Save Your Tears | Chad Meeks-Martin

Prologue

Dog Days Are Over; Florence + The Machine

| October, 2011 |

Sam Carpenter watched as four young kids ran back and forth around the house, chasing each other. Her brown eyes shifted from Mindy Meeks-Martin to her twin brother Chad, eventually landing on little Wes Hicks and her own younger sister - Tara, last. Wes' cheeks were red and puffy from him, Tara, and Chad running from Mindy, who'd been following them around for the previous ten to fifteen minutes carrying a tiny caterpillar in her hands.

"Wait a minute," Sam said as she stepped between the group, preventing Mindy from shoving the insect onto either the boys or Tara. "We're missing someone here." She then held out a hand, her fingertips painted a purple color thanks to her little sister.

"Willa's outside," Mindy countered, already knowing who had been missing from the group. "She likes Mr. Fluffy."

"Mr. Fluffy?" Chad asked, his brows pushing together. "That's the stupidest nickname for a centipede that I've ever seen in my life."

"It's not a centipede, stupid, it's a caterpillar. How are you going into the second grade?" Mindy asked, her nose scrunching up.

"Because I'm not stupid... stupid," Chad muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's such a lame comeback-"

"Okay, no arguing!" Sam quickly cut in. She glanced back at Wes, who stood awkwardly between Tara and Chad. "Why did you leave Willa outside?"

Of all times, this was probably the worst time to leave eight-year-old Willa outside. Sam may be only fourteen years old, but she watches enough news and reads enough to know what is going on in her hometown of Woodsboro. She's smart enough to know that there's a psycho killer cutting people up, which was why both Martha and Judy insisted she not take her eyes off any of the children for a single second.

This is hard, considering not only is she watching her own baby sister, but she's also watching two sets of twins. One is hard enough, but two is much more complicated.

You'd think that the parents would reconsider, as Sam's not even an adult yet herself. But she takes pride in the fact that they allow her to do such a task, trusting their only children with someone her age - specifically her. 

"Well... she wasn't scared of the bug," Wes answered shyly, almost as if he'd already gotten in trouble. "She didn't chase us with Mindy, or run from it."

"She's the only normal one, it seems," Sam muttered under her breath, before rolling her eyes. "If I leave to go check on Willa, will you guys stay put?"

"I'll just go get her." Chad shrugged as if it were nothing. Sam looked at him, and although his cheeks turned a light pink color, he just shrugged again. "I'll protect her from the bad guys."

"Will you now?" Sam asked, raising a brow at the boy.

Mindy let out a laugh, moving the caterpillar from one hand to the other. "That's funny. You can't even stand up to a harmless bug! You think you're going to protect her from bigger things than that?"

"Stop being so mean, Mindy. Chad's just being a good friend. Friends are nice to have, you know?" Sam asked, her voice slightly more mature than it usually is.

She's never been one to come up with a completely fake persona for children, hiding her true personality. She's always very honest, kind, and compassionate to kids as they're still learning things she learned not so long ago. But now, she couldn't help but feel it was time to act as if she were an older sibling.