Fred

But before anyone could answer, there was a knock on the door. A knock, not a ring of the doorbell. The group remained still and slowly turned their heads towards Sam. The sandy blond boy glanced at them, then focused on the white door. He mumbled something calmly before standing up.

His face hardened as he approached the white door. He couldn't see who was standing on the other side, but he wait a second, glancing back at Linda, who instinctively got up and marched upstairs. Sam saw Kelly and Fred glance at each other with confusion and a hint of worry. He gave them a smile before turning to open the door.

'Block the entrances, close the doors!' Fred thought, standing up as he did and wishing Sam could hear him.

A man in all black stood perfectly straight on the other side of the door frame. To the teens, it looked uncomfortable. But the man made it seemed natural. Sam seemed a little startled, but smiled and asked him for his business. The man said nothing, but gestured Sam to come with him. Sam gulped and shook his head, taking a step back only to have the man take a step forward.

"Seal the exits 'cause this is war!" Fred shouted, breaking into a sprint towards the white door frame.

The man in all black seemed to conjure a pistol out of nowhere and pointed it at Fred. Fred stopped mid step with bulging eyes, too terrified to move. He could hardly hear anything past his pounding heart. Lowering the pistol, the man grabbed Sam. Sam was almost a head taller than the man, but the man was ruthless. Sam punched and wiggled like a child out of his grasp but stopped when he rammed the butt of the pistol on Sam's head.

"All gave some," the man justified to Fred, dragging Sam's body through the door frame.

"But some gave all," Fred countered, amazed how he had the guts to speak up. As if he came out of a trance, he stepped forward again. Heaving from anxiety, he managed to shout, "But for what? I want to know!"

Sam chuckled dryly and looked at Fred. "Carry on. Don't mind me."

And they didn't see him for months. Fred hardly slept or refused to go to school, he simply sat by the window and stare at that white door that Sam walked through and never walked back. Linda checked up on him everyday after school, Kelly did too every so often. But Fred hardly noticed. The one night the girls managed to get him to sleep. It was a battle, but the girls were relieved.

"All I gave was everything," Sam said with dirt covering his face and a bullet-hole decorated helmet covering his blond hair. His hazel eyes grew dark when he turned to a group of people in a clean suits, pampered hair and faces. He mumbled, "And yet you ask me for more."

Fred seemed to float above the battle. The desert and the sun were both ruthless, but that wasn't Sam's enemy. Sam's enemy seemed to creep closer to the Sam's base, whose troops began scrambling to positions. Fred saw Sam shouting over his shoulder and waving his free arm over his head.

Fred blinked, and all the bodies laid motionless. His heart stopped for a second. Are battles that quick? His breathing grew deep but fast.

Another blink, and Sam was in front of him. He easily recognized that smirk with a touch of freckles. But this wasn't how Fred wanted to meet him. He didn't want to meet his friend in a casket.

Fred swore he could still hear Sam. "Fought your fight, bought your lie, and in return I lost my life."

He bowed his head, feeling so guilty for thinking 'I told you', but he whispered, "What purpose does this serve?"

Fred jerked forward to a sitting position, awake with wide eyes and heavy breathing. He bit his lips and balled his fists as he remembered his dream. Judging by the darkness of the room, it was still night. He saw the girls on the floor on the other side of the room, sleeping. He relaxed while letting out a deep exhale, then rubbed his eyes. He glanced out the window and saw a hearse drive through the street.

Fred pushed himself off the bed but collapsed onto the floor. The girls both rolled before actually sitting up to see what was happening. Fred pulled himself up, ignoring the girls, and watched the hearse slow down. He felt his eyelids burn with each blink when he saw the red brake lights glow then turn off.

The car stopped, and a man stepped out. He wasn't in all black like the man that took Sam. The man leaned back in the car to pull something that Fred couldn't see. He walked down the path up to the white door, knocked it first then rang the doorbell. No one answered. Sam's home now became another empty house with no lights.

Fred heard the girls talk, but he didn't answer. They grew silent when they also looked out of the window. Kelly rubbed his shoulders and asked him if he wanted to go down in place of Sam's parents. At first he shrugged, but then he found himself in the middle of the street with the messenger looking curiously at him. The man asked him if he was Fred, sadly Kelly had to answer for him. Fred hadn't seen Sam for months until he came back into the quiet neighborhood in a wooden casket with a folded flag, a purple heart in the hands of a messenger.