As you can probably guess, I really didn't sleep very well that night. I had too much on my mind plus the couch wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to try to sleep. Finally after staring at the clock for what felt like hours, I gave up and went into the kitchen to help myself to a cup of coffee. I'm sure that Kevin and Melanie wouldn't mind. Me casa es su casa, Melanie would always tell me. After I finished making my coffee, I just sat down at the kitchen table, slowly sipping it. I was so deep in thought that I almost jumped a mile when I heard someone come up from behind me and ask, "What are you doing up so early?"

I whirled around to find that the voice belonged to Erika. "Couldn't sleep," I replied. "What about you?"

Erika just shrugged. "I just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Listen, I just want to apologize for not telling you I was going to be here. I didn't even know where we were going until AJ picked me up. I never expected that you'd come by and see us all."

"Erika you don't have to apologize," I told her. "I understand. It wouldn't have been a good idea to invite me anyway. Bad enough Nick left because of me."

"It wasn't just you. It was Izzy too!" she insisted.

"Whatever," I mumbled. "You know I've been doing some thinking... Everything is falling apart here. Izzy hates me. Nick and I are over and it doesn't look like there's any chance that we'll be getting back together. Maybe the best thing to do would be to move on and start fresh somewhere else."

"You mean move out of Florida?"

"Yea," I admitted, looking away. "Where would you like to go?"

"Nowhere! Mel I just got here a few weeks ago, but I LOVE it here. I've met a great group of people and AJ is really sweet. For the first time since Josh and I started dating I'm actually allowed to have friends and I don't want to give that up."

"So now even my own sister is betraying me," I said coldly. "That's fine, I don't need you either. By the way, I hope you had a good night with AJ."

Erika just sighed and gave me a dirty look. "Look, Mel just because you had a shitty night, don't take it out on me. Besides, nothing happened between AJ and I. We just fell asleep holding each other."

I opened my mouth to say something to her in return, but quickly closed it again. This was stupid. Besides I could hear Kevin and Melanie coming down the hall and I knew that Melanie would be pissed to find me fighting with yet another person.

Little by little, everyone else emerged from their respective rooms over the next half hour or so. Melanie was the perfect hostess and began to throw together breakfast for us. During that time, I stayed quiet and tried to avoid confrontation with any one else. Izzy pretty much ignored me and devoted all her attention to Ashley. It was obvious that they'd made up during the night. Glad that her life is all perfect again, I thought glumly to myself.

The phone rang interrupting our thoughts and Melanie picked it up. That reminded me... Wasn't Nick supposed to call when he got home last night to let us know that he arrived safely? Then again he wasn't in the best mood. He'd probably just went to bed as soon as he got in. Still, I couldn't ignore that gnawing sensation in my stomach that something wasn't right.

"It's for you hun," Melanie told Kevin. "Why don't you take it in your office."

"Okay," Kevin agreed as he took the phone and disappeared into his office. Wonder what that was all about, I wondered to myself for a moment before Melanie bought out breakfast.

I was just about to dig into a plate of pancakes when Kevin reappeared, looking quite stunned. "That was just Aaron."

"Aaron?" Izzy asked, a little confused and why he'd call.

"Nick was in a car accident last night coming home from here," he solemnly announced. "But he's fine! He just has a couple of bruised ribs and he hit his head so the hospital wants to keep him overnight for observation."

Everyone in the room exchanged shocked glances as they digested the news. I could feel their eyes on me and I had to look away. He's okay, I told myself. Yet I still felt guilty. If only Izzy and I hadn't had that stupid fight. Then maybe this never would've happened.

"Aaron says they'll probably going to release him tomorrow morning," Kevin continued. "There are visiting hours later on tonight though. He's been asking for you Mel," he told me.

"Me?" I squeaked out in surprise. "Why me?"

"Maybe when he hit his head, it knocked some sense into him," Izzy piped up. Huh? Now she was defending me? I guess she was over the whole Ashley thing? Weird...

"But he said he wanted me out of his life," I said quietly, still in disbelief.

"Well, Aaron told me Nick wants to see you. I'm just relaying the message. If you want I'll drive you to the hospital later," Kevin offered.

"I'll take her. I'd like to have a talk with Nick myself. Besides, I think Mel and I have a few things to work out," Izzy interrupted.

Melanie groaned. "The two of you alone in a car?"

"I promise that there won't be any bloodshed," she swore. "I acted like a real bitch last night and I want to apologize."

"Me too," I spoke up. "We acted really dumb and it was insulting to both Melanie and Kevin because we were their guests. It's a shame that because of us Nick wound up getting hurt."

"That wasn't your fault," Kevin tried to comfort us. "Nick was the one who blew the light."

"He wouldn't have even left if it wasn't for us though," I argued.

"It's over and done with," Izzy simply said and then changed the subject. "So, I'll pick you up tonight at like 7:30 Mel?"

"Sure sounds good to me. You almost done eating?" I asked Erika.

"Yeah, but you haven't touched your food," she commented.

"I'm not really hungry," I told her, and it was the truth. After hearing about Nick, my stomach felt like a ball of nerves. What if he only wanted to see me to blame me for his accident? On the other hand, what if he wanted to see me to apologize? Either way, food was the last thing on my mind right now. I just wanted to go home and think some more about why Nick might want to see me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I pulled up to my apartment nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first. I got out of the car with Erika at my heels and fished around in my purse for my house keys. Surprisingly though, the door was unlocked. Strange... I could've sworn I'd locked it before I left yesterday.

As soon as I opened the door I gasped. The place was totally trashed. Tables and chairs were overturned. Plates and dishes from the kitchen laid smashed at our feet. Anything that could be destroyed was now laying beside us.

"Oh my God..." That was I could say as I knelt down to pick up a framed picture of Nick and I from when we first started dating. It was cracked and seemed beyond repair, sort of like how our relationship currently was.

"Who would've done this?" I continued to ask as I gathered up more pictures of my family and friends that were all smashed into pieces. "I better see if they took anything!" I rambled on and as I ran from room to room. They hadn't bothered to take my TV or my DVD player or my stereo. Maybe my jewelry? I really wasn't one to keep expensive stuff, but I did have a few expensive pieces of jewelry such as a pair of gold hoop earrings, my nameplate, and my cross.

My heart was racing as I entered my room. My jewelry box had been totally emptied out on the floor, but nothing appeared to be missing. My clothes had been strewn out of the drawers and closet and now lay haphazardly around the room. Even my laptop appeared to be still intact. It seemed like whoever had broken in had been more interested in just making a mess then taking anything.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard Erika scream from the guest bedroom. I raced in to find her clutching a piece of paper that had this simple message typed to it: