Chapter 50 – Sam

Michael is here. Or, at least I was convinced he was at some point. I startled awake as Joe's gift must have ticked to an end to find Nic asleep in my arms, happily curled up and blissfully unaware of her own Father's disappearance the night previous. But, I knew as I woke up on my own and not with Joe beside me bringing me out of the work of his gift that no one had found anything and I hit my head back down on the pillows in frustration. Somehow, both Ella's gift of projection and Trace's gift of, well, tracing, proved useless in this case and neither of them found even the most basic lead to him. I knew that now we would have to step up the game, I knew Crystal would try and track him down using our Soulfinder bond, and Uriel and Ella would have a go combined to go back to the firework show and hunt him down by physically following him.

But if he wasn't here – why was I convinced he was?

It felt like he has visited me during my sleep, almost like an angel. I can remember hearing his voice, telling me things I had never heard before so it wasn't like my dream made it up. It felt like when we had just moved in and we were still getting to know each other properly. We moving in together were a risky move but it had felt so right, that even the awkward silences weren't awkward but comforting. At night, when Michael used to sit up to finish his work and I was somewhere between falling asleep and being awake, Michael used to gently talk to me. It was incredibly relaxing and even though he used to tell me through stories from his childhood which weren't relevant now, it has a nice effect on me and I woke up happy and content. That is what it felt like.

I could recall him telling me about the letter he had received that first told him about Nic, however, he had told me that before. I had pestered him into telling me how he found out about Nic. Michael was stubborn over that one, saying it doesn't matter how he found out, but it mattered that he did and here he was now. I knew he didn't like mentioning Brooklyn around me as it just emphasised and rubbed in my face that Nic wasn't my daughter and it would forever be on her adoption certificate just that – she was adopted. Well, Michael was trying to figure out a way to track down when she was born exactly so he can make her a birth certificate, and would then be able to put both of our names down but then I felt like a complete discredit to Brooklyn. I had been to school with her but I wasn't close. I never knew what her gift was, but she knew Michael was my Soulfinder, and I can bet you she wanted to give Nic straight to Michael but the "Gods" or whatever she said in that letter refused too – she was smart and gave Nic to me instead hoping I was as desired as most Savants are to find their other halves. I wasn't – I was more than happy with being single and having Nic and a sprinkling of good friends. Michael just happened to bump into me.

I hadn't heard what Michael had done with the letter, but angel Michael informed me; he had taken it to someone to get a slap, and that was in the form of his sister. I could see that. He told me he was too scared to go down, but he was forced to anyway, and if he didn't show up at that exact time, Nic wouldn't have been outside with her class and I wouldn't be in with my class of Year 12 students, and Nic wouldn't have ran out to him, and he most likely wouldn't have met Nic or myself and then what would have happened. He then told me all he wanted was a happy life, to be domesticated was the word the angel sleep Michael used – he wanted to get a dog or a cat and cook dinners and stay in on weekends, and he admitted he never really expected a child to be in the picture this early but he wouldn't change it.

And then, he left.

It seemed too precise to be a dream, it didn't have a fuzzy quality to it that my dreams normally do, but there was no image to it either so it wasn't one of my future seeing dreams. So it had to have happened, right? But the lack of warmth in the double bed, apart from Nic who was curled up hard into my side, and the sick feeling in my stomach told me that Michael was gone and without him, I was back to being nothing.

I felt a wave of nausea in my stomach and eased my way out of Ella's bed and into her ensuite and threw up in her toilet, retching until nothing but stringy green bile came up. Michael was gone. I knew the realisation hit me hard as I sunk to my knees, the freezing cold tiles of the bathroom floors sticking against my bare legs as I curled up. I was nothing. I flushed my puke away, telekinetically moving a toothbrush down to my level to brush my teeth, but even that movement seemed to provoke sadness – Michael had taught me how to use my telekinetic powers appropriately and concisely. I spit out the white foam, washing it down the sink as I hauled myself up and told myself it get a grip. What would Michael do in my situation? I had to ask myself. He would be strong.

