Yesterday's Gone

Chapter 1: Yesterday's Gone

Summary: As if the school newspaper's libelous reports about him aren't bad enough, Sam gets a bitter taste of what a recession can do when he sees his family's situation continue to worsen. Quinn, who has already helped him on multiple occasions, risks her reputation and her relationship with Finn to continue helping the Evans family, despite the damage the Muckraker has already done.

Meanwhile, Sam still loves Quinn deeply, and decides that her aid in the worst of times is more than enough reason to forgive her for cheating. Out of respect for her, he keeps his feelings a solemn secret, as much as he longs to tell her, and to know if she feels the same way about him.

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Sam awoke with the daylight as the first bright rays sifted through the blinds and into the motel room. He didn’t get out of bed right away; he still felt as though he were half-asleep. He wanted to return to the dream he’d woken up from, but try as he might, there was no going back.

He sat up slowly and looked around the room at his parents and siblings. They had yet to wake up, and he envied them for it. He wanted so badly to drift back to sleep, to forget once again what had happened to him and his family over the past few months – to forget the humiliation he felt at being accused of convincing two of his friends to cheat on their boyfriends with him when all he’d done was accept their help.

The alternative was to face all of that pain full-force, and to remember that, of all his so-called friends at McKinley, only Quinn and Kurt had stuck with him through all of this. Even worse, no matter how much those two helped him and his family, and no matter what anyone tried to tell him to give him hope, he knew that there would be no return to normalcy and comfort until the recession was over. For all he knew, that could take several more years.

He winced as his body reminded him that he hadn’t had dinner the night before. After work, he hadn’t really been in the mood for it, so he’d gone straight to bed.

He got up carefully and hoped no one else would be woken up early by the creaking of the cheap mattress. He glanced at his parents’ bed once more; neither of them stirred. With a silent sigh, he went to the kitchen area and, as quietly as he could, pulled the refrigerator door open, expecting little and finding less.

The light from the refrigerator spread throughout the entire room, but not waking his family up no longer seemed very important. The shelves and drawers inside were more or less empty. He closed the door and started opening cabinets, but all he could find worth eating was a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, both of which he took down.

By the light coming in through the windows, he took out a couple of slices of bread and started spreading a thin layer of peanut butter over one of them, sighing in disgust. He was so tired of peanut butter sandwiches. He and his family had had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a while now… but at least they were better than an empty stomach.

All of a sudden, he startled at the sound of his dad’s whispering voice: “Sam, what are you doing up this early?”

Sam put down the sandwich-in-progress, but didn’t turn to face his dad. Staring down at the counter, he whispered back, “Couldn’t sleep…”

His dad sighed heavily. Finally, Sam turned around to look at him. “I should have known you’d lose sleep over this, too,” his dad muttered, shaking his head solemnly. “Believe me, Sam, this is scary for all of us. But things… things will get better.” He put a hand on his eldest son’s shoulder. “Meanwhile, we need to make the most of what we have left.” He then took the slice of bread that didn’t have any peanut butter on it, placed it back in the bag with the rest of the loaf and closed the bag with a tie.