"A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms." -- theclassypeople, Instagram.

- - - - -

It was about 8:00 am when Jay-Jay had dropped everyone off. He dropped Steph and Sam off last since it was most convenient.

Sam didn't mind, but she did want to get out of the van as soon as she possibly could because the mournful silence was becoming too much to handle.

Throughout the ride, no one had said anything, each lost in their own world. Everything around Sam seemed grey and lifeless.

When Jay--Jay reached her house, she hastily got out of the van and muttered an inaudible, "Bye" before getting her bags and walking up to the front door. She couldn't bear looking at her friend's faces for the fear of what she'd see.

She couldn't unlock the door with her own key; she didn't bring it to the camp. She sighed as she realised that she was locked out. She turned around, thinking of asking Jay-Jay to drop her off at the shop but he was no longer there. Sam leaned against the door and went to the back of the house. The gate was never locked and Sam opened it and went through. She went to the back door only to find it closed.

Sam sighed heavily. The only thing she wanted to do was go inside and rest her mind. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to phone her Uncle, but it was dead. Sam let out a cry of frustration. She had no other option but to walk to the shop. Her Uncle wouldn't be home until late afternoon.

Sam dropped her bags onto the floor and slid her phone back into her pocket. She looked around at her neighbour's houses, thinking that she could borrow one of their phones to call her Uncle. Once she went to four houses without any success -- the houses were all empty -- she sighed in defeat and started walking up the road. She didn't want to go to Steph or Jay-Jay's house, knowing that she was not able to deal with all of that now. She slowly walked, looking at her feet the entire time and only looked up once she reached the shop.

She pushed the door open and immediately was met with the sound of excited chatter, laughter and someone shouting out orders. Sam looked around for her Uncle but couldn't see him anywhere. She kept her head down so that no one could recognise her but it seemed that one person did.

"Hey, Sam," she heard the familiar voice of Brittany, one of the staff, greet her.

She forced a smile on her face and looked at her. Thanks to her tall figure, she was almost eye-level with her; Brittany was quite tall.

"Hey, Brits. How you?" she tried to make her voice seem as cheerful as it usually is.

"Eh, I've been better. You?"

Sam just smiled, deciding not to lie or tell the truth.

"Have you seen Ian anywhere?" she asked her.

"Yeah, he's in the back room," she gave her some space to pass.

Brittany could sense that Sam was not in the mood to talk and stopped herself from saying something stupid. She could see that she wasn't looking too good and didn't want to push her any further.

"Thanks."

Brittany nodded, not knowing what else to say.

Sam passed her and walked into the back room where she found her Uncle at the same table he was always at.

She walked up to him and before she could greet, he looked up and beat her to it.

"Hey, Sam," surprise was evident in his tone.

She merely gave him a nod and a small smile.

"You're back early," he noted and when she didn't reply he asked, "You alright?" she could hear the concern in his voice.

"I'll talk to you about it later, okay? I just need the keys to the house," her voice was small and she thought he never hear her. But he gave her a worried look and fished the keys out of his pocket, handing it to her.

"You'll be okay alone?"

She nodded and gave a small wave. She walked around the people, head down, hands in her pocket, and walked out of the shop.

When she reached, she went to the back and brought her bags inside. She put her phone to charge and decided that a warm shower was just what she needed now.

When she came out of the bathroom, she heard her phone ringing, the chief's name flashing on the screen.

She picked it up and answered with, "Hello?"

"Sam, m'girl. How you keeping?" she heard the cheerful voice of Chief Cross greet her.

Sam gave a dry chuckle. "I'm greater than ever," she didn't mean to sound sarcastic, but she did.

She heard the chief sigh on the other side before he spoke again, "I just phoned to inform you that I did call Mrs Anderson. She wasn't doing too well but she's getting there. She asked me to tell you that she's not mad at you or anything and that you shouldn't feel bad. She also said she's sorry for how she treated you."

