68 Days And Counting

Chapter Forty-Three: I'm Sorry.

Dedicated to @alex9582 for the cover above! Thank you💗💗

Chapter Forty-Three: "I'm Sorry."

"WHAT ARE WE going to do?"

Caleb and I stared at the door that led to Sam's old room. We had been standing here for an hour trying to find the best plan possible to get Sam out of there.

It's been over a week since Charlie died and Sam wasn't handling it as well as anyone would hope. Well, there was no way to handle death well. There was never a certain way to deal with death in the first place.

I haven't seen Sam since that time either. He would keep himself in his room and at the most he would speak to his mom but only by saying one or two words. When the funeral date was set, he had gone out to Bath in the middle of the night without notice to anyone. Causing panic, Liz rushed over to the first place she knew he would be and found him sitting in the treehouse, bouncing a tennis ball at the wooden wall.

Caleb had flown from Italy the second he had heard the news. I figured he would. He knew Charlie too. If Sam had that bond with Charlie there was no doubt that Caleb would have something like that bond too.

Caleb rubbed a hand over his face once before it turned to him rubbing the stubble on his cheeks multiple times. It looked as if he was trying to keep himself awake. By the looks of it, it was rather obvious that he had not gotten much sleep either. "Um, I have no idea."

I drummed my fingers against the sides of my black dress, glancing at him and fighting back a yawn. It was hard to sleep for the past couple of days. I would stare at the snow globe in my room, remembering Charlie. Soccer would bark and I would remember how he would pick Soccer up in a way that was careful and gentle. When he had been going out for one of his afternoon walks he had taken with me and Sam I remembered the way he whistled and one of the little brown birds had placed itself in his palm. He had a way with animals.

I shook my head from my thoughts, blinking back tears quickly and inhaling sharply. "I don't wanna-I don't wanna just barge into his room."

Caleb's eyes slowly dragged off me before keeping them on the door. He looked heavily worried and there were multiple reasons as to why he would be. He had been in this position before. "Um...I'll do it. I'll open it. He can't lock it. I know Sam. He wouldn't lock the door."

Out of impulse, I took Caleb's hand just when he put his hand on the doorknob. He looked at me curiously before lifting my hand to press a kiss against the back of it. "Don't worry princess. If I go down for doing this, I was going to take you down with me anyway."

I smiled at his attempt of a joke before taking a deep breath when he opened the door. We stepped inside the room that was lit up by the light streaming from the window outside. Sam sat down on the edge of his bed, looking as ready as someone could be for a funeral. His head was bowed and his hands were locked together.

Caleb moved towards him first, bending down to get to Sam's sitting level. "Hey man."

I could see Sam's eyes glance at him for a brief moment before looking down. Caleb glanced back at me at that notion before turning back to Sam. "Um, we have to start leaving but take your time. Take all the time you-"

Sam stood up, making Caleb shut up quickly and stand up straight. "Oh, you're ready?"

Sam didn't answer. He moved past Caleb and when he walked by me I got a better look at his face. He looked drained. He looked like he didn't want to go anywhere. He looked like he wanted to just stop. Stop everything.

But overall, he looked like a part of him was gone.

When he bypassed us, Caleb sighed, "If this was another day, I totally would've punched him for not answering my questions."