Just for This Year

Chapter Twenty

October 10th
Thursday

21 Days Before

On the day of October 10th, 2019, Sam woke up to the sound of hushed voices in the hallway. He glanced at the clock and saw numbers of an ungodly hour blinking back at him. He heard his parents talking and keys rustling, making him frown and question where they were going at this hour.

Curiosity got the best of him and he dragged himself out from under the covers. He trudged towards the door and opened it slowly, blinking at the light seeping in. He saw his Dad pull his jacket on, keys in hand. Frowning at the sight, he wracked his brain for places he could be going to now.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sam asked in a groggy tone, rubbing his eye to try to clear his vision. Reece jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, turning around.

"Hey, I uh... I gotta go pick up Scarlett from school," his dad said with a tired sigh.

Sam squinted his eyes, checking the time on his phone. "Kinda late for that, don't you think?"

"I guess, yeah," Reece admitted, swinging the keys in his hand. "But I don't think she can wait until morning, I think she just needs to be home for a few days."

"Is she okay?" he checked, a bit more concerned.

His father nodded, giving him a reassuring look. "Yeah, she's all good, just overwhelmed with school I think."

"Got it," Sam said, nodding as he leaned against his door. "Could I come with? I'm already up, might as well help you stay awake on the drive."

"I'm good, Sam, you go back to sleep," Reece said with a chuckle, knowing what his son was like on a lack of sleep. "I'll be back with your sister in a few hours, okay?"

Sam suddenly felt a wave of dread wash over him. He didn't like this, it just felt wrong. He wanted to tell his Dad to wait. He wanted to tell him that he felt like something wasn't right. But he didn't. All he said was, "Okay."

Sam didn't go back to sleep that night. He couldn't. He laid in bed and stared at the ceiling with a horrible feeling in his stomach. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Something was very wrong— Sam was sure of it.

And when he saw the door to his room begin to open, he felt the first tear fall from his eye. It would be the first of many.

His older brother walked in, pained eyes holding back tears. Cole let out a shaky breath, trying to contain himself. It still didn't feel real to him. He shouldn't have to do this. He shouldn't have to be the one to tell his siblings that their father was in the hospital and about to die. He still didn't believe it himself. He didn't know how to do this.

Sam could hear his twin weeping from her own bedroom. But he blocked out what was being said, because it wasn't real anyway. Because this wasn't happening.

'Just don't open your eyes,' was what Sam told himself. If he just ignored his brother shaking his shoulder, if he just pretended to keep sleeping, maybe this wouldn't be real. Maybe all Sam had to do was keep his eyes closed, and maybe nothing would be wrong.

After what felt like years of waiting for the shoe to drop, Cole finally said, "Sam, we need to go to the hospital... it's Dad."

Who knew that ten words had the power to shatter his life?

And all he could think was... why didn't I stop him?

Sam woke up with a start, his heart racing as he tried to gather his bearings.