Timeless Love: (A SOSS one-shot book)(On Hiatus)

Running Out Of Time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For @killiancaptainhook - Happy Friendiversary, milady!!!! This one's for you. Love you 3000!!!! <3<3<3<3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You know how whenever you hear a piece of life-altering news, you feel very speechless, and like your brain has stopped functioning properly, and you feel dumbstruck, for lack of a better word? Well, take those feelings, multiply 'em by ten, and then stack 'em on top of one another like a salami sandwich made outta stress and anxiety until you feel like your head might explode. (Too much? Yeah, I thought so.)

Anyways, if there was a word to describe how you(probably)felt after reading the sentence at the top of the story, that would be the word I'd use to describe exactly how Griffin, Harper, Savannah and even Nick felt as they stared at Sam Tremont, who was supposed to be dead, in the parlor of the Tremont hotel on the day of the big storm in 1960. Just then, there was a huge burst of thunder a few miles away and that finally snapped all four of them out of their trance as they realized this was simply a younger version of Sam. "S-Sam, is that really you?" asked Griffin quietly as he blinked a few times.

Sam chuckled. "Yes, it's me. But wait, how do you know my name?" he asked as he stroked his goatee. "It's on your nametag." said Harper quickly as she stepped in front of Griffin. Sam nodded. "Ah, that makes sense. But wait, who are you kids? I live here in town, and I've never seen you around before." he said as his brows furrowed. "Oh, that's because we live down in New Orleans and we just came up here for a day trip. I'm Griffin, this is Savannah, that's Harper and this is Nick......Harper's cousin." said Griffin quickly as his eyes narrowed down at Nick.

Sam smiled thoughtfully. "Ah, that makes sense. Now, like I said before, there's a storm coming so you should probably get back to your families before you get stranded. You don't want a tree to fall in the middle of the road, now you do you?" he asked carefully, which made Griffin, Harper and Savannah all glance at each other nervously as a flood of rather unpleasant memories came to them at the mention of a tree falling.

Nick chuckled. "I'll say. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Sam." he said hurriedly as he tried to sneak past Harper, only for Griffin to grab him by the back of his shirt collar. "Oh, no you don't. Sam said he needed some help, and I say we should help him out. I mean, it's only fair since we "found" his toolbelt, right?" he asked as he glared down at Nick again. Griffin made a mental note to teach Nick a thing or two about keeping his big fat mouth shut in the future once it was fixed.

Nick groaned, but realized there was no point in trying to argue with his parents, even if they were only 13-years-old. "Fine. If we must." he muttered from under his breath. "So, where to first, Sam?" he asked, plastering on his best fake smile. "The veranda!" he said excitedly, smiling widely at all four children. "One of the door hinges is a little loose and squeaky, and I doubt Ms. Caroline would like it if one of the doors was blown off in the storm." he said nervously as he led them towards the veranda.

 And so, for the next twenty-five minutes, they helped Sam fix up The Tremont and get it storm-proofed and Griffin, Harper and Savannah couldn't help but feel a little sad and nostalgic as they thought about all the time that they spent with Sam and they desperately wished there was a way they could prevent him from meeting his fate when he fell down the basement steps.

Finally, there were almost done helping him, and were down in the basement repairing some loose floorboards when the power briefly went out and after Sam turned on a flashlight and walked over to the fuse box, he groaned.

 "What's wrong, Sam?" asked Savannah worriedly. "I can't seem to find my 5/8 plug wrench. It must've fallen out of my toolbelt after you kids ran into me in the lobby, and I never noticed. Could you and one of your friends go upstairs and find it for me?" he asked as he inspected the fuse box. Savannah nodded. "Sure thing, Sam. Come on, Griffin." she called as she went up the stairs. Griffin perked up at the mention of his name and followed her up the stairs. After they were in the hall, Savannah sighed sadly.