Sam sighed. "Thank you."

"No problem."

After a brief pause, Sam spoke again, "Could you please keep me updated, I . . . I need to know what's going to happen."

The chief heard the plead in her voice.

"Don't worry, m'girl, I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Thank you. Did you . . . did you find anything?" Sam asked.

"We're getting there slowly. Whoever did this, we found out, is part of a group of some sort. We found footprints but lost them on the road," he said.

When Sam didn't reply -- her mind was too busy thinking of too many scenarios --, he carried on, "We going to find him, don't worry."

After a few more minutes, Sam said she had to go and hung up.

She got dressed, realising she was still wrapped in her towel, and went downstairs after that.

She fixed a snack for herself and as she sat at the kitchen table and ate, her mind wandered to Sally, just like it had been the entire morning.

She remembered Sally's body and the knife wound that had an excessive blood flow. She felt angry that someone could do that to a helpless girl for absolutely no reason. Anger ran through her veins, spreading like a wild fire to every nerve in her body from her mind, flowing to her fingertips and down to her feet; her blood boiled. Her mind bubbled and she thought it would explode. She felt herself warm up to the point of no return. She wanted to scream as loudly as she could and thrash around the place.

She suddenly felt determined to find this person.

With a set mind, she finished her snack, grabbed her keys and her phone, and stalked out of the house. She forgot to lock the door, something she's never forgotten before, and casually walked towards the police station; her mind racing with thoughts.

- - -

"Lucas . . . ," Chief Cross sighed, not being able to think of a way to complete the sentence, but the look he gave Lucas was enough to tell it all.

Lucas was sitting in a chair in his father's office. He was off from work today and had nothing else to do, so he got up early -- as usual -- and headed straight to his father's office in the police station.

Lucas was sitting in the very same room from earlier, only for a different reason. Earlier, he was looking around for any new cases that his father was working on, but instead, got one delivered by a phone call right into his hands by Sam.

He felt bad for the Anderson family, it must be really tough for them to lose their only daughter, but he was more excited and couldn't wait to help out with the case. The only problem was that that wouldn't be easy to do.

Lucas was a very curious person and got into trouble because of it from time to time, but when there was a mystery somewhere, he couldn't stay away from it.

With his father being a detective, it was quite easy to get hold of cases he was currently busy with. The difficult part is getting there to the scene without his father seeing him; he wasn't allowed to go to the scenes. So, it was pretty difficult to help out since his father never allowed him, but that never stopped Lucas from trying.

After Lucas received the call, he had jumped out of the chair and sprinted outside where his father was sitting with a few others. Lucas had informed them of them of the call and they immediately set to work. Lucas had tried his luck by jumping in another car -- there were several of them -- and it took him straight to the scene. When they arrived there, however, he realised it was almost impossible to get in there without being seen.

Lucas, a little disheartened now, called his father and walked up to him. He was talking to Sam and Lucas' heart skipped a beat when he saw her.

Despite the current situation, he couldn't help but stare at her for a few long seconds without her noticing, captured by her beauty. He had never seen a girl more beautiful than her.

Well, besides those hot models and celebs, he thought. Nah, not even them, he added.

He was soon pulled out of it when he remembered his father was there and he turned his attention to him. He tried pushing his luck, but instead was ordered back to the car. The car was locked immediately once he closed the door and he sighed, knowing that there was nothing he could do now.

The rest of the morning was dull and boring. It was around 9:00 am or so when his father fetched him from the car and drove them back to the station. The rest of his group was still at the scene, investigating.

When they got out of the car, his father steered him into his office and made him sit on a chair, where he has being sitting for the past few minutes, being scolded for trying to join in a case again.

"Listen here, Luke. I know you want to help, --"

"Yes, I do, so why can't I?"

His father glared at Lucas for cutting him off and continued talking, "-- But this is a serious matter and I can't have you there. There could be danger anytime and I'm not risking that."

