sam-sullivan

Do you believe in God, Evan?___ure I do.___ don__. I mean, I don__ know. I did before the Others came. Or thought I did, when I thought about it at all. And then they came and_ I have to stop for a second to collect myself. __aybe there__ a God. Sammy thinks there is. But he also thinks there__ a Santa Claus. Still, every night I said his prayer with him, and it didn__ have anything to do with me. It was about Sammy and what he believed, and if you could have seen him take that fake soldier__ hand and follow him onto that bus____ losing it, and it doesn__ matter to me much. Crying is always easier in the dark. Suddenly my cold hand is blanketed by Evan__ warmer one, and his palm is as soft and smooth as the pillowcase beneath my cheek.__t kills me,_ I sob. __he way he trusted. Like the way we trusted before they came and blew the whole goddamned world apart. Trusted that when it got dark there would be light. Trusted that when you wanted a fucking strawberry Frappuccino you could plop your ass in the car, drive down the street, and get yourself a fucking strawberry Frappuccino! Trusted_

Zombie!_ Sammy calls. __ knew it was you.__ombie?__here are you taking him?_ Ben says to me in a deep voice. I don__ remember it being that deep. Is my memory bad or is he lowering it on purpose, to sound older?__ombie, that__ Cassie,_ Sam chides him. __ou know__assie.___assie?_ Like he__ never heard the name before.__ombie?_ I say, because I really haven__ heard that name before.I pull off the cap, thinking it might help him recognize me, then immediately regret it. I know what my hair must look like.__e go to the same high school,_ I say, drawing my fingers hastily through my chopped-off locks. __ sit in front of you in Honors Chemistry.__en shakes his head like he__ clearing out the cobwebs.Sammy goes, __ told you she was coming.___uiet, Sam,_ I scold him.__am?_ Ben asks.__y name is Nugget now, Cassie,_ Sam informs me.__ell, sure it is._ I turn to Ben. __ou know my brother.

I, um, I thought you might want this back.__ pull out the battered old teddy bear and hold it toward him. He frowns and shakes his head and doesn__ reach for it, and I feel like he__ punched me in the gut.Then my baby brother slaps that damned bear out of my hand and crushes his face against my chest, and beneath the odors of sweat and strong soap I can smell it, his smell, Sammy__, my brother__.

Cassie?__t__ Sammy, holding on to Ben, because he__ feeling the Ben thing a little more than he is the Cassie one at the moment. Who__ this guy falling from the ductwork, and what__ he doing with my sister?__his must be Sammy,_ Evan says.__his is Sammy,_ I say. __h! And this is____en Parish,_ Ben says.__en Parish?_ Evan looks at me. That Ben Parish?__en,_ I say, my face on fire. I want to laugh and crawl under the counter at the same time. __his is Evan Walker.___s he your boyfriend?_ Sammy asks.I don__ know what to say. Ben looks totally lost, Evan completely amused, and Sammy just damned curious. It__ my first truly awkward moment in the alien lair, and I__ been through my share of moments.__e__ a friend from high school,_ I mutter.And Evan corrects me, since it__ clear I__e lost my mind. __ctually, Sam, Ben is Cassie__ friend from high school.___he__ not my friend,_ Ben says. __ mean, I guess I kind of remember her_ Then Evan__ words sink in. __ow do you know who I am?___e doesn__!_ I fairly