Never Let You Go

Six

Gabriel hated silence. He always had. Silence was always when the worst things came to mind, silence was when he thought about how his father left, silence was when he remembered Luc. But after Sam called him that night, silence shifted. Gabe was happy he'd been able to help Sam, but he still tried not to think of that night. Every time Gabe closed his eyes, all he could see was Sam, his face in his hands and his shoulders shaking. Every time there was a moment of quiet he could hear the broken sound of Sam's voice, and whenever his mind quieted, he imagined the million different ways that night might have gone, most of them ending with blood. He spent the next week like that until he couldn't stand it anymore, and he called Sam.

"Gabe?"

"Hello Samsquatch. You free?"

"I have been sitting on this couch for a month, I am nothing but free."

"Great. Meet me outside your apartment in twenty minutes."

"Are you going to tell me why?"

"Just be there, Moose."

***

"So where is the sugar, Gabe?" Sam asked as they walked down the sidewalk.

"What?" Gabe asked.

"So far you haven't taken me anywhere that didn't involve sugar. So where is it?" Sam repeated, smiling.

"I wanted to cheer you up. I didn't like seeing you sad, so I thought I'd take you out somewhere, but then I didn't know where to go, so here we are," Gabe said. Sam glanced over at him.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah," Gabe said. "I really like you, Sam." Sam smiled at the ground and Gabe went back to watching where he was going. They walked in silence for a minute, Gabriel trying desperately to think of something to say, when his thought process was interrupted by Sam's fingers lacing through his. Gabe smiled and his mind quieted without interruption this time. And so they walked together, hand in hand down the sidewalk, and for the first time in his life, Gabriel was okay in the silence.