There was a knock at the bathroom door and I jumped and turned around. Lucy was standing there in a pair of Winnie the Pooh pyjamas, face clear of any makeup and her hair tied back but she stilled looked beautiful. She stood slightly awkwardly, rubbing her upper arms.

'Morning,' She said to me softly. 'How are you?' She came into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

'I'm okay,' I whispered roughly, my throat burning from throwing up. Lucy looked at me, knowing I was lying but then realised why I was whispering.

'Are you ill? I can get Jason too –'

'No, I'm fine, I just... I realise that Michael is gone,' I said with tears dwelling in my throat, making it hard to breathe and talk. I bent over the sink as Lucy came up and hugged me slightly awkwardly.

'We'll get him back,' Lucy said.

'When we do, he'll get shot and then he'll be in hospital for weeks and... I just can't do this Lucy. I wanted everyday life to just be normal, you know, like it television shows. I would have even settled for the slightly hectic life that they have in "Friends" where they leave their door open and have a steady stream of visitors but instead this – why does it have to be like this?' I sobbed to her.

'Because this isn't just any normal type of relationship with any normal person, Sam, it's not like our lives have been orthodox either. You have one of the best people I can imagine out there to call your boyfriend, and the father of your Nic, but he comes with a price tag and that price tag is his job. He will do anything he can to keep the people he loves safe, and you're at the top of that list with Nic. His job is the best thing and the worst thing because crap like this can just flag up. You just have to bare it, I suppose. He's never got himself seriously injured before,' Lucy said weakly knowing both of us are fully aware he gets shot twice the next time I see him.

'I guess,' I muttered weakly back.

'You and Michael will work out, but Michael has had very limited relationship experience before. I know, hard to believe, right, so he's learning the ropes as much as you are. It will just take time to work out where both of your limits are when it comes to things like this. This is inevitable and this will happen, but it won't always be like this Sam. I know you are strong enough to make it through this with a little help from everyone, and then I promise you it will go back to domesticated life with kittens and everything,' Lucy said.

'How is your kitten?' I asked her, wanting to take my mind off of the subject but a stagnant breath caught in my lungs – like my lungs knew I should be panicking but my brain was trying to keep my calm.

'Cosmo? He's brilliant – very odd and fluffy but loves Tyler,' Lucy said, walking over to the side and putting the plug in the bath, running the taps. I frowned at her – was she just going to take a bath? She picked up some bubble bath and poured in twice the amount of bubbles it was recommended and it had already started to froth up.

'Having a cat and a child is risky?' I questioned and she nodded.

'People said we would have to get rid of the cat, but it never even crossed out minds. When Tyler was only a few hours old, Cosmo used to lie under his Moses basket and gently purred and even now – Tyler's cot is beside a shelf, Cosmo has his bed there so he is constantly with Tyler. Tyler seems fascinated with him,' Lucy smiled to herself, before watching the water level of the bath rise. She put her hand in and swirled it around. 'Get in then?'

'What?'

'I ran you a bath, get in,'

'But... you're here?'

'We're sisters, its fine. This is what sisters do apparently, they care for each other and you haven't had a shower since two days ago, and you've just thrown up. You're having a bath. I will personally wash your hair if you're too lazy to do that yourself,' Lucy protested. 'You also need to wash that shirt; you got puke all over it,'

'How are you so calm around puke?' I asked as she turned her back, knowing she wouldn't give up on this so easily I whipped off my shirt, throwing it in the washing bin, before taking off my shorts and my underwear and climbing into the bath – it was lavender scented and there was so many bubbles that it covered any areas I wished to hide from Lucy.

'I have a nearly four month old son, and a very lazy fiancé who more often than not will hand over the baby puke clothing to me to deal with. I'm very much used to this level of gross.' Lucy said, turning back around and sitting on the vanity cabinet beside me.

