SUNNYVALE

(20) WHO POINTS A GUN AT A SHADOW?

Sunnyvale as a whole was trembling following last night's events, as well as Allie Long's fresh body discovery after two years of searching. 

Obviously, it hasn't been rendered public that the body was in perfect shape, as if it had been frozen for two years or something, despite the obvious deterioration that should've occurred, especially in the Black Forest. But being the sheriff's daughter allowed Sam to know more informations than she should, only overhearing conversations from her father's office from time to time. So, this morning, when he got home for an all-nighter, he was on the phone with the mayor, obviously talking about the case.

This morning, school had been cancelled as it was an active scene of crime, therefore Sam decided to take a run with her dog Nancy, a cute Australian shepherd they adopted a few years back. As she was running through the most notorious neighbourhoods of the Eastside, the found her way to the river cutting the town in two - Salem River - taking a small break on the grass, looking at her dog playing in the water. 

That's when it hits her: a sudden headache that would make her grunt in pain. 

When she looks up, she suddenly freezes: in the water, dark shadows were circling around her dog, as she yells:

"Nancy, get back here!"

Before the shadows get to her, the dog runs toward her mistress, asking for her to pet her. 

But Sam wasn't in the mood: she immediately got up, staring at the water with astonishment: it indeed seemed to be human-like shadows, as one of them comes out of the water. Getting very scared, Sam starts running away from the river, her dog leading the way, as voices start getting to her hears.

Samantha... Do not run... There is nowhere to run... Samantha....

But she doesn't listen to those voices, and after five minutes she gets to her house and runs inside, locking all doors and running to her room. Kristie, who was still in her pyjamas making herself some breakfast, frowns when she sees her sister run up the stairs, before walking toward her room too. 

She doesn't knock when she enters, and she then sees her sister bursting out of the room, and going inside their father's.

"Sammy, are you all right ?" she asks, concerned.

But she gets no response. 

Instead, she watches as Sam pulls out one of their fathers' gun out of his drawer, making Krisite jump in surprise.

"Woah, what do you think you're doing?" she aggressively asks, in shock. 

"It's pretty hard to understand, but we're in danger and I need to protect you so, go to your room please" Sam orders, running past Kristie.

"What? What's going on, Sam?"

But soon they're interrupted by a loud noise, as the ground starts trembling - at least, Sam feels it, as Kristie seems unphazed.

Surprised, Sam abruptly stops running and turns to her sister, asking:

"Do you feel that?"

"Feel what, Sammy?" Kristie asks in return, highly confused.

The walls start trembling, as Sam runs downstairs, pointing the gun toward the door, trying to keep her balance and calm, although both were hard right now. When the walls finally stop trembling, Sam has a sigh of relief.

Kristie, who had just appeared next to her, stares at the door, confused: she, for one, wasn't hearing or feeling anything, unlike Sam.

As her sister stares at the door, Kristie insists:

"What's going on, Sam? You're scaring me."

"Do not move, and certainly don't talk, trust me." Sam orders.

Just as she said that, this weird sensation she had felt in the hallways when she and Abby heard the voices for the first time took over her body once again, making her feel as if her feet weren't touching the ground again. 

Slowly, a shadow goes through the wall, and Sam suddenly asks herself: who the fuck would point a gun at a shadow? as her sister still doesn't see anything. Putting the gun down, Sam puts her hands forward, setting her jaw.

The voices keep on calling her name: Samantha... Samanthaaa...

"What do you fucking want?" Sam screams, as more shadows come in closer to her, inside the house.

For the first time, she can see them up close, as they stop only inches from her face - she had forced Kristie behind her, thinking that although they were shadows, they had to get to her first before hurting her sister. The shadows may have had a human-like physical appearance, but their faces weren't really faces: rather, it looked like black veils, as the shadows wouldn't make any noise, but still Sam could feel them coming from afar.

The voices surprisingly respond to her:

Samantha... We are looking for our master... We need our master....

"How am I supposed to know who your master is?" Sam asks on the same tone than before, stressed out.

Kristie seems astonished.

"Sam, what-"

"Shh" her little sister orders, relentless.

She needed to hear the voices say: You know... her... you know her...

"I don't know shit: just go away!"

Strangely enough, the shadows all disappear as soon as Sam closed her eyes. She sighs in relief when she realises they're gone, pulling the gun away, discharging it. She then turns around and hugs her sister tightly.

Once she pulls away, Kristie doesn't manage to say a single word, as Sam states:

"I gotta see Abby, I'll be back soon!"

Just like that, she walks away, leaving her sister highly confused and scared.

***

Crystal wakes up in her bedroom, her headaches slowly going away. 

Frowning, she stares at her hands: the blood had disappeared, and she visibly did not come there by herself. Before she can move, she realises nobody else is in her room, and that somehow relieves her. 

Rather, she just grabs her phone and reads the messages she got from her friends, especially Tobin, who seemed quite alarmed:

Tobs {11 AM}: secret meeting @ The Circle today at 2 PM

And, as she was about to respond, she reads Shelina Zadorsky's texts:

S. Zadorsky {11:34 AM}: hey, probably not my place, but i'm just wondering how you are doing 

S. Zadorsky {11:46 AM}: not that I care 

Smirking, Crystal doesn't answer her texts and immediately gets on her way to The Circle, where the girls were waiting for her : she talked to Megan, Tobin, Tierna and Abby all about her experience when touching Lynn Williams' body, and how she thought it was related with Christen's ability to float in the air.

They get interrupted by a panicked Sam Mewis crashing their reunion, visibly out of her mind, but far from being delusional...