A week flew by without incident, though my mother almost had a 'heart attack' when I dared not to return home for the weekend. I stayed in Vera and Blythe's room, alone, catching up on schoolwork in between panic attacks that left tears tracking down my mascara stained cheeks and a hole in my chest that I tried to fill with binged Netflix shows and completing all of my work weeks in advance.

It was on Sunday night, however, that I dared venture out into the cool wildness of the sprawling Bayfield Academy estate, a certain favorite pond calling to me for a reason I couldn't quite discern but didn't question.

The wind chill was sure to be ten degrees, my uncovered face almost freezing upon the blast of air that hit me as I opened the outside door and forced myself to think of something more painful that the frigid night in order to distract me from my current situation.

Ian was still in the same condition, no new news from Alyssa or Ian's mother, though I called every day, at eight every morning on the dot. His mother, Marlene, had come to expect my calls and we shared in our favorite memories we had with Ian and it was bittersweet, getting to know this woman through grief over her only son who was hanging onto life by a thread.

Sniffing the icy tears from my eyes, my phone buzzed incessantly in my pocket and this time I didn't reach for it, refusing to catch hypothermia from taking off a glove to maneuver the touch screen. Nope, my fingers were warm and toasty wrapped in their fluffy cotton cocoons thank you very much.

A shiver ran through my spine as I reached my spot, that had somehow become Lachlan's spot as well, though he was no where in sight.

No new snowfall since the blizzard, the cracked open glassy surface had stayed a liquid, as I realized someone must have had to come out every morning or night to make sure the pond stayed that way.

Only when I reached the water did I take my hands out of their gloved home, pinching off pieces of the bread I'd smuggled from the lunchroom for this very occasion.

The baby fish swam and bobbed to the surface just as they did the first time Lachlan broke the ice, the glow of the water reflecting from the overhead lamps and moon hung high in the sky.

Isolated at the academy as the students trickled in from their weekend, peace settled down deep in my bones as I stretched out across the bench and rested my head against the worn oak slats behind me.

I merely sat in silence, allowing the solitude to swallow me whole like a whale in the deep dark ocean, its jaw unhooked and all living things in the nearby vicinity sucked into its powerful yawning abyss.

My biological father had tried constantly and incessantly to contact me, but each new account was blocked and the comments and likes deleted from my posts. I wished I could vanish him from my mind like I could do with his internet escapades.

I wished I could have banished him from my nightmares, too, as those hadn't subsided once, not even with Vera and Blythe in the same room with me.

Lachlan and Blythe's parents couldn't convince the headmaster to kick a student out of their room and make them switch to live in Jenna's room just to accommodate me. They said we'd have to work out our own problems, but I was more than fine with roughing it on the floor of Vera's dorm until I figured out something more permanent.

Sloane, Holden, Jenna and Lachlan had all sat at a different table for our meals the rest of the week, and the only time I'd gotten alone with Lachlan was once when he'd found me hiding out in an alcove in the hallway.

I could still remember his arms wrapped around my waist as he checked in, asking how I was. I told him I was fine, and that if he really wanted to know, he could have just texted me.

"Are we to the texting phase yet," he'd asked me. I just smirked and asked him, "What do you think," and ever since he'd been sending me sweet good morning and goodnight texts, funny memes and jokes in between classes that made me smile even though he pretend glared at our table at lunch.

It was weird keeping our...connection a secret. After our brief hug and conversation he'd hastily dropped his lips to my forehead and made a quick escape as the halls were about to fill up with students and I said I still wanted to keep whatever was between us a secret.

He didn't seem to feel any type of way about that decision of mine, he wasn't angry or happy about it, just neutral, which was fine by me, though surely he'd start to grow tired of it? Or maybe he was embarrassed to be seen with me...no, that wasn't it. He'd even said he wanted to hold me in public, kiss me...Oh yes, I remembered that conversation fairly well.

My phone continued its hurried assault on my notifications so sighing I pulled it out, only to see Ian's contact flashing for a FaceTime call.

My finger immediately pressed the answer button without thinking, the rapid staccato of my heartbeat pushing any warring thoughts out of my head. It would be Ian, awake and alive and happy, not my biological father playing a sick joke on me, or someone calling to tell me he was dead...

My happy imagination won out.

There he was, groggy, a half smile on his dazzling face, blue eyes twinkling under fluorescent lights.

I was pretty sure his were the only blue eyes I ever truly enjoyed seeing.

"What- how-...?"

He laughed a bit at my stunned face.

"I'm alive!"

He enunciated his words like Dr. Frankenstein which pulled a strangled laugh out of my throat which I realized was coated from the tears that had yet to shed.

"I can see that! You're alive!"

He waited a bit for me to compose myself but it took me longer than he realized because he started laughing again.

"Damn, Kate, I didn't realize how much you loved me. It's okay, let it all out."

That only made me laugh/cry harder and pretty soon I was full out sobbing in relief but also in pain. Pain because it was my fault he was in the situation he was in, pain because it was my fault Leah had died in the very same car accident that put Ian in intensive care.

"It's okay, I'm okay."

"Oh my god, you're the one in the hospital and here I am crying like a baby," I admonished myself which brought a wry smile to his face, and I could have sworn I heard his mom sniffling in the background too.

