Okay so the last chapter didn't end like I wanted it to. I wanted to get more into James' backstory...But it's okay! It came out all funky and somewhat confusing and mysterious like I am primarily intending this whole thing to be. And I don't like the bold print anymore, so I'm swtiching to the italicized one...that is also bold.

I'm not so hot about this chapter, there's not really going to be anything really...exciting, in this chapter I don't think. And besides I'm working off of a huge writer's block so this whole thing is completely spontaneous.

I know I should've done this before, but I just want to thank Key2DestNE, bigtimerushbtrforlife, acsgirlie, MaslowLuver, MerrilyWeFallx, and mavk4444 for the reviews!

~Sammie~

Oh, what a fun week! Turns out Logan was right about those government agent people, so yesterday I was cooped upstairs for the whole day. Kendall and James came up a lot to check on me. Logan and Carlos were the newest ones here, save for me, and the agent had apparently seen them many times so they knew how James and Kendall acted and everything. From what they told me Ron hadn't been home all day. He had left a note saying that something came up and he was going to be away for a while. Kathy stayed, so they had "school". The agents deemed it a worthy enough lesson. They left after that.

I sat on my bed, playing with the medical wrapping tape Logan wrapped my wrist in three days ago, when I heard a knock on my door. The knock was followed by Kendall calling my name. I told him he could come in and he gave me a soft smile as he sat on the edge of my bed.

"You ready to go down?" He asked quietly. I shrugged.

"I've got nothin' else to do." I deadpanned. Kendall chuckled lightly and helped me off the bed (Not that I needed it; he, James and Logan have kind of been babying me lately).

Ron wasn't around to take us to the field. Again, he wasn't here today. He left another note saying we'd better get to work if we knew what was best for us. He took Kathy with him.

We only hacked at the same little dirt pile we had accumulated after about and hour of work.

I use my foot now since I can't use my hand for anything.

A chilling wind blew by and we all shivered in unison.

\

"Sam? Sam? Hey, Sammie! Come on, wake up!" Someone said quietly as I was shaken awake. I turned over in my bed and saw two dark figures standing over me. Logan and James, I thought. Staring. Logan was wearing a small smirk and James was biting his bottom lip as he looked between me and the door.

I sat up. "What are you guys doing? It's-" I searched for my phone in my gray and black pajama pants, then groaned when I realized Kathy took my phone away the first day I was here. I looked back up at them. "What time is it?"

Logan tilted his head back and forth, like he was figuring it out only in his head. "About 2:30"

I raised an eyebrow. "In the morning?"

James nodded. "Yup. Now come on, grab a sweatshirt or something. We want to show you something." He tapped Logan's shoulder and gestured towards the door with his head. "Meet us at the top of the stairs."

I eyed him suspiciously, but nodded nontheless. They left the room followed by Kendall walking out of his. He glanced my way and smiled. He wiggled his eyebrows and stuck his tongue at me then continued walking. I chuckled and stood up, pulling out my ponytail in the process. I walked over to the dresser and pulled out a light gray pullover and slipped it on over my cami.

I pulled the sleeves over my hands then stuffed one into the front pocket. I could see the four guys gathered near the stairs. Carlos spotted me and grinned.

"Hey!" He greeted as he walked up to me. "You ready to go?"

I gave a small smile at his eagerness. "Where are we going?"

Carlos smiled again and took my hand and led me down the stairs after the rest of the guys. When we reached the bottom I instinctively looked towards the entrance door. Instead of walking to that door, Carlos pulled me around into the dining room. There were two other doors in there, one leading to the outdoors and the other stuck in the wall. I could only assume that was either a bathroom or a basement.

We filed out of the door into the dark night. I stepped onto the gravel and felt the cold seep into my sock covered feet. I continued to stare at my feet. The dark blue atmosphere causing them to look like they are almost glowing a soft white.

My head snapped up as I heard the creaking of wood. Kendall, James and Logan had walked up onto a wooden porch that led to a pair of double doors. I looked farther up and stopped dead when saw an old white church with the paint slowly peeling off standing tall above my head...

The air was fine. The wind: Bone-chilling. Walking up to the aging church I had only expected to find what I was looking for. I climbed up the short steps, hearing the wood protest my weight with every step. I noticed some of the paint on the wall was starting to peel. A gust of wind flew through the trees causing them to rustle and shiver...

