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The last thing Sammy was properly aware of was that noise, and the harsh shining rainbow light that engulfed his vision He had felt pulling and rushes of air and textures that were no longer that of his car. Then he could process nothing - besides the cries of Ben begging him to just drive. His voice had long since been lost, and he no longer felt anything apart from numbness and emptiness.
Everything else was a blur, or a memory he couldn’t tell. Nothing he encountered made sense. His body ached and stung and flashes of light and sound enveloped him. White noise mostly but noise that didn’t sound human and was beyond what he had ever heard before. Beeping, wailing, white noise.
The one proper time when he knew he was back in reality was when he opened his eyes and found he was strapped down in a room that was completely bare and white, a white room exactly like Emily had described. He couldn’t move and his chest was tight as he struggled against too-tight restraints. He tries to call out, for Ben, Emily, anyone but his voice wouldn’t come. He could only manage broke rasps.
He remembered a sharp sting to his arm and yelled out in pain, he couldn’t turn his head to see but something had dug into his arm. It did feel nice to feel something again. Then he heard voices, proper voices as quiet vibrations behind the walls that rumbled and was out of ear shot. Someone was there. He tried to call out, but all he could again manage was gasping and coughing.. Then, more pain in his arm as the room began to spin, growing blurry as his eyelids slid shut.
He remembered things spasmodically, but nothing he could hold onto with any clarity. Always the same white room, always the same silence that was somehow too loud to bear, the same noises and whispers that he could never quite hear. Pain, lights blurring over his body. It didn’t matter what it was - in time, Sammy was used to it all.
He lay still through every unbearable moment desperately trying to keep who he was clear in his mind.
‘If Ben knew any better he would hear my warnings and not come for me,’ he thinks. It’s better this way. It’s better I’m suffering like this than Ben suffering anymore. His words were playing loud on repeat in his head, the only thing giving him any comfort was the acknowledgement that he was somehow still alive.
But he knew things were different here. He was being fooled, tricked. He found himself losing track of time, then couldn’t remember how many times he’d been awake and aware, had no idea how many minutes or days or weeks or months had passed. No idea how long he’d been in this empty room with its blinding white.
His only memories now were of light, noise, pain, light, noise, pain, repeated in a sickening, dizzying cycle.
‘Just kill me,’ he catches himself thinking, ‘please just let this be over.’ He can feel his sanity slipping further and further away.
He thinks he hears radio static, at some point. Vaguely wonders if it’s nothing more than a memory of his past, who he used to be. But he hears Ben’s voice ringing loudly in his ears and hope tugs at his chest.
It’s Ben. “This is King Falls AM, line 9, you're live-” A pause. Sammy thinks he maybe screams before he hears, “Sammy? Sammy, is that you? Oh please Sammy, I-
Sammy uses everything he has left to form words. “B-en Ben I can’t see you are you there-“ he starts to gasp and choke once more as his body trembles.
“Sammy! Oh my God Sammy! We’re coming-“ then the radio cuts to static again.
No. Is all he thinks before nothing again.
Had been actually been there?
Sammy knew what he had told Ben, if I get taken please don’t come looking for me. But he felt differently now. Everything inside him was screaming for freedom from this nightmare. He needed Ben. Ben had promised. He needed Ben.
The cycle breaks again.
For a small moment, he’s standing in a room and he can feel things again. He’s tired. Exhausted. In pain. Staring through a pane of some sort of glass. At first, he imagines it’s a mirror, because he can see himself looking back.
It’s disorientating, especially when his reflection doesn’t follow the slight shakiness of his hands, or the trembling of his body.
Then suddenly, it’s smiling. Sammy wasn’t smiling. His reflection was smiling.
Fear lurched in his stomach, and he felt violently ill.
“Good morning King Falls AM, this is Sammy Stevens and you’re listening to 600 on the radio dial!” It had spoken to him with his own voice. That was his voice, he knew that despite how foreign it felt. How robotic. Unfamiliar. It lacked the warmth and -
And suddenly, Sammy remembered. He remembered Tim1000, and of course this was what that was. The aliens or sick-fucks that had him had cloned him just like Tim, and this clone was probably going terrorise the town just like TimBot had. Using his name. Sharing his likeness. It was going to imitate him, twist him into something - and then Sammy thought of Ben. Who would be so relieved to see his friend, that maybe he wouldn’t -
His stomach twisted into ugly knots, and he trembled with rage. “Don’t you fucking dare!” he managed to scream hoarsely, before attempting to throw himself towards the glass in defiance.
