After experiencing the game, this is one of two stories knocking around in my brain, and I wanted to share it. Liking Sam and Mike as characters, it's fun to explore how they could changed after living such a brutal nightmare.

Please read and comment your thoughts. Will be three chapters long.

Chapter One

Four years after incident.

6:15 pm

Sam was at home after a long days work, doing chores in her small downtown apartment, her long, blond hair tied back in a tail, hands deep in soapy water cleaning dirty dishes absentmindedly. It was early winter, everything outside her windows was cloaked in darkness, making Sam uncomfortable. For the past several years she couldn't help but hate winter nights. To help keep herself distracted from the gnawing sensation that she was being watched, Sam began to hum her favorite song.

It wasn't helping as much as she would've liked.

Unexpectedly, Sam's ringtone began to sound. Quickly drying her hands on a used towel, Sam picked up her phone and checked the caller I.D.

"What the hell?" Sam saw that the caller was Jessica, whom she hadn't seen or spoken to since shortly after...that night. Touching the screen, Sam accepted the call. "Jess, this is a surprise!"

"Hey Sam, it's Matt." The kind and familiar voice of the former high school linebacker sounded apologetic.

"Matt! Oh my god, it's great to hear from you!" Sam smiled, "How are you? Why are you calling from Jessica's phone?"

"Umm...I'm good, I guess. College didn't really pan out...but I'm doing my best." The young man didn't sound like himself, Sam felt. He seemed...distracted. "Anyway...um...Jess and I are together now. It's been, like, two years. That's why I'm using her phone."

Sam was shocked. When did Jess and Mike-? He had seemed to happy to discover she had survived the fall into the mines, Sam was sure Mike and Jess were going to stay together.

"That's...nice." Sam meant to sound more genuine, but utterly failed.

"Lucky guy, I guess. Things just got too hard with Em after...you know...that day. It wasn't healthy for us to stay together. Jess and I decided to catch up one night, so we spent several weeks talking and hanging out. Next thing we knew we had feelings for each other. Crazy, right?"

"That's sweet." This time Sam actually meant it. "How serious is it between you two?"

"Well, it's not a Chris and Ashely relationship, but it's close. Maybe all Jess and I need to be set for life is to get caught in a death trap where I sacrifice myself to save her, right?"

It was an attempt at humor which neither of them felt was very funny. There was a second of awkward silence.

"How are they, by the way?" Matt finally said. "Chris and Ash. Last I heard they had a baby?"

"They have two, actually." Sam once again found a reason to smile. "Girls. Their names are-"

"Hannah and Beth?" Matt guessed.

"...No." Sam's smile disappeared. "Diane and Martina."

"Oh..." She could hear Matt sighing on the other side of the line. "I'm not very good at this catching up stuff, am I?"

"At least you're trying." Sam said encouragingly, though she felt stinging pain in her heart. Naming your children after a tragedy was something only done in the movies. It was like calling your kid Katrina.

Sam felt it was time to change the subject. "So Matt, after all this time, why the surprise call?"

The hesitation on the other end made Sam realize she had just forced Matt into something he had been avoiding up until then.

"Something is wrong with Mike." Matt stated plainly, his voice taking on a very serious tone. "Jessica has been trying to talk with him for a while now. But he isn't returning any of our calls or emails. No one else I've managed to get in touch with has seen or heard from him in a few months. He dropped out of college, isolated himself from his family. He's just...acting very weird. Sam, have you talked to him at all lately?

"No, I haven't." She admitted

"It's freaking Jessica out. She told me that his distant attitude was why they broke up, but it was never this bad. She even claims that he hasn't hooked up with a girl since they split. I have no idea how she would know that, but I believe her. Anyway, I was calling because I wanted to ask if you could...I don't know...possibly talk to him?" Matt sounded like he was wincing when he asked that last question.

Sam stood in silence for a moment, the news slowly sinking in. Mike cutting everyone off? That didn't sound like him at all. Sure, Mike has always had commitment issues, but he loved being around people.

Matt continued. "It really could be nothing, but I know Jess would feel a whole lot better if you could check up on him."

Sam looked at her clock hanging on the wall. It was a little after 6:30 pm, plenty of time to drive across town to Mike's place. However part of her was reluctant. Maybe it was none of her business. All Sam knew for sure was that a friend needed her help.

"Okay, I will." Sam answered confidently.

Matt gave let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Sam. It will mean a lot to Jess. I have to go. We'll take later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Great. Bye."

And with that, he was gone.

Sam stared at her phone. What was going on with Mike? Deep down she knew what the real problem was. It was the same problem they all had. But Mike had seen things when he went to that Sanatorium, experienced more then most of the group of friends had combined, and had two missing fingers on his left hand to prove it. And now Mike was doing the one thing he usually never did; be alone.

Grabbing her dark blue jacket, red scarf and car keys, Sam headed out the door. It was snowing outside, which stopped her dead at the entrance of her apartment building. The world was covered in a soft layer of white, just has it had been that night 4 years earlier. Sam had loved the snow all her life up until that point. But now, whenever she walked in the cold, crisp snowfall, she kept seeing pools of blood in the corner of her eye.

Unlike most of her friends, Sam hadn't pursued any professional help after the events at Blackwood Pines. That decision led to years of pent up stress and anxiety until she finally realized she couldn't fight that battle alone and began talking about it with a professional. Chris and Ash had coped by supporting and loving one another, which it worked for them. It seemed Matt and Jess were following suit. Emily did what she did best; blame everyone else. But what had Mike done?

Sam got the feeling she was going to find out, one way or another.

To be continued...