AN: Here is the sequel to the first chapter, so consider this story a two-shot. I’m sorry for taking so long to put this up. I’ve had it written out since at least last Wednesday, but I just never found the time, especially with my huge AP English test coming up.

:) But fear not. It is here!

As always, read and review, please. I would like to know what you thought of it, good or bad.

Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
And know the stars are
Holdin' you tonight…

I sat alone on the edge of the pier. The water was crystal clear below me, hinted here and there with large seashells and coral that waved in the underwater breeze. In my hand was a simple sand dollar, one that I had found on my way to this spot. If I looked to my right, I could see the place where Max and I had shared our kiss. The place I enjoyed what I knew now as our last time alone. The place I told her I loved her for the first time. But did I look there? No. Keeping my head forward helped me to not think about her… as much.

The calendar at Dr. John Abate’s house, where the Flock was staying temporarily, informed me every morning that of just how long Max had been gone.

Eight days. Eight days, four hours, and thirty-two minutes, to be exact. I’m not sure why I kept up with the numbers. All they did was remind me again and again that it was too late. Too late to bring her back. Too late to change what happened. Too late for my heart to mend itself.

The sunk sank lower into the water in front of me, the bottom half disappearing, ready to move on from this day. In the corner of my eye, I can see the little brown sandpiper birds scuttle across the wet sand, seeking bright-shelled coquina. I watch them for a while as they make zigzags, racing away from incoming waves. Life is like that, I think. We zigzag along and try to avoid the water, but it catches us anyway sometimes.

The sand dollar in my hand is as smooth as cool marble on the top, with rough, cracked rides underneath. The color is too white for my eyes, like the tint of an angel’s wings. Or maybe it’s not too strong of a color; maybe it’s the fact that sleep has become a foreign sensation to me. On the first night, I stayed up on the deck of U.S.S. Minnesota and watched the skyline for thirteen hours straight. The third night was much worse, since we were forced to travel inland, back to California. Dr. Abate slipped me some medication before we left, so I collapsed and had no choice in this matter. By the sixth night, I was a lifeless zombie, confirmed by Nudge after I decline a game of Go Fish. Truthfully, I should have been with the Flock when they tossed those roses and cork bottles out to sea. Brigid had handed me one of the bottles, with a piece of paper and a pen.

“Write to Max. It will make you feel better,” She told me as she left my makeshift room I shared with Gazzy and Iggy. Dr. Abate certainly didn’t have the largest house in Palm Beach, California.

Personally, I wanted to jump up and inform Brigid just where she could shove the bottle to “make me feel better.” In the end, I smashed it against the wall and snapped the pen in half.

On the dock, I glanced down at my fingertips and palms still stained with faded black blotches. The marks contrasted with the white of the shell in my hands. And without another thought about black or white or death or Max, I tossed the shell out into the air, a short breath escaping me as I did so. The object flipped a couple of times before landing flat onto the ocean. Salty water soon flooded the tiny holes near the center, bringing the sand dollar down to the sandy bottom. It rested, finally, near a group of tiny blue fish that scattered, creating a cloud of sand and dust. Even though I couldn’t touch it or make it out clearly with my eyes, I knew it was there.

A flash of light on the horizon caught my senses and I tore my eyes away from the ocean bottom to the sunset. Near the middle, a black dot rose up from the water, settling itself right in my line of vision, the sun nearly swallowing the speck up. I grabbed the railing and pulled myself to an upright position, never taking my eyes off that speck. It floated there, right on the horizon, growing closer, closer as my heart pounded faster, faster. After a few moments, the speck began to take shape and finally I could make out white wings, flapping quickly and silently. The sun was seconds away from falling and the winged creature seemed to fly quicker, trying to beat the bright orange star.

The sky tinted darker, the sun dipped lower, and the angel flew harder. With a burst of light, the angel crash-landed into my arms, the sun disappeared along the edge of the world, casting everything in darkness. Max pulled back from my arms, tears trailing down her face. A sob escaped my throat and I tightened my grip on her, reminding myself to never let her out of my touch again.

“How?” My voice cracked and if I had cared, it sounded like a five year-old that had chewed on sandpaper.

“I- I was able to swim out of the hatch before the submarine blew up. A piece of debris must have hit me because the next thing I knew I was on a beach off Hawaii. You guys were gone, so I headed here and here you are and- and I love you so much,” Max wept into my palm, her tears hitting my warm skin.

“Oh, God, Max. I can’t believe this,” I smoothed the hair away from her face and cupped her chin in one hand, “I can’t believe you’re back. Oh, God, I love you too.” Our breathing finally slowed to where we could hear the waves rolling in and out, in and out. These waves had traveled so long and so hard to reach this point. But once they hit land, it seemed as if it had all ended in vain. As if whatever hardships they had gone through to reach this beach weren’t enough. Then I remember the way the tide rolls back in, sending the wave on another new adventure, to reach another place and another beach. And then I knew that in the end, I shouldn’t give up.

I leaned forward, kissing Max hard on her lips, her fingers kneading softly into my hair. We broke apart, her head lying on my shoulder as she whispered sweet nothings into my ear that I would cherish more than ever now. From our place on the pier, the lights on the bay couldn’t reach us.

The stars were our guides, the only lights that shone upon us, bouncing off of the water. As the waves churned onward, the reflections of the stars broke apart, shattering before the wave passed and the stars were repaired and back together again, just like Max and I.

Mended.

Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
And know the stars are
Holdin' you tonight…

AN: Sadly, this chapter is only three pages long. In my notebook, it seemed so much longer, so I’m truly disappointed. But maybe three pages are good enough. I’m not sure I could string out some more romanticesque without it being horribly tacky and confusing.

Song: Tonight by FM Static.