As soon as Nick said his good-bye to Lizz, he handed the phone back to Brian. Then he covered his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to keep from crying. AJ rubbed his shoulder, while watching Brian.

“No, it’s Brian.” He said into the phone. “Is she okay?...” Brian shifted his gaze to Nick. “He’s the same I think. Oh, I would recommend keeping Lizz from watching the news.” Brian stated carefully, keeping his voice very soft. He didn’t want Nick to hear what he was talking about. He wanted to avoid that whole subject. “...Yeah, unfortunately. It was pretty bad...I know. Neither one of them will listen to any of us either....I think you are right, but they need to let go of it before it totally consumes them....Yeah, same with you....Bye Kyung.” Brian flipped his phone shut and turned back to AJ and Nick.

“Bri, can I use your laptop?” Nick asked as soon as Brian had hung up.

“Uh...I don’t think so.” Brian shook his head.

“C’mon, like I would do that to yours!” Nick exclaimed.

Brian pondered it a moment. He never let Nick use his computer because out of anger, Nick had thrown his own across the room a few months ago. The poor thing was never the same. Brian didn’t want his laptop to meet the same demise. However when he looked at Nick’s pleading eyes, he caved.

“Yeah, I guess so, but why? What’s wrong with yours?” He asked hesitantly.

“I have an idea.” Nick started. He glanced at AJ. “I have a huge favor to ask of you.”

“What?” AJ asked warily.

“I need you to take my laptop to Lizz. Just until she can come back here again. So we can keep talking.” Nick explained.

“All the way to Tulsa?!” AJ didn’t look thrilled at the idea.

“Please AJ? This is really important. It’s only a two hour drive.” Nick pleaded.

AJ sighed in defeat. “You owe me big, man.”

Nick smiled. “Brian, will you call Kyung back?”

Brian nodded, inwardly pleased that Nick’s spirits seemed to have improved. He would do anything to help Nick. He dialed the phone. After a quick conversation Brian hung up and told Nick and AJ the plan. Kyung had agreed to meet AJ in Stroud which was about halfway between OKC and Tulsa. About a half hour after that, the plan was in motion.

I had the back of my bed elevated a little so I could see Nick’s laptop. When I woke up I was thrilled when Kyung told me about Nick’s idea. I didn’t even mind being alone for a few hours so Kyung could meet AJ to pick it up. I wasn’t sure what time it was when I talked to Nick, but I knew it was pretty early in the day. It was dark now, but it wasn’t too late. Just an hour ago they had taken out the vent, much to my relief. I was on oxygen now and my throat hurt like a bitch, but anything to have that tube out of me. Kyung had just set up the laptop for me and positioned it so I could see it easily. It hurt to sit up this much (and I was barely even sitting up), but I didn’t dare complain. I was too happy to get to talk to Nick.

“All set babe?” She asked as she keyed in the password to sign it onto the internet.

I nodded impatiently, but smiled at her. She was an angel.

As soon as it said I was connected I signed on to AOL instant messenger. I paused for a moment before choosing a name. I definitely wouldn’t use the one I had before. I never wanted to see that one again. I chose another. Then something occurred to me. How would he know I was on? I had his computer which had his buddy lists, which had all my screen names on them. I decided to just start putting in names that I knew of his. Finally, after four tries, I found him.

Oceans My Mirror:hey!!

Nick Cartman:lizz!

Oceans My Mirror:how are you doin?

Nick Cartman:doin better. how are you?

I wasn’t about to tell him how much pain I was in, but to tell ya the truth, that was actually of little significance right now. I was finally talking to Nick and that was what mattered.

Oceans My Mirror:doin pretty good, considering lol. it was so good to hear your voice earlier. I was gonna ask you to sing for me, but I decided to be nice and let ya off the hook this time.

Nick Cartman:lol thanks

Nick Cartman:I’m not sure I can even remember all the words yet. my brain is still screwed up

Oceans My Mirror:it’ll come back to ya. so how are you really doing?

Nick Cartman:its hard. I cant even think about that girl.

