Nick stretched his arms over his head as he awakened. It took him a moment to process that he wasn’t in his own bed, and then he remembered the night before. He rolled over expecting to see Sam still asleep, but instead he found himself alone in her bed. He listened to see if he heard her prancing around her tiny apartment, but heard not a peep. Nick cursed as he punched the empty side of the bed. She had disappeared, left him in her own bed to boot. He buried his head into his pillow. He shouldn’t have expected much else from her. He didn’t even know why he let her actions get to him. He threw the sheet off of him and sat up. He needed to get out of there.
He looked over at the night stand to see what time it was and squinted when he noticed a folded piece of paper with his name written on it. He reached out and grabbed the note. He debated if he should even read it, knowing that whatever she wrote would only piss him off further. He also knew he couldn’t walk out of her apartment without reading it.
He sighed and opened the piece of paper.
Thanks for helping me forget for a little while. Sorry I don’t own a coffee pot.
XOXO
Sam
He tore the paper in half and placed both halves back on her nightstand. He stood up and gathered the rest of his clothes. When he tugged his shirt over his head, his phone began to ring. He slid his hand into his back pocket to retrieve it.
“Hello?” He called into the phone bending down to tie his shoe laces.
“Hey, where are you?” Luke asked, his voice full of fatigue.
“I was just about to head out.” Nick said, purposely leaving out where he was in fact heading out from. “You sound like you haven’t slept, man.”
“Yeah, well I pretty much haven’t. I need a favor.” Luke said, knowing he could count on Nick. “Apparently, after I dropped Cara off last night at my parents, she took off and no one knows where she is. I was supposed to go with my father to finalize the arrangements for the service tomorrow, but I can’t leave her God knows where, alone.”
“You want me to look for her?” Nick asked, rising to his feet. He felt his pockets for his keys.
“No, I’ll go after Cara. But if you don’t mind helping my dad out?” Luke asked.
“Not a problem.” Nick said and headed towards the front door of Sam’s apartment. He opened the door and glanced around. No signs of the night before, he mused. It’s like it never happened. He locked the bottom lock on her door. “I’m on my way.” He said into the phone as he pulled her door shut behind him.
Sam sat beside her mother in the living room of the Lanza house. They were surrounded by shoeboxes and photo albums trying to pick out the pictures that best marked the milestones of Jake’s life. It was strange for Sam to be looking at the photographs of their childhood knowing that she would never have any new memories with her brother. They sat amongst tons of photographs they had taken over the last thirty years. No more pictures would be taken, with Jake in them from this point on. It saddened her, and when she looked over at her mother, her heart broke. She had no idea how to comfort her. She traced Jake’s face with her fingertips in each picture before pressing a gentle kiss to the photo of her youngest son.
“This is one of my favorite photos of the three of you.” Deb said sadly as she shared the photo with Sam. It was taken one Christmas morning, Sam must’ve been about three years old and Jake seven. Luke was approaching ten and they were smiling underneath the tree.
“We had the best Christmases.” Sam said as she stared down at the picture. “I remember going into Jake’s room and waking him up one year. The year I thought I saw Santa Claus.” Sam laughed and lifted her gaze to her mother’s. “You know he went along with it, even though he had already learned the truth about Santa. He told me I probably did see him, but never to tell you or dad, because then he wouldn’t come the following year.”
Deb smiled sadly. “Sounds just, like, Jake.” She paused a moment and shook her head. “I can’t believe he’s gone.” She said quietly.
Sam looked at her mother, not knowing what to say, so she remained quiet. Deb took a deep breath and reached for another shoe box. Carefully, she lifted the lid and placed it between them. She took a stack and handed it to Sam, and then took one for herself. They sat in silence filtering through the stacks of photos. Most of them were of Jake and Cara through their adolescent years.