Mine // Sam Wilkinson

Part // XXV

Sammy's POV

"She'll be okay, man. We'll be there in three hours. We just have to prepare ourselves."

I could tell Nate was trying to talk himself into what he was telling me. He knew how bad it was; he knew more than I did. Emma wouldn't let me hear certain details but seeing the look on Nate's face, I'm pretty glad I didn't hear them.

The problem was, was that I can't prepare myself. Emma told us that Claire had been beaten so bad to the point she was unconscious. Her ex boyfriend, Tyler, went over to talk to her. Claire had texted Emma saying he had shown up but was acting nicer and sweeter. Emma tried calling Claire but she wouldn't answer calls or even texts anymore. Knowing Tyler's past, she drove over to find the house trashed and Claire was nowhere to be found. She ended up finding her outside in the backyard, with two stab wounds in her leg and stomach, bruises surfacing almost everywhere and cuts as deep as a few inches all over; she wasn't responding.

I sat as patiently as I could be, listening to a playlist Claire and I had made of our favorite songs. We would always play it through the car radio and sing along together. A small smile crept across my face thinking of the last time I drove her to breakfast in her car with Nate and Emma in his before returning to Omaha. It was only nine in the morning, but we were full of energy as soon as Shawn Mendes' Life of the Party came on. Seeing her face light up that much, and how much she loved singing along just made it impossible for me not to fall in love with her.

I was going through pictures we have taken from before our dates to on our dates, and little videos I had of her that I had saved from previous snapchat stories of mine. I always had videos of her in her favorite sweats, a dance shirt and her hair up. Most of these videos were just me messing with her as she laughed and her smile radiating through the video causing a pressure in my chest of happiness and the pain of worry; I was so scared.

There's another video which just might be my favorite. She didn't know I took it because her eyes were closed as she tried to nap. I was annoying her so she wouldn't fall asleep, but I didn't succeed. She was laying with her head on my chest. I had the phone in front of us as we lay there and I tell her little things that make her smile.

"you're so beautiful, Claire,"

"your smile is my favorite view,"

"I want to be here with you for as long as forever,"

The video goes on and on as I say more things. She then smiles so wide and starts telling me things she loves.

"I love your eyes and how you always look at me with pure passion,"

"I love when you hold my face and kiss me,"

"I love your dimples and how you don't even realize how much you smile when you see me; it's like you get stunned every time I walk downstairs,"

I kept replaying that over and over, listening to her voice and knowing that no matter what happens, I had the greatest six months of my life with her. I know it's not my choice, but I will do anything I can to make sure I can spend the rest of my life with her.

This plane was going well over three hundred miles an hour, but it sure as hell was not traveling fast enough.