Hiya! You've reached Sam. I'm probably off doing something legendary or ignoring you,  leave me a message and you will find out which it is! Peace, Love and everything in between! [Beep]

The calls started coming right after James left. Sam was starting to feel comfortable in her surroundings and feel safe again when that voice brought everything tumbling back on her. The fear, the pain, and unfortunately the longing.

"Hello Samantha. I've missed you." 

Her hand started shaking and she tried hard to not pass out. "C-che?....But..how? What..what do you want?" She demanded, her composure slipping.

"I just want you back, baby." 

Then he hung up.

Every call after that, she didn't answer or when she did, she hung up almost immediately.

***
Sam was still feeling shaky but decided after James left the 14th worried voice mail, that she should start answering the phone. She had to stop looking over her shoulder at some point. The next time the phone rang, Sam waited until the fourth ring to answer.

"James, I'm sorry about the phone thing, I can explain."

"Samantha. You've been ignoring me." 

Sam's blood ran cold, her knees shook, her heart pounding in her chest she was surprised she could hear anything over the sound.

"Now listen closely darlin'. You are going to meet me at the Franklin Canyon Park next week. If you don't show up, I'll come find you princess and you will be punished."

***
James came home a few days later and life went on as normal as it could. Sam couldn't sleep or eat, she even tried getting drunk to forget her worries but that made her more sick than anything else. By the time the day arrived, Sam was prepared. She had done a lot of thinking and she decided that it was best to meet Che, that way he wouldn't hurt James or anyone else she cared about. Besides, maybe he really was sorry and just missed her as much as she missed him. She hobbled down the stairs, her leg still on the mend but much better and found James on his way out.

"Hey..I'm, uh, gonna go for a walk." 

James looked exhausted, no doubt from the amount of work he had been doing on his music. He nodded, too tired to notice her shaking. Sam smiled at him and gave him a quick hug, which he of course returned.

"I love you Chester. See you later." 

****
Sam sat on a rock in Franklin Canyon Park and waited for Che. She wondered if he would hug her when he saw her, if he would tell her he loved her and that he was sorry and they could go back to New York. She knew it was delusional but she held out hope anyway. When she saw him stumbling toward her with two other guys, she knew that it wasn't going to be anything like that. Immediately she regretted meeting him here.

"Baby!" He yelled, clearly drunk. "I missed ya!" Che grabbed her roughly off of the rock and hugged her. Sam knew better than to struggle and just let him hold her.  "I made some new friends Sami Baby. Let them see how pretty you are." 

Che pushed Sam away from him and forced her to do a turn. His friends "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed and laughed, finding all of this hilarious. Che smiled back, feeding off of his friends enjoyment. He kicked Sam's bad leg, making it give out, she fell hard to the ground.

"Get up!" Che yelled, his friends laughing louder behind him. Sam tried to get up but failed, her leg aching horribly, she knew better than to wince or make a sound. Che grabbed her arm and harshly pulled her up. "I don't like that leg brace Baby, people are going to think someones hurting you. Don't you know better than to show people you are hurt?" He asked bending down to look her in the eye.

"I don't think she gets it Che." One of his friends yelled out.

"Yeah man, clearly she ain't learned yet." Another one said.

Che laughed. "You are making me look bad in front of my friends. I don't like looking bad in front of my friends." He slapped Sam across the face. The force made her turn the other direction, she closed her eyes and turned back to him, trying to figure out if she could run away. Not with her leg in this condition and not with four guys after her.

"You open your eyes when I'm talking to you Samantha!!" He yelled, getting angrier by the minute. He slapped her again and pushed her to the ground. His friends yelled encouraging words in the background. He smiled at them, taking a knife from his pocket. "I'm bored now Samantha. We had our fun but..you really are damaged goods." 

He knelt down until he was right in front of her, Sam tried to drag herself away from him, her eyes never straying from the knife in his hand. Her futile efforts to get away just made him laugh harder and he pulled his arm back.

The knife went into her stomach then came back out. Sam cried out in pain, unable to contain herself this time. For good measure, Che stabbed her again then retreated with his friends.

Sam lay there, she could see the street from where she was, she knew that it was one turn left then another right and she would be back at James' house, she couldn't find the strength to get up. He stomach ached horribly, she pressed a hand to it, feeling the warmth of the blood as it gushed out and pooled around her. She lay her head against the ground, the cold dirt feeling good on her stinging face. She didn't feel the tears that were running down her cheeks or the pain in her stomach, not anymore, she just felt calm. If this was death, it wasn't so bad. She lifted her hand to see the blood dripping from her fingers slowly.

[Dials Chester's number and waits]

Sam sat on the examination table, the way over-sized hospital gown made her feel like she was wearing a circus tent. She could fit at least four of her in that thing. She readjusted it for about the tenth time, and tried to relax. James was right outside the door..no reason for her to be so nervous. Her foot bounced up and down all the same before finally the door opened.

"Sam Mosby?" Asked the brown haired doctor that walked in. Sam nodded. "I'm Dr. Thomas, we got your x-rays back on your leg. Nothing is broken, but you have sustained some pretty bad bruising on that hip and ligament damage.  I'm going to give you a leg brace, I want you to wear if for a few months and of course bed rest is the best thing for injuries like this. Stay off of it, give it time to heal. Ice it whenever you get the chance, in 20 minute increments."

The doctor handed Sam a full leg brace and patted the table, "Lie down please."

Sam complied and resisted the urge to jump off the table and bolt. She closed her eyes. The doctor started to feel Sam's ribs, Sam winced.

"A little tender? You need to eat more, get some meat on those bones." She smiled encouragingly. Sam nodded.

"Alright.," The doctor said after a few more minutes for poking and prodding. "I'm doing to give you some pain medication for the leg and something to take at night to help you sleep. Do you have any more questions?"

Sam shook her head. "Alright, then you can get dressed and take this down to the pharmacy."

Sam took the small slip of paper from the doctor and waited for her to leave before she stripped the gown off. She stared down at her much too skinny frame. A large yellow bruise on her rib was finally healing, she looked at her arm, fit her hand in the larger hand shaped bruise she had there. She sighed and got dressed.

James was in the waiting room when Sam slowly hobbled out. "Everything alright, Winnie?"

"Yeah, I have to wear this stupid brace for a while, and she said bed rest. Other than that I have a clean bill of health."

James nodded and lead her out the double doors to the parking lot. They passed a trash can and Sam disposed of the crumpled up prescription slip. She smiled slightly and turned to catch up with James.

"Yo, wait up Chester. I can only hobble so fast!"

literary_james  used with permission

D- David M- Michael L- Lopiccolo

In memory of my best friend and my cousin. May he rest in peace.

Sam waited for the elevator to make it up to John's floor. The door man had been a little skeptical letting her in but when she said she was here to visit John, he nodded his head. As if it was a regular occurrence. Sam wasn't sure if she should be concerned of relieved with that news.

The elevator opened up and she walked up to a door, it was giant. She wondered what could possibly be inside John's house to need a door as big as that. Regardless, she reached her hand up to knock on the door.