I laughed as Landon kept up his insane dance moves. He'd replied no when I had earlier asked him if he had caffeine of any sort, but considering his limitless energy, I wasn't sure if I believed him.

Landon had insisted upon all of us throwing one last party before we started our senior year of high school the following week. So five of us had headed out on Landon's family's boat and gone to one of our favorite destinations, Lake Michigan.

We had ventured out farther than we ever had before, but having been caught up in the excitement, no one really noticed much. Not with the show Landon was giving us, of course.

If another boat passed us, which happed fairly often, we would all wave and show goofy faces to the other passengers just to see their reactions. Well, all of us except for Michael, one of Landon's best friends. To tell the truth I couldn't imagine a silly face on him, not only was he heavily built, but he was rather gruff. To come across one of his smiles was rare.

Carter was also there; he was also a friend of Landon's. Sitting right next to me was my best friend Kaitlyn. She was laughing just as hysterically as I was, while clapping to egg Landon on.

When his song ended, he plopped down in the spot to my right while breathing heavily. He gave me a grin when he saw the joy on my face. I beamed back at him.

"Very impressive," I complimented.

"Thanks. I think I could make it a career," Landon laughed.

Kaitlyn snorted. "Good luck with that."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Don't encourage him. We wouldn't want Madeline to be stuck with a husband who's out of work."

I laughed. "Husband? Getting a bit ahead of ourselves, aren't we, Michael?"

"Please, have you seen you two? Of course you're going to be married; you're perfect together!" Kaitlyn said.

"You know, I've never been one for arranged marriage," I said, even though I would be lying if I hadn't thought of marrying Landon before. Dating him just wasn't enough in the long run, although it seemed like I was blessed even just having that.

"Are you saying you wouldn't want to be so attached to me?" Landon asked while trying to keep his face serious.

"Not exactly."

"Well then, Madeline, let's get married! We obviously have no objections!" Landon laughed.

I pat him on the shoulder. "Slow down there. Ask me again in a few years."

"Trust me, I will."

I chuckled as he leaned in to give me a quick kiss. When he pulled apart, he threw Michael a devious look.

"You know, Michael," Landon started, "you need to loosen up. If you were dating anyone, once they'd meet me they'd be sure to fall for me instead of you. Especially with my moves."

"Keep dreaming, buddy," Michael said, and gave Landon a friendly punch on the shoulder while rolling his eyes.

Landon stumbled back a few steps while still laughing, but he lost his footing as he tripped over a few discarded soda cans scattered on the ground. Landon's arms flailed, but he hit the side of the boat and toppled backwards into the lake.

I gasped as the remaining four of us ran to the side of the boat, looking for any sign of Landon. Most of us were ready to jump in ourselves when Landon's head surfaced a few feet away from us. He was still laughing. I released the breath that I had been holding.

"Get back over here before you kill yourself!" Kaitlyn called to Landon.

"Fine, just give me a minutes," Landon said, and he disappeared back into the waves, pointed in our direction.

My face drained of all color when I heard a motor besides that of the boat that we were on. I turned to the right and saw another speedboat about to pass by us, but the driver was distracted. He wasn't looking forward; he was looking back at one of the other people on his boat.

"Stop!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The startled driver turned to me just as I heard a subtle thumping sound. The front of the boat had just passed by where Landon had been seconds ago.

The water turned red.

Horror coursed through my veins as I saw something floating up toward us, and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that it was Landon, but something was wrong. He looked pale and motionless. The exact opposite of mere moments ago.

Landon's body was close enough now that Michael was able to grab his arm and gently pull him onto the deck with the rest of us. I tried not the noticed the large gash in his left leg.

I heard ragged breathing coming out of Landon's mouth, his chest barely rising and falling. His hand lifted off of the ground slightly, and I rushed over and took hold of it with all of my strength. As if that could keep him alive and with me. Forever with me.

I shook my head and felt tears start spilling out of my eyes as Landon tried to speak, his voice marred from what I was used to. I just barely caught the jagged words that left his mouth.

"I love you…trust me."

I sobbed and held his hand to my check, but Landon was unresponsive, gone. My entire body was shaking, and I could barely comprehend anything else except for the horrific sight that was right before me. Landon was dead; his corpse was laying at my feet. How utterly wrong. It was something that would stay with me for my entire life, I already knew. No matter what, no force on Earth could erase this from my memory; it was as if it was branded into my brain.

Michael turned me away.