a/n: Alright, I know I said that I wasn't doing the whole crazy X fight scene, mainly because none of it made sense to me. I mean, why would he wear a mask to assault Brooke but didn't put one on when he robbed and shot Quinten and the gas station attendant? Did he take the mask off when he saw Quinten come in and the reason he shot the boy was because he saw X's face? And how exactly did he go on this wild crime spree without being seen? Anyway, while the beginning of this is a bit dark, hang in there and hopefully things will start to look up. The title of this chapter is from the Heather Nova song Paper Cup, enjoy!
I Am Much Too Alone In This World, Yet Not Alone
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of the cw and schwahn
Chapter 2: Paper Cup
She's been walking non stop for what seems like hours, not sure where exactly she is headed but knowing that she has no other choice but to plow forward. Every time she closes her eyes she see's Brooke's heartbroken face, pale and tormented, battered and bruised. A sharp pain in her gut nearly causes her knees to buckle but she takes a deep breath, riding out the pain and propels herself onward. She doesn't deserve to give in to her heartache, doesn't deserve to be despondent, not after all of the pain she has caused to the kindest people she has ever known. They took her into their home, made her feel wanted and dare she even say it? Loved, for the first time in her life. How cruel fate has shown them that no good deed goes unpunished.
The grey sky rumbles ominously and Sam pulls the thin cotton hood of her sweatshirt over her head just as the first raindrops begin to fall. Five minutes later she ducks under an overpass, soaked to the bone. Shivering she looks around her to the other vagabonds huddled around a metal garbage can and the fire they have just lit within. A man in his early twenties, catches her eye and signals for her to come closer to the flames. She reluctantly moves towards the warmth of the fire to stand next to him, he smiles at her and through the grime and tattered clothing she could tell that he had once been a very attractive man.
"Hey, I'm Joey."
"Sam." she cautiously replies
"I've never seen you around here before." If it was a question she doesn't know how to respond. How do you tell someone that the reason you are now sleeping under a bridge that stinks of stale liquor and urine is because you have been cast out of paradise?
The rain is falling harder now and Sam knows that she is stuck here, at least until it let's up enough to see two feet in front of her face. The pain in her side is back and this time she doubles over as it rips through her abdomen. Joey catches her as her body pitches forward and drags her over to a secluded spot covered by a faded blue tarp and lays her down on a makeshift bed of cardboard and discarded rags. She feels nauseated and the odor permeating from the old clothes aren't helping as she drags in a ragged breath.
Sam suddenly feels extremely hot and must have voiced this symptom aloud because Joey is helping her unzip her sweatshirt. Her head is spinning, the pain in her belly intensifies so she cuddles into the fetal position to ride it out. The cool air feels good on her overheated flesh and she's about to thank Joey for unzipping her shirt when she feels his hands roaming down her body. She freezes immediately as he tries to roll her onto her back to unbuckle her belt. Warning bells are blaring in her mind and Sam flails her arms in distress. He quickly grabs her wrists, easily subduing her in her weakened state and climbs on top of her body. Panicked, she can't find the strength to fight back and Brooke's haunting words describing her ordeal echoes in Sam's head causing another wave of guilt to wash over her. Maybe this is her punishment, maybe if she jut lies here and let's this cretin do whatever he wants her sins will be absolved. The throbbing in her stomach reaches a pinnacle and just as she passes out she feels Joey's heavy weight miraculously being lifted from her.
It's been forty-three hours and eight minutes since Brooke had stupidly let Sam walk out the door. Pacing the living room floor, she checks the power bar on her cell yet again before blowing out a frustrated breath.
"Brooke, honey" Haley approaches the agitated woman, "I made you some herbal tea, why don't you sit down for a bit and try to eat something?"
"I'm not hungry." she replies distractedly looking at her cell again. Forty-three hours and nine minutes.
"Brooke making yourself sick with worry isn't going to bring her back any sooner." Peyton tries to reason with her friend. "Look, we've got a ton of people out there searching for Sam and…"
"I should be out there!" Brooke screams, "I should be out looking for her, this is my fault. How could I just let her walk out like that? I mean, what's wrong with me, I just stood there completely useless."
"You were in shock Tigger." Haley pleads but Brooke just shakes it off.
"That's no excuse. She needed me, she needed her mother/guardian person," she rambles incoherently " and I just stood there. What is wrong with me?" she asks again.
