Lucas and I hurry out and see Kate standing frozen in the doorway of her room. She’s staring, wide-eyed, at something in front of her.

Linnea—that’s the first thought that goes through my mind. Has something happened to her? Is it because of what I did?

But then I see what’s going on. In the girls’ room, someone has written words in big letters all over the walls. Even the windows are covered in black marker.

The room is one giant suicide note.

Slowly, we enter the room, one by one.

The words I so wanted to keep hidden from Kate are now grinning at her, in giant size.

This isn’t right. I still had time left.

“ ‘It’s always dark for me’?” Lucas reads out loud. “What is this?”

A different part of the letter is written on every wall. They’re pieces of a puzzle that combine to form a horrifying image, an image I have two copies of inside my pocket.

“Fender. Lucas.” Kate’s voice sounds far away. “Look at this….”

I follow her gaze to the wall behind the four-poster bed. Those letters seem to be extra big.

KATE, FENDER, AND LUCAS.

MY SO-CALLED BEST FRIENDS.

“What?” Lucas looks back at us. “How can…It’s from…”

It’s like he’s run out of words.

“It’s from Isolde.” Kate looks at me with wide eyes. I wish I could act surprised, but I can’t.

“This is my suicide note.” Lucas’s eyes dart to me. “This isn’t real, is it? She can’t have…”

For a year now, I’ve wanted to stop time and rewind everything, but never as much as now.

I want to go back to Kate’s last birthday, when the four of us were sitting around the campfire and I was playing the guitar.

I want to change what happened, write a different ending to that night, but it’s impossible.

Kate runs to the bathroom and I hear the sound of vomiting. This is just the beginning. She only knows a small part of the story.

“Fender?” Kate calls from the bathroom.

When I enter the bathroom, I’m shocked by her gray face. She looks at me like I just kicked her when she was down.

“You knew about this?”

At first I can’t make any sense of Kate’s words, but then I see the mirror above the sink. There’s a message, written in the same black marker, in the neat handwriting that I’ve come to recognize.

You thought I’d give you time

to show them the letter yourself.

Stupid Fender,

do you really think you can trust me?

Suite

I just hope she’s thirsty.

Linnea

What have I gotten myself into? I’m in a hotel room with a boy I’ve known for only a few minutes.

But it feels really comfortable, like I’ve known Claus for months.