AN: I don't know why I am starting another story but this one has been on my mind for a while now. It is AU so I hope you guys like it. As always please R&R! Sorry for any mistakes.

Declaimer: I do not own glee or its characters.

Chapter One: Familiar

March 9, 2012

For a person who was in a permanent state of sleep for almost two whole months, you would think the last thing I would want to do was sleep. Lately however all I really wanted was a decent night of rest without being woken up by my own personal nightmare. It is always the same one I am being chased by a dark black figure through a field when he catches me. No matter how hard I try to defend myself he always overpowers me. I can feel the sharp blows from punch after punch kick after kick. His face is never visible and his voice is like the devils. I lie there until he is satisfied, I can no longer fell a thing and I lose consciousness. The first thing I see each and every time I awake from total darkness is the green eyes of a beautiful man hovering over me. He smiles and tells me not to worry he is here to save me. Only he doesn't the figure returns and the torture continues then my savior disappears.

Tonight was one of those tough nights as much as tried I couldn't fall back to sleep. I finally gave up and went to the basement of my family's home to do what the doctor calls "positive reliving". She suggest that once a day I spend time recollecting moments of my past to help remind me of things that I may have trouble remembering. I switch the light on in the basement and sit in front of the huge purple and gold trunk which contains the first 13 years of my life. The first thing on top is a picture of my parents at my dad's collegiate championship football game. The confetti surrounding them as he has her in mid lift, their smiles were big and bright, happy. My mom and dad met their freshman year in college he was the academically struggling football star, she the misunderstood painter and nerd, nerd tutors jock, jock falls for nerd and the rest they say is history. I rummage through more photos of me and my parents some were of vacations we would take in the offseason of my dad's first few years in the NFL. Though I don't recall much about these trips I seem to enjoy them. There was always a little boy with us in these pictures Sam Evans was his name. Apparently he was my best friend growing up and I would cry and beg them to let him come along. He was in a lot of the photos in the trunk, anywhere from age 5 all the way up to the year of my accident which happened when I was 13. He grew taller as I shorter and the most recent picture of us was us sitting on the rooftop of some building, the sun was beginning to set and the sky was full of beautiful colors. His arm was around me with one of my hands placed on his leg the other snapping the picture. Our smiles transparent to the ones of my parents in the first picture. There was writing on the back of the picture:

Sam and I

February 7 2004

I pick up my journal that was in the trunk and turned the pages to see if I had written about that particular day. I was near the end when I found it.

Friday 2/7/2004

10:45 AM Study Hall

I flunked my very first test today. My parents are going to kill me! 13 years of living and today it would come to an end. I had never once had anything lower than a B- so when Ms. Sylvester plopped the paper on my desk and the big fat red D was the first thing I saw my heart instantly sank. She claimed that my answers were over-worded and impartial. I tried to talk her into letting me take a retest but she shut me down without hesitation. Then to make what already was beginning to be a crappy day worse when I went looking for Sam after class Quinn Fabray and her two ass kissing flunkies Sugar and Rachel were posted up around his locker waiting for him as well. I don't think I had ever seen someone so self-centered and desperate to be popular in my entire life. As I walked by I could feel their judgmental glares of hatred boring holes in me. I knew Sam had Chemistry last class so I quickly made my way to the science hall to meet him halfway. Of course Sam knew exactly what to say to me to make me feel ok. His words of encouragement and the added promise to hang out at our spot after school was what I needed in order to make it through the rest of this awful day.

5:15 PM S&MSR

Sam made good on his promise and now we are here together at our special place. I cried for the first 5 minutes as he held me in his arms worried about what my parents would say about the grade. At least that was the lie I told Sam, eventually Quinn did catch up with Sam after all and asked him to the Sweethearts Dance next week. I thought he might had want to go with me but when he told me he had said yes my heart sank for the second time that day. She said something about how it was tradition for the king and queen to go to the dance together. The school had voted and the results were announced yesterday (see previous page for complete bitchy rant) Congrats to our 2004 King and Queen Sam Evans and Quinn Fabray! YAY! NOT! That's what I get for being a chicken and not just telling him how I truly felt about him. I wish it was just that easy to tell him that I was in love with him. That I wanted to be more than just his friend since kindergarten, and who could give him a run for his money in video games. That no other girl especially Quinn Faboring was going to understand him like I do, but I was scared and rather than acting on my feelings I was worried that confessing this to him would freak him out and I would lose him all together. Oh well. I have all the time in the world to spend with him maybe one day I will get the courage to tell him the truth. One day.

