A dry cloudy morning is chilled by winds that carry fallen dead leaves. The front door of Bethany's house opens and out comes Samantha. She has her travel bag with her and is wearing her winter coat. Bethany stands at the door after Samantha steps out.
"The weekends go by so fast... I wish we would spend more time together."
"So do I, but don't worry, I only have about nine more months of school left. Besides I'll be back in just five days anyway."
"Nine months waiting for my baby doll to come yet again..."
"Oh please, mom, don't get all weird again."
"Hehe... Doll, are you sure you don't want me to give you a ride?"
"Yeah don't worry about it, taxi's in its way."
During their conversation, they don't notice that there is someone watching them from behind a patch of bushes accross the street. This man is cloaked in shadow, wearing black gloves and a black scarf, silently whispering to himself...
"There she is... I needed to see her, but if she sees me... especially looking like this... She won't think much of me..."
Samantha and Bethany are still talking to each other. Samantha's back turned to the sidewalk and facing her mom, who speaks in a warming tone.
"... Words can't express how proud of you I am. I mean, in spite of all that you've been through in recent weeks, you still keep your head high, still focusing on your school stuff, and still--"
"You taught me well mom."
"Yes I did..."
They lightly laugh and Samantha steps backward looking at the ground. She suddenly stops laughing and looks over her shoulder with shifty eyes. Bethany notices this and looks in the same direction but sees nothing. She looks at Samantha again.
"Something the matter, doll?"
"No, I just..."
Samantha turns around now and looks accross the street. She happens to look directly at the bushes where the person watching her is hiding. She squints a bit but does not see anything out of the norm. She turns back again toward Bethany.
"You ever get that weird sensation in the back of your neck sometimes? Like a very weak, grainy tension... like a tingling sense that somebody's... ugh! Nevermind."
"What are you, Spidergirl now? What are you talking about?"
"You ever feel like you're being watched?"
"Oh... Yeah I know the feeling..."
The person behind the bushes exhales while running his hand down his face and resumes to softly whisper to himself.
"What have I reduced myself to? This damn destiny has me hiding and only watching her from far... Why? Why can't I just come out and approach her? Tell her I love her... Why not just tell her... Say 'look, I'm not dead or missing, I've just been hiding... Hiding from you... From myself...'"
He watches as a taxi pulls up in front of Bethany's house. Samantha now gives her mother a farewell hug and carries her bag to the cab. The man behind the bush retreats further into the shadowy greens, still whispering to himself.
"Sammy... Have you even noticed that I'm gone? Do you care enough?"
Samantha enters the taxi cab and it drives away. Bethany waves to the taxi as it leaves, then goes back into her house and closes the door. The hidden man watches carefully.
"... Am I ever on your mind at all?"
A couple of hours later, at Grayson University, Samantha is seen rushing into a class that is already in progress. The professor looks at her but does not stop or pause his lecture. Samantha nervously smiles at him as she makes her way to an empty seat. She takes out a pen and paper and begins to pay attention to what the instructor is saying.
"...it is in fact a mental condition, however it is not necessarily a mental disorder; one can argue it is the opposite of a disorder, but too much order can be abnormal. For example, there are people who can see sounds as if they were waves of color. This can help them make or appreciate better music. Another example can be, feeling a touch or impact and being able to identify what it tastes like, or even--"
"Or hearing someone's voice and knowing their breath smells!"
A male student with his hand raised laughs after interrupting the professor with that last comment. The rest of the class laughs a little also, including the professor himself.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Dane. That is a fine example of ideasthesia... But while we're at it, would anyone else like to chime in? Perhaps someone would like to identify what type of condition Mr. Dane just displayed with that outburst..."
The students' responses scatter into minor chit chat. A few of the students raise their hand. The professor points at one of them.
"Mr. Mendon..."
"Stupidity?"
The rest of the class laughs, including Cliff Dane, who throws a rolled up piece of paper at Pete Mendon's head. The professor chuckles but continues to look around the class for more raised hands. He sees that Samantha has her hand raised as well and he points at her.
"Miss Lawrence..."
Samantha stands up to answer.
"Well, what our friend Clifford Dane is displaying isn't really a 'condition' per say. He's simply a guy. Guys find it funny to be rude at times. I personally view being a guy as a 'mental condition' one can be born with, but that's not generally accepted as fact, so I must hypothesise. Perhaps he spoke out and interrupted you due to his boredom, or we can assume it was just to get us to laugh as we did and that your attention would be focused on him... Just like it is now. Maybe, just maybe, he suffers from the rare condition known as HPD, or Histrionic Personality Disorder. Feeling like the professor's attention was broad and general to the entire class made him uncomfortable, so he shined the spotlight on himself, just to feel validated. But again that's just my personal hypothesis, merely based on the present incident."
