Chapter Text
The car is stopped.
Colby’s outside, looking at the engine.
Something feels wrong to Sam.
He’s fiddling with the hem of his black hoodie, watching Colby as he peers over the hood of the car.
Sam is sitting inside the car, impatiently waiting.
He lets out a sigh, hopping out of the car and walking over to Colby.
The stretch of road they’re on is deserted and lit up by one streetlamp.
Sam steps beside Colby.
He feels uneasy.
“C’mon, let’s get it working. I don’t like the feel of this place.” Sam says, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m trying, I just don’t know what’s wrong.” Colby responds, gesturing towards the engine.
“Maybe it’s the-” Sam is cut off suddenly.
A black sack is being pulled over his head.
He can’t see anything.
“Colby!?” Sam cries out as hands grab his limbs, restraining him.
He starts panicking.
He can’t breathe.
Someone is tying his hands together.
“LET GO!” Sam yells. “HELP! COLBY!”
Someone is picking Sam up.
He struggles, fighting against his kidnapper.
But there’s not much he can do.
Before he can even truly register what’s happening, he’s being thrown into the back of a car.
He can’t see.
He can’t breathe.
His head is still covered by a sack.
Sam focuses on his breaths.
He needs to stay calm.
“Colby?” He calls out. “Colby!”
“Quiet!” An unfamiliar voice responds.
“COLBY!” Sam yells.
“Keep silent or he dies.” The voice snarks.
Sam falls quiet.
His breathing is labored, and he’s sweating.
Sam has never been kidnapped before.
He has no idea where they’re going.
He can’t feel Colby’s body in the trunk with him.
Sam hopes Colby escaped.
Maybe he saw them coming and ran.
Maybe he’s getting help right now.
Maybe he’s going to save Sam.
The car suddenly jerks to a stop.
Sam flies against the trunk door, crying out as his right shoulder twists uncomfortably.
Before he knows it, the trunk is being opened and he’s being picked up again.
He struggles, squirming and yelling for help.
But the person holding him is strong.
Sam is thrown down into a chair, his limbs taped so that he can’t move.
The sack is ripped from his head, and at first Sam’s vision is blurry.
He’s in front of a city glowing with lights.
There are two figures in front of him:
One wearing all black and standing up.
The other on their knees with a sack over their head.
As Sam’s vision focuses, the standing figure rips the sack off the other’s head.
It’s Colby.
Sam feels a wave of despair.
He didn’t get out.
No one is coming to save them.
Colby has a piece of tape covering his mouth.
Tears are falling from Sam’s eyes.
He doesn’t notice.
“I-it’s gonna be okay!” Sam tries to reassure Colby.
Sam tries to rip free from the chair.
“W-what do you want?” Sam hates the way his voice stutters. “Money? W-we have money.”
Sam tries to reason with the standing figure.
But they don’t say anything.
Instead, they pull the sack back over Colby’s head and stare Sam right in the eyes as they press an object to Colby’s skull.
It’s a gun.
“No! NO! Don’t! He’s all that I have! PLEASE!” Sam begs, squirming in the chair.
He’s crying hysterically at this point.
“Don’t do this!” Sam cries. “He’s all I have!”
BANG!
Colby’s body falls to the ground.
Sam’s whole world freezes.
Colby.
Colby is dead.
No.
Colby.
Colby.
Colby, who Sam used to eat lunch with in high school.
Colby, who Sam made vines with.
Colby, who had been friends with Sam since they were kids.
Colby, who Sam loved.
“NO!” He screeches, not caring who hears.
He wants people to hear.
People need to hear.
His best friend just died.
Tears fall like a waterfall from Sam.
His sobs fill the night air.
He’s crying so hard he forgets how to breathe.
“C-C-C-Colby, C-Colby, C-C-C-Colby…” Sam keeps muttering his name, hoping it will somehow fix this.
Sam’s vision is so blurry with tears he can’t see anything.
He can’t hear anything, either.
He can barely sense at all.
So he doesn’t see the body of his best friend standing up.
He doesn’t see Colby approaching him.
He doesn’t see Colby reaching for him.
There’s a sudden pressure on his forearms.
Sam flinches, pulling away.
The tape is ripped off of his arms and legs.
Sam slumps forward.
He’s being pulled against someone’s chest.
“L-let g-go of me!” Sam says quietly, brokenly.
Who is grabbing him?
Are they going to kill him too?
He pulls away from the person, curling up on the ground.
He needs to get away.
But his emotionally and physically exhausted body won’t obey him.
Colby.
Colby.
Colby.
Colby.
Colby.
Why Colby?
His lungs refuse to fill with air.
They just won’t accept oxygen.
Sam tries to take a breath.
It doesn’t work.
Colby.
Colby.
Colby.
Colby.
He sobs harder.
There’s movement around him.
But Sam can’t understand what’s happening.
He’s panicking.
“Sam!” Someone calls to him. “Sam, listen to me. I need you to breathe. Deep breaths, okay?”
Sam is being grabbed again, pulled against someone.
He struggles against their hold, but eventually gives up. He is exhausted.
Sam’s eyes flicker shut.
Not that he could see much before anyway.
His head is pressed against someone’s chest. He can feel the rise and fall of their lungs.
“Focus on my breathing. Think you can copy that?” The voice sounds familiar, but Sam can't tell over his panic.
He matches his breathing to the person’s who's holding him.
“That’s it, Sam. You’re doing great.” The person says.
“C-Colby.” Sam whimpers. “H-he’s gone!”
“No, Sam. I’m not gone. I’m right here. And I’m so sorry. It was supposed to be a prank. I’m sorry.” The voice responds.
Sam peels his eyes open, looking up at the person who comforted him.
Beautiful blue eyes stare back at him.
Colby’s eyes.
Colby isn’t dead.
Colby.
“Colby!” Sam cries, wrapping his arms tightly around Colby.
More tears come to his eyes.
“I’m right here.” Colby responds, holding Sam.
The two of them are tangled on the ground, with Sam mostly in Colby’s lap.
Sam doesn’t care though.
Colby is alive.
“I-I thought you were g-gone.” Sam stutters.
“I’m not. I’m right here.” Colby responds, hugging Sam tighter.
Sam’s head is tucked into Colby’s chest.
“Don’t e-ever do th-that a-again.” Sam says softly, clinging on to Colby like he’s the last thing on Earth.
“I won’t. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” A couple tears fall from Colby’s own eyes.
Sam is exhausted.
Unconsciousness calls to him.
His muscles are tense under Colby’s grip.
Emotions run through Sam.
Despair.
Sadness.
Relief.
Love.
Sam’s breathing picks up again.
“Woah, Sam. Deep breaths.” Colby’s voice sounds far away.
Sam is so overwhelmed with emotions.
He can still hear the BANG!
More tears fall from his eyes as he holds Colby tighter.
“D-d-don’t ever l-leave me again, o-okay? Y-you’re a-all that I h-have.” Sam whispers.
“I won’t.” Colby promises.
And with that, Sam’s exhausted body finally gives in to sleep.
Trusting his best friend.