Haunting Nightmare

Chapter 15: Life-Changing Moments

Colby

Sam is driving to the next place while Jake and Corey sleep in the backseat. Sam encourages me to sleep but I can't stop thinking about what happened at the hotel. Sam takes my hand.

"It'll be okay love. We'll be okay," he says.

"I'm scared," I admit.

"Don't worry. I'll be here for you," he says, squeezing my hand.

The gesture comforts me and I drift off to sleep. Sam wakes me up when we arrive. We're staying overnight in a church. I worry about Sam who says, after we enter the church's grounds, that he still has the headache he had earlier. When we enter the church, Sam leans against me.

"Sam, you alright?"

"I just felt sick. It's passing now," he says.

We start to explore the ground after resting for a bit.

There are a lot of birds around, especially crows. We look up what crows mean and discover that it means someone you love will die. I hope this doesn't mean one of us or that there's some mistake. I don't want to lose anyone close to me. After this omen, we take a break. We leave to get dinner and supplies. We explore the graveyard until Corey starts feeling nauseous. Because everyone isn't feeling well, we call it a night. Our electronics stop working which is just another reason to end the investigation. We relax and talk for a bit before Corey and Jake head to sleep. Sam and I talk for a bit before heading to sleep ourselves.

I wake up to the front door of the church opening and closing. I sit up and see that Sam's bed is empty.

"Sam?" I whisper. I head to the door where Sam is standing. "Sam, what's wrong?"

"I thought I heard something," he says.

"So you decided to go alone?"

"I just thought I'd check quick and then come back," he says.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I just wanted to go alone."

"I'm coming with you," I say.

I follow him outside and he's convinced that something is there. We search around the church but we don't see anyone. We hear a scream and head back inside to find Jake and Corey freaking out. Apparently, something shook Jake's cot.

"Why did you guys leave? We're safer together!" Jake exclaims.

"You should wake us up next time and we should go together," Corey says.

Sam announces through the argument that he wants to search the graveyard alone. A brief argument follows, switching to arguing about Sam not exploring by himself.

"What if something happens to you? like if you get hurt?" Corey asks.

In the end, Sam has his own camera and we watch him from afar. He walks around the graveyard a few times then falls to the ground. I run to him with Corey and Jake following me.

"Sammy, are you okay? What happened?!"

"I just, I want to find proof, you know something I can't explain away. for me," he says, starting to tear up a little.

I move to pull him into my arms but he pushes me away and storms back to the church. I follow him at a run.

"Sam, wait!"

"What?!" he yells.

"Please talk to me," I say.

"Why?" he asks.

"Because something is going on. You can talk to me," I say.

"I don't want to! I want to sleep!" he shouts.

"Fine," I say, storming inside.

"Colby, what happened?" Jake asks.

"Nothing. I'm going to sleep," I say.

Sam

When I enter the church, Jake and Corey are asleep again and Colby is laying on his cot. He's pretending to be asleep and I don't know what to say so I just let him be. When we wake up in the morning, Colby won't even look at me. Corey and Jake start packing up and Colby is exploring the back of the church, taking pictures. I walk over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. He shrugs my hand off and I frown.

"Colby, I'm sorry. I was just tired, in pain, and scared. Please, I need you."

Corey walks up behind us.

"Jake and I are ready," he says.

Colby goes to pack up his stuff, leaving me alone.

"Don't worry Sam. It will be okay," Corey says.

We get breakfast and Colby still doesn't look at me. We extend our trip when one of our friends tells us about a castle we can stay in.