He finds himself falling, his knees giving way and breaking underneath him. He welcomes the darkness this time.
He doesn’t know how long it’s been since that moment. What’s happened now. Maybe Sammy2018 has already been transported back to King Falls and he’s here alone. The thought makes his chest ache.
The noises are much less frequent now, as though they no longer have any need for him. He’s gripped with the fear of being replaced.
He struggles to find it in him to care, but reality seems too distant now. Too much a part of a different life.
Then comes the snap. The red hot heat and the sudden feeling like he’s drowning.
Everything is turning and shaking and he’s surely never been so afraid. He feels a tug, and a thump before being deposited limply onto solid ground.
Actual ground.
He can feel actual ground beneath him. Solid, rocky, dirty, blissful ground.
The white has disappeared.
He can hear voices in the distance, but they’re almost inaudible compared to the screaming in his ears. The noise is so different to anything he’s heard in so long. He flinches away, and tries to open his eyes to match picture to sound, and attempt to understand.
The voice calling for him is desperate. “Sammy! Oh my God, Sammy! I can’t believe it worked, I- Sammy?” It’s a familiar voice. The voice is muttering about injuries and grasipng desperately at his body,but he relaxes because he’s finally safe. “Talk to me Sammy,” Ben is shouting, talk to me. Please.”
Ben is shaking him, and his voice is suddenly much more distant. “The UFO!” he’s yelling at somebody. “It crashed out of nowhere and I- Sammy’s here. He’s okay Troy, He’s okay.”
Sammy’s shirt is suddenly wet, but he can’t bring himself to care, because Ben.
Then Troy is whispering reassuradly in his ear that “Ben’s right, you’re okay. You’re okay.” It’s so good to hear them again, and Sammy squints open his eyes but the light is suddenly unfamiliar. The night sky is King Falls is peaceful and rainbow light free.
And Sammy’s finally under it again. He’s finally home.
“Ben,” he managed to croak out, his body weak with the effort, “is it really…” he lurches forward at the pain that consumes him, and Ben visibly panics.
“Sammy!? Shit we gotta get you to a hospital oh my god stay with me buddy you’re gonna be okay”. Sammy falls back against the grass and feels his lungs growing stronger with each breath of air he takes in. He can’t make himself speak or move anymore. Everything hurts, but it’s such a wonderful thing anyway. The world is his, and he’s back home..
Ben is here. He thought to himself. Your amazing best friend is here, and nothing matters for now. Maybe not ever.
He opens his eyes again and takes in the beauty of the sky above. After the white room, he’ll never not appreciate it.
Ben is still babbling, and throwing his arms around Sammy, and he gingerly hugs him back
Contact, warmth, safety. It all felt so good. Ben is helping him to his feet, wincing at the pained grunts Sammy is making, carefully helping him walk. Ben’s always talking, but Sammy can’t focus on that right now. He can see the tears on his friend’s face, the joy hidden behind his eyes, and he melts. He smiles, weakly, but a smile all the same.
Ben smiles back. His expression is full of love, his cheeks peppered with tear-tracks.
“Save your strength,” he whispers softly, “You’ve been through a hell of a long and I’m-” he pauses, “I’m sorry we couldn’t save you before now.” He giggles a little, maybe in disbelief before adding “you’re finally in King Falls.”
Sammy zoned out after that, unable to remember much else after that. Ben and Troy had carried him down to the ambulance and he sat there placidly whilst nurses and doctors fussed around him.
He was suddenly overcome with distress. Not because of the doctors or nurses or Ben - but because no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t hold onto the memory of what had happened inside the UFO. He could feel it as it slipped through his fingers, before he couldn’t remember it at all.
Like Tim, he could remember nothing else but sitting in his car consumed with grief. Everything between point A to B had erased itself from his mind. All he had was waking up in a field with Ben over him.
The questions would come, but he’d have no answers.
None of them would think to ask about the second version of Sammy who had smiled wickedly at him from behind the glass. Not until it was much too late.