I close the book as bits and pieces of that memory start to come back to me.

"I thought I came up here to chill with you not watch you write in your silly little diary of yours." He said to me.

"How many times do I have to tell you that it is a journal a memoir, one could say of my life so when I become famous I can already have the layout of my autobiography?"

"Diary, journal, notebook it's all the same thing."

"Take a picture with me? I need a new one for my locker."

"Ok but I want a copy so I can put one in mine also."

"I don't think your new girlfriend would approve."

"Girl stop okay, Quinn is just my date for the dance nothing more. Besides your picture has always been the one in my locker since like 3rd grade so don't act new. Best friend trumps girlfriend any day. So are you going to make me a copy or what?"

"Of course Sam."

"Mercedes?" The sound of my mother's voice snapped me back into reality. "Can't sleep again?"

"I was just looking through my things. Pictures of Sam and me."

"That's nice."

"I kinda miss him. I am starting to remember more things about him every day. I wish I could see him."

"He went to Kentucky for college remember?"

"Yeah maybe if I could find his parents they could tell him I am back."

"Well honey his mom remarried and moved to Tennessee."

"Right! His father could help us?"

"His dad is dead or did you forget."

I forgot about my parents telling me his father passed away almost a years ago. Unfortunately he was hit by a drunk driver coming home from work. I don't recollect much about him.

"Why the trouble sleeping?"

"I had another nightmare."

"I am sorry sweetie." My mother made her way over to where I was sitting and caress my cheek. "Have you been having them more frequently than usual?"

"Not really." I lied. I knew if I told the truth she would overreact.

"What about headaches?"

"Not more than the regular one or two."

"Well today at your appointment I will be sure to tell the doctor you are having trouble sleeping."

"It's not so bad. I don't want you to make something out of nothing."

"Fine." I knew she was going to bring it up anyway she would always say one thing to me but do the total opposite when it came down to it.

"Hey mom?"

"Yeah Dee."

"I was wondering after we leave the doctor's office today if we could go and get me an ID?"

"ID? What do you want to do with an ID?"

"Well I- I- I was thinking about getting a GED." I said nervously.

"You want to get your GED? What brought this on?"

"Well I have been home for almost two months now and I was looking into maybe taking some courses at Lima Community College but it says I need either a high school diploma or a GED. Since we both know that a diploma is out of the question I want to get a GED."

"I don't think that that is a good idea right now."

Of course you don't. Ever since I had come home my parents have treated me like I was a little kid. Dictating every little thing I did, telling me what was good and bad for me, what I could handle. It's too soon they would say or you're not ready I was getting tired of being cooped up in the house, the way they were acting I might as well been living in a glass box.

"Mom I am fine. I need to get out and do something I just can't stay here forever."

"Yes you can Mercedes. You need to rest and relax honey and trying to worry about school is the last thing you should be thinking about right now."

"Mom you think keeping me inside like this is doing me some type good. I spent the past 7 years locked up in a tiny space with no windows, blindfolded, chained to a bed, and then 2 months in a coma; I think I have had more than enough rest and relaxation."

"I don't need to be reminded of that." She said sternly. I just don't want you to get ahead of yourself. Plus I just got you back."

"Look I am not saying that we have to do this right away I would just like to look into it is that okay?"

"I won't make you any promises Mede but we will look into it."

"Thanks mom. How about a snack?"

"Peanut butter and Jelly?"

"You know it." I smiled at her and packed the items back into the trunk leaving the picture of Sam and me and the journal out to read later.

My appointment went smoothly. Talking to Dr. Emma Pillsbury was helping me try to understand my reoccurring nightmare. We talked about who I thought the dark figure was and also who my green eyed savior was. How I felt about my parents smothering the hell out of me, and what my plans where on moving forward with my life.