'Was Tyler a mistake?' I asked her and she shook her head.

'Planned,'

'But you and Jason hadn't been together long that was a risk, surely?' I asked and Lucy sighed slightly.

'Yeah, it was, but when I grew up I had no real family, I mean I had Brother, but he didn't count. I didn't know you existed until recently, and I had Father too but he didn't count either. All I wanted wasn't a successful career or loads of money, I wanted a family. If I didn't have anyone I could look up too, I wanted people who look up to me. I wanted a family of my own one way or another. I had never even considered that I might have an older sister. I thought I had no one. I mean, I would have been able to settle for Jason's family, but Jason himself has no immediate family he could have counted on at that time. His mother disowned him for being a Savant, so did his older sister and he knew nothing of his Dad until after I met him, so I had my mind fixed on having a baby. Jason found out and was up for it – he had become increasingly broody after Lily was born according to Joe, so I think he wanted a child too. Jason got me a cat to baby, but we both just one night decided that's it – we're trying for a baby. We didn't overly care what anyone thought, we weren't close to anyone. My two friends at that time weren't talking to me after the whole kidnapping instance, and Jason's Dad couldn't overly speak about family advice considering he didn't know Jason existed – although to Isaac's defence he was told Jason died when he was three days old and even when I confined in Ella, she couldn't judge either because Lily was the opposite thing to planned ever. Three weeks after we decided to try, I took a test when I was late and I was three weeks pregnant and that was it really,'

It had felt good hearing someone else's story, seeing how they got over their own obstacles.

'So when I say you can get over something like that, I'm not saying it'll happen overnight, but giving it time you'll get what you always wanted,' She said. 'How did you sleep?'

'Perfect, thanks to Joe,' I sighed, dipping my hair underwater to get it wet – the bath felt so good and soothed away some of the anxiety that I had. Within the panic of the last few days I never had time to have a good bath like I used to – I had washed up hair once or twice or jumped in the shower for a few minutes to wash away the grime but that's it. The last time I had a proper bath was when Michael made me one in the log cabin before we went to get Nic. I remembered him sitting beside me as I sat in the bath – I wasn't worried about the bubbles covering anything then – as we had a very soft conversation as he gently played with my hair and he gave me a look, the same look you see at the altar of a happy couple – it was pure love. I would do anything to see that look again.

'He does have a very unique gift – he uses it on Ella when she's being annoying apparently,' Lucy said, 'Thank God all Jason does is heal,'

'Michael hasn't really used his gift on me,' I said.

'He doesn't use his gift often, he doesn't like how powerful it is and how little control he has so he just doesn't use it. Joe used to struggle with control too – Joe and Michael's gifts are near enough identical – but Joe found control when he found Ella. Michael might find how to control it with you around,'

'He hasn't tried,'

'He's terrified of using his gift, that's why, when he was thirteen he removed six kids memories who bullied him by getting angry, and one of them never fully recovered. Ever since then, for obvious reasons he's never really used it,'

Oh – Michael had never told me that. He removed six peopled memories and one never recovered? I assume intellectually recovered, never quite learnt English again all because of Michaels control or lack of it. I wondered why he never told me – could it be he was scared if he told me I would leave, or be so concerned I would pack up Nic's bags too and take her with me?

'But Joe –'

'Joe's older sister forced him to learn control from the age of five when his family realised what his gift was – he did something similar, he was so interested in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book that he forgot his control and removed his presence from every single student in the room and every single teacher. His family had to relocate because of it, and his older sister taught him how to control to an extent, Ella provided the rest,'

There was a knock on the door and I jumped slightly, and Lucy looked up frowning.

'Luce,' I heard Jason say softly from the other side of the door, loud enough for us to both hear him and understand it was him but not loud enough to wake up Nic, who must have been sleeping like a log on the bed still. 'Can you come out here providing you're decent, well, either way come out here,' Jason said and Lucy rolled her eyes.