"Sam? Sam! Sammie!" Carlos yelled, waving the hand that wasn't still attatched to mine in front of my face. I blinked a couple of times and looked at him.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. I saw the rest of the guys staring at me. I glanced back up to large building in front of us.

"What is this?" I questioned softly, not exactly out of my trance yet.

"The Church..." Kendall replied cautiously. "We come here all the time." He and James turned their heads towards the structure then returned to me.

Logan continued to stare at me like he could figure out everything if he just concentrated hard enough.

I looked at the church again. "Can't we go someplace where it's not so...threatening?" I suggested, keeping a monotone voice.

James raised an eyebrow at me. "No? This place isn't threatening!"

I glanced at Logan for confirmation, but he hadn't moved.

James continued. "I mean, sure, the paint is sort of peeling off...And this thing hasn't been used in a long time and it's-"

"James, hang on." Logan interrupted, placing a hand on James' arm, his gaze never leaving me. He walked down the stairs and stopped in front of me. He stared directly in my eyes the whole time.

"...Something happened to you that invovled a church, didn't it, Sammie?" He asked very calmly. It scared me to think how easily he could read me like that.

"How can you tell that?" Carlos questioned.

Logan took a quick glance a Carlos then turned his attention back to me. "You can tell by her eyes. She seems phased. Her physical stature is kind of stiff too, but you can tell that something is definetly wrong by her eyes." He explained and Carlos moved next to Logan and began to stare at me the same way he was.

My gaze switched between the two boys infront of me until I shook my head and broke away from Carlos' grasp. I walked to the small wooden porch when I saw James and Kendall were staring at me too.

"Stop it." I told them, though it didn't sound very menacing. My hand brushed against the railing of the stairs. I jumped and pulled my hand away like the wood had burnt me. "I-I'm fine."

Logan gestured toward the doors with his head. "Touch the doors then." He ordered softly. I raised an eyebrow and looked at the door.

"What? Why would I do that?" I challenged.

"Uh, to go inside?" James answered. "Don't be stupid, Sam. We're going in there whether you like it or not." He scolded with a teasing smile. I rolled my eyes.

"If you were fine then you wouldn't be protesting or questioning it. It wouldn't be a problem like you're making it be." Logan pointed out, giving a small knowing smile.

"I am fine." I insisted.

"So touch the door."

"Fine." I spat. I sighed and slowly made my way up the creaking stairs. I bit my lip as I approached the door. My hand retracted before I actually touched it, but when I did I shivered...

I shivered as I took a glimpse of the sky darkening with grey clouds. I slipped inside and croaked out a tiny "Hello?" Hearing no response I assumed she was tricking me. "Gramma? Are you in here?" I called again. A man who was standing behind the podium at the front of the many pews turned towards the noise. He gave a sly smile and said: "Ah, Samantha! I was hoping I'd see you today..."

"Sammie! For God's sake snap out of it!" Carlos yelled as he shook my shoulder. I turned my head to see his face. He seemed genuinely scared for me.

I scoffed. "God hates me."

"Can we go inside? It's freezing out here!" James complained. Kendall nodded and pushed the doors open. Everyone filed inside. When he realized I wasn't following Carlos turned around.

"Come on, Sammie." He said softly.

"...I don't want to. I-I don't like churches." I gazed up at the steeple again, and shuddered.

Carlos smiled softly. "It's not bad. This one is different than whatever one you had." He stepped in farther and spread out his barely visible arms. "See? Nothing bad can happen in here."

Suddenly a dark shadow came and clutched Carlos. They dragged him off to some random part of the church.

I screamed.

A hand flew over my mouth and an arm wrapped around my waist. I struggled to get free but they kept hold on me.

"Sh sh sh sh, Sammie. It's just Kendall, okay? Kendall took him. Carlos is fine. We're sorry, okay? You have to keep quiet." A soft, velvet voice rang through my ear. I turned around in their arms and saw James smiling at me.

