"I hope Sam's okay." Carly had been worried since Freddie had taken her to the office.
"Carly, can I tell you something?" Freddie asked. "You know that I always say that I wanted to date you?"
This is odd; he hasn't tried to ask me out in over a year. "Yeah, this is no time to try to hit on me."
"Well, the truth is, I love Sam. I know she causes me nothing but grief, but I think it' because she's been hurt so much in the past that she doesn't want to risk getting hurt again."
"Makes sense. By the way, what did you sing to her?"
"Promise you won't laugh." Freddie grinned, "We used to watch 'Drake & Josh', and the girl that played the sister, Megan, she put out a CD and we use to make fun of it."
"What ever happened to her? I thought she was a good actress. Too bad she couldn't do more." The actress had not managed to transition into adult rolls. After her teen years, her career had stalled. She was doing movies of the week and direct to video.
"You think she's cute, huh. Now that I think about her, anyone ever tell you that you kinda look like her?
"It's weird, but a lot of people think I'm her. They say everyone has a twin out there."
Freddie though for a moment, "What about Sam and Mel? They already have their twin. So is there another set of twins out there that look like them?"
Carly was getting confused by all the twins now. She opened her mouth, but was cut off…
"Carly Shay and Freddie Benson to the office." Principal Franklin's voice came over the PA system.
'Sam!" They both said.
Gotta get there before they do. Gotta stop this before I hurt anyone else! Wish I had a drink! Sam was running down the street, weaving and dodging people. Her legs were on fire and her lungs felt like they were going to burst, but she pushed herself to keep running.
She was on the verge of passing out on the elevator up to the Shay's Apartment.
Glad I have a key. Sorry Carly, Spencer but I'm the only one who can stop me.
Hearing the door close, Mrs. Benson called Spencer.
Spencer's world slowly formed into real things. He noticed that he was on the floor and his jaw hurt. He caught a whiff of the ammonia capsule under his nose. He moved his head away from the noxious fumes. The EMT's checked him over as he sat on the floor. They said that Spencer should see a doctor, but didn't need to be rushed to the hospital.
"Sam?" Freddie offered his hand to Spencer. He easily pulled Spencer to his feet.
"Gone." Freddie said. "What exactly did she say?"
"That she was going home to stop this."
"Okay, Freddie, I'll drop you off at Sam's house. You can handle yourself better in that environment. Carly, you go to Freddie's and get his mom. We'll need her help. I'll check our place." Spencer pulled his car keys out. "Everyone meet at our apartment."
"I'll let the cops know to look for her." Blunden said.
"Haven't you done enough? What do you think she'll do if they corner her?" Spencer asked.
"She assaulted us…"
"She's scared and desperate and alone; you throw some trigger happy cops into the mix and we get one dead kid." Spencer really disliked this guy. His cell phone rang and he moved to the corner to answer it. "Change in plan, our house now." Spencer closed the phone.
Freddie pulled Blunden by the shirt collar and whispered, "Anything happens to her because of you, I will come back here and I will kill you." The three left quickly.
"What are you going to do about his threat?"
"Dennis, the important question is what are you going to do?" Franklin looked at the counselor. "I think maybe a career change is in order."
"How we doing this?" Freddie asked outside the door.
"Let me go in first. We don't want her to get scared."
"Why here?" Carly asked.
"She said she was going home, this is her home more than her mom's." Freddie replied.
"You guys wait in the living room until I call for you." Spencer told them as they entered. Spencer quietly checked his room and found his lock box open.
DAMN IT! Running for the stairs, he informed the group "She's got my gun."
"Spencer has a gun?" Mrs. Benson asked.
"We'll tell you later." Carly said.
I have to stop this monster I've become.
"Whatcha doing with my gun?"
"GOD! Spencer, you gave me a heart attack." Sam almost dropped the pill bottle as she tried to unscrew the cap. "Too bad I'm still alive."
"You wanna talk?" Spencer turned one of the chairs to face Sam, but didn't pull it closer.
"No, you wanna leave?"
"No."
"Gonna get messy in a minute." Sam picked up the bottle. "I was just gonna wash down this bottle of sleeping pills with this bottle of whiskey."
"Why do you need my gun?"
"To put a bullet in my head." Sam said calmly as she loaded a single round in the open chamber and closed the slide. "I got one last week from 'Rip-off' Rodney; a hollow point. Should blow the back of my God damn head off. Why do you care?"
"Because, I've been there before."
"Where?"
"The abyss." Spencer stood up slowly and rolled up his sleeves. "I ever tell you why I wear long sleeves?"
"No."
Spencer turned his arm over and showed her a scar running along his arm.
"What happened?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"My Grandpa used to call me all sorts of names. I could never do anything right." Spencer started to tear up. "I was about 15; Carly was almost 3. He had been riding me about joining the Navy after High School. He called me 'gutless' and asked how we could be related. He was hypercritical of me and everything I did. I ran up to my room and grabbed my pocketknife and I pressed a little too hard."
"You tried to kill yourself?"
He shook his head. "No, The doctor said that I was clinically dead for almost two minutes." Spencer let her take that in. "No pulse, not breathing, no nothing."
"What did you see?"
"Nothing. Just black darkness."
"That's all I have here. Nothing."
"You have me and Carly and Freddie."
"I'm poison, hang around me long enough and I'll drag you down too." She took a long swallow of the whiskey. The bottle was almost half-empty. "Spencer, tell Carly she was a better friend than a lost cause like me should of ever had. And tell Freddie that, I'm really sorry for all the trouble. I kinda liked him." Her words were slurred, and she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
"Alright. The safety is a little sticky." Spencer slowly walked up and took hold of the barrel. In one swift moment, Spencer removed the receiver and barrel assembly.
"Hey gimme that back!"
"No."
Sam blindly threw the handle at Spencer. She missed him, but shattered the studio door. "Why can't you just give up like everyone else in my shitty life!" Sam was off-balance and barely upright. "Why do you care about me?"
"Because we love you Sam." He edged closer. "Do you wanna call someone? Melanie maybe?"
"HELL NO! She'd just love to hear that I wanna kill myself." Sam collapsed to the floor, sobbing. "Why can't I be more like Carly or Freddie? They're strong; they can deal with this shit. I can't take it anymore. I tried Spencer, I really did. I'm not like them. I just can't! It's too much! I…really…tried…but I… I can't…do it…anymore!"
"They have their days too." Spencer sat down with her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "Being strong doesn't mean you can handle everything, it just means you keep coming back." He looked at Sam, "You wanna come back, try again?"
"Sure." Sam laid her head on Spencer's shoulder. She caught a pleasant odor through her tears. "You two can come in."
"How did you know?" Freddie opened the shattered door.
"Smelled your cologne. It's nice." Her voice was soft. "I'd miss that smell." Sam was almost sleep. "Carly?"
"Yeah?" Wiping her eyes; she leaned in close.
"I think Freddie's kinda cute." She passed out.