life. She was the missing link he’d been waiting for his whole life, and he couldn’t accept the fact that she would no longer be a part of his life. He wouldn’t.

“I just think that we have other things we need to concentrate on, Maxwell. It sounds like we have a pretty big responsibility here. I mean, what the hell are we gonna do?”

“Let’s go to Nasedo. He’ll know what to do. It’s his job,” Tess said.

“If that’s his job then why didn’t he know exactly what the orbs would do?” Max asked.

“You tell us, leader,” Michael said half joking.

“I am not anyone’s leader,” Max began, “We were different people then, those people died, they don’t exist anymore. We live now. I am not going to live my life according to someone else. Leader or not.”

Tess was stung by his comment. She felt as though he was referring to her and her constant efforts to convince Max to be with her. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Isabel spoke.

“I want to meet our mother, Max,” Isabel said.

“I know, Iz,” Max said. There was another short silence.

“So what now then?” Isabel asked, anxiety in her voice.

“We’re going to Nasedo. We’ll just tell him what the orbs told us,” Max said.

“I guess that’s really all we can do right now,” Michael said. He tried to keep his mind occupied with thoughts of his destiny and what their next move was going to be. He didn’t want to think about his break-up with Maria. He didn’t want to think about what his life was going to be like without her. But he had made the right decision. They simply didn’t belong together. He had been waiting for something better out there for him since he was a kid, and he finally found out exactly what it was. He should be the happiest man on Earth. Then why did he feel so miserable?

Liz felt better when she stepped out of the shower and put on a pair of black sweatpants and her big gray hooded sweatshirt. She towel-dried her hair, ran a brush through it and put it all up into a hair elastic, leaving a big puff of hair on the top of her head. She honestly didn’t care how she looked at that moment. Now that she was refreshed, she could think more clearly. She grabbed her journal from her secret hiding place in the wall. But when she put her pen down to write, she couldn’t. She could not put what she was feeling into words, no matter how hard she tried. She sighed and lay down on her bed. In less than twenty-four hours, her entire world had crumbled down.

“Loving you is like a battle, and we both end up with scars.”

She had no idea what her next step was going to be. What was going to happen next? The six of them had been through way too much together to simply not be friends anymore. And Max. Her life was going to be a meaningless existence without him in it. What was she going to do? She missed him already and she longed to be near him, to touch him.

“As painful as this thing has been, I just can’t be with no one else.”

The ring of Liz’s phone caught her off guard. She didn’t want to answer it. What if it was Max? She couldn’t bear talking to him. But what if it was Alex? Or Maria? No. The risk was too great.

“See I know what we got to do. You let go and I’ll let go too.”

She let it ring until her machine picked it up. “Hey, this is Liz. Leave a message and I will get back to you.” When her machine beeped there was no response. There was simply a sigh, and the person hung up. It was Max, she knew it was. She felt another tear make its way down her cheek.

“No one loves you more than me, and no one ever will.”

She wasn’t answering her phone. Maybe she wasn’t home. No. He knew Liz, she was in her room, sad and alone. How he longed to comfort her, to tell her everything was going to be okay. Then he remembered he was the cause of her pain and he winced at the thought. And everything wasn’t going to be okay.

When they had gotten home, the Evans’ bombarded the four kids with questions. Where have you been? What’s your explanation? What’s going on? You gave me a heart attack! They knew the Sheriff was with them, but they still had no idea what the hell they were doing with him for two days. They couldn’t explain themselves, they just looked at each other. Max ran to his room as soon as possible as the other three looked at him disapprovingly. They went to Isabel’s room to discuss their next move. They were going to go to Nasedo together. Tess hoped he was at home. They had no idea what the Pierce charade entailed. However, they couldn’t go to him right away because the Evans’s were making them stay at home.

“No more two-day escapades kids. You are all staying here tonight,” Diane Evans said to them. The two parents were still utterly confused as to where exactly they were. They hoped the Sheriff could give them a reasonable explanation.

“There’s something else we need to discuss here,” Isabel said.

“Kyle,” Michael said.

“So I guess he knows then, about all of us?” Tess said.

“I really don’t like that idea,” Michael said.

“He’s Valenti’s son. He’s not going to betray our trust,” Isabel said.

“Still,” Michael said as something caught his attention. Or more like someone. He noticed Max walking down the sidewalk in a rush with a look of determination. Michael shook his head. “He’s going to Liz’s.”

Tess and Isabel knew who they were talking about, but they went to the window anyway to take a look.

“Poor Max” Isabel said.

“That’s what happens when you get that attached to humans,” Tess said, her voice seemingly emotionless.

“Yeah,” Michael said.

A knock at the Parker’s front door made Nancy Parker jump from the couch.

“Do you want me to get that, hun?” Jeff Parker shouted from the kitchen.

“No, Jeff, I’ll get it,” Nancy said as she rose to get the door. When she opened the door, she saw a distraught Max Evans standing there, nervous and unsettled. His face was contorted with distress. So much had changed in such a short period of time. He was having trouble soaking it all in. “Hi, Max,” Nancy said.

“Can I please speak with Liz?” Max asked. He had tried calling her three more times, but she continued to let her phone ring until her machine picked it up. Nancy didn’t answer him. She looked down at the floor, trying to figure out what to say to him without hurting his feelings. “Please?”

“Liz can’t talk to anyone tonight, Max. I’m sorry,” she said. Liz had come out of her room earlier for a total of three seconds to announce that she did not want to talk to Max Evans under any circumstances. Nancy and Jeff were confused, but they went along with it.

“What?” He asked, his voice quivering.

“I’m sorry, Max. But Liz isn’t feeling well and she doesn’t wish to speak with anyone tonight.”

Max nodded. “Isn’t feeling well.” He wasn’t buying it.

“Yes, she’s just—“

“Liz!” Max yelled over Nancy, hoping Liz would come the door. He wasn’t really thinking clearly, he was willing to try anything to get Liz to at least talk with him.

“Max—“ Nancy began.

“Liz!... Liz!” He shouted even louder than before. “Liz please!” At this point Jeff came to the door.

“What’s going on here?” He asked, staring at Max. But Max wasn’t intimidated.

“Liz! Please talk to me!” Max said, advancing a bit into the house. Jeff stopped him.

“Okay, it’s time for you to leave now, Max” Jeff said. Max looked at them hurtfully. Jeff closed the door on Max without saying anything else.

“What the hell was that?” Jeff asked. Jeff barely ever got angry, and at that moment he was fuming. Liz’s relationship with Max had caused more havoc than any other relationship he’d ever seen.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Nancy said with a sigh.

“You do that. I know Max is a good kid, but this relationship isn’t doing anybody any good.”

Nancy knocked at Liz’s door. There was a long silence before Liz responded.

“Come in,” she said weakly. Nancy entered, and stood for a while at her bedside.

“Max just came by,” she said.

“I know,” Liz whispered as she wiped a tear from her eye. She knew very well. She’d heard the whole thing, and it tore her up inside.

“Do you even want to tell me what happened between you two?”

“Not really, Mom.”

“He was really upset.”

“I know. Mom, I just really want to be alone right now.”

Nancy nodded. “Okay, sweetie. If you ever want to talk—“

Liz nodded. Nancy left her room, leaving Liz with her thoughts. She kept hearing his sweet, pleading voice echo in her mind. It had been so hard to listen to him, knowing he was in so much pain.