The Protagonists

Chapter Twenty-Five - Sam

Sam stood in between his best friend, Oliver, and the unfamiliar girl he quickly grew a liking to-despite her chasing him and Oliver down the hallways of the Zentrale auditorium deviously-nervously. Millions of thoughts ran around inside his head rapidly, but only two stuck out more than the others; the first one was about his best friend and the second one was about Nana, the new, peculiar girl. What if Oliver does not remember me when he gains his original memory? He asked himself, feeling his palms become sweatier than usual-Sam was known for his extremely-sweaty palms at school, especially during presentations. What if I'm left alone in the dust? Is it really worth losing my best friend just so he can see his "girlfriend"? She might be bluffing; she might not even be his girlfriend!

"Sam?" He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He quickly brushed it off, wanting to get away for a moment. "Are you alright?" Sam spun around to be met with Nana, who had a curious, perplexed look on her face. "You look stressed," she told him, smiling sympathetically.

"Leave me alone," he muttered, surprising even himself with the sudden outburst of anxiety and paranoia. Nana nodded understandingly and stepped away from Sam to join Joel, Maya, and Oliver. The four of them sat at a tree stump, the stone castle belonging to Beast behind them. They whispered to each other, looking back over to Sam every once and awhile. Sam glared at them whenever they would look over; he just knew they were speaking of him and he figured that it was nothing nice. "Are you alright?" Oliver mouthed after Nana whispered something in his ear.

"I'm fine," Sam replied softly, lost in space. Am I fine? He puzzled, looking up at the clear, dusk sky. Am I really fine? Will I be fine if I lose my best friend, Oliver Davis? Will I really be okay? Am I really okay now? They're staring at me. They're frightened. I'm frightening them-I'm just like Iris. I scare everyone. They think I'm going to hurt them if I get too close. Speaking of Iris, will she remain a sloth forever? I don't remember seeing Maya lock the doors. What if Iris comes back and kills us all? I don't want to die. I want to go home; but what if they think I am a wimp? I mean, Maya has been dealing with this for such a long time and she's fine. But am I fine? It's been a day and I don't think I am fine. I don't think I'm okay. But I guess it doesn't matter, because this little adventure we're having is just about Maya, Oliver, and Nana. Joel knows more than I do, possibly even more than Nana does, so that leaves me. Little Sam. That is just me. I'm left alone on this little trip. Look, they're still looking at me like I'm an animal in a zoo. Maya is walking towards me. Nana is too. Now Oliver and Joel are following. Why are they so close to me? Do they think I am crazy? What if they think I'm mental? They could send me to a mental hospital. I'll live in a mental institute for the rest of my life, asking what I did wrong.

"Sam?" Maya shook him out of his thoughts. "Sam, look at me."

"W-What?" He stuttered, looking rapidly between Oliver, Maya, Joel, and Nana. They all looked concerned, especially Oliver, who wasn't used to Sam being so troubled, even after being friends with him for so long. "Sam," Maya repeated, looking only into his ice-blue eyes, "look at me."

His heart rate decreasing slightly, he stared deep into her matching, blue eyes. She smiled softly, glad her miniscule plan had indeed worked-it had calmed him down, just like she thought it would. "Everything is fine," she reassured. "I don't know what's going on in that little brain of yours, but whatever the voices are saying, it isn't true. Those little voices singing inside your head? They're you! You are the one getting yourself so anxious. Whatever you're thinking about will never happen. I promise you, Sam."

"Thank you," Sam whispered, looking at the sky to calm himself down.

"You should stay here," Joel told him, taking charge suddenly. "I've had a fair share of awful thoughts myself, so I know what it's like. It's not fun, I can tell you that. You can stay out here while we go inside. I know the sky always calms me down, so maybe watching the sun set will help you as well."

Sam nodded, surrendering; sure, he wanted to go inside to meet Merten and he wanted to see Oliver and Nana regain their memory back, but he knew that Joel was right. He knew that the sky would calm himself down. "M-Maya," he stuttered, wanting to tell her how worried he was about Oliver forgetting about him.

His voice trailed off, however; he did not admit to how paranoid he was. He remained silent, leaving Maya to wonder what he wanted to say. "Nevermind," Sam muttered, looking down at his sneakers.

"You'll be fine out here, right?" Maya asked kindly.

"Of course," Sam replied, nodding. Maya nodded in satisfaction and stepped away, leaving him with Nana, Joel, and Oliver. Joel spoke first: "We won't take long," he said. "What color ring do you want? We'll pick it up."

"His favorite color is yellow," Oliver told him, smirking. Sam nodded-it was true. He really liked the color yellow because it not only reminded him of his favorite food-Sam really loved macaroni and cheese-but it also reminded him of the sun. Sam had a strange fascination with the sun; it was too bright to clearly look at, however.

Joel awkwardly smiled and stepped away over to where Maya was standing-that left him with just Nana and Oliver. "I hope you guys get your memories back," he said to them, offering a soft smile.

"Thanks," Nana faintly said, returning the smile. Before walking over to join Maya and Joel, she gave him a hug; the soft embrace was a comforting one, rather than an average, awkward hug that would go on between two strangers.

"You know," Oliver laughed, "we're all making it seem like this is our final goodbye. We're not parting ways-we're just going inside a castle while you stay out here. Like, we'll see you again in twenty minutes."

"I know," Sam said, laughing along. "I'll always love you, Oliver Davis."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "And I to you, Sam Lowe."

"Stop loving each other!" Maya complained, crossing her arms playfully, as if she was actually angry at the two. "I would like to go today!" Oliver nodded and gave Sam one of the stereotypical "bro-hugs", the weird back-slap hug. With that, Oliver, Maya, Joel, and Nana walked up the staircase leading to the castle. Sam leaned against the cobblestone wall, crossing his arms and watching his friends climb up to the top. Although their reassuring words did well at the time, he still felt uneasy-Sam knew that although Oliver and Nana would gain their past memories, something bad was still going to happen in that castle.

Sam knew that Iris hadn't been stopped.