"Yeah, and here I heard you didn't even come to my living wake. You sure those tears aren't just for show," he joked, but I could tell he was hurt from my absence.

"I tried, but my mom wouldn't let me leave the state. I've been on New York lockdown since I got back. I almost snuck off and stole a private jet just to go and see you but...well, that wouldn't have worked out all too well for the rest of my teenaged life."

"I'm just messing with you Kate. It's good to see you, even if you look freezing and your tears are turning into icicles on your face," he said and I wiped my face quickly, realizing that with the wind chill and temperature that the salty liquid was frosting on my skin.

"When did you wake up? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I woke up about an hour ago and they did all kinds of tests and after calling family members I wanted to call you but you didn't answer so I kept calling and kept calling and finally you answered. Guess I know why you're so hard to reach, you're walking through the arctic!"

"Yeah, you're not wrong there. So the tests are good, you're gonna make it?"

My voice broke on my words but he didn't wince or pull any punches in his response.

"I'm gonna live a long and healthy life, so long as I don't race random cars on the side of mountains any longer. The doctors noticed the swelling on my brain was going down and they decided to take me off all the crazy machines and when I didn't die they waited until I woke up and I was good as new! I'm still in a ton of pain but they gave me all kinds of good drugs so I feel greeeeeat."

His words were starting to sound a bit more slurred and suddenly his mother came into the picture.

"Hi Kate. I'm so happy he got to talk to you, but I think it's time for him to rest. I'll keep you updated and make sure you guys talk as often as possible, and I'll call your mother and tell her the good news. Maybe she'll let you take a trip out on the weekend?"

"Yes, that would be amazing. Get some more sleep, Frankenstein. Call me whenever you want, I don't even care if it's the middle of class, I'll skip it just to see your face."

"Aye aye captain crunch! Hey, where can I get some of that cereal mom? Crunchatize me, captain!"

"Bye, Kate," his mother said, her wistful eyes brimming with happy tears as I blinked some of my own back.

"Bye," I whispered, and then the phone call ended, a piece of my heart clicking back into place. I didn't know what I would have done if he'd really died.

I found myself desperately looking around, searching for someone to tell with this amazing news, but before I could get too ahead of myself, a new text message came through, a photo attached to the chilling words that it accompanied.

It was like the universe refused to give me any kind of reprieve, even after the news that Ian was going to live had been blessed upon me, it was like I couldn't have a shred of happiness.

Ian was in his hospital bed with his mom cupping his cheeks with a megawatt smile on both of their faces. Ian's head was wrapped in white gauze and through the lines in the windows that the picture was taken through, I could just make out the cuts still fresh on his cheeks.

Bile rose up in my throat as I slid off of the bench, landing in a limp puddle on the ground as I pulled my knees to my chest.

The message was clear enough.

I can take away anything you care about a lot easier than that.

I laid out on the snow covered ground, the packed white fluff cocooning me in my pain.

What did he want from me? Why was he torturing me in this way? It was enough to just stalk and harass me on the internet to cause sheer panic in my veins, but what he did to Ian? To Leah?

It had no rhyme or reason, and it was as if he didn't care what he was doing, only that it hurt me. Maybe that was the objective- to hurt me as much as he possibly could. Well, then he was doing a pretty damn good job of it.

I didn't know how long I laid there as I stared up at the star speckled sky before the shivers hit me full force. I recognized voices shouting off in the distance, my phone ringing like crazy, but I didn't care- I was just too damn tired.

I closed my eyes.

"Kate!"

That was Vera's voice. I wondered how she'd known that I was outside, in the frostbitten darkness encapsulated by my unrelenting hurt.

"I've got her. She's over here," his voice rang out in the bleak night. Why had he joined them? They thought he was still the villain of this story. Oh well. I didn't protest as his warm hands scooped me up into him.

"We need to take her to the nurse! There's something really wrong with her and-"

"No. I'm fine," I struggled to say against Lachlan's warm chest.

"Katrina Randolph! You were out here for god knows how long and you probably have hypothermia! You definitely need to see a doctor, the nurse at least!"

"No. I don't need a doctor or a n-nurse. I'm f-fine."

I couldn't stop my words from stuttering as Vera looked over at Lachlan holding me protectively to his body. I thought she'd stared a second too long and would soon figure out what was going on between us, but thankfully she dragged her gaze back down to me.

"What were you doing out here?"

"I just wanted some peace and quiet. I was talking on the phone."

That wasn't a total lie.

"I haven't been out here long, I promise! I came out at seven."

Their eyes almost popped out of their heads.

"Kat, it's ten. You've been out here for three hours, laying in the snow. You definitely need to go see the nurse," Lachlan said, no room in his tone for arguments.

I merely folded my arms across my chest in annoyance and huffed as he trekked through my old footprints back to the school, avoiding eye contact with Vera as she desperately kept checking on me, trying her hardest to remain passive.

"Who were you on the phone with," she asked.

"Ian. He woke up, he's going to be okay," I said, and then my body began to shake. Violently.

"Shit. I need to hurry, Vera can you keep up?"

"I'll catch up, just go!"

Lachlan didn't need to be told twice.

I suppressed a giggle as I realized that this was not the first time that Lachlan had spirited me away from my unyielding and impending doom.

Maybe this could be our new 'thing'.