Daylight illuminates my thin curtains. From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of packing crates piled next to my dresser. For a few minutes, I lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling above me. All of my bones and joints feel stiff. The house is still. No birds sing outside my window. Something is off about today.

I rise off my bed and wrap my pink robe around my body. My feet drag against the cold wooden floor and stairs and I walk into an empty kitchen. "Mum?" I holler loud enough to carry around the house. I call again and am met with silence. I check every room on the bottom level of my home and decide to try elsewhere. Hands dug in robe pockets, I scurry back up to my room and change my attire. A quick run through of my hair with a comb and I'm bustling down the stairs two steps at a time. Soon enough, I'm out the door and in front of the Pevensie's. Before I can even knock, the door opens.

"Hello," Susan greets with a straight face. Clothed in her best, she leans against the doorway.

"'Morning," I nod. Susan grins and I can only do the same. "Would my mum happen to be here?"

Susan slowly shakes her head. "Sorry." Silence. Susan clears her throat. "You know...it's the first time it hasn't rained in weeks."

I look over my shoulder and sure enough, their lawn is dry. Not a droplet can be heard of or seen."Do you know where they went?" Susan detects the worry in my voice and crosses her arms.

"Train station," she tells me. "They went to see Eustace."

"And you didn't go with them?"

"I wasn't ready," she huffs. "I was fixing my hair but Lucy just couldn't wait to show off her new dress. They left without me."

I stand straight. "New dress?"

She nods. "I helped her pick it out. A white one with a little bow in the front."

My heart stops as images swarm my mind. Smoke, so much goddamn smoke. And gray. The gray sky. Lucy in a white dress. The immaculate bleached cloth stained with red. I see the battered faces of Edmund and Peter. I see bodies lined up. I remember what Aslan has showed me. I see what will happen soon.

"Lynn?" Susan still stands before me. I look at her and find her old caring and motherly expression on her face. She touches my arm. "Are you okay?"

I open my mouth to let everything spill but nothing comes out. Her arm drops back to her side and she draws her mouth into a thin line. "You're leaving soon," Susan states. "To go back home." I'm still in a daze but I try to hear her out. "We've been up and down, I understand that but that doesn't mean we're going to stop being friends when you leave, right?"

I nod and look over my shoulder towards the street. "Susan, I really think-"

"Please listen to me." I look back her and her eyes droop with sadness. "It won't be the same without you. We drifted. We grew up. We changed...But that doesn't matter. I'll miss you and so will..." She doesn't finish her sentence and instead gazes at me.

I feel sick to my stomach. Tears threaten to fall and my heart rate spikes. "We have to go," I gasp. The fingers of my right hand wrap around Susan's thin wrist. I walk down the porch steps, Susan in tow, and down the sidewalk until Susan puts us to a halt.

"What are you talking about?"

"We" -tug- "have to go!" A light droplet hits my brow and I look up. The late azure sky is smeared with gray as the sun vanishes from the picture.

Susan stares above and puts her hand out. "I spoke too soon, huh?" She says solemnly.

I turn back to Susan. "Please," I plead. Another droplet hits me. "Please, we have to go to the station!"

Quickly, a soft mist falls over us. Despite my effort, Susan stands in place and keeps us grounded. She speaks only one word: "Why?"

"We have to!" The answer is not good enough. My hand is pried off of her.

"I don't get you," Susan suddenly hisses in an annoyed tone. "Here I am, trying to open up to you and all you're doing is trying to see my stupid family at the station!" She raises her arms in defeat. "I just- ughh! Forget it! Go home! Everyone will be home soon enough so there's no reason-"

"No, they won't." I run my hand over my face in frustration, stopping at my mouth and covering it. I shake my head and put my hands on my hips. The hum of water being dropped on the Earth replaces words. Neither of us talk, we just stare at each other. The fabric of my jacket clings to my body and I'm chilled to the bone.

