Chapter Text
Samantha remembers trying to find Susie so they could go home, peering into the arcade, looking around and calling out her sister's name, only to be met with no reply.
Samantha remembers creeping into the still room, stepping over a half eaten burger on the floor, and calling for her sister again. She remembers creeping around the maze of arcade machines, looking in the hidden corners, trying to find any sign that her sister had been there at all.
Samantha remembers walking up to the Fruity Maze arcade machine, the name SUE still in big, bold letters at the top of the leaderboard, with a new high score, and a pit formed in her stomach.
Susie had been there, but she wasn't anymore.
Samantha remembers running out of the arcade, everything a blur as she called out her sister's name again, her voice barely audible over the noise of the pizzeria. Susie was upset, sure, she liked to explore, sure, but it wasn't like her to just run off like that, she always at least told Samantha, even if they were mad at eachother.
She remembers going to her parents, her own panic rising at the faces of worry that her words were met with.
She remembers spending an hour running around the pizzeria with her parents, looking for her sister. She remembers spending another hour driving around town doing the same thing, only to be met with the same result.
Samantha remembers driving home in silence, the sun already having set, she remembers being rushed off to bed by her father. She remembers going up the stairs to her room, only to return a few minutes later to stand at the top of the stairs and listen to her mother talk on the phone with a ‘Mr. Burke’, her father occasionally chiming in to add a word or two.
She hardly remembers getting ready for bed, everything a blur of events until she was standing in front of the door to Susie's room, the door itself decorated with pretty crayon flowers, painted dogs, and streaks of nail polish from when Susie was younger. It made Samantha feel sick.
She grabbed the bottom of her nightgown, holding it as tightly as she could. Susie loved decorations, she loved things with patterns and drawings. Samantha's door only had a few science-themed stickers Susie had gotten from the school science fair, that she then put on Samantha's door.
Really, a lot of things Samantha owned were from Susie. The nightgown she was wearing right now, frilly and purple sleeved with thin stripes, and the picture of a sleeping Chica on the front (as expected, from Susie), was from Susie.
Sometimes Susie would get on Samantha's nerves, and Samantha would get on Susie's nerves. Samantha wasnt a fan of Susie's silly adventures getting the two in trouble, and her frilly bright pink dresses that were always covered in mud, but Susie wasn’t a fan of Samantha's seriousness and science, either. Susie could be annoying, but weren’t all siblings? The only time Samantha could definitively say Susie did something actually bad was when she got into a fight with that Jeremy kid over him beating her Fruity maze highscore.
Susie was, well, Susie. She always wanted her and Samantha to be together, and Samantha knew she was upset earlier, not just from Samantha not wanting to play Fruity Maze with her, but also because of the family dog's death. Samantha had been talking Buttercup on a walk with Susie when it happened, she was upset too, that was why she hadn't wanted to go play with Susie, and she could understand why that would make Susie upset, but disappearing because of it? That wasn't something Susie would do.
Susie had played pranks on Samantha or her parents before, but this was too far, especially for her, who’d only ever hidden a paintbrush from mom when she’s forgotten about Susie’s baseball game, or a marker from Samantha when she’d hidden Gretchen. Samantha felt so much guilt for that now. She hid Susie's favorite doll from her because she was upset that Susie didn't want her to study, and for what, petty revenge? Now Susie may never know where she went (in truth, Samantha couldn't even fully remember where she’d hidden Gretchen).
Samantha paused, slowly, intentionally, releasing her grip from the bottom of her nightgown, staring at the doorknob to Susie's room. She hesitantly reached for it, hand hovering just above it.
Maybe she’d find answers in there, maybe Susie was playing some sick, out of character prank on them. Maybe it wasn't a prank.
Samantha lowered her hand, swallowing, throat dry, before turning away, speed walking down the hall to her own room.
Maybe Samantha didn't want to know the answer.