"You bastard! You freaking scared the living hell out of me!" I shouted at him. He started to laugh. Anger boiled in my veins and I pushed him over the railing of the porch. He landed with an "Oof!" He only fell like two feet but it satisfied me to get a bit of revenge on him. I was about to storm into the church when I remembered where I was entering and stopped immediately. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Now I'm really not going in there!" I declared.

A couple lights went off on the walls. Carlos stumbled into view. He looked behind him and I heard Kendall laughing. Carlos pushed Kendall's face and he fell backwards, hearing him groan in pain in the new soft light. Carlos walked up to me shaking his head in exasperation.

"Sorry." He muttered. He stuck his hand out infront of me. "Besides them, nothing is going to hurt you here."

I stared at his hand. I wanted to go in there. A part of me was cold and it was probably warmer in there. The other part said there's nothing different about this church and not to trust a thing of what they said.

"Go in or we'll make you." James threatened from behind. I jumped slightly and turned around to face him.

"How could you possibly make me go in that creeper house?" I challenged. A sly smile creeped upon James' face. He bent down and lifted me over his shoulder.

"What? What the-? James put me down!" I yelled, trying to break free. He walked into the church, slightly chuckling at my protests. He walked over to one of the empty pews and set me down, my head hitting the wood as I came down...

"W-w-what are you d-doing?" I asked, trembling. A dark laugh filled the room and I shook as I laid in the empty pew. His face was getting closer, and closer, and closer. "It's simple. This will be very quick as long as you keep quiet."

"No...No, no I don't want to. Leave me alone, please!" I whimpered. He chuckled lightly at my protests. His cold hands slipped down my arms. I shivered again.

"No, stop! Don't! Stop it, please!" I begged, tears streaming down my face.

"Stop! Stop it please! Stop!" I screamed, my hands covering my face. Tears were spilling over at the memory.

"Sam, you're alright. We're not doing anything to you." Logan shushed softly.

"James, get back over here." Kendall called.

I slowly pulled my hands away, seeing Carlos, Logan and Kendall above me. Kendall was looking somewhere else while Carlos and Logan stared at me fearfully.

I sat up instantly and wiped my eyes. James was standing against the opposite wall. It seemed as though he was trying to be sucked up by it if he could. I looked behind me, though there was really no point, and sniffled. I turned back around and noticed Carlos and Logan hadn't moved an inch. Kendall was staring at me now as well.

"Sammie, what happened to you?" Carlos asked, scared.

I ignored him. "Why is James over there?" I asked, looking up at Kendall.

"Sam," Logan warned. I shifted my eyes towards him. "Stop avoiding it. Tell us what happened."

"But...James is-"

"Forget about James, Sammie! He's fine! You just scared him." Logan explained, looking stern.

I scared him? Ha, never thought that'd happen.

"Can you please tell us what happened, Sammie? You might feel better if you talked about it." Carlos offered, smiling slightly.

Kendall swung over and sat on the top of the backrest. "It's okay, Sam. You can tell us anything." He rested his hand on my shoulder and rubbed it lightly. I jumped and squeezed my eyes tight.

"Kendall, let go of her." Logan ordered. Kendall's hand slipped off my shoulder and folded it in his other hand and settled them in his lap.

"What happened, Sam?"

I bit my lip. I stared at my hands and sighed...

The air was fine. The wind: Bone-chilling. Walking up to the aging church I had only expected to find what I was looking for. It was only a simple game of hide and seek, and I was determined to win. I climbed up the short steps, hearing the wood protest my weight with every step. I noticed some of the paint on the wall was starting to peel. A gust of wind flew through the trees causing them to rustle and shiver.

I shivered the same way as I took a glimpse of the sky darkening with grey clouds. I slipped inside and croaked out a tiny "Hello?" Hearing no response I assumed she was tricking me. "Gramma? Are you in here?" I called again. A man who was standing behind the podium at the front of the many pews turned towards the noise. He gave a sly smile and said: "Ah, Samantha! I was hoping I'd see you today..."

"Hi, Mr. Pastor, Sir." I greeted. I didn't know what his name was, I never did pay attention much in church. My 13-year-old mind wandering to other places. More exciting and colorful places would always fill my imagination as I dreamt of visiting a more interesting place than the one I lived in then.

He chuckled. "Please, Samantha. Call me Will." He slowly was walking down the aisle towards me.