"I'm going inside," Susan asserts.

I straighten my back and tilt my chin up. "So that's your choice."

She lifts her chin higher in an attempt to out-do me. She gives me a look of distaste. "It is my choice."

A scoff escapes me before I can even process. "Fine." I turn away. "My choice is to save your family."

Without another word, I break into a run through the rain towards town.

Each stride I take sends a jolt of pain through my legs. My muscles ache and my body screams for me to stop but I keep running. The outskirts of the city are so close.

"Don't you dare stop!" I furiously command myself. "Keep going!"

My legs drag me closer and closer. Soon, I find myself among a crowd. Faceless silhouettes surround me, their umbrellas preventing the rain to drench me any more than it already has. God, I'm so close! Just keep-

BOOM.

The Earth beneath me shakes and grumbles, knocking me to my knees. There's screaming and bodies fall to the ground like dominoes. In an instant, the whole city stops and becomes still and silent. Around me, people lay on the ground, looking as clueless as I feel. We all look around to find some sort of explanation.

The sound of crumbling fills our ears. It's as if boulders are being smashed and broken against one another. Heads turn right to left, high to low, trying to find where the noise is coming from. The downpour comes down heavier and makes it even more difficult to find the source.

"The station!" A woman screams. All at once, everyone turn towards the train station. Smoke rises high over building tops and over the flames that escape the rubble. From over a block away, we see that almost the entire facade of the station has caved in, leaving a narrow entrance for escape. Umbrellas are left forgotten around me as their owners swarm towards the site. I wipe my wet hair away from my face and stand.

"The fire station!" Someone shouts as I near the crowd. "Someone call the fire station! Run over there! Do something!"

People begin shouting all at once and numerous others begin to run and flee. I'm pushed about in the chaos. A hand finds mine and I look for the owner. An elderly woman looks to me and squeezes my palm tighter. She mumbles something inaudible to me. I scream for her to say it again and she tries, she desperately tries.

"SHE'S IN THERE!" The woman cries as loudly as she possibly can. With her other hand, she cups my cheek. "LUCY IS IN THERE!"

I can't even comprehend it. "Lucy? Who- I mean, who are-"

Then I remember her. She's the woman Lucy escorted across the street that day. The one she risked missing the train to school for. The one Lucy risked her life for. This woman is guilty for my coma and my trip to Narnia. "Jennings," I mumble. "MISS JENNINGS! HER FAMILY, IS SHE WITH HER FAMILY?"

The elderly woman bobs her head. I bite my lip and look away. My eyes begin to sting and I'm so close to completely falling apart.

"PLEASE." I look back at Miss Jennings. With one word, I understand. I nod my head. Miss Jennings takes my hands in both of hers and kisses them. People knock against us and break our contact. In the sea of people, she slips away from me.

For minutes, I stay silent as I'm being pushed back and forth between strangers. Inside that burning building is Lucy...aunt Helen, Peter, Ed; my family. "LUCY!" I suddenly erupt. Those surrounding me stare and give me space. I push forward toward the crumbling station and crawl through the ruined entrance. The overwhelming smoke burns my eyes and my throat bursts into flames. "Lucy!" I croak. "LUCY!"

"Evalynn."

My heart drops. My name is called out again in the same clear voice. A chill runs down my spine and I turn around.

Through the smoke, I see the outline of a person. They make their way to me, inching closer and closer with each second. "Oh, how I've missed you!"

"Miss! Miss! Miss, please wake up!" I open my mouth to take a deep breathe and begin to cough. A wet cloth is placed over my mouth and I relax a little. Strong arms pick me up and carry me. Just as quickly as I notice the intense heat surrounding me, my body is tickled with raindrops. My eyelids raise and I see the dark sky overhead. I scan the area and see a crowd held back with yellow tape, their screams louder than before. I'm placed against one of the last standing walls of the station. Someone wraps a blanket over me and says something I don't bother to listen to. Survivors are pulled out one by one and I look at all of their faces. I recognize none and pull the blanket closer around me.

