The title, The Night Is Darkest, is a reference to the line 'The night is darkest just before the dawn', so I thought this was fitting for the overall theme. Was I right? Who knows!

Thanks to all those who have read so far!

Chapter Two

Mike's Apartment Building

7:45 pm

As she drove into the parking lot, Sam could see the lights were on at Mike's place, three stories up the building. Great! She hadn't tried calling because if he was acting like Matt suggested, he wouldn't see her. The downside to that was she wasn't sure he was going to be home. He was. So far, so good.

Sam had only ever seen Mike's apartment once. It was during a party, of course, and after one too many shots Mike had drunkenly tried to kiss her, claiming he 'accidentally' thought she was Jessica. At the time it had seem plausible enough, since they were both blond, but Sam believed Mike was faking and had been hitting on her. They never fully kissed, but Sam couldn't resist giving him a small peck in the corner of his mouth that day. Yes, Mike was a skirt chaser, but he was a damn handsome one. It also might've helped that she had taken a few shots herself.

Sam's mind raced about what to say to her old friend after she entered the building and began climbing the stairs. Should she just jump right into it? Should she make small talk first? What was the best way to handle a situation in which she had no clue what was going to happen?

Finding herself in front of his door, Sam took a steady breath to gather herself, raised her hand and knocked.

For a moment there was complete silence, even more so than before, as though she had disturbed the entire building. Sam had even stopped breathing without realizing it.

Then she saw the peephole darken.

"Hello?" Sam said aloud.

There was an unlocking sound and the door swung open.

"Can I help you, young lady?"

Sam was stunned to see, not Mike, but a large, middle aged women with greying red haired dressed in a nightgown far too thin for modesty.

"S-sorry, but does Mike Munroe still live here?" Or did you eat him, was what Sam decided not to say. It seemed Chris' brand of bad humor had rubbed off on her.

The heavy women looked down at Sam for a moment. "Are you his weekend girl?"

"Excuse me?" Sam said with a bit of an edge in her voice. "Mike is a friend. I'm trying to find him."

"No, eh? Well, you should be, a little firecracker like you. That boy needs straightening out." The older women limply waved her hand in the direction of the stairs. "He moved out of here a while ago, lives in one of the basement rooms. He wanted to switch apartments for some reason, something about not wanting any windows."

"He switched apartments with you?" Sam asked, confused.

The woman nodded. "I told him no at first, because the rooms get more expensive the higher off the ground they are, but he said he would continue paying for this place and I would pay for my old room. The boy is nuts, but the deal was too good to pass up."

"What room?" Sam asked patiently.

"008. The middle 0 is missing." Was the reply.

"Thank you." Sam said as she walked away.

"You want my advice?" The woman called out, stopping Sam before she got to the stairs. "Get him fixed up or leave him behind. Some people can't be saved."

Sam wholeheartedly disagreed with that statement.

Once in the basement, Sam wasted no time finding the door and giving hit a firm knock, all the while more questions flooded her brain. Just what was Mike up to?

The door opened faster than Sam had anticipated, leaving her speechless as she looked up at the man she had come to see.

"Sam?" Mike's eyes went wide with surprise.

"Mike..." Sam said back, unsure of what to do, shocked by his appearance.

Mike had always taken good care of himself. Being well dressed, groomed, clean shaven and intelligent was one of many reasons why so many girls loved him in high school. But she was looking at an entirely different man. He had lost weight, the skin of his face clinging to his skull. He had two weeks worth of stubble on his chin and his hair was long and unkempt. His face was a sickly pale and he no longer stood straight, but hunched slightly forward.

Sam covered her mouth with her hands, unable to believe what she was seeing. "Oh Mike!"

Despite his initial appearance, Mike flash her one of his classic grins. "That bad, huh?"

"What happened? Michael Munroe, what have you done to yourself?!" Sam was demanding more than asking, not realizing how loud her voice was getting.

Mike opened the door wide and gestured her to come in, looking about uncomfortably. "Let's not get the entire complex in on this, okay?"

Stepping inside, Sam noticed how much smaller and dank his new apartment was, with no windows and only a single light bulb in the living room area. The place smelled stale and vaguely of unwashed socks, but nothing as bad as Sam had experienced in college. However, Mike was by the far the worst looking part of his home.

