When Night Breaks

Samantha had been doing better in the weeks after Rose’s death. She had slowly grieved and came to terms with what happened. I however had not. I was keeping a secret from Samantha that I struggled with. It was a secret Leo knew and he had urged me to keep quiet.

When Leo’s parents died back in Detroit it had been ruled an accident – a car accident more specifically. They had lost control of the car and crashed into a guard rail, sending the car up in flames. Just like the McKenzie’s had staged the fire at the foster home in Chicago, they had staged Leo’s parents’ death. It was the same circumstances that killed Rose.

We couldn’t be sure that Rose was murdered by the McKenzies; after all, why would they? Leo had speculated it was to send a message to me, to let me know they were in Elliot Springs and they knew about Samantha. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and I certainly didn’t want to cause Samantha more worry, so I told no one. Not that I had anyone else to tell.

I tried to act normal while secretly looking into the situation. I had been doing fine until one afternoon when my past showed up literally on my door step.

Samantha and I had spent the morning together at her apartment; the sun was shining bright and, with jackets, it felt nice enough to sit out on her balcony. While we talked I had bragged about what an amazing pasta salad I could make; she challenged me and I invited her over for lunch. The day seemed perfect and it had indeed started that way.

Samantha drove to my house and as we pulled into the long driveway I felt my body go tense and my pulse quicken. I forced myself to change and in seconds my eyes were lasers, glowing white. I tuned my ears to listen to the conversation inside the house. My blood ran cold.

“You alright?” Samantha asked. I turned back normal.

“I don’t know,” I stepped out of the car and headed towards the front door.

With Samantha right behind me, I entered the living room and saw Alice standing in the middle of the room. She was talking to Leo who shot me a look of confusion.

“What are you doing here?!” I roared, louder than I had anticipated.

“Jason, I stopped by to see you. I thought – “

“Leave.”

“Jay, who is she?” Samantha asked.

“I’m Alice,” she walked over and extended her hand to Samantha. “Who are you?”

“I’m Sam,” she replied confused.

“You a friend of Jason and Leo’s?” Alice asked. My past and my future was standing in my living
room introducing themselves.

“I’m his girlfriend” Samantha spoke up.

“Oh,” she said quietly. “I came by because Jason never showed up like he promised.”

Samantha walked over to Leo and leaned in and whispered something. I made out the words, “what is this?”

I stood frozen, for the first time in a long time. I couldn’t force any words out and I couldn’t think of anything to do. Samantha looked irritated and Leo looked furious. Alice, noticing my struggle spoke on my behalf.

“Oh Jason must have not told you about me,” she giggled. “I was in the foster home with him back in Chicago. I survived, as he did, and have been looking for him for a while. I found him the other night and we made plans to meet up again and chat. Silly Jason must’ve forgotten.”

“It’s Jay,” I said. The only thing I could manage to say was that? I felt like punching myself.

“Right, Jay. Anyway, I found your guy’s house and decided to stop in,” she smiled at Leo.

Samantha shifted her weight from foot to foot before finally walking towards the door. She stopped and smiled and Alice. I knew that smile. It wasn’t Samantha’s happy and honest smile; it was the look she had when she was irritated and had a sarcastic remark to come.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, but I have to get home. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about. I’ll see you around?” Sarcasm oozed from Samantha.

“It was nice to meet you too! And yeah, sounds great!”

Samantha looked up at me before heading out the door. It wasn’t a look of anger or frustration, but one of almost sadness. I knew she would be hurt that I withheld such information from her and I couldn’t blame her. Her look snapped me out of my frozen state and I ran after her as she walked outside. I left Alice standing in the living room and I didn’t care.

“Samantha!” She kept walking. “Samantha wait!”

She stopped and turned to face me. I felt terrible for keeping her and Leo in the dark about seeing Alice.

“You could have told me about her, Jay,” she said.

“I know but I wasn’t sure about her. I wanted to keep you safe.”

“Is me walking into your house and finding her waiting on you safe?”

“Alice wasn’t supposed to show up here. I don’t know how she even found the house. I did have plans to meet her but I didn’t go. I thought the only way to understand what was going on was to be close to her. But now – “ I stopped.

“Now what, Jay?”

“I have a bad feeling about her.”

“Yeah, me too,” Samantha scoffed. I knew it was for a different reason.

It dawned on me that Samantha felt threatened by Alice is the sense that I had interest in being with her. Never in my 24 years of life had I had two girls wanting me. Samantha was the first person to ever show me true affection. Shaking my head and cursing myself internally, I wrapped my arms around Samantha. I kissed the top of her head and she laid her head against my chest.

“I am so sorry. Alice is a part of my past. A part I thought was dead and left back in Chicago with that burned down house. But she’s alive and she’s here. You’re my future though, Samantha. You’re my ‘now’ and my ‘tomorrow’ and the ‘rest of my life’ and I swear to you I would never let her or anyone else come between us. From now on, I promise to tell you anything else that happens. I love you so much.” I raised her chin up and kissed her lips. Soft at first, and then I grabbed her face and kissed her hard and deep. I heard her sigh just a little as I pulled away and opened my eyes.

“Hard to stay mad at you when you do that,” she smiled. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Come back inside, Samantha. I’ll make Alice leave.”

“I’ll come back in, but she doesn’t have to go. I want to know why she’s back just as much as you.”

“Okay, deal,” I said, taking her hand.

Together, we walked inside to face my past and get answers. Before my hand touched the door knob, I felt a sudden sense of panic. I knew something wasn’t right. I had just promised to tell
Samantha everything so before we walked in I turned around and spoke to her in a whisper.

“Something’s wrong.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. But I think we’re going to find out.”