Sam stood in front of his mirror. The black tie Leslie had given him for Father's Day was sleek and sharp. Although it was a typical Father's Day gift, he loved it. He felt her hands slide around his midsection, her face against his back.
"Looking good, Mister Amore. You didn't have to wear a tie just for my sister's birthday. Not that I mind," she giggled.
"Dress to impress, doll face, your mom isn't going to give me the side eye this time," he said, turning around into an embrace. He smiled, pulling away, his hands rubbing up and down her arms.
"Well, don't you look...purple," he smirked. She swatted his chest.
"You don't like it? I just bought it, this dress was expensive!"
"I didn't say I didn't like it, I said it was purple," he defended. She twirled around, the lavender dress flowing with her. Her long brown hair flowing just under her shoulders. Sam swallowed hard.
"But...I do hate it, so you should take it off...right now," he smiled, pulling her into him. She giggled against his chest, hearing him inhale deeply.
"Mmmhhh, my favorite perfume..." He sighed. She tapped his shoulder, brushing her fingers against the thick material of his shirt.
"Behave yourself, Sam. The PDA is not gonna fly at my sister's house," she kissed him quickly, jumping excitedly when he squeezed her thigh.
A song about a bad day began playing on Leslie's phone.
"Well, speak of the devil," she said, pulling her phone out of her purse. The song abruptly ended when she swiped her thumb across its screen, pressing it to her face.
"Hey, Natalie, we're just about to leave. Yes, we won't forget...the purple one....well, Sam really prefers hard liquor to beer, do you have scotch? ...Well, I suppose we'll bring our own then...oh, no, it's no bother, we just got a full one on Saturday...okay, sweety, we'll be there in less than half an hour...okay, bye bye."
She swiped the screen again and placed it back in her purse.
"She knows we understand how parties work, right?" Sam asked smugly.
"She's just a little controlling, it's her birthday, Sammy. Let her be a little neurotic tonight. It's good to let it out now and again. I bet you have some crazy in you," she smiled. Sam blew through his lips.
"Yeah, right. Where's Sadie?"
As if on queue, a little girl with black curls bumped the door open, holding out a sheet of paper. She handed the paper to Sam proudly.
"There's my present for Aunty Natalie. I drew our family. Daddy's the biggest," she smiled. Sam looked carefully at the drawing.
"You're still drawing everyone as crabs, Sadie?"
"I like crabs. They're easier to draw than people," she explained easily. Sam nodded.
"Seems reasonable. At least I'm the biggest one. Go put your shoes on, we're leaving," he said, handing her the picture back.
His family gathered into the car and headed for his sister-in-law's home. The party had gone on into the night. Sadie fell asleep on the couch while the adults talked happily together. Sam smiled at her sleeping face, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. It had gotten late. He picked her up into his arms, allowing her to sleep on his chest. Leslie patted his back.
"Time to go? She's so sleepy," she cooed. The couple stood outside on the front steps, getting ready to leave. Natalie stood beside them, hugging her sister before she left.
"Call me when you get home, okay? There are a lot of idiots on the road. If you don't call me, I'm just gonna keep calling you until you answer," she warned. Leslie laughed, pulling gently away.
"I'll call you, I promise. Happy Birthday, Nat," she smiled. Natalie switched her attention to Sam who still held Sadie.
"You aren't too tired? You can drive fine?" She questioned. Sam smiled.
"I had coffee. Goodnight, Natalie," he said before heading towards the car. He gingerly placed his child into her car seat. She yawned, rubbing her eyes.
"Daddy?"
"Go back to sleep, Sadie. When you wake up, we'll be at home and I'll tuck you in," he promised.
"Mmmhhh, okay, Love you, Dad..." She yawned again. Sam clipped her seat straps tightly to her.
"Love you, baby girl."
He came around, sliding into the driver's seat next to Leslie. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, trying to turn it on.
"Phone dead?" She asked next to him. Sam sighed, tossing it into the center console.
"Yeah, that thing just won't hold a charge anymore. Time for an update," he said, pulling the car out of Natalie's driveway. Leslie giggled, adjusting her seatbelt.
"Don't act like you aren't excited for it."
The drive was pitch black and no other drivers were on the road. Friday night, Sam figured everyone was probably still doing other things. It was only ten. In his youth, he'd still be out partying too. But now...
"Hey..." He looked to Leslie, placing a hand over her knee.
"It's still kinda early. What do you want to do when that one's in bed?" He asked, nodding back towards the sleeping child in the backseat. She smiled, brushing her thumb over his knuckles.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe break out the wine, get into our pajamas...watch some serious jeopardy?" She suggested with a smile. It was a joke, obviously. She'd been waiting to jump his bones all evening and he was more than aware.
