"Okay, okay, do you have everything?" Mom yelled from upstairs.

"For the billionth time, yes, I have everything!" I called back. Dad was rushing in and out of the houses, making several trips with cardboard boxes labelled "COLLEGE STUFF" in his arms. His back was drenched with sweat by the time he had cleared out all of my belongings.

8:59 am
Matt
Sorry I couldn't see you today D: text me when you get to Penn! I'll send you pics of NYU!

9:00 am
it's okay!!!! i'll text you later!!

I smiled childishly to myself as I stuffed my phone back in my pocket. Katherine had assured me time and time again that Matt had a crush on me, and I had debunked the assertion for several months, but I couldn't help but grin jovially whenever Matt not-so-subtly flirted with me in Avedon's or obsessively texted me.

My mom hurried down the stairs, her blonde hair sticking out in every direction as she balanced herself on her knees. "Oh my God, do you have to go to college? We can keep all of your stuff here, and--"

"Mom," I interjected, gripping her shoulders with my steady hands, "I'm only three hours away. You'll be fine."

"Sweetie, we only have a little bit longer here!" Dad yelled from outside. "Hurry it up!" Mom rapidly nodded and took me by the hand, pulling me outside and causing me to stumble over my own two feet.

"Mom, chill," I laughed. "You're such a mess right now."

"Of course I'm a mess, Avery!" she pouted. "My baby girl is going off to college! I have an empty nest! I'm gonna become a crazy cat lady or something!"

"You still have a husband," Dad retorted as he piled in the car. "Get in, get in!" I had to wretch my arm away from my mother as I piled in the backseat of the car. My mom, arms shaking, collapsed in the passenger's seat and breathed heavily. I saluted Reginald as we pulled out of the driveway. He everlastingly stood watch, making sure that no one dared cross into our property. You're really the best, Reggie.

"Okay, we have about five hours in total to get there, and we have one more stop to make," Dad explained.

"Wait, what stop?" I inquired as I buckled my seat belt into place. I fiddled with the charm necklace that Katherine had bequeathed me for Christmas (which I had found exponentially prettier than the whiskey tumblers Pierce had gifted me), letting the silver angel clang against my chest.

"You'll see!" Dad replied giddily--a little too giddily. Puzzled, I reclined into the backseat and resorted to contemplate by settling headphones on my ears and letting the music drown out the background bustle of the roads.

"So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse

I'm going back to my plough
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny-back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road"

Dad pulled into the sprawling driveway of the Summers' mansion. "Close your eyes!" my mom warned. I rolled my eyes and obeyed, shutting my eyes tight (but not before observing that Mr. Summers's garden had proliferated to the entire front of his house) and letting Mom guide me out of the car. My hand automatically reached out in front of me to prevent me from knocking into anything.

"What's happening?" I groaned with a slight giggle.

"One second, one second--will you stop squirming?" Mom demanded. "This is gonna be fun!"

"Moooom," I groaned, "I don't like surprises."

"You'll like this one!" Dad reassured. He squeezed my arm in a loving way and rang the doorbell to the mansion, the American National Anthem blaring in our ears. I smiled reminiscently when I thought of Landon bursting out laughing at the sound of the tone. "One, two...Surprise!"

"Surprise!" a chorus of voices announced. Shooting my eyes open, alarmed to the blaring ensemble of noise, I covered my gaping mouth. I was left speechless as my friends popped party-poppers and threw streamers about in the center of the Summers' mansion. A sprawling, golden banner that read "CONGRATULATIONS AVERY" hung by the banister closest to the kitchen.

"Happy Going Away Party, Avery!" Mom squealed, clapping her hands together and jumping up and down like a schoolgirl.

"You guys...you guys didn't have to!" I replied, wrapping my arms around my mom.

"Yeah, we did," Katherine interjected. Her light green dress cascaded past her knees, swishing in the wind as she ran over and embraced me. "If Landon tells you this was all his idea, he's a goddamn liar. I planned this," she hastily whispered in my ear. I giggled and nodded, enveloping my best friend in my arms.

"Thanks, Kat," I replied. She broke away from the hug, letting her hand drape off of my shoulder. I gazed around the room and observed all of the people who had made it for the occasion. Mr. Summers was already discussing last night's soccer game with my father (the two had practically been inseparable after viewing a Grateful Dead concert together); Liam had his arm dangled around Jane's shoulder, flashing me a smile as Jane clapped her hands together (the two wouldn't stop apologizing to me, so I had just told them to shut up after a while and that everything was fine); Angela was in a heated discussion with Matthew about the nuances of Edward Hopper's depiction of American life, to which Pierce Prescott eagerly listened along and laughed when Angela caused Matt to stumble on his words; Hunter was forcing a party hat upon Landon's head, to which Landon roughly pushed him away with a chuckle. And Katherine was by my side, the both of us right where we belonged.