"But --"

"No. There's no negotiation. You stay out of it, got it?" he said in a firm voice, ending the conversation.

Lucas mumbled a reply and walked out of the room, sulking. He looked down as he walked, not looking up at anything. He knew that going against his fathers wishes was wrong, but he couldn't help it. No matter what anyone said to him, he was still going to help in any way he can.

Just as he was about to pull the door, it was pushed open roughly from the other side and knocked him in his head. He gave a small yelp, rubbed his aching head and looked up, ready to give that person a piece of his mind even though it was partly his fault, but all thoughts flew out of the window when he saw Sam walking through.

Sam looked at him and apologised, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," she said distractedly.

Sam wasn't really there. She couldn't focus on anything else other than her raging thoughts.

"Uh, no . . . it's okay, don't worry," he stumbled over his words and cursed in his head. This only happend when she's around, he never, ever stumbles elsewhere.

"Um, could you please tell me where the chief's office is?" Sam asked.

Lucas nodded. He had a feeling that she was here to talk about her friend, Sally, that girl who was murdered. He walked her to the door and knocked. He heard his father's voice on the other side.

"What is it, Luke?"

"Samantha's here."

"Come on in."

Lucas pushed the door open and let Sam pass into the room. He resisted the urge to go inside and listen to what they had to say; it could help him gather information for the case. Lucas closed the door and set outside, hoping they'd talk loud enough for him to hear.

On the other side of the door, Sam and the chief exchanged greetings. She sat down in the offered seat.

She looked at the chief, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

The chief was a tall man with a lean body. He had light brown hair that almost looked blonde. His face was long and he had intense brown eyes. He looked like he was in his late thirties or so.

Lucas looked nothing like him, she noted, maybe he took after his mother. Some similarities here and there, though.

"Chief, I want to talk about my friend, if that's okay with you," she began.

"I have some time, go ahead," he gestured for her to continue and gave her a small smile.

"Well, I thought about this and I feel like it was partly my fault and I don't sit well with that," Sam paused.

"Why do you feel like that, m'girl? It wasn't your fault at all, there was nothing you could have done," he said gently.

"I know that, but . . . is there something I could do to help? I just -- I can't," she sighed. "I need to help in someway. I can't just sit around knowing that the person who killed her is still out there somewhere and he could do the same thing to anyone," she looked at him.

He looked like he was considering it.

"The reason I don't like youth around crime scenes is because of the danger," before Sam could interrupt, he carried on. "I understand what you mean, but this is a very serious case."

"Chief, please. Even if I'm not there at the scene or anything. There has to be something I could do," Sam pleaded.

He looked at her and his heart went out to her. He heard the plead in her voice and the desperate look on her face. He couldn't understand what she and her friends had to go through that morning, it must have been really tough for them to see their friend like that.

He sighed. "Okay, I'll send you info tomorrow morning. I just ask one thing, though. Please don't mention it to my son, Lucas."

Sam nodded and thanked him. After a bit more discussion, Sam thanked him again and left the office. She saw Lucas sleeping on a chair just outside the office. He didn't look like he was sleeping, though.

Sam left the station and headed to the Anderson residence. She stayed there, helping and comforting Scar. She also helped set up a date for the funeral; it was set for tomorrow. She stayed there until 3:00 pm since Scar was expecting guests and returned home, not in the mood to do anything else.

She passed time until her Uncle came back. She filled him in on everything over supper. He didn't take the news too well, but she calmed him down.

Sam wanted nothing more than to sleep, so she went to bed early and fell asleep almost instantly. She didn't have a peaceful night as she hoped she would. She woke up several times due to unpleasant dreams about Sally. Sam sighed and got out of bed; she didn't feel like sleeping anymore.

She made herself something to eat and sat in front of the TV, not knowing what else to do that would keep her awake. She reached for her phone and saw a message from an unknown number. What she read shocked her.

She was terrified.

- - - - -

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