Fall Back {A Sabriel Fanfic}

Chapter 20

Sam taps his feet impatiently at a small table inside the coffee shop, checking the time on his phone. 7:27.

7:28.

7:28.

7:29. He stares at the lit up phone screen for the last minute, it seeming like hours.

7:30. His heart stops and he quickly checks his surroundings.

~

Sam sits there until nearly ten-thirty, three hours of the fear building, stacking, just piling up. His stare stays fixed on the door, almost in a trance, a bead of sweat dripping from his hairline.

"Sir..Sir?..Sir!!"

Sam's head snaps in the woman's direction, his face paled. "Uh, we're closing.."

"Right..sorry."

The walk back to his dorm is nearly torture, his legs seeming to work against him and slow the rushed teen down. Every dogs bark, car horn, bush rustle, and distant voice makes his heart beat at a rapid pace.

With the sudden feeling of eyes on his back, he rounds the dorm building, glancing behind him and pushing himself to a jog.

Foot steps clap off the pavement of the sidewalk. The chilly night air stings Sams lungs as he breaths it in, exhaling it a moment later and struggling to take another inhale.

He pulls the building door shut behind him, leaning against the wall for support, gasping for oxygen.

Slam.

In an instant, Sam has his back pressed against the wall, standing tall with a petrified expression.

"Hey man," Kevin greets, "You okay?"

"Uh. Uh–y–yeah."

"Okay, well someone left you like a letter or something. I set it on the table," Kevin begins heading for their room, assuming that Sam will follow. With the teen still glued in his spot, shock coursing through his veins, his friend stops, "You coming?" Gulping, he nods.

Sam immediately goes for the letter, ripping it open and pulling out the sheet of paper. "Yeah, I don't know who it's from. It just says your name on it, figured you were expecting it or something."

Shaking his head in denial, he rereads the short worded message.

Dear Sam,

This was a test. Before you think anything, Gabriel is fine. Do as you're told and he stays that way.

Tomorrow at 7am you'll meet Jess at the same coffee spot, she's already expecting you. Don't show up and...well I'll leave that to your imagination.

"Kevin, who dropped this off?!" Sam asks, holding up the letter, voice demanding. "I don't really kn–"

"Kevin!"

"I don't know! Okay? I stepped outside and it was just laying on the floor!"

•

The black haired teen was fast asleep, sprawled in different directions, covers thrown off the side of the bed. Sam on the other hand, found nothing but a concrete block as a mattress, late night partiers returning home as monsters, his brain nothing but a white blank room with no way out. Curled into the corner on his bed, the six-thirty alarm goes off.