The Long Game━ (l. sinclair)

a loser and an empath walk into a bar

He stole one of his neighbor's bikes (sorry to the Bell family) before mounting it and pedaling out of the trailer park before anyone could stop him.

Auggie needed to see Sam.

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Samantha Hughes had nightmares every night — a well-known fact amongst those who either have had to sleep in the same vicinity as her or those she confided in. Every night since November 4, 1984. Some nights her mind was kind to her — Sam would have a nightmare, only scary enough to make her gasp awake instead of scream awake, and then Sam could go back to sleep in peace for the rest of the night. Some nights it was much worse, and Sam would be screaming for thirty minutes before someone could calm her down enough to stop.

Last night Sam had a horrible nightmare, unlike anything she'd ever experienced. There were flashes of blood and broken bones and a red mindscape and screams and so much suffering that Sam couldn't handle it all. She woke up screaming, but there was no one there to comfort her, so she had to calm down herself. It took her heart about an hour to slow down enough and let her sleep.

No one had bothered waking Sam up in the morning, knowing how much she lacked sleep. Corey had left for the airport, Stephanie had left for her shift at the music store, and Aunt Kat had left for work. Sam — for once — was dead asleep, snoring lightly in her bed and hugging Stephanie's old teddy bear Sam stole.

Suddenly, there was a pounding at her bed that had Sam stirring. In a groggy voice, she mumbled, "Ngh, leave me alone, Corey..."

But the perpetrator continued vigorously knocking on Sam's door.

Sam winced at the loud noise in her house. "Corey, I said go away!" she shouted in annoyance.

Then, Sam realized the knocking was coming from her front door of the entire house. She sat up in confusion.

"What the hell?" whispered Sam.

Not having time to put on her contacts, Sam grasped at her nightstand for her glasses. She put on the circular spectacles before getting out of bed and walking to the front door that was constantly being banged on.

"Hold on, I'm getting it!"

The knocking didn't falter.

"I said I'm getting it! God damn!" Sam angrily swung the door open, but then stopped and faltered completely at the sight of Auggie Santos.

"Finally!" he exclaimed in exasperation.

Sam's entire face screwed up in bewilderment. "Auggie?"

"I was knocking forever!" Auggie complained. He pushed past Sam and walked into her house. Auggie examined, "Hey, you have a nice house!"

Sam shut her front door, and it was way too early for her to comprehend this shit. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," Auggie stopped, as if he just remembered something. He turned around to face Sam with a terrified look — "Did you kill Chrissy Cunningham?"

"What?" Sam questioned, distressed in confusion.

Auggie rambled, "It would really suck if you did. The police think it's Eddie Munson, and I'm kind of hoping it's him, because if it's not him, it's you, and I really don't want it to be you."

He had begun walking towards her living room, pacing as he freaked out. Sam felt a million years behind. She pushed her glasses back up her nose, face unrelentingly etched in disorientation.