'Give me a moment to deal with this idiot,' Lucy said softly, getting up and sliding out the room, closing the door behind me. I could hear them gently talking but I wasn't entirely sure what they were saying. I took the moment to put some shampoo in my hair, massaging it in and washing it away like I was washing away every bit of worry. I trusted these people more than anyone I had ever trusted, and I knew their work was good. None of them got to the status they were known for within the Savant Net for no reason. So if they were going to hunt down Michael within the town they grew up in, I should trust them fully. I wasn't entirely sure what I was scared of – Michael being missing or his inevitable shooting. At least there were plans for the shooting compared to his impromptu disappearance. But once again, I trusted their plans.

If there was one time in this life time that I just had to hand over fate to someone else rather than try and keep hold of it me it would be now.

Lucy slid back into the room, taking a moment to close the door slowly. She looked slightly tense, looking over at me before jumping up onto the vanity cabinet.

'What's happened?'

'Nothing has happened,' Lucy lied to me and I flinched – her lie hurt me.

'I know when you're lying – what happened,'

'Jason is concerned about your health, he said he knows you're not coping and he knows you have some sort of underlying medical condition like a cold or something, but he also picked up that someone in the middle of the night, I say middle about three this morning, had wiped part of Ella's memory. She has no idea what happened, she knew she was up late and then woke up in bed with Joe like normal, but Joe was asleep the entire time,' Lucy said waiting for me to click on.

'Michael was here?' I asked shocked.

'Most likely,'

'Then why did he go again? Where did he go? Why didn't he wake me up?' I aggressively questioned her, sitting forward in the bath.

'Sam, rearrange your bubbles please,' Lucy said and I did what she said, gathering back my modesty as Lucy nodded. 'We have no idea, honestly, what had happened.'

'I thought I had a dream that Michael came, I heard him tell me stories and before he just left – what if it wasn't a dream?'

'You heard him?' Lucy asked.

'Yeah, it sounded like he was beside me and he was telling me how he got that letter from Brooklyn and... what if he did come and say all of that to me, how much he loved me and Nic and I just had to trust him and everyone else after he got shot, what if he did say that but because I was under from Joe I couldn't wake up?' I asked her, sitting forward more.

'Bubbles, Sam, we're close but I don't think we're that close yet,' Lucy said, putting her hand up as I slunk back down into the bath, covering my chest with yet more bubbles. 'Bad idea to run you a bath, but what you said isn't a totally bad idea. Er, I'll go speak to Vick and Chris downstairs about what you said and see what they think; there's a chance Uri can remove the mask on Ella's brain to see why he was here and where we went and why, but we don't know yet. It's still really early.' Lucy sighed. 'Even Tyler isn't up yet,'

'Thank you,' I said to Lucy but I was thanking her for way more than running me a bath and keeping me company and she knew I was. She squeezed my shoulder as she jumped down from the vanity cabinet.

'Anytime, sis,' She said sweetly before curling out of the door before and I was left alone. I rinsed off the suds from the bubbles and the remaining shampoo, before pulling the plug on the bath. I climbed out, wrapping a towel around my body but also around my hair. I noted to myself that I had lost a bit of weight – the excess material around the waist of my favourite used-to-be-snug jeans told me that I had too – but since I found Nic and we came over here I must have put on a pound or two and I felt a bit happier. I never wanted to slip back into the darkness of an eating disorder, and when I noticed how much weight I lost from the stress of losing Nic I had started to panic. Now, however, I had to fight against the overwhelming darkness of potentially losing Michael. Those few pounds I had gained from takeout food and delicious meals that Michael cooked for me I had to keep.

I left the bedroom, closing the door behind me and I heard a yawn from the bed. Nic was rubbing her eyes having only just woken up as she looked at me sleepily.

'Mummy?'

'Hey, sweetheart,' I said to her.

'Where's Daddy?' She asked straight in with the hard questions. I sighed.

