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Part Nine

He would never forget a place like this. The giant phone looming over his head, resting on its side to be moved at a later time. Only now, it would be left to gather dust for years to come. A light filtered in as soon as Sam pressed the bottom button, and he found that Leo sent one more text from less than five minutes ago. He supposed he was too busy wallowing in self pity to notice at the time, but the message sent chills down his spine.

Leo wanted to get it over with. He was getting impatient.

Sam would have to hurry up if he wanted to complete his bucket list. He gathered up his courage, taking a step forward, pressing a hand against the puzzle piece that came into his vision everytime he walked into the room in years past. The soft kitten eye on the piece stared back at him, almost begging him to stay, but he couldn't. There was no use in staying when it was inevitable he would be forced to go irregardless.

So, taking a deep breath and tightening the hook's grip on his makeshift belt, Sam walked over to the phone one last time and began to type.

MyNameIsSam: I'm coming.

"He's coming?" Eli screeched, far too loud for the ears of his group of friends beside him.

"God, Eli," Skip glared down, before eventually giving up the demeanor and returning his focus back on the topic at hand. "He's really coming?"

"That's what the text says." Leo resorted to acceptance that he would never get a response, but when his phone dignified him with a ringtone, he practically lunged for the message.

But why were there only two words?

NucLEOnic: wdym ur coming?

NucLEOnic: ur coming to my house?

NucLEOnic: like rn?

NucLEOnic: dude

Four texts and a solid five minutes later, Leo gave up hope again. Maybe Sam sent it to a wrong number, and it was all misinterpreted from the start. The thought had his heart drain just a bit, but he figured he would always be able to clear things up with him another time. After all, it was practically his fault Sam was upset in the first place, hosting the group chat in his own home.

"If he isn't coming, he needs to say something!" Skip was outright enraged, taking his own phone and sending a few choice words in Sam's direction for the first time. Eli, however, sat off to the side, drowning in his misery over the fact he wouldn't be able to meet Sam in person. And that's not to mention how weird Sam was coming off recently, but he wasn't going to be the one to say it out loud, lest he fall victim to Skip's anger once more. Instead, he vowed to use a distraction and clear his head from any sad thoughts of not seeing Sam in person.

"Is it cool if I get a bottle of water from the fridge?" Elijah asked, already heading in the direction of the kitchen.

"Use the water filter!" Leo called back, sitting back against the couch to wrap his head around what just occurred.

Meanwhile, a desperate Sam scrambled from his position on the kitchen counter.

He only wanted to watch his friends mid-conversation. The best way to do so was from the kitchen, where the arch met a field view of the living room and all the inhabitants within it. Sam could've squealed with joy at the sight.

Skip was the first person he noticed, with a panic-inducing height that would make it easy for him to reach up and touch the fan on the ceiling. He looked to be the type that all of Sam's species were taught to avoid; dangerous, powerful, and gigantic. That isn't to say the rest of the humans in the room were any better, because to say so would be defeating their power, which is something Sam might die for if he admitted so out loud. No, it was a clear fact that every human, no matter how kind or small, was capable of the strength and size needed to kill a thing like Sam with one fell swoop. Sam once again shook like the tip of a bobblehead at the imagery of those terrifying humans coming near him, even so much as laying their eyes on him would land him a ticket to heaven.

But Sam was resigned to the fact that he would die soon, wasn't he? That's why he was out here in the first place, watching his friends with a fond smile plastered on his face. Through all the terror he felt underneath his itching skin, there was such a calm atmosphere as he watched the people he cared about most talking amongst each other.

Skip sent a glare down to Elijah, who was much shorter but still capable of towering over Sam in an instant, and Sam's eyes crinkled with admiration. They were teasing each other, the same as they would if Sam were there via a phone call or group text.
Sam didn't realize until that point, but he loved his friends more than anything.

It was safe to say his feelings were conflicted at the moment. Especially when he heard Elijah ask something about a water bottle, and Sam felt vibrations through his spot on the countertop.
He bounced up and down, frantic to grasp the wire that had lodged its way into the wooden countertop via the hook previously attached to his belt.

Hands found the tricky wire, gripping it with every ounce of his tiny might, slipping down as soon as he got a firm hold on it.

The voice of Elijah, which was normally high pitched and happy, now turned to a booming thunder that announced his arrival at the kitchen's entrance.

Even if Sam could manage to get down his wire in two seconds, Elijah would see him on the floor without a doubt. That, or he would be caught underfoot without anyone to know of his death but the lonely puzzle piece back home.

So Sam stopped struggling so much. He let his eyes build floods that trickled down upon his chin, his bottom lip quivering so hard he thought it might fall off. Sam scrunched his eyes shut, hiding from the sight of what was going to come anyways. And he let whatever death fall upon him, come.

   A small whisper broke out amongst the sobs in his throat. But the whisper was not Sam's.

   It was the inevitable whisper of a human being.

"Holy shit."
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A/N: ruh-Roh!

  Finally, finally, we get to a turning point. Hopefully Sam can find his way out of the sticky situation and his favorite humans won't adhere to the dangers Sam thinks them to be capable of! As always, please let me know what you think! :)