Warped Petals (Sam-I-Am x Guy-Am-I)

Chapter 4

Guy rubs my back as I regain my emotions, although my mind is still racing about the whole situation. The way he looked at me, his smile that his eyes never gained, I knew I was in danger, but I was afraid to get Guy involved. I didn't want to hurt the man I loved.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, staring into the orange glow of the fire burning steadily in the fireplace.

"For what, Sam?"

"For everything. If I never had tried so hard to get you to be my friend, you never would have had to put up with me and my antics."

"You don't need to apologize for anything. If you had never made me go along with you, I never would have stayed here, I never would have gone back to talk to my parents, or get to experience all the crazy stuff you get into from time to time. I love..." He pauses, and I look up at him, wondering if he feels the same.

"I love your way of life, how excited you get about some things, how you think about things."

I sigh, pushing my head further into his chest, "You'll get tired of me eventually. It happened to all my old friends."

"Real friends don't push each other away. I tried so hard to push you away when we first met but I never could. I'm glad I never did, though. Because I don't know who I would have bought that dress for," He jokes, lightly drumming his fingers on my back.

I chuckle lightly, I had completely forgotten that I was wearing a dress, but I was comfy. His heartbeat was steady and calming with its rhythmic beats.

I look down at his sketchbook on the coffee table, watching how the light gives the blue cover a lighter tint. The sounds around me fade out as I think about him. All of the smiles and laughs he shares, all of the times he's melted my heart only by doing simple things.

"Sam?"

I'm pulled out of my thoughts as I look up at Guy, the bottom of my head resting on his chest.

"Are you... going to sleep in your dress or...?" He grins, rubbing the back of my head.

I giggle, running my hand through the lighter fur on his chest, "Yes."

"Of course," He says, rolling his eyes as he takes off his hat, dropping it on the floor behind him.

I smile, laying my head back down on his chest with a quiet sigh. I'm relieved that he hasn't moved me off of him, the comforting heat and light pressure from his hand leaving most of my worries out of my mind. But I know they're still there, waiting to fill my mind again.

I close my eyes, letting the overwhelming and sudden feeling of sleep surround me. Feeling myself practically fall in between the mixed fabrics of the dress, through the threads and the patterns, all while a grip around my back keeps me somewhat grounded.

I'm pulled into color again, sitting on one of the deck chairs that resides outside of Guy's house. I watch as Guy sits in the grass, playing with a small child with long, red hair. The warmth from the sun feels so real, it makes it seem like I'm within a memory, rather than a dream. I smile at the sight of it, seeing Guy treat the little girl almost as if she were his own. I turn my head to the sound of a door opening, and watch as a slightly older E.B. steps out, smiling at me.

"Did you not hear me call?" She asks, holding onto a satchell at the side of her waist.

"We've been outside all morning, I wanted Nix to get some sun," Guy replies, walking over with the girl in his arms.

I watch as E.B. pulls out a small pink carnation, which has a clip on the back, and hands it to the girl, "I made it last night, I know how much you like flowers, so I thought you might like a hair clip."

The girl smiles brightly, and chimes a quick "thank you" before being put down onto the floor. She takes E.B.'s hand after giving her a hug, and shows me the clip. I nod my head with a smile, remembering a small fact about carnations that leaves me confused. Pink carnations mean motherly love.

"I'll bring Phoenix back at 5:00," E.B. starts, "I doubt you two will have as much fun as we will, but I guess we'll have to wait and see," She laughs, opening the door behind her, following the child through the house and out the front door.

"E.B. may be fourteen, but she's still as smug as she was when she was ten," Guy sighs, sitting down in the chair across from my own, the only thing keeping us apart being a table.

I giggle, taking his hand in my own and gently kissing the wedding band on his ring finger.

"The mall won't wait for us Sam, we should get ready," He says, cupping my face in the hand I had just held.

I sigh and stand up, walking over to Guy and kissing him gently on his cheek, "Well then let's get ready," I whisper into his ear, giggling as his face turns pink.

The mall was empty, but there were echoes of other people around us. The layout of the mall was bare, other than the escalator to the second floor. We walked up the stairs to see a collection of shops, some of which had mannequins resting in the windows that seemed to follow your every move. I watch as Guy walks into an ice cream shop, then turn and look over the balcony at the bright white that engulfed the layer that would have been the floor.

An all-too familiar chuckle makes me want to turn, but I'm frozen in place once more. I'm able to make out the figure of yellow at my side, as his breath warms the side of my face.

"Time's up, Sam," He says, as I'm impaled in my back.

I'm once more able to move, as I turn my head to see the other me almost glitching out of reality, as if this could be considered a reality. I'm pulled over the rail by an unseen force, watching as a petrified Guy runs over to try to grab me.

Just as everything fades to black, I'm jolted awake from the nightmare. My heartbeat pulses in my chest rapidly as I try to catch my breath, but the feeling of a warm body under mine brings a wave of reassurance over me. I look at Guy, who was still sleeping peacefully, his fur ruffled from where my head was. The quiet chirps from birds cause me to look up at the windows that I had looked out of earlier, and I realize that the sun is coming up.

I blush as I realize the position I'm still in, and I move slowly off of Guy and the couch. I grab hold of the fabric of the dress I had fallen asleep in and walk to the bathroom to take it off.

I run my hand over the flower detailing, slowly folding it up so that I could put it back into the bag it was placed in before.

I turn to face the door that leads into Guy's room from the bathroom as I hear the knob turn, expecting it to be him. Instead, I'm taken aback by the figure in front of me, the one I thought I had seen out the window, as he stares back at me. I drop the dress, not taking my eyes off of my smiling clone, noticing that he's holding a cloth in his hand.

I try to run, to scream for Guy, but I'm grabbed by him, the cloth going over my mouth and nose. I try to squirm, to break free, but I begin to feel weak and tired. My struggling slows as I start to fade out of consciousness. My arms go limp as I succumb to the overwhelming exhaustion, and I manage to whisper a weak Guy as I black out, falling into the void of black around me.