'He's gone missing, sweetheart, during the firework show. All of your Uncle and Aunts are looking for him now, though, so don't worry too much,' I told her, hugging her to my side but she frowned.

'But he was here last night?' Nic questioned.

'What... what do you mean?' I asked.

'I was sleeping and he came into my room and said something to me and I woke up and he told me I had to... to be good for you when he was busy and that he loves me, and to go back to sleep so I did – so how can he be missing when he was here?' Nic asked me.

'Very good question, pumpkin, you might have to go and ask uncle Vick that question,' I said, getting up and pulling out some warm clothes for today, even though someone had already set them out on the chair by the desk. Nic sat on the bed, fiddling with the sheets as I dropped the towel and wiggled into a fresh set of clothes that were left for me – a pair of thermal leggings, with a vest top, a long sleeved shirt and a jumper. Not the finest look but at the moment I didn't care.

'Uncle Victor scares me though,' Nic muttered as someone knocked on the semi-opened door.

'He scares us too, Nic,' Trace said softly and I blushed – a few moments earlier and I would have been naked. 'Sorry to bother you, are you free in the moment? We're all in the kitchen,' Trace asked slashed ordered and I nodded. 'What scares you about Uncle Vick then, hmm?' Trace asked Nic softly, sitting on the edge of the bed as I ran a brush through my hair and pulled a pair of thick woolly socks on.

'He's just... scary. He looks evil. I don't want to tell him about Daddy, Mummy,' Nic said, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes. Trace frowned.

'Why don't you tell me then, Nic, and I'll tell him for you?' Trace said sweetly and Nic looked up at me. I nodded at her.

'Daddy was here last night, Uncle Trace, he came into my bedroom when I was sleeping and told me he loved me and I had to be good, and he would see me soon,' Nic said and Trace frowned.

'Do you know what time this happened?' He asked Nic and she shook her head.

'It was dark.' Was all she could say.

'Oh,' Trace replied, 'I'll run down and tell Uncle Vick this, come down whenever you're ready Sam,' He said sweetly to me but I knew his mind was running when he found out about Michael being here last night – that must be why he wanted me down in the kitchen to start with. To talk about Michael.

'Did I do a bad thing?' Nic asked me, sitting slightly funny in the middle of the large double bed.

'Of course you didn't, come on, let's go see what your Uncle's want,' I said to her sweetly, picking her off the bed and carrying her on my waist.

'I can't keep carrying you like this,' I told her as she hugged me.

'Especially when you have your own baby,' Nic sighed. 'I heard Ella and Joe talking about babies and... you might have one too, and then you won't carry me anymore, that's what Lily said too,' Nic said. 'Since Charlie came, Uncle Joe and Auntie Ella don't carry her like this,'

'Well, that's because Charlie can't move any other way yet. Don't worry, though, I don't want a baby just yet. You're good enough for me,' I said to her kissing her forehead as I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Everyone was already there – gathered around the table with laptops out already, people standing around leaning on work tops but everyone was in pyjamas.

'Is everyone okay?' I asked as I noticed the concerned looks of everyone – even Ella was in the corner under Joe's arms biting the corner of her thumb in a nervous gesture.

'We have no idea what has happened to Michael,' Vick told me and my heart dropped completely.

\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\

'Someone can't just vanish of the face of the Earth, Ella!' I whisper shouted to her. She had taken me out of the house to go and grab a coffee before heading down to our places to grab some more clothes. I knew some of the Benedict's were coming for the latter part as look outs, and Ella wanted me to pack down a hospital bag for Michael and myself, and another bag of Nic's stuff that she could keep for when the shooting does happen. I told her that I thought it would be better if Ella looked after Nic whilst Michael was in hospital as it would only distress her to all knew levels.

'I know, God, I wish I could just remember what happened, or he trusted me enough to let me remember and help him,' Ella said, looking out the window with tears dwelling in her eyes.

'He was trying to keep you safe, but he could have at least left some form of direction as to where he went,' I protested.

