Carry You ~Eddie Diaz

3

Sam's POV:

When I got to Bucks, I opened the door to his flat and walked in. It was nice, he had his bedroom in an open layout up the stairs. The bathroom was on the main level along with the kitchen, dining, living room, and spare bedroom. It was a nice place, I liked it. I took my Converse off and sat down at the table, I needed to finish my slideshow so I could finally relax but I couldn't focus. I sat looking at the same slide for 20 minutes because I couldn't get his stupid smile off my mind. Eddie. I smiled to myself, I added photos from my life to give the slides more meaning.

I had just finished when the door opened, I didn't look, I knew it was my brother. "Samantha?"

I looked up that time, "Maddie?"

She smiled and rushed over to me, I stood up and embraced her. "Oh my god, it's been way too long."

I started to feel emotional and I wanted to cry. I then reached out for Buck and he joined the hug, I then began to cry. I finally had my family back, I was so happy at this moment. All of my worries vanished like a light destroying the darkness. "I've missed you both so much."

"Missed you too, Sammy," Buck replied.

We pulled out of the hug and Buck was towering over Maddie and me. I am taller than Maddie now by 2 inches, Buck brought dinner home which made me incredibly happy, I was starving. "So what have you been doing the last 8 years?" Maddie asked.

"I took two years off to make some money, I then went to community college for 2 years, and I got a full ride to Stanford for lacrosse and good grades. I was there for 4 years to complete my major in education. Now I'm here, I'm assisting a 3rd grader at the school I will be teaching at in the fall."

"That's wonderful, Sam. I'm glad to hear it."

"Yeah, I was going to stay in Pennsylvania for college but then you know, things went south with mom and dad so I left."

Maddie and Buck both paused, "What do you mean?" Buck asked with food in his mouth.

"Oh shit," I mumbled, "You guys don't know do you?"

"Know what?" Maddie asked.

"Mom and Dad were talking about a divorce but opted out of it at the last minute,"

"What?" They both said. "Why?"

"I don't know, they both were just in really depressed states of mind,"

The room was silent for a moment, "Is that why you left?"

I nodded, "Mostly,"

"Is there something else?" My brother asked.

I stayed quiet, and Maddie grabbed my hand. "Please tell us."

"Mom kinda disowned me when I was there. I haven't heard from her since. That was the day I left for Stanford."

Everyone just kind of stopped, "Explains why we haven't heard from either of them in a few years."

I just nodded, "You know, it's been a long day. I'm going to go." Maddie said and stood up.

I hugged her and whispered, "I'm sorry if I upset you with this information,"

"No, it's okay,"

She said 'goodbye' to Buck and left. I cleaned up the dinner Buck brought us and sat down on the couch. Buck sat across from me on the coffee table and stared down at me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, "Are you?"

"I will be," He paused. "Look, we may not have Mom and Dad anymore, but we still have each other. You, me, and Maddie. We'll be okay."

I nodded and hugged him, "You always know what to say,"

He laughed, "Not always."

~~~

May 13, 2019

The rest of the week seemed to fly by, I showed the kids my slideshow and they were all amazed, I put in some videos of my soccer, volleyball, and lacrosse highlights. I left out the injuries and bruises but all the kids were incredibly interested. I stayed after school every day with Christopher until his father or Carla showed up, I was introduced to Carla on Wednesday, she is Christopher's caregiver while Eddie is at work. There were days that Eddie would pick him up though as well. Today was not one of those days, Carla picked up Christopher and I went back inside to finish up some paperwork. Henry kind of made Christopher my student, we were in my classroom 90% of the time, he was allowed to bring kids with him once in a while and he always picked Gabe which made me smile. I was grading Christopher's papers which were all 100%, this kid is literally insane. He's so smart and he's got a great personality, he can make anyone smile at any time. I have managed to keep my mind off of Eddie, I haven't seen him since Tuesday, there's just something about him that makes me smile and I haven't figured out what it is yet.

My phone started buzzing, I picked it up and it was Buck. "Hey, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you made it home alright, there's a lot of bomb threats out here tonight."

"Tonight?" I checked the time and my eyes went wide. "Oh shit, I didn't realize it was 8:00 already. I'm still at work."

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just grading."

"Alright, I'll see you at home, be careful-"

I heard something loud and the line went silent. "Buck? Buck, what happened? Evan!"

I grabbed my bag and ran out of my classroom, I had the phone to my ear and ran to my car. I got in and drove to the 118, I parked and ran inside. "Hello?" I looked around and all the emergency vehicles were gone. "Buck?!"

"Oh thank god you're here. I need you to come with me," I looked behind me and saw Bobby.

"Bobby, what happened?" A police cruiser pulled up in front of the open garage door.

"Follow me," He said and ran towards the cruiser. "Get in the back."

"Am I under arrest?"

"No,"

I nodded and got in, "Is this the twin?" A lady asked who was in the driver's seat. I put my seatbelt on as she started driving.

"Yes, this is Sam. Sam, this is Athena."

"I'm sorry, but what the hell is going on?"

"Sam, there's been an accident."