Finding Yourself
Part 11

In the weeks following Liz’s hasty departure from Roswell, the town was abuzz with gossip on what had actually happened. Liz Parker was a straight A student, top of her class with a bright future ahead of her. Sure, she had lost one of her friends, but everyone was convinced there were more sinister forces at work for her disappearance. One rumor floating around was that she had found herself pregnant and had been forced to flee in shame. Another rumor was that she had found herself in trouble with the law and was on the run. But wherever her name was mentioned, one thing was for sure. Max Evans was at the core of the problem.

Everyone knew how perfect of a couple they had been, the two smartest students in the class had emerged as a super-couple overnight. Max Evans had been one of the most eligible bachelors in their class, elusive and shy and he had changed in the blink of an eye. When rumors had first started that they had broken up last year, they weren’t believed. But then when the new blond girl had appeared tied at the hip with Max, the talking had started anew. Then with the death of Alex Whitman still fresh in everyone’s minds, it was no wonder Liz had skipped town.

The five remaining members of the group had somehow managed to muddle along with their lives, but just barely. Maria had read the letter left to her by Liz and refused to share it with anyone, but no one had really pressed her for information. They all knew what they needed to know already. Liz wasn’t coming back for along time, if ever at all.

Jim Valenti had been successful in convincing the Parkers not to hire a private investigator and drag her back home. He had explained that they had to trust her on her own for now, give her the room she had asked for, and one day they would get her back. They hadn’t liked it, but they had come to terms with it, waiting each day for the phone to ring, hoping it would be their Lizzie letting them know she was safe and sound.

Michael had been there for Maria, becoming the supportive boyfriend she had always tried to turn him into. He stayed with her day and night, half afraid to leave her alone, and to their surprise, Amy Deluca hadn’t had a problem with Michael’s temporary living arrangements. Maybe because she knew her daughter had lost both of her best friends and was afraid she might lose her daughter too, but Michael had become a permanent fixture in the Deluca household.

Maria had taken to tuning out the world and staring off into space. They could only guess she was living in her memories of happier times with her two best friends. But it was the spontaneous crying jags that caught them off guard and put them on edge. Some days it was something as small as a song on the radio that Alex had sung to her, or pulling her red sweater out of her closet only to remember that Liz had borrowed it, but Maria was just as broken as Max, if not more. At least he’d had the chance to say goodbye.

Isabel had taken over the roll of protector and mother hen. She made sure Max ate and slept, having to remind him to do these simple tasks. He too would stare off into space, only he could sit there uninterrupted for days if Isabel let him. He had replayed every minute of their time together in his head hundreds of times, but he refused to talk to anyone.

His parents had finally forced him out of bed after a week, and he had returned to school with an air of indifference. He didn’t study, didn’t do his homework. Not even his pursuit for the Granolith could catch his interest. He was merely existing, his mind caught in the endless loop of his time with Liz, while his body functioned as everyone expected it to. Get up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home, eat, and sleep again. Each day blended in with the rest. He no longer knew what day it was or cared. When Isabel woke him up and told him where to go, he did it. Arguing only took away from the time in his head with Liz.

Still more time passed with no sign of any change. Summer had turned into Fall and the nights were becoming cooler. And as each day passed, Michael became more worried. Maria was suffering from nightmares that were keeping them both awake. Isabel too had stopped sleeping in her own bed, instead using Michael’s old sleeping bag to sleep on Max’s floor in case he needed anything. And getting Max to say more than ten words a day was becoming increasingly harder.

Only Kyle seemed to be as worried as Michael was. Kyle himself had tried to be there for his friends, only to discover that he wasn’t needed. He had taken to spending more and more time away from the group, afraid that his growing anger towards Max would erupt one day. At least for Isabel’s sake, he had maintained his distance so far, helping where he was needed most. By being gone. Max had crushed a good friend and let her leave alone. No one knew where she was or if she was okay. But of course she wasn’t okay. Why would she be? But at least Max and Maria had their friends and family to take care of them. Liz was alone.

Only Michael seemed to see these things. He knew the group was falling apart. They had lost their leader and maybe the heart of the group as well. Isabel now gave all her attention to Max and Maria had Michael. Michael felt as if Kyle was slowly being fazed out of the group. They needed to act, and act fast.

But Maria had beaten Michael to the punch, already seeing that they were becoming less and less of the closely bonded group they had once been. She had opened her eyes and taken a good look at herself in the mirror that chilly October morning and hadn’t liked what she had seen. Her eyes were hollow and puffy from crying herself awake that morning from another nightmare that she couldn’t remember.

All she knew was that she had never felt so alone in her life. Then it had hit her. That was how Liz had felt for months, that exact emotion. Maria understood then for the first time why her friend had left so abruptly, and vowed to find some way to make things up to her. She hadn’t been much of a friend for Liz since Alex’s death, but she would be now.

Maria had also wondered for the first time what this was doing to the others. She had been so caught up in her own grief that she hadn’t really looked at them either. She knew no one had continued with the search for the Granolith and Max’s son, and everything about that seemed wrong. Liz had left so Max and the others could do these things properly, so that Max could obsess night and day over how to fix his mess, so Max could learn to become the wonderful father and King Liz knew he would be. And maybe Liz would one day find her way home, maybe not. But her sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain.

With a glint of determination in her eyes that had been missing for far too long, Maria had slipped away from Michael long enough to sneak into the UFO center. If there were any more recent activity, Brody would have information about it. He had become obsessed himself with the object numerous countries were searching for, convinced that it held the key to his own abductions. Luckily, Maria knew exactly how to get into the files from several of the covert operations they had run in the past.

She slipped into Brody’s office and quickly popped the lock on his file cabinet, silently thanking her cousin for teaching her something useful. She thumbed through the older documents and quickly zeroed in on the newest ones. Hastily, she carried them to the small copier in the corner of the office, had replaced the originals and snuck back out before anyone had even known she was there. There was just one place left to go now, and it would be the hardest thing she would ever have to do.