'It's bullshit,'

'You're stupid brother,' I mocked and she smiled softly.

'Hey, he's your Soulfinder, your business now,' Ella said, getting up now we had drained a tiny bit of scolding liquid from our take away mugs. She pressed a button on her car keys, which beeped open the car and I climbed into the passenger seat. It had just turned two in the afternoon; we had talked about everything this morning, and they had tried all routes to find Michael including hacking all CCTV cameras's within the area, projecting to find him, tracing him down again from the teddy, and nothing. Uriel couldn't remove the mind wiping Ella had undergone either. We were both so stressed, Karla told Ella and me to go and grab some more clothing to get us out the house and she would look after the girls temporarily for us. Ella reversed out o the parking bay and onto the main road, driving down to the house. I noticed at some point during the journey, a giant Jeep was following us; a four by four truck designed for the mountains. Ella quickly put on her hazard lights and the car behind flashed.

'They caught up quick,' I commented, realising that it must have been the rest of the Benedict's.

'I told them we were leaving before we did,' Ella said, pulling up onto the driveway of her house. 'We'll grab the clothes from here first; it gives them time to check through your house for any signs of Michael,' Ella said and I look a jaggered breath in. Even a mention of him now was starting to hurt. I knew the statistics; the chances of finding someone who goes missing alive after six hours is halved, and after twelve hours it's halved again. It was coming up to eighteen hours since he went missing and the chances of him being okay in the bitter winter weather was diminishing. At this rate, he could die of hypothermia before we find him alive or before the shoot off.

Ella got out the car first and I followed her lead, slamming the door behind me. I watched as two of the mountain Jeeps pulled up on the front curb outside the house, with Zed, Trace, Vick and Uriel all getting out the cars heading towards the house. Trace gently smiled at me with sympathy in his eyes, and Zed mouthed something to me that I didn't quite get, before Ella tugged my arm towards the house.

'You can just, make yourself at home, I won't be too long,' Ella said, jumping up a few stairs at a time and heading into one of the bedrooms and I stood in the hallway unsure of what to do. I had felt dormant this entire time, not sure what to do with myself. I was constantly fiddling around nervously, and I was on edge. Everytime something made a noise I would jump and immediately try and find what it was. Everyone was tiptoeing around me, making sure I wasn't breaking on them but the truth was I was already broken. That had happened the moment I realised Michael was missing. The sense of doom in the pit of my stomach and the way my heart felt like someone had put a hundred hair bands around it, but at the same time it was beating out of my chest. It was evident in the shake of my hand like I was a drug addict awaiting my next hit. I guess that was the best way to describe what it felt like; Michael to me was a highly addictive drug and I was completely dependent on the drug and now I was having extreme withdrawals from it. And I knew I would see him again, but when I saw him he would get shot. A part of me wanted to never see him again because then at least he would be safe. I knew it wasn't rational but I didn't want him to get hurt. What if I could get in front of him before the gun fires?

'Sam?' Ella asked and I jumped. How long was I out of it, planning heroic endings for myself? I decided if Nic had to only have one parent it would have to be Michael – he was so good for her and had taught her so much already. So if it came down to it, I would willingly get myself shot before he could react. 'Please say you haven't been standing there for nearly twenty minutes?' Ella asked and I noticed she had already packed down two holdalls of clothes – one for her and Joe, and the other for Charlie and Lily, and there were at the bottom of the stairs.

'Er, maybe,' I muttered and Ella frowned slightly, pulling me in for a hug.

'He'll be alright,' Ella said but she was uncertain.

'I hope,' I said as Ella picked up both of the bags, gently sighing as she opened the door letting me go first. She unlocked the car and I walked over and opened the boot. The conversation almost seemed a little stale between us; both of us were awkward – or completely immersed in our own thoughts that it we couldn't overly speak. But it was okay; we both understood the pain of each other so neither of went to make small talk. We walked over towards my house, locking the door as we walked away, and I entered the house.