"So, we're all here to celebrate the best person in the whole world," Katherine proclaimed. Pierce nodded his head and took a swig of his drink (the Mountain Dew had grown on him, but Angela forced him to convert to drinking Club Soda) in concurrence. "Avery has basically fixed all of us, in one way or another, and man, that's a tough job." She gestured to the group and added, "I mean, we're all a bunch of messes." Pretty much everyone nodded in agreement, to which I bent over in laughter. "And we all owe it to Avery that we're just a little bit better." Everyone raised their cups in celebration and cheered loudly. Landon whistled and clapped obnoxiously, which caused Hunter to join in and Mr. Summers to groan.

"Okay, baby; you have an hour to hang out here before we definitely have to leave," Mom said, "So go mingle! Be social!"

"'Go mingle?'" I teased.

"Shush. Go be with your friends," she retorted, ushering me away with a wave of her hand. I flashed a smile at her as I joined Hunter and Landon.

"Avery Carter," Hunter remarked. "You look good."

"You too, Hunter."

"Lies," Landon replied.

"Shut it," Hunter snapped. "I look phenomenal."

"Just cause your dad took your stash," Landon retorted.

"Anyway," I said, changing the subject, "how have you been doing? Haven't seen you in a while."

"Got a job at Avedon's yesterday," Hunter replied with a shrug. "Matt and I carpool, but now the little ass is going off to college like a 'productive member of society.' So, y'know, it's whatever."

"It's whatever," I echoed. In my peripheral vision, I noticed Matt drift away from Angela's and Pierce's conversation and gravitate towards us. "Hey, Matt."

"Hey, Uh," he replied with a nervous smile. "Glad I got to see you before you left."

"Same here, Picasso," I replied, returning his quivering smile. Landon groaned as if he had just seen a car crash.

"Ugh--just get some balls and ask her out, for God's sake," he moaned as he rubbed his temples. "You two are pathetic."

"Shut up, Landon," we both said in unison. We giggled.

"Hey, lovebirds," Katherine teased as she joined us. Matt shoved her shoulder, causing her to stumble and reach out for a hand. I automatically reached out to her to steady her wobbling heels. "I found these in Mom's closet. I don't know what she saw in heels--they're awful."

"Just switch to flats," I offered.

"No; I look amazing in these," she replied, flipping her hair extravagantly, laughing at her own joke.

"Keep telling yourself that," Hunter taunted. Landon elbowed him in the gut as Katherine stuck her tongue out at him.

Katherine's eyes suddenly shot open with realization and she gasped. "Oh my God, I almost forgot! Okay, everyone go to the balcony upstairs! This is the best part!" As if on cue, nearly everyone turned on their heel and dashed to the stairs.

"Avery, come on!" Liam called out, taking Jane's hand and leading her up the stairs.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I yelled back. Jane timorously waved to me as she disappeared upstairs--she still couldn't believe that I had forgiven her. Sometimes I didn't believe it, either, but then Carson reminded me that I had better things to hold a grudge about.

Sometimes I would dream about him and wake up screaming. Or maybe I'd be crying. Or I'd just simply smile in the midst of my sleep. Sometimes, Johanna would appear in my subconscious, fires engulfing her and tinging the toes of my feet, threatening to drag me down with her. I wondered if anyone else had nightmares about their old best friend. Probably not, I figured.

Angela was discussing something with my parents as they trekked up the stairs. "Avery, hurry up!" Mom scolded. "This is the best part!"

"I know. Katherine literally just said that, Mom," I replied, huffing and trailing behind them. "I'm sure it'll be a great. This is all already great."

"Oh, I know; I'm a great party planner," Mr. Summers added.

"I planned this, Daddy!" Katherine shouted from beyond the banister. I shook my head as I gripped the hand railing to take the dozens of steps upstairs.

I froze. My chest began to rise heavily, my breaths quickening and my words getting lost in my throat. There's a fire upstairs, something in the back of my head told me. It's gonna consume the whole house. Dakota is up there, you have to go get her, you have to save her, you have to, you have to--

BANG! echoed the infinite gunshot in my head, my breath rising and rising and--

"Calm down," Pierce whispered behind me, patting my shoulder. "She's not up there, there's no fire, and you're okay."

"I...shit, yeah, I'm fine," I choked out. He rubbed my back as I composed myself. It wasn't the first episode I had suffered around somebody, let alone Pierce. Memories of Katherine calling my parents because I had collapsed on the floor flooded my head, with thoughts of my parents escorting me to the hospital sprinkled in between. Liam holding my hand because my breath had stopped, with Jane rushing to get me some water and Matt holding my head in his hands. Angela closing down Avedon's just so I could cry in private, away from the eyes that stared at me in the hallways of school, silently judging or offering pity. I recalled Landon trying to make jokes to make me feel better, with Hunter assuring me that his 'medicine' was the secret to calming down. Pierce just letting me sob because he knew what it was like to be drowning in your own brain, telling me stories of the conniving Yancey or the adorable Rosemary. "I'm fine."