"It's not going to happen today," I murmur to myself like I've gone mad. "They've already gotten on the right train and are going to see Eustace. Yes. Yes, that's right." I tilt my head back and close my eyes. "They're alright."

"Has everyone been pulled out?" A police officer shouts. I open my eyes and see men in uniform around the smoking entrance.

"I-I think so!" One replies.

"Jacobs!" Another yells. "Jacobs, Murray, and Burnsion are still in there searching!"

"Someone go in there and get them!"

"But we-"

"Here they come!"

Two men emerge from the smoke, each one carrying a body on their backs. The bodies are laid next to each other on the ground a few feet away from me. The clothes that cling to them are charred and cut. Blood and bruises can be seen under the tattered clothes. The men who carried them take off their hats and hang their heads.

"He looks like my son," one of them cries as he motions to the body on the right. The other slings his arm around his shoulder. "Dammit, they're both so young!"

"Look! " Someone in the crowd screams.

Another officer escapes the rubble with another body. "I found another!" He cradles the body and pushes the hair out of their face. "I found another," he repeats quieter than before. The police quickly hover over the body and some immediately turn away.

"She's just a damn child!" The body is laid beside the other two and the police slowly move away. I get to my hands and knees and begin to crawl towards the lying figures. As I get closer, I begin to pray in my head. Please, God. Another day. Please don't let it-

"LET ME GO! THAT'S MY FAMILY!"

I look back to find Susan being restrained by a policeman. Her makeup is running and her feet are cut and bare. She goes berserk in their arms until she struggles her way out of their grasp. She runs under the tape and comes to her knees beside the smallest of the three bodies. In disbelief, she grabs the shoulders of the tiny body and shakes it back and forth. "LUCY! LUCY, WAKE UP!"

Two other bodies are laid beside Susan and her siblings. Susan stares at the bodies of her parents in horror and hugs Lucy's shoulders. "OH DEAR GOD! LUCY, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE HERE! I'M SO SORRY, JUST PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Susan!" She looks up and searches for my voice. I crawl closer and closer toward her.

Finally, she sees me. The moment she stares at me with her broken, blue eyes, I know. I know that this is when my true task starts.

"Susan!" I tackle her in a hug and hold her as close as I can. "I'm here, Susan, I'm here!"

"THEY'RE DEAD!" SHE SCREECHES. "IT'S ALL MY FAULT, LYNN. IT'S ALL MY FAULT THEY'RE DEAD!"

"It's not your fault, Su." I assure as I tuck her head under mine, like a mother would her child.

I hold onto Susan and look down at the bodies around us. Five pairs of lifeless eyes stare into the sky of the same shade. There's a sob wrenching in my throat and I disdainfully let it out. Shoulder by shoulder they lie: Edmund, Lucy, and Peter. As if it were meant to be, the limp hands of Aunt Helen and Uncle Frank lie on top of each other. In my arms, Susan bends her body in half and lays her head on Lucy's stomach as she cries. Hesitantly at first, I reach my arm out and lightly stroke the Valiant queen's cheek. Something inside tells me that I should be right there with them, lying beside them.

I should be dead too.

Then I feel the broken girl in my arms toss and remember why I'm here. I close Lucy's eyes and retract my arms back to their original position around my best friend. "I'll take care of her," I say with a hint of optimism. "I-I promise I'll take of her while you guys are gone. I promise."

I apologize for not updating in about...half a year(It's bad, I know). Having 24/7 tennis practice and writers block didn't help my case. I almost forgot enitrely about this story until I checked my email to find I had some new reviews. I reread the whole story and literally want to crawl in a hole because it's so embarassing! Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter and are willing to continue reading the rest of the story! I really want to update as much as possible from now on so please bear with me! Review to make my day?

Much appreciation xx