I woke up to Claire's face and voice, "Hey, we're home."

I sat up, looking out the window, seeing a familiar airport, the one we had departed out of in the first place. I stood, feeling a little weak and excited as I exited the plane, feeling the familiar aura of my hometown wrap me up.

We walked to the office of the airport, no one knew what to expect, a crowd waiting for us or absolutely nothing, I was just ready to see my family. I was given a phone call, which I chose to call my mom, letting her know where I was and that I had landed, and I would wait patiently at the airport for her to come get me.

I was sitting in a waiting room, being offered food and water but I refused, to sad to accept anything before I knew if my best friend was alive or not.

I was just praying for the best.

My parents soon walked through the glass, sliding doors, seeing me and running to me as I was embraced in a suffocating hug. I wrapped them both in my arms, feeling the pain and sadness wash over me, crying into their bodies.

"Mom, Dad..."

My dad gripped my face in his hand, stroking my cheek, "Alex... God we've been worried sick since..."

I nodded, "I know..."

I was embraced once more, seeing Claire and her family over my mom's shoulder, and her smile plastered across her face. She looked happy, and excited, and when she glanced over at me, something in her shifted.

I saw sadness, and regret, which I figured she saw in me because of what we had done. I buried my face in my mom's shoulder, hugging her one last time, "Were there any other survivors?"

They knew what I was really asking, and their faces changed, "Yes, a few, two girls and a boy, not including you, Claire, Hunter and Tyler."

My heart lifted, maybe Mallory was alive!

I smiled, "Did Mallory get rescued? Is she at home?"

My mom's face changed in agony, and I knew what was coming, I just didn't want to accept it. I gripped Mallory's shirt hard, hugging it to my chest as I embraced the dying pain. I fell to a seat, feeling the pain wrap around me and strangle me, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see as the tears crippled my sight. I couldn't believe this, I didn't believe I was awake, I believed I was dreaming...

My mom hugged me, "Mallory's body was found Alex..."

I cried harder, knowing this wasn't going to stop right away. I wouldn't be able to get over this, I wouldn't be able to recover...

She held me as I sobbed, my dad stroking my back as I buried my face in my lap and cried. I had lost my best friend, she was gone, and I was never going to see her again.

How was I going to go to her funeral? Or had it already passed?

The only person who cared about me unconditionally was gone.

~ ~ ~ ~

A few days passed, it was mostly a blur to me as I barely ate anything and constantly lied awake in my bed. I couldn't stop crying, I couldn't stop thinking about Mallory and Claire, wondering why this had happened to me. What had I done to deserve this kind of pain?

Mallory's funeral was today, something I wasn't looking forward to. I didn't know who was going to be there, I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep it together.

But I had to try.

I slipped on a black dress I had in my closet, which was a bit empty since most of my clothes had gotten left at the island, but I didn't care about that.

I walked downstairs, filing into my parent's car and heading to the graveyard that was holding the funeral. I didn't want to face her parents, they would look at me like a nuisance, like why did I survive and not their daughter.

Could I stand that?

My phone was still in my lap, knowing I would never receive a phone call or a text from Mallory. Knowing I would never be able to go shopping with her, or go to college with her...

I would never see her again.

We pulled up, the weather was overcast which made me feel even more gloomy then I already did. The morning dew was clinging to me, and the setting was low and somber.

Then my phone vibrated in my lap, revealing a text from Claire.

"I'll be there for you today if you need."

So she was coming to the funeral, for what? She didn't care about Mallory, she didn't even care about me. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't, I didn't care, I just didn't want to accept the fact that my friend was gone, and this was going to do just that.

I walked to the gathering of people, my parent's besides me as I made my way over to the casket. I couldn't even look at anybody, I couldn't imagine dozens of family's that had to do this because their child didn't survive.

But I was one of the lucky few, if that's even what you wanted to call it.

I sure didn't feel lucky.

The funeral ceremony began, leading us into a rosary and lowering the body. We could place anything in the casket that we wanted her to be buried with, and I had brought something special along. I didn't want to let go of it, but I wanted her to have it, I wanted her to be buried with it.

I walked up to the casket, placing my side of the best friend bracelet she had given me our freshmen year of high school. I stepped back, watching the casket lowering into the ground as I stood there lifelessly, feeling like a zombie.

I felt the tears fall silently out of my eyes as I stared at the disappearing casket, my best friend, and I stepped back into the crowd, not being able to stand here anymore.

I walked away, seeing a bench a good ways away from the crowd, and knowing I needed to get away and gather myself. I sat, holding my head in my hands as I sobbed, grateful I hadn't worn any make up. I couldn't bear the pain my heart, but when someone joined me on the bench, I looked into the face of Claire.