Pierce stuffed his hands in his pockets, fumbling around in there until his fingers caught something. He withdrew his clenched hand, unfurling his fingers to reveal a motley of coins. When he noticed that I was indeed not fine, he began to recite something, placing a hand on his heart as if it were the Pledge of Allegiance.

"'We admit we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives have become unmanageable. We come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. We make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him. We search and fearlessly morale inventory of ourselves. We admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. We are entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. We humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings. We make a list of all persons we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. We make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. We continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. We seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. We have had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.'"

"What's...what's that?" I inquired with a sniff.

"The twelve AA steps," he explained. "And lemme tell you what, they're a load of BS. Yeah, one makes sense. But what's with all the shit about God? What has He done for me that makes me better?"

"Pierce, c'mon--"

"Lemme finish. I was powerless, I'll admit. But God didn't get me through this, Avery. My Rosemary did. You did, Angela did, I did. But when you announce your name and everyone expects you to profess your love for God, and you just can't...it's kind of discouraging. What I'm saying is...it's okay to not be okay, y'know?"

"Yeah, I have been okay, though. It's just...sometimes I remember. It's okay to remember, I guess."

"It is and it isn't. Remembering Rosemary...it breaks my heart and fixes it all at the same time. The most important thing is that you have people around you to help you, and it seems like you've got plenty of those. I didn't for a long time kid, and it was almost the end of me. Katherine, Landon, Liam, your parents...hell, even me...you've got help, Avery. And...look at that!" He waved his hands around extravagantly and pointed at my feet. "You made it all the way up the stairs."

I glanced down at my feet and then at the spiraling staircase behind me. "Wow...," I gasped. "Th...there's no fire, Johanna isn't up there, and I'm not completely okay, but that's okay."

"Bingo." He placed one of the coins in his hand in my palm. The Roman numeral "X" proudly stood against the flat surface, with the words "Unity," "Service," and "Recovery" engraved around "X." "Keep it," he said, pressing my hand closer to me before I could object.

"What took you so long, Avery?" Katherine asked, taking my hand away from the rail of the banister and into her hand. "Come on; the show is about to start!"

"Oh, kid, you're not gonna wanna miss this," Pierce informed. He winked at me and flashed me a sympathetic smile. It reminded me of when he held back the press from interrogating me, and I had thought that there was no way in Hell that Pierce Prescott had smiled at me.

But he had.

In that moment, he looked like the most overjoyed man in the universe. "This, Avery Carter? This made it enough." It's not enough, past-Pierce echoed in my head as he sobbed on the table. "This is enough."

He joined Angela's side, wrapping an arm around her and taking a swig from his flask. Angela's engagement ring sparkled against the radiant sun, daring it to glow brighter. Matt stood attentively next to his father, waving to me and grinning like the big dork that he was. Landon leaned against Hunter's side, yawning as he awaited the spectacle. Liam and Jane stood behind me, Jane nestled against Liam's shoulder. My parents cautiously watched behind me, their hands enclosed within each other.

Katherine wrapped an arm around me and whispered, "Showtime."

Someone in the front yard--a butler or maid, I assumed--darted across the lawn, hitting the ground as they went. Before I could inquire as to what the hell was going on, a gunshot ran out and answered my question for me.

I flinched, but Katherine held me tight and whispered in my ear, "It's not a gun."

And a flash of white erupted on the ground, and eventually...

...every color of the rainbow exploded in the sky in front of me.

"They're called 'daytime fireworks;' they're just colored powder, really," Katherine hastily explained. Her eyes were lost in colors that decorated the sky.

I was blinded by flashed of pink, purple, orange, red, green, and everything in between. For once, the sky wasn't obnoxiously clear (like on the day of Carson's funeral) or somberly raining (like on the day we visited him). It was full of every color that I could perceive against a blank, blue canvas.

I began to cry.

"I love you guys so much," I sobbed. Katherine tightened her grip around me. "I love you all so, so much."

I looked to my left and imagined that Dakota was standing next to me. I smiled at her. She would've loved the display.

I heard a faint click emanate from behind me. For a split second, I thought that Carson was snapping a photograph behind us. I was partly-correct. Katherine was lifting a camera in the air, capturing the moment for eternity.

Just all of us, Carson included, warm under the crisp, colorful sky with bodies resting peacefully below us. Carson brought us all together, and I didn't give a damn what would happen next--

We would never be driven apart.

On Carson's funeral, it should've looked like this.

Katherine returned to my side, and I rested my head on her shoulder. Carson's death wasn't the end of my life as I knew it. It was only the beginning.

The monsters faded away under the exploding colors, retreating back to the darkness from where they crawled out from.

Despite everything, despite the past year, despite the lies and deceit, despite the murder, despite the Accident,

I smiled.

And we were all okay.

The End