Samantha sits down and the entire class laughs discretely. A couple of students are heard snickering and some others point to Cliff in a ridiculing manner. The professor with a smile on his face looks at Cliff, who is shaking his head with a closed-mouth smile.
"Would you agree or disagree, Mr. Dane?"
"Agree? I barely understood any of that..."
"In a nutshell, Mr. Dane, Miss Lawrence's theory alleges that you may be an 'attention whore.' Do you find that valid?"
The class laughs now and Cliff scoffs. The professor, now satisfied with the level of discomfort Cliff is feeling, decides to stop mocking him.
"For the record, Mr. Dane, I don't agree with her. You certainly don't seem to be enjoying all this attention, so the Lawrence Theory has been proven wrong and may be put to rest. Now, let's move on..."
Cliff looks at Samantha out of the corner of his eye. Samantha chuckles and shakes her head as she begins to write in her notebook.
Several moments later, as the class is dismissed, Cliff follows Samantha into the hallway.
"Hey Samantha, wait up..."
Samantha keeps walking but responds to him.
"I can't, Cliff, I have another class all the way in Prudence Hall in like two minutes. Walk and talk, Cliff, walk and talk."
Cliff walks faster to catch up with her and begins walking beside her at her pace.
"What is it Cliff? Did I embarrass you again?"
"Well yeah, a little bit. But I don't care, so don't worry about it."
"Wasn't planning to, Cliff."
"Okay then. Listen I just wanted your help. See, I hate the fact that I can't wrap my head around this psychology nonesense but you seem to have memorized everything. You come to class late every Monday, but you still manage to ace everything! You make it look easy."
They make it outside of the building and are now walking on pavement over a trimmed courtyard, where dozens of other students also walk about. Samantha is still looking straight forward as she speaks to Cliff.
"Let me guess, Cliff, you're so fantastically amazed by my sheer awesomeness that you want to know my secret... 'Just how does Samantha Lawrence do it?'"
"Kinda..."
"Well, my friend, the secret is... Take notes..."
"Oh sure, let me just..."
Cliff reaches into his backpack while still steady walking and pulls out a small notepad and pencil.
"Okay go'head."
"What?"
"I'm ready to take notes..."
"No. Not from me, you dummy; from the teacher! I'm telling you that's the secret: When you're in class, simply take notes and shut up. Don't ask questions during class, write 'em down and ask him afterward. That kinda stuff."
"How about you just tutor me?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"No time, Cliff. No time."
"Well, don't you have like a--"
"I don't."
"You don't even know what I was gonna say..."
"Don't need to, Cliff. I just know what I'm gonna say... 'No'."
Cliff stops walking now and lets Samantha keep walking on her own. He laughs to himself and shakes his head. He then waves and speaks loudly so Samantha can hear him from the distance she is now.
"Thanks for the tip, Samantha. See you around!"
Samantha does not say a word. She simply raises one arm and motions a single wave with the back of her hand to Cliff as she keeps walking. Cliff turns back and begins to walk toward the building as a shadowy figure watches him from behind the bushes. Cliff does not even suspect he is being watched, as the man behind the bushes talks silently to himself...
"That's right... You keep away from her... Soon enough I'll be back. And this time, she will love me."
The following day, Samantha is sitting at the school's dining hall, reading from a text book and sipping a straw from a box of orange juice. Cliff comes and sits directly in front of her. She doesn't acknowledge his presence and continues reading.
"Samantha."
Samantha turns the page of her book and answers him without removing her eyes from what she is reading.
"Hi."
"What's up?"
"Reading."
"Look, I don't mean to interrupt, but..."
"Isn't it funny, how when people say 'I don't mean to interrupt' they usually do just that? Interrupt?"
"Isn't funny how when people say 'isn't it funny' it's usually something that's not funny at all? Rude, in fact."
Samantha scoffs and Cliff chuckles a bit. Samantha puts a bookmark on the page she is reading and closes the book. She looks at Cliff with a smile while fixing a strand of hair into the back of her ear.
"Alright, you win. What's up, Cliff?"
She glances up at the large screen TV on the wall far behind Cliff and her jaw drops. Before Cliff can proceed to speak to her, she exclaims with wide open eyes.
