Sam's Back || Book 1 of 2 in the Sam's Back series

9

The next morning, Grian woke up expecting to be curled up in the corner of the room in the side of the cliff, waiting for Sam to come in, but instead he was safe in Mumbo's arms. He looked up at his moustached friend, who was already awake.

"Hi." He said, and Mumbo looked down at him and smiled.

"Morning." The redstoner replied, putting a hand through Grian's hair. "This may not be the best time to say this for the first time, but I love you Grian, and I won't let anything happen to you ever again." Grian smiled up at him, and shuffled up in the bed so that they could be more face to face.

"I love you too," he replied. After a few minutes he got up, and went to his wardrobe. They hadn't bothered changing into pyjamas last night, but Grian had taken off his jumper and Mumbo had taken off his tie and blazer.

He pulled his red, woolly jumper over his head and then threw Mumbo's clothes over to the bed. He looked at his arm as he pulled his sleeves into place, seeing a bruise left by Sam.

He still couldn't quite believe that he was gone. He'd been a problem for so long, and it was hard to accept that he simply wasn't there anymore.

"Hey, it's okay if you're not okay." Mumbo said, wrapping his arms around him from behind.

"I just... I'll be fine in a bit of time." Grian replied, leaning back into his close friend, if that was the wrong name now though, he wasn't sure. He'd ask at a better time.

"Take as much time as you need." Mumbo replied.

About an hour later, Scar came round.

"How are you doing?" He asked.

"Okay," Grian replied. He was still scared that Sam would come back, he was still reliving his deaths, he was still going to have nightmares, but he would get better. He knew that.

"If you're ever not, you can talk to me." Scar said. Grian nodded.

"Thank you." He said.

***

Grian took the next few days off, putting his projects to the side. Mumbo stayed with him, and Scar spent a lot of the time there as well, only leaving when it was night, when he had to do something mayoral or when he had to feed his cats. Scar had a suspicion something more than friendship was forming between Grian and Mumbo, so he also tried to stay out of the way of their little moments.

A week later, Grian was ready to tell Mumbo and Scar about Sam.

"Are you sure?" Scar asked. Grian nodded, and Mumbo held his hand supportively.

"Yeah. Um, in brief, we were friends in high school, and he was okay at first, but then he started to lose it. He was a sociopath, and meeting a girl called Yuki who encouraged him didn't help. He murdered a few people, nearly killed me a couple of times, it was permadeath there, and, uh, yeah." Mumbo pulled him into a hug.

"Well done for saying that." Scar said. Grian smiled at him.

"I'm sorry you had to have that happen," Mumbo said.

"It wasn't your fault." Grian said, smiling up at him.

"I still wish I'd known." Mumbo said.

"Grian, remember you can tell any of the hermits anything, we'll always be there for you." Scar said.

"Thanks," Grian replied, "although, actually, can we not tell anyone else about this?"

"If that's what you want, then sure." Mumbo said. Grian smiled at them both. They were the best people he'd known in his life.

Yep, he was definitely going to get better.

***

One hour after being killed, Sam woke up.

There's a sequel to this book! It'll be on my profile tomorrow, and will continue with the one chapter per day routine.