She held me to her chest, and every sad feeling hit me like a ton of rocks, knocking me off my pedestal of strong and masked pain. I couldn't stop crying, and Claire rocked me as I continued, I didn't know why she was doing this, but at the moment I didn't care.

I just couldn't stop crying.

I pulled away eventually, wiping my eyes as I sobbed out loud, "Why are you here?"

"Because she was my classmate, and I knew she meant a lot to you." I stood, making Claire grab my hand, "Alex...can we talk?"

I shook my head, "Not here, not now."

She dropped her hand, nodding, "When then?"

I shrugged, "Whenever I call you," I turned away, and sighed to myself, "If I call you."

~ ~ ~ ~

Days started passing as I picked up my phone multiple times to call Claire, but never had the courage to. Why? Why call her? She was going to let me know she didn't care about me, that she never liked me like that.

She was going to lie, deceive me, did I really want to hear it?

But I wanted closure, because if I never did I would be stuck in this depression, and I couldn't have that. It was really eating at my heart, and going through the thing with Mallory was enough. I couldn't have my heart hurting over Claire either.

I picked up my phone, it had been a couple of days since the funeral, but I figured I was ready to do this.

I clicked her name, calling her and hearing the phone ring not even one full ring before she picked up, "Hey, Alex."

"Hey, do you want to meet up?"

She sighed, "Yes, I do, where?"

"The park."

I hung up, and I got into my vehicle and drove, she knew why I had brought her here. We used to come here a lot, just to talk and hang out.

We even had a specific spot.

I was there, waiting for her, and I was hoping she would come or I would be mighty upset. But I waited, and I watched the people walk, the children play, as if there was nothing going on in the world. I had lost my best friend, but the pain was slowly numbing me, even though I knew it would be awhile till I would be ok again.

Then Claire showed up.

She sat next to me, speaking, "Alex... I don't know where to start."

I shrugged, "How about with an apology."

She looked at me, long and hard, "I'm sorry, for being a bitch, for leaving you when you needed me, for never appreciating everything you've given me. I'm sorry for being such a bad friend, and leading you on for over a year, and hurting you more than you needed. I'm so sorry Alex, and I don't expect you to forgive me, at least not right away... I just, I'm a fucked up person. I feel horrible, and I just..."

She stopped, and I looked at her slightly, seeing her holding something back from me. I spoke, "You what?"

She sighed, as if she was about to lay something on me, and she continued, "I love you, and I never could accept it. I didn't know why I continued to fight it, I was scared of falling in love..."

It felt good to hear that, and I gazed at her with a shocked expression on my face. I shook my head, "I don't even know if I can believe that."

She grabbed my hand, "Please, please believe me, I love you, I've been loving you, I was just to stupid to see it. I want you in my life, I want to love you, I want to show you I'm not a horrible person. Over the past month I've just had a lot of thinking time... and I've come to reality Alex."

I looked at our joined hands, wondering why this had to happen for her to admit this to me. I was scared, no one had told me they loved me before, but right now I was convinced I loved Claire. All the pain and feelings I had toward her were right here, and I couldn't stand leaving her side again.

I couldn't' stand the thought of losing her to.

She kissed me on my lips then, holding my face in her hand, "Thank you so much, for just loving me."

I smiled, "No problem."

I saw something in her then, and it looked genuine, and unafraid of commitment. Something inside her had changed, whether it was the crash, the island, or me just loving her... but she was different.

And maybe she would stay by my side, and love me through this hard time.

But I was a different person to, I was strong, and well bounded to myself. I was true, and honest, and a selfless person, and I was in love with Claire. I could deny it, I could ignore it, but I knew the truth deep down in my heart.

So we would stick together, help each other and support each other through this rough patch, and we would come back 100 times stronger than we had been before.

And as I looked at Claire I knew we were going to be ok, even after all of this tragedy we had to endure. We would both turn out ok and help each other through our problems.

And maybe we would stay together for a long time, and stay away from planes for awhile.

THE END

***A/N***

Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did! It was definitely different writing something like this but I had fun, but don't be sad that it's over because a new story is already underway. I will NOT be posting it for awhile, at least until June 17 or 18 because I'm going on vacation and I can't leave y'all hanging with just one or two chapters! It will be a TeacherxStudent story and it is different, so keep an open mind. I'm sorry you guys are going to have to wait, it's just as painful for you as it is for me. So if you guys want I can post a chapter teaser just to give you a glimpse of what's yet to come, but you will have to let me know by the end of this week. Thank you all for reading and leave comments below!