I looked about the church, thinking my grandmother could pop out at any minute. "Have you seen my gramma, Mr. Pastor?"

He tilted his head from side to side, deciding whether to tell me or not. "Actually," He said. "I'd prefer you call me Father...maybe even Daddy." He said huskily, grinning at me.

"I already have a daddy." I told him. I don't think I would like this guy as my dad. He was old. He was like, 25 or somethin'. I'm pretty sure this guy was already married and his wife was having a baby soon anyway.

He laughed again. He picked me up and sat me in one of the pews. He sat next to me. "I like it though, it really turns me on."

Being 13 didn't help too much with the situation, therefore I wasn't too familiar with "terms" yet.

My automatic thought was: What, does he have a light bulb in him or something? Does he have an idea?

"You are such a cute 13-year-old." Carlos chimed in, giggling to himself.

I chuckled a bit and blushed lightly.

"What happened next?" James pressed. He had moved from the wall to sitting on the arm of the pew.

"Um, I really have to go find my gramma now." I excused myself, trying to hop of the bench. A large hand grabbed my arm. I looked up at him. His eyes looked almost black in the decreasing amount of daylight.

"I'm sure she won't mind if you're a little busy." He said lowly. He began to push my body down on the pew, my head hitting the wood in the process.

"W-w-what are you d-doing?" I asked, trembling. A dark laugh filled the room and I shook as I laid in the empty pew. His face was getting closer, and closer, and closer. "It's simple. This will be very quick as long as you keep quiet."

"No...No, no I don't want to. Leave me alone, please!" I whimpered. He chuckled lightly at my protests. His cold hands slipped down my arms. I shivered again.

"No, stop! Don't! Stop it, please!" I begged, tears starting to stream down my face.

Then I felt lips. Cold, hard lips against my small ones. Lips against my neck and now bare shoulders. I tried to push away but I couldn't do anything against this huge man above me. I only hoped my gramma would appear at any moment to explain how this was a huge, cruel joke. I could take it. I was a big girl.

"Please, leave me alone..."

I can take it. I'm a big girl...

The four boys infront of me stared at me with wide eyes.

"Did...did he really...?" Carlos hesitantly asked. He tried to make a gesture of some sort, obviously failing.

I nodded shakily. "Y-yeah. Yeah, he did. I didn't understand it until a few months after, but I never went to church again after that. I refused to go. I was too afraid of the whole thing."

Kendall made a face. "Oh, that's unholy."

Logan slapped him as the rest of us chuckled at his pun. "Kendall, have some sympathy and class, please."

Kendall smirked at him. "Light up, Logie."

"You're lucky I don't sick that guy on you, too!"

"No, it's okay, Logan. It was funny." I defended him, wiping the tears from my eyes again. Kendall smiled at me gratefully. Logan rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to tell us the rest, Sam. It's okay." Carlos stated. He scooted a bit closer to me. "Do you feel better now that you've talked about it?" He smiled.

I giggled. "No," I uttered plainly. His face fell. "This place still creeps me out. And what James and Kendall did didn't help any." I glared at James, he chuckled and held his head down.

"I'm sorry, Sammie. I didn't know." He mumbled, lifting his head a little to look at me and give a playful smile.

I smiled back. "I know. I've never told anyone before so I didn't expect you to."

Carlos raised his eyebrows. "Not even your parents?"

I shook my head. "Nope, not my parents, not my friends, not anyone."

James' eyebrows knitted together in anger. "Then you let that bastard get away!" He got off of the pew and stood. "He raped you, Sam! He should be put behind bars! Bars like we're stuck behind!" He turned around and kicked the opposite pew in frustration.

"Society classifies him as a rapist, we classify him as a sensitive teddy bear with a few emotional problems." Kendall whispered in my ear. I giggled. "To others, this would either be ironic or very confusing. To us, we know he hates rapists and it kills him to be called one."

I watched Carlos and Logan walk up to James and talk to him.

"What exactly happened to James?" I asked. Kendall sighed and gestured for me to move so he could sit next to me. I pulled my legs up to my chest and he sat down. He shifted himself so he could face me.

