It starts with three words

Whispered in the night, said out loud in broad daylight. Against skin and pillows, between kisses and sobs.

I love you I love you I love you


It starts with a sentence

"You can date her you know. It doesn't bother me."

Saying Sam is surprised would be an understatement.

"Hey, you're a friend. I trust you. If you love her and she loves you you two should totally go for it."

And she does.


It starts with a shirt

A simple shirt too big for her, lost in the sea of clothes in her laundry. Naturally she calls its rightful owner to give it back.

Except Ashley shows up with more clothes.

"I mean, if I keep squatting your house, might as well have some spare clothes there right?"

True.

It's as much Sam's house as Ash's now, after all.


It starts with a phone call

It's three in the morning when Ashley stirs awake, woken up by the ringing of Chris's phone. Groggily, she answers.

"C-chris?"

She breathes sharply at how broken Sam's voice is.

"It's Ashley. Are you okay?"

There's a moment during which Ash can only hear sobs, and her blood runs cold with worry.

"No…No, I-I'm not-t."

"Do you want to come over?"

A sniff. "Y-yeah. That'd be n-nice."

"Okay. I'm picking you up."


It starts with a prank

A stupid thoughtless joke, and three deaths result.

A stupid thoughtless joke, and the three most important people in Sam's life are gone, vanished, like fog in the wind.

It feels like the ground was removed from under Sam's feet. Like she's falling, forever, with nobody to catch her the way she caught Josh, and Josh caught her.

That's what she thinks, anyway. At first.

Because she eventually extends a hand, and Chris grabs it.

They've both lost something important that day. They can lean on each others.

They don't have to be alone.


It starts with a boy

A twelve years old running across the house, dragging two strangers by the hand.

"Oh hey Sammy! Sammy, that's Chris, my bro, and Ashley, my bro's bro. Chris, Ash, that's Sam!"


It starts in a million ways with a million things, good and bad, small and important, that all eventually lead up to this moment. To the three of them cuddling in a bed, the three of them together and at peace.

The butterfly effect, after all, can bring the worse, but also the best.