"Unless you have any other suggestions?" She added, squeezing his fingers. He blinked, looking out the windshield.
"I was thinking...we try making another one."
Leslie paused, looking back at Sadie again. She held his hand firmly, excitement bubbling up in her belly.
"Are you sure? Two? That's quite a change. Think you can handle it?" She asked with a smirk.
"Well, I was hoping for a little help," he chuckled.
A bright light glared in his eyes. He squinted, his brows furrowed.
"Some idiot has his brights on. Asshole," he cringed. Leslie screamed next to him as the bright lights shifted from slightly to the side to directly in front of them. Samuel ripped his hand from her grasp, clutching the steering wheel and yanking it to the side. The other car smashed into the front bumper, sending them off the side of the road.
Samuel tried the break, but the branch of a tree crashed in through the windshield. His airbag hit his face, sending a loud ringing through his ears. After a moment, there was no sound at all. Samuel turned to look at Leslie, his eyes wide with horror as the tree branch had entered her body and had apparently kept going. He craned his neck to try and see Sadie, but it was too difficult.
"Leslie! Hey, are you okay?" He asked in terror. She moaned in response, looking at him with glossy eyes. A sickening, metallic smell hit his nose.
"Sadie! Sadie! Say something, please! Daddy needs to know you're okay," he cried out. Sadie said nothing, causing a true sense of dread of weigh heavily on his chest. Leslie groaned again, turning her head. Samuel tried to move when a horrible pain shot up his leg. It was completely crushed, the front of the car holding it lightly in place. His door window had been shattered in the impact. He could see another vehicle parked above them on the road. Was that the person who hit them?
Suddenly, a young man with blond hair rushed to his car door.
"Hey! Hey, are you guys okay?" The young man asked, placing his hands at the door. Samuel sucked in a breath.
"No! No we aren't, please, call an ambulance!" Sam cried. The young man looked warily into the car. His body swayed and his words were slushy and garbled.
"That...that looks pretty bad..." He slurred. Samuel tried pulling himself closer.
"Yes, it's really bad. Please help, I need you to call for help! My wife needs the hospital, my daughter isn't responding. Please! Please call right away!" He begged. The young man backed away, looking nervous.
"Shit...I don't want to get in trouble..." He mumbled. Samuel reached out to try and grab him, but he was too far away.
"Hey! Hey, look, you won't get in trouble, but my family-"
"I'm sorry...I gotta go..." The young man continued backing away.
"Stop! Don't you dare leave! Don't you dare fucking leave me! Please, please call an ambulance! Please, my phone is dead! Please!" He screamed. But the young man had already turned to run away. His drunken legs stumbled back up the hill. The lights from his car faded as he drove off. Samuel gripped the steering wheel, shouting and banging his hands on the dashboard. Someone had to hear. Someone had to find them.
"Sammy?" A raspy voice said next to him. Sam turned as best he could, reaching for her face. He could just barely kiss her lips straining against the pain in his leg.
"It's okay, Leslie, I'm trying to get us outa here, don't worry, just stay awake, okay?"
"It...hurts to breathe..." She gasped. Sam's chest hurt. This wasn't happening. Suddenly, he heard a sound. It both excited and haunted him.
"Cuz you had a bad day
you're taking one down- "
"Natalie! Shit, Natalie!"
He reached for Leslie's purse, stretching his arm over the branch and around her body. Her phone was inches from his fingers. Natalie was trying to call. If only she knew. He reached with all his strength.
But no matter how hard he tried. No matter how much pain he endured, no matter how much he cried out...he couldn't reach it. No one came.
*****
"Three hours..." Sam said into his cup. His fingers held the mug of tea gently, brushing up and down the smooth, warm ceramic. Ashton listened, tears streaming down his face.
"It was three hours before Natalie eventually got nervous and started driving to our house to make sure her sister was okay. She'd always been overprotective...she found us and called emergency services. Of course, my wife had stopped responding to me forty two minutes after the crash. So, I sat next to her dead body for two hours and eighteen minutes. In that time, Natalie had called fifty seven times," he said softly, taking a sip.
Ashton shakily tried to reach for him, but pulled his hands back, gripping his hair anxiously.
"And you're sure...it was me?" He quivered. Samuel nodded.
"Officer Miller was the responding officer. I had an appointment with him after getting out of the hospital to give my report. He took it at the scene, but he wanted it again after. He had no problem with my report before. But when I went to the station, he was coming out of a meeting with another man, I later found that man was Ronald Trevor. Your father. I saw him in the parking lot out the window. He got into a car and his passenger looked an awful lot like you. I saw his name on the sign-in chart when I walked in. I signed my name just under his."