"Oh my God! Turn the volume up on that! Somebody! What the hell...?"
What she sees on TV is the NEWS, and they are showing a very thin and tired-looking Aaron with unshaven beard and messy hair, being interviewed. Samantha pulls out her cell phone and dials a number.
The phone rings at Bethany's house while Bethany is eating cereal at the kitchen counter. She puts the spoon down and answers the cordless phone.
"Hello? Oh hi, doll! What's-- Sammy calm down. Now say again?"
"Channel nine, mom! Now!"
Bethany walks to her living room and turns on the TV, she sees the report being transmitted...
"...again, this is Kay Sullivan and if you're just tuning in, we're live with local business owner, Aaron Walsh, who had been missing for weeks. The police say they received a phone call last night from Walsh himself, telling them where his kidnappers had left him and we now have the exclusive interview, the word straight from the survivor himself, on his miraculous story. So, Aaron, just how did you escape?"
"I didn't, they just decided to leave, I guess. I had gone to the... site... in which my company is building a factory to help manufacture motor vehicles... Just to check things out. Suddenly, I'm ambushed by these thugs in ski masks, with bats and chains... They demanded I give them money but I had nothing on me, just a couple of hundreds... They tied me down to a chair and took away my phone. They hit me, slapped me, broke my nose, yelling and asking for money... After a few days they just took what I had and tossed the cell phone on the floor and they left... They just left... I don't remember how exactly I broke out from being tied to the chair but I somehow knocked down a steel pole in the process, must have been the adrenaline rush of wanting to live. That's when I was able to reach my phone and call the cops. But they were already long-gone. I didn't get to see their faces."
"Are you afraid these thugs might come back and try this again?"
"Sure, but I'll just have to heighten security."
"Yeah, one can never be too careful... Well thanks so much for your time. I'm sure you have a lot to do after missing so many weeks of your daily duties."
"Thanks for having me, Kay."
"For Channel Nine News, this has been Kay Sullivan. Back to your regular programming."
Both Samantha and Bethany stay on the phone with mouths open in awe. Samantha's eyes begin to water a bit. Bethany can hear her subtle whimpering on the other line.
"Doll, he's okay. He's alive and he's okay."
"Thank God he's okay, mom. I can't wait to see him."
Cliff is still sitting atthe dining room table and is looking at Samantha. He gets up and approaches her from behind. He puts a hand on her shoulder and rubs a little.
"Are you okay, Samantha?"
She gently brushes his hand off her.
"Yes."
"Is that guy on the TV a friend of yours? A Boyfriend, or cousin? A Brother?
"All of the above, Cliff."
"Friend, boyfriend, brother, AND cousin...?"
"I'm sorry, Cliff, I'm just a little stunned from the news. I'll just have to talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay..."
Samantha walks away from Cliff and he simply looks on as she leaves.
Back in town, Aaron boards the rear passenger seating of a limousine outside of the Channel Nine Newsroom. He sits in the limousine by himself, leaned back against his neck, looking straight forward with his hands on his knees and his legs wide apart. He he seems to be in an emotionless trance as he speaks to himself.
"Alright, Aaron... step one is done. You've made it known that you're back. Now for step two... three... four... and maybe..."
The limousine's cab window lowers before he finishes his sentence. The driver hands him a piece of paper.
"By the way, sir, Commissioner Oliver dropped this by personally earlier. He says you have to sign that and return it to him notarized."
"What is it?"
"Oh, it's a missing person's report that was filed on you. Your signature will say you're no longer missing. Basically it's a 'lost and found' confirmation."
"Thanks, Tim."
Aaron presses the button to close the cab window and read the report to himself.
"Hmm... A missing person's report...? Robert must have... Hmm what's this...? Filed by... Samantha Lawrence?"
He lets out scoff on the cusp between happiness and sorrow. He licks his lips and his eyes become watery. He now runs his hand down hos face while exhaling and rubs his bushy jawline.
"She... does care... She cares, Aaron. She was worried... Of all the people that you know... She missed you the most... She must love you, Aaron... She... Does... Love you."
He folds the form in twice and kisses it. He then holds it to his chest as if he believed it to be a love letter.
"And I love you too, Samantha... I can't wait to see you."
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Author's Note**
I am very open to any questions anyone may want answered in future chapters, or anything that you would like me to explain or go into more detail as well. Please don't forget to vote and fan me if you like my work :) Thank You so much for letting me share this with you. -GB