"Jess sent you, didn't she?" Mike guessed as he waddled his way to his couch, falling on it more than sitting. "Or was it Matt? I bet it was Matt."

Sam simply stood at the entrance, gently closing the door behind her. "Where's all your stuff? Your trophies, all those model posters you loved? That table your grandparents gave you?"

Mike sighed as he raised his arms and laced his fingers behind his head. "Sold most of it. Needed the money."

"For what?" Sam removed her coat and scarf, sitting in the only chair Mike had in the entire place.

"I'm not doing drugs, Samantha." Mike tried to sound reassuring, but only managed to sound exhausted. "And I'm not drinking it away...mostly. I've been working really hard and haven't had much time to rest, which is why I look like this. Really, Sam, there's no need to worry."

Sam looked around. "Clearly I do."

Sighing, Mike leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring intently at Sam. "So, what did you come here to do? You think I'm going off some kind of deep end?"

"I didn't say that." Sam argued defensively.

"Well, everyone else does. Jess has tried talking to me. So has Matt, my parents, and my brothers. Even Em tried coming around. She was threatening to sue for almost shooting her through the eye, but she did try. So, Sam, what are you here for?" Mike said stiffly.

"Truthfully?" Sam said with no hesitation. "I think you need to talk about what happened."

"You mean that night at the lodge?" Mike asked.

"All of it." Sam said back.

"What's to tell?" Mike asked. "We were interviewed. No one believed us. We were a blip on national news for a few weeks and then the world stopped caring."

"I never stopped caring, Mike." Sam insisted. "And neither has Chris, Ash, Matt, Jess or Em, in her own way. The seven of us know the truth, and we can only deal with that together."

Mike snorted. "Oh sure! We've worked so well healing each other. Do you remember that little, what were Chris and Ash calling it, 'reunion' two years ago? How many people showed up?"

"...Just me." Sam shamefully admitted.

"Not even the lovebirds who organized the damn thing attended!" Mike pointed out bitterly. "We don't heal from this, Sam. We survive it. The pain get's dull, we learn to limp on and continue our petty existence. That's it, end of story!"

"So why push Jess away? If your whole idea is to move on, why do that to the girl I genuinely thought might be the first one you wouldn't run out on?" She knew it wasn't wise to use Jessica get to Mike, but Sam's emotions were starting to get the upper hand of her calmness.

Mike's smirk looked more like a sneer as he eased back into the couch. "Relationship advice from the girl who thought she had a connection with a psychopath? There's a punchline somewhere in there."

It was like a cold fist suddenly grabbed her heart as Mike's last words left his lips. As Sam's face fell, a glint of regret flashed in Mike's eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't-"

"Just shut up..." Sam said all too calmly. "I was trying, dammit. Josh lost his sisters, partially because of you, and I tried to be there for him whenever and however I could. Psychopath? Try damaged! Try hurt and messed up because his heart was crushed! Try-!"

Sam stopped herself, letting out a breath of hot air through her nose."I shouldn't have come."

"Sam..." Mike tried to speak.

"No! This was a mistake, so I'm going to leave right now. Good-bye, Mike."

Without another word Sam rose, put her coat and scarf back on and left Mike's apartment as he looked on. As she numbly walked down the hall to the stairs, cold tears started to drop from her eyes. It had been years since she lost Josh, but the pain was still too fresh, too present for her to handle, even though she thought it long gone. Why would Mike say such a thing? Why would he intentionally twist that knife in her side?

"It's like he's doing it on purpose!" She hissed at herself, out the door and walking to her car. "He wants to push everyone away? Fine! See if we care! He could vanish tomorrow and no one would give a sh-"

It wasn't until she was putting the keys into her car door that it hit her. The answer was so simple it had been the last thing she would've ever considered. But for Mike it made perfect sense. Why was he pushing everyone away? The same reason he took off to find the cable-car key on his own that terrible day four years earlier; to protect everyone.

Turning around, Sam hurried back down the stairs, marched back to room 0 8, and knocked so hard she hurt her knuckles. This time Mike didn't open right away, but when he did his eyes were red, a sign he had been crying himself.

"What is it now-?" He began to say.

"You're going back to that mountain, aren't you?" Sam demanded. "You're planning on going back to make sure there aren't any of those things left!"

Mike closed his eyes, finally exposed. "Dammit..."

To be concluded...