"Brooke," Haley says softly, coming up to the distraught brunette "Rachel has her security team, along with Mouth, Skills, Nathan and even Tim out searching for Sam right now. It's only a matter of time before they bring her back home to you, safely." she adds as an afterthought.
"All of those people searching and still no sign of her, what if something terrible has happened Hales? Or she could be miles away from here, in another state by now?" Brooke wipes the tears forming in her eyes and resumes her pacing.
Haley stands there torn, she bites her bottom lip dreading bringing up this next question after the explosive reaction Lucas received before.
"Maybe…" Haley sighs, as she gathers her strength, "maybe we should think about involving the police now Brooke." she cringes as Brooke whips around to face her. That manic look is in her eyes again the same look she had yesterday when Lucas suggested they notify the cops. But whereas Haley only wishes to seek their help in bringing Sam home safely, Lucas wanted to alert the authorities of Sam's part in Brooke's attack and robbery. She had never seen her friend go from slightly freaked out to totally batshit crazy so fast. Brooke reamed Lucas a new one, screaming that 'under no circumstance was he or anyone else to blame what happened on her daughter and if Lucas has a problem with that then he could take his self-righteous, hypercritical ass home!'
After what seemed like an eternity Rachel managed to calm Brooke down with a promise that she would find their girl and make sure that Sam knew they didn't blame her for the attack and most of all, still loved her.
"If we involve the cops, when they find her DCF might take her away from us." her voice hoarse from the emotional agony she's been put through. "And I couldn't bear getting Sam back only to have her taken away again and tossed back into the system. You have no idea how retched foster care can be for older kids, she's been put through enough."
"Okay, okay Brooke we won't call the police." Peyton's words seem to pacify the brunette for the moment and she continues to pace, checking her silent cell once again. Forty-three hours and fourteen minutes.
Pulling her used Chevy Impala into a parking space in front of the large egg-shell colored river-house, a plump young woman adjusts her eyeglasses as she checks the address on a crumpled piece of paper and matches it to the capacious house before her.
She's seriously jeopardizing her job and career by coming here but if there is one person she'd risk being reprimanded for it's Brooke Davis. Back in high school when she was still in that awkward phase and found comfort with the goth crowd Brooke defended her and her friends against a group of snobby girls. Being defended by the Queen B herself was akin to being touched by the hand of God as far as those twits were concerned. No one dared to mess with her or the other Goths for the rest of the year and to show her appreciation she convinced Lucas to cut out some of the more intimate and unflattering details of his relationship with Brooke when she read the first draft of his book. Hiking up the hood of her raincoat she makes a mad dash for the front door and is startled when the door flings open shortly after the first knock.
"Sam?" Brooke's face deflates as she swings open the door to find an older girl on her door step. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else, can I help you?"
"Actually, I'm here to help you Brooke." she says as the brunette invites her into the warm dry house. She spots the other former cheerleaders Haley and Peyton huddled by the counter separating the kitchen and living room, each girl giving her quizzical looks while trying to place her face. "You probably don't remember me…"
"Glenda Farrell, yeah I remember we only had like four classes together."
"Yeah but I look a little different without the whole gothic chic." Glenda laughs
"So how have you been?" Brooke asks gesturing for her to take a seat on the sofa
"Good, I've been really good. I got into Duke, pre-med and on the weekends I volunteer at this little health clinic on the South side, which brings me to the reason I'm here."
Brooke's heart thuds dully in her chest as Glenda reaches into her purse and extracts Sam's driver's license that was issued just four days ago.
"She's alright," Glenda reassures the distraught brunette as she holds the license with shaky hands. "She was dropped off at the clinic late last night suffering from sever abdominal pains, after a brief examination she underwent an appendectomy and is now resting comfortably in the patient care ward."
"Oh thank God," Brooke is able to breath easier as her fears that something terrible has happened to her child. "But how did you know…?"
"There were pictures in her backpack of you and Rachel, normally the clinic has a very strict doctor/patient confidentiality clause, we try to keep the police out so that the homeless and particularly the teenage runaways feel that it's a safe haven to seek treatment but once I saw the pictures and how close you all seemed in them, I knew that coming to find you was the right move."
Jumping from her seat Brooke encases the other girl in a crushing hug to which Glenda could only laugh.
"Thank you so much Glenda, I can't even tell you how worried we've been." brushing the tears away she climbs to her feet and begins to collect her purse and coat. "Please, can I see her?"
a/n: I know this chapter is kind of short and I'm only stopping here because I'm super tired but the next part is fairly mapped out in my head and should be along very soon. Until then rejoice and review please.