'Anything?' Ella asked Zed as he stood in the kitchen.

'You can go and pack down your stuff, Sam,' Zed said, smiling softly. 'We bought the bags down from the top of the wardrobe,'

'What did you find?' I asked, knowing he was trying to get me out of the way so he could talk to Ella – so they had found something about him.

'You're smart,' Zed sighed, walking into the kitchen. The table was covered in evidence bags and my heart stopped.

'There were these in the washing machine that weren't here yesterday, and also a travel mug that came from our house, so Michael did go there last night. Ella, you gave him this, telling him to come down here and get changed, and he removed the memory of him being there from you as he left. He walked the far away around the town with the mug, before getting changed and leaving this in the sink as he left via the garden,' Trace said, 'I haven't got around to the clothes, but Ella, when you were found in Norway after being kidnapped, you lot were all in these clothes. So it's Kingdom who had done this,'

'I thought we knew Kingdom had done this,' I asked and Trace nodded.

'We knew it, but we had to prove it, this will give enough evidence,'

'But is still doesn't track him down, though, we still have no idea where he is,'

'No,' Trace said.

'So what use is this?' I asked, and Trace looked at Ella. 'We need to find him, we can wait to prove who this is to the court later, but we need him safe first.' I said in tears. 'He might be dead by the time we find him at this rate,'

'He won't be dead,' Ella whispered.

'You don't know, Ella, but you know how long you can survive in this cold weather for without having hypothermia, and only you can last twenty four hours because you're had all your life to adapt to the cold. Michael hasn't. He won't be alive by tonight if we don't find him,' I croaked, heading upstairs in tears.

They left me alone; someone must have let the others off that I didn't want to see anyone. I sat in my bedroom, folding down shirts and jeans, underwear and other essentials for both me and Michael grizzling the entire time. It had already felt like I had lost him. I got up to go and grab some more clothes when I saw Ella get into the car on the drive way and reverse away and I sighed.

The silence was rudely interrupted when there was a knock at the door; I turned and saw Zed standing there awkwardly.

'Where is Ella going?' I asked.

'She's got the clothing and the mug, she's taking them back home to be filed,' Zed said. 'You seem like you're fine, but there is so much going through your head,'

'Yeah, wonder why,' I whispered.

Zed just looked at me, nodding slightly before coming forward and pulling me into a bear hug and I broke down, crying into his chest. Zed didn't tell me everything will be okay, but rather just hugged me and gave me somewhere to take shelter. He led me to the bed, sitting on the edge as I continued to cry. I must have cried for at least an hour as the sun was casting long shadows, and Zed looked slightly awkward but I had completely cried myself out and felt calmer and a bit more rational.

'Sorry,' I sighed.

'Don't be sorry, you're hurting, it's normal,' Zed told me sweetly. 'I'll help you pack the rest of the bags so you can go and find Nic,' Zed got up and waited for me to say something.

'Thank you,'

'What do you want me to do?'

'Can you go and pack some stuff for Nic, please?' I asked him and he nodded, walking out of the room and down the hallway as I started to shake a bit when I realised what I had completely overlooked. The sun was starting to cast long shadows? It was becoming night.

It's going to happen soon.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled out with trembling hands, whipping off the cover case just to see it was Ella calling me. I declined the call, knowing whatever information she had can wait. However, she called me back in seconds. I then answered.

'Sam, you need to get back to the house,' Ella said with a sense of urgency.

'Why?'

'Nic and Lily are gone too – it's happening,'

Hello!

I know I said I wouldn't update until around Christmas and I have been incredibly busy (I have deadlines all next week,) but it was really bugging me that it was on 49 chapters and not 50, so here's chapter 50, but also if anyone noticed, Lily's birthday was Thursday, which is the 8th December and I couldn't resist! I'm not too sure if I will be able to continue this as it feels like people have gone off it but we'll see how it goes.