March 17, 2012

I finally talked my parents into letting me go somewhere alone. I was buttering them up for the past week; even Emma told them I was more than ready. Can you believe it? Here I am 20 years old and I have to seek permission to do something as simple as going to the local library. Even then I had to be dropped off like a kid going to school on the first day. My mother made sure to give me her cell phone so dad could call me when he was outside to pick me up. I planned on spending the day looking for the perfect book and getting lost in it in a quiet corner of the library.

"Call me if anything goes wrong you hear me?" My dad said with a worried expression on his face.

"It is just the library dad jeez." I rolled my eyes and opened the passenger door.

"I'll be back at 3pm sharp."

"Bye dad." I closed the door and speed walk to the entrance before he decided to ask for a goodbye kiss too.

The library wasn't huge like the ones I remember seeing on movies but it have a wide variety of books. I slowly scanned each section stopping once and a while to skim through a few pages of those that seemed to spark an interest. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched though. I would look around and see no one and then moved along down the aisles of books. I finally decided on The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks I remember seeing a commercial for the movie a couple of days ago. I checked out and find my quiet spot right by a window where the sun was shining just enough to light up the dark corner. I curl up in the chair and began to read, about ten pages in the being watched feeling returned and I look around again this time I catch a man watching me from a table a few feet away. When he realized I notice him staring, he quickly looks back down at his book.

I could've sworn I had seen him somewhere before. I continue reading. Not even a minute later I can feel him looking again. This time I ignore him. Another minute has passed and I glance up only to meet his eyes again. Why does he look so familiar? He green eyes penetrating into me. In that moment I realize where I had seen that face before; of course he was my green eyed savior. It can't be, that's impossible, could it be him? He looked away but I refuse to take my eyes off him this time I was the one staring. He glanced in my direction again and I made sure to get a good look at him. The book fell out my hands and hit the floor causing a loud thud. My mouth was hanging open and I was so in shock that I didn't notice he got up, walked over to me and picked the fallen book up.

"Umm miss you dropped this."

"…"

"Miss? Are you okay?" He snapped his fingers.

"I'm sorry what?"

"Your book."

"Oh thank you." He was kneeling in front of me and was so close I could smell his cologne and he smelled good.

"I am sorry I was staring but you look so familiar to me? Have we met before?"

Yes in my dreams for the past few years.

"I am not sure." I said, my voice sounded a little frighten but I was far from scared.

"I don't mean to creep you out but you look like this girl I use to know. But you couldn't be her she- she- never mind." He said with a pained expression on his face.

"May I ask what your name is?"

"Sam."

"Evans?" We both the last part at the same time.

"How did you know- OH MY GOD YOU ARE HER! MERCEDES!"

"SSSSSHHHHHHH!" The librarian from behind the counter warned.

He leaped in the chair I was sitting in and gave me a breathtaking bear hug.

"I thought you were dead." He whispered in my ear.

"Gee thanks."

"What? How? When? I need a moment." Tears started to form in his eyes and I began to feel bad.

"Why are you crying?" I asked.

"Because I spent the last almost eight years thinking you were dead."

Just then the phone in my pocket began to vibrate.

Outside to get you. DAD.

Crap perfect timing dad.

"Sam I am so sorry but as you can see I am very much alive. Unfortunately my father is here to pick me up and if I am not outside in the next two minutes he will come in looking for me. Is there any way I could maybe postpone this until tomorrow please?"

"What! No why can't I just come over to your house with you now? I just found out my best friend who I thought was dead is now alive and you want me to wait till tomorrow to see you? I can't." He looked at me with pleading eyes.

I knew exactly how he felt. This was such a bittersweet moment but I didn't want my parents to know I found Sam at least not yet it would just be something else they would try to control and I wanted to have the opportunity to reconnect with him on my own terms.

"This is what we will do there is a park at the end of the street from my house how about you meet me there in let's say an hour?"

"Why can't I just come now?"

"I have my reasons. Please just meet me at the park."

"Fine I will go there now and wait for you. Promise me that you will be there or I will come to your house."

The phone vibrated again.

"I promise Sam I will be there but I have to go."

He cupped my cheek, hugged me once more and stood up so I could leave.

"One hour Mercy." He warned.

"I promise Sam one hour." And with that I left.

AN: So what did you guys think should I continue, scrapped it or what please let me know. If I do continue I will get more into what happened to Mercedes in the next two chapters as always please Review I loved reading what you guys think.