"Okay, so a few years ago James had this crush on a girl. She was very pretty, very nice. She had blonde hair, she was skinny, she was basically every guy's dreamgirl. Now, James' parents were very classy. His mom owned a cosmetics business, so they had a lot of money and were very proud of themselves. That's where James gets his ego sometimes." He whispered the last part, I smiled in amusement. "It's pretty much gone now, though. Anyway, that girl asked him out and he was like, way beyond excited. They dated for like four months until James' parents started going into debt. James went to a very high class, preppy school for snobs. People began to talk about him and his family's problems. They started to make fun of the girl he dated for being with James because his parents were going bankrupt. Over the course of the five months they were together, James had believed that he had fallen completely in love with this girl."

"So this chick couldn't take it anymore and went nuts?" I guessed. I heard the wind screech through the windows and I tried to swallow a huge lump that had immediately formed in my throat. Kendall rested his hand on mine. I looked up at him.

"Hey, you're okay." He assured me. His smiled was soft and caring, and I smiled back.

"W-what happened after that?" I asked, trying to change my focus.

"Oh, um..." Kendall shifted himself and cleared his throat. "She uh...This girl was like one of the most popular girls there and she was all prissy and perfect and everything. So naturally she would flip out if something happened to her reputation."

"Right, okay."

"So, um...One night, James was over at the girl's house. They were having a make-out session when it got pretty intense. James said they had talked about it before and they were both ready to...you know, go for it."

"Um...okay." I responded, both of us sort of awkward to be talking about this.

"Then, uh, when they started taking eachother's clothes off, she started screaming. Like, bloody murder screaming. He was really confused and she was shouting stuff like 'help help he's hurting me! Rape, rape!' And her father came upstairs and found them. Her dad almost killed James he beat the crap out of him so bad. And, her dad never really liked James anyway."

I nodded. "So this girl only dated James for the reputation?"

"That and money."

"Money?"

"Since this was a huge preppy school and other stuff, all the kids that went there were rich. Usually you were popular by how pretty you were and/or how much money your parents had. James was up in that region, and when the money went down, so did her interest in James. This also includes the reputation stuff too."

"Wow." I sat there expressionless. How could someone be so heartless and only want someone for their class status and money?

Oh yeah. A lot of people!

"What was her name?" I asked.

"Samantha." He replied. My eyes widened as I silently went "Ohhhh".

"So that's why he hates me! More or less now." I exclaimed.

"Yeah, but she hated that name." He said flatly.

Oh! Well!

"So she changed it to Mercedes. She got more attention because her name was more unique than 'Samantha' was."

I rolled my eyes. No wonder the guys fawned over her.

I looked around the dimly lit church and shivered.

"So, um...Why do we come here? And in the middle of the night?" I wondered aloud.

Kendall chuckled. "Let me put it how Logan explains it." He cleared his throat, sat up straighter, and messed up his hair to look more spiked in the front. "In order to obtain freedom and maintain sanity we come here whenever we feel overwhelmed or need some time to ourselves. We do this because no one treks to this old and abandoned church so no one would think to look here. Here we are away from the eyes of Ron, Kathy, and the government. Logic logic logic smart smart smart Kindle Kindle Kindle."

I laughed. "That barely sounded like Logan."

"The 'Kindle' part did." He noted, winking at me.

I laughed harder. "Yes, that part sounded like Logan!"

"What?" We heard. Logan had turned around at the mention of his name.

"Nothing, nothing!" I insisted, trying to supress my laughter.

"Hey, Logan, why do we come here? Explain it to Sammie." Kendall called. Logan groaned.

"In order to obtain freedom and maintain our sanity we come here whenever we feel like we need to break away from it all. We do this because no one would wander to or even acknowledge this old and abandoned church so no one would think to look here. Here we are away from the eyes of Ron, Kathy, and the government."

Kendall turned back to me wearing a proud smile. "I was pretty close wasn't I?"

"He didn't say your name, though." I pointed out. Kendall twisted back around.

"Hey, Logan!"

"What?"

"...I love you!"

Logan gave him the strangest look then shook his head. "Shut up, Kendall."

Heheh. So this came out a LOT better than I had anticipated and is so far my favorite chapter. The next chapter is a major turning point so I'll try to update as soon as I can. ;) Thanks for reading and please review! :D