That girl? What did he mean? Terri?

Oceans My Mirror:what do you mean?

Nick Cartman:I don’t know how to handle it. first you, now this girl commits suicide.

My jaw dropped. Suicide?! Oh god, my donor. She killed herself. Oh god. My fault too. Oh god.

Nick Cartman:it’s gonna take some time for us to get over this, ya know? i mean with that girl killing herself and stuff i really do blame myself but i guess we have to look at the good that came from this, right?

I hit enter and waited for Lizz to reply. It seemed to be taking her forever to respond but I figured it was because she was weak. A few minutes went by and nothing was returned.

Nick Cartman:Lizz? are ye alive?

I was starting to wonder if the AOL messenger was messed up. That was always a typical thing. I rebooted the messenger and tried again.

Nick Cartman:yo! Lizzard....hello???

I looked up as Brian entered the room, smiling from ear to ear. “So, Nick, how’s the chat going?”

“She’s not answering, something’s wrong,” I replied, staring at the screen. “Something’s very wrong. Call Kyung!”

“Nick, calm down, she’s using your laptop, remember? Maybe it finally died, I mean those things aren’t made to be thrown across rooms,” Brian observed.

I shook my head. “No, something’s really wrong Brian, call her now!”

“Okay, okay, just calm down,” Brian said as he opened his cell phone and started to punch the numbers in.

I managed to watch Brian’s face and look at the laptop screen simultaneously. I could see worry start to spread across his face.

As the cell phone kept ringing, Brian grew worried. This was not like Kyung, she usually picked up by the second ring.

“What’s wrong? Something’s happened, oh god,” I moaned. I knew something was definitely wrong now by the look on Brian’s face.

“It’s busy,” Brian lied as he disconnected the number. He punched in a new set of numbers. “I’ll just try her pager, she should be calling me within a few minutes.”

I nodded as I continued to stare at the screen, waiting for Lizz to answer me.

Kyung jumped from her seat when she saw the oxygen sats drop down to 91%. This was not a normal reading for someone that is on continuous oxygen.

“Breathe Lizz, come on, what’s wrong!”

Kyung grabbed her friend by the shoulders and shook her, trying to stimulate her into breathing. When nothing happened, she dashed into the bathroom filling a small cup with ice water. She returned to Lizz and splashed the water into her face, causing Lizz to errupt into gasping breaths of air. Her sats climbed back up to 99%.

“What’s wrong?”

Lizz just continued to stare at the screen, pointing a finger at it.

Kyung turned the laptop towards her and read the conversation. She gasped. She suddenly realized that she and Brian’s plan had one small flaw in it, they forgot to tell Nick that Lizz was unaware about the suicide of her organ doner.

“Shit, Lizz, I’m sorry you had to hear about it like that,” Kyung said as she placed a comforting arm around her best friend. “But you have to understand that this girl didn’t kill herself because of Nick’s suicide attempt, she did it after reading all of the false information that was printed in that paper. She was devastated to think that Nick would never be able to walk, talk or sing again. Sweetheart, you have to remember that although she took away God’s gift of life she returned it by giving you a new chance in life, you can’t blame yourself, understand me?”

Lizz managed to weakly shake her head yes. She wanted to believe Kyung’s words about blame, but she knew she would never be able to. If she had stopped Nick, the story would have never been printed.

Before Kyung could continue, her cell phone that was sitting on the table across the room started ringing. She ignored it and hugged Lizz, trying to comfort her. When her pager started to vibrate, she looked down at the message bar.

“Oh my god, type something in, quick! Let them know you’re okay!”

Lizz nodded.

Oceans My Mirror:Sorry about that, I had my nurse in here.

Nick Cartman:Thank god! I was beginning to worry! Are you okay?

Oceans My Mirror:Nick, if you don’t mind, I feel sleepy and I think I need to rest.

Nick Cartman:it’s okay Lizz, talk to you tomorrow, love ya bye

Oceans My Mirror:Love you too, bye

As Kyung disconnected the internet and closed the laptop, Lizz settled back into the pillows and closed her eyes.