"This time, Officer Miller dismissed everything I said. He told me there was no sign of another car hitting me. He told me I had just been too tired. From that moment, he spread that story like wildfire. Molly Withers made similar claims over the news, but the things she said over and over...it was like she was trying to convince the public."
"My sister-in-law blames me. None of her family talk to me anymore. I know your father paid those two off. I know they were keeping quiet because of that. But my life is permanently ruined. If it weren't for you, right now, we might be celebrating a new addition to our family. If it weren't for your mistake, that night, I'd have tucked my baby into bed, made love to my wife, and gone to sleep a happily married man. Instead, I sat for three hours in a car with a broken leg and my dead family only to fall asleep in the hospital and be accused of killing them out if negligence. You would have spent a small amount of time in jail, taken some classes...but if you had stayed and called, my wife might have lived. My child might have..."
Ashton wiped his eyes on his sleeve.
"Samuel...I..."
What should he say? What do you say? It was all his fault. He'd abandoned him and then had the nerve to forget it ever happened.
"Sam...I knew my Dad was covering for something...but if I had known...if I'd had any idea what I'd done...I swear I would have turned myself in! I swear, in my right mind, I would have stayed! I'm so sorry...I'm so, so sorry..."
"So...you admit you did it? It all makes sense to you?" He asked.
Ashton nodded. "I got into an accident that day. My car got jacked up. It happened on Pliato road. Same day, same time. My dad won't tell me about it..."
Samuel let his head fall back. He took a deep breath, exhaling and staring at the ceiling.
"Finally...it's stopped..."
Ashton looked at him as he stood from his chair. He went to the camera in the room and pulled out the memory chip. He placed it in his pocket, gesturing with his finger for Ashton to follow him. Ashton struggled with wobbly legs down the hallway, watching Samuel open the front door. Ashton paused, terrified to leave.
"Come with me," Sam said softly. Ashton followed him to the driveway and, in bare feet, was ushered into Samuel's car. It was small, black, and seemed not to have been used much. Samuel leaned across him, buckling him up. He rested his hand on the seat, looking seriously at Ashton.
"I'll be right back...don't leave," he said softly. Ashton felt his eyes well up.
"I won't. I promise," he said in a barely audible whisper.
Samuel was only gone a short moment. When he returned, Ashton remained in the car, as promised. He clutched the seatbelt. Nothing could have removed him from that seat, precisely where Samuel had placed him.
Sam got into the driver's seat and turned on the radio. Music started playing...music that wasn't the same song on constant repeat. Ashton looked at Sam who pulled out of the driveway. Ashton had no idea where they were going, but he didn't care. At this point, it wouldn't have mattered if Sam chose to drive them both off a cliff.
When the car stopped, it was in front of the police station. Ashton looked at the building, realizing now what was about to happen. Ashton had to clear Sam's name. He had to take responsibility for what he'd done.
"Samuel..." He said before either of them removed their seatbelts. Sam looked at him, having not said a word since the car started. "What will you do...if I'm not standing in for your wife? Will you move on?" He asked. Samuel smiled, looking towards the station.
"The song stopped..." He said, though the radio was still playing. Ashton quickly engulfed Samuel in a hug, his own voice cracking as he cried against him.
"I hope you can find peace...and help. When I get out, I swear I'll come find you. I swear I'll do everything I can to help," he promised. Samuel rubbed the back of Ashton's head, pulling away. They both walked into the station, Ashton looking down at the floor as he approached the counter. The officer behind the counter cleared his throat, likely suspecting a domestic abuse case with the way he looked.
"How can I help you, young man?" The officer asked, looking strangely at Samuel while addressing Ashton.
"Umm...I need to confess something. On September first of last year, I drove under the influence on Pliato street and struck a vehicle, causing three people inside to be wounded. I then left the scene without reporting to the authorities which caused the deaths of two people. Samuel Amore, this man...was the sole survivor in the other car. I'm confessing," he said without tears. Ashton was amazed at how easy it was. He wanted Sam's name cleared badly. Ashton had made a terrible mistake. A chip was handed to him and Ashton smiled sadly.
"Oh, and this is video proof of my confession this morning. So...I'm deeply sorry," he said. The officer blinked in confusion.
"I see...I'll have to take you into custody then...you understand. You understand you have a right to an attorney?" He asked, standing. Samuel placed a bag on the desk before he could approach.
"I'm also here to confess," he said quickly. Ashton gawked at him as he opened the bag. Dozens of memory chips huddled together.
"I am confessing to the kidnapping of Ashton Trevor along with his assault, torture, and severe neglect. I'm also confessing to the killings of both officer Miller and Molly Withers."
YOU ARE READING
Replacement
HorrorAshton finds himself trapped in a strange basement with a man who seems to know more about him than he knows about himself. Escape is much easier said than done as this ruthless and frightening man unravels before him.
