The Master's Tale - Abandon All Hope, Book 1, Part 6

Chapter 12 - Goodbye, Sammy

12

February, 13th, 2010, 2:28 P.M.

01:12:11

Shortly after Mandy and Griffin left, we did what we could to fortify the place back down again and Dean had the idea for me to try to relight the place, now with emergency lights having just enough juice to light the clinic up in an eerie light as the outside world only seemed to get darker.

I was now sitting cross legged on the floor of the hallway in the very back of the clinic where the lab was, a large glass window to one side and a small mail slot in the heavy duty gray metal door. I looked down at the cards in my hand, making a face as I tried to redirect my train of thought and sort out which ones I had already asked for.

I then heard Sam's deep voice reverberate from the other side of the door, still sounding slightly muffled as he spoke, "Is it your turn, or mine?"

I let out a laugh, "Hold your horses, I'm thinking, okay? I was just thinking that I could really go for some pizza rolls with ranch and a cherry coke right now, but... Do you have any sixes?"

I heard Sam laugh from the other side, envisioning him shaking his head with a wide grin, "You already asked me that. Go fish. And honestly, I kinda just want a snickers or something? If it's gonna be one of my last meals..."

I furrowed my brows, shaking my head, "You're joking, right?"

Sam was sitting cross legged on the floor on the other side and slightly hunched over as he stared at the cards laid out in front of him on the floor in perfect order and made a face, "Kinda?"

Sam stopped, starting to seriously think about what he would have wanted his last meal to be when he then heard a soft laugh, "Really? I thought you would pick something like- a salad? Or... A smoothie?"

Sam let out a laugh, a slightly embarrassed smile growing on his face as he shook his head, "No... Turns out, Sammy is just a chubby twelve year old kid? I don't even know why it sounds good, it just does? That, and... Well... Honestly, a drink would kind of be nice right now... I don't know, even water sounds nice at this point?"

I stopped on the other side of the door as I straightened up and stared at the gray metal of the door, feeling my heart sink a little when I forced a half smile, "I'm sure we can find you a water bottle somewhere around here, Sam? We've still got that little mail slot thing?"

Sam shrugged slightly in agreement, raising his eyebrows, "That's true? Maybe in a minute, I wanted to ask you something."

There was a brief moment of silence as Sam sat up slightly, grinning to himself, "You got any queens?"

There was a burst of laughter from the other side of the door, making Sam smile even wider and laugh lightly along with me, just happy to hear me laughing again and making it so infectious as if he couldn't help but laugh too, and so he didn't have to think about the fact that he was running out of time.

I blinked my eyes a bit and focused back on the cards in my hands, "Um... Yeah, here."

I leaned forward, sliding a card on the floor through the crack of the door and hearing Sam stop it with his hand on the other side.