----Lily----

Simon leads us to the living room, and we sit on the couch.

"Sam will be here soon, he's at work right now. In the meantime, what happened? I've tried to ask Sam, but he hasn't said a word about it."

"Do you have a charger? I've been waiting months to charge my phone," I say, making both Jacob and Simon laugh quietly.

"We'll get all that settled when Sam gets home."

As if on cue, the front door opens, keys jingle as they're tossed to a side table, footsteps padding down to the living room. The school-famous bio geek stares at us raising an eyebrow, his dirty blond hair wild from the outdoor wind.

The last time I saw him was at school, and he's certainly gotten skinnier. He was fine before, but now he's dangerously skinny. His emerald eyes are more closed off than before, the trust gone.

"Yeah, t—" Simon starts, but Sam waves him off.

"Nico?" He asks me, I nod. "How long?"

I hold up four fingers.

"Months?"

I nod.

"Cheese's rice, how are you not dead?"

I gesture towards Jay, who shifts around uncomfortably from the attention.

"Ok, Simon? Go find some extra clothes for these guys, and get Emily's for Lily. And get a wet washcloth and some first aid supplies."

Simon dashes away and returns with a pile of clothes in one hand, a wet washcloth and box in the other, within seconds. He places the box and washcloth on the coffee table and hands each of us a pair of clothes.

"There are two bedrooms and one bathroom, you can get dressed in there. And you, whatever your name is," he points to Jay. "Be careful, the blood dried around the rips on the clothes, if it's taken off too fast, the cuts could open up. If you can't, you don't have to. It's better to have a ripped shirt than ripped skin."

We take separate rooms and change into the new clothes. I take a bedroom, knowing the mirror in it is at the right height to inspect myself. I slip my shirt over my head, tossing it to the ground, and turn to the mirror. I've always been able to see my ribs, but never this much. You know those pictures you see of malnourished children in poor countries? I almost look like one of them.

I quickly pull the new shirt on, not able to look at myself anymore. I change the rest of my clothes and go back to the couch in the living room.

"Aren't you the girl who loves math?" Sam asks when I sit down. I nod. "Mr. Morris was heartbroken when you disappeared. Nobody else is as enthusiastic about math than you, you made him feel like someone shared his passion."

"Yeah, well, at least he wasn't kidnapped. Were you?" He nods slowly. "How'd you escape?"

He stares at the floor. I start to ask again, but Jay and Jacob come back, sitting next to me. Jay's shirt already has some blood staining it.

Sam looks at Jay, his emerald eyes scanning his appearance. "What's your name?"

"Jacob," Jacob says excitedly.

"Not you."

He looks down, disappointed.

"Jay," he says quietly, not daring to look Sam in the eyes.

"Has he always been this quiet, or is it because of what happened?"

"That's for him to say," Jacob says.

He pauses, his eyes trained on the fresh blood stains. "We should get you guys fixed up."

"No," Jay says quickly.

"You're bleeding."

"Which is better than feeling nothing."

"I'll let it slide for now, but don't expect me to sit around, not trying to help. What abut you, Jacob? Are you going to tell me not to?"

"Go ahead. I wasn't hurt that much. I don't know why."

"Do you care where?"

"I don't feel like getting up."

His lips twitch upward slightly, but it only lasts for a few seconds. "Your choice. Shirt off."

"I just put it on."

"Too bad."

Jacob rolls his eyes, pulling his shirt off.

As he said, Jacob doesn't have that many cuts, but there's a few. One of them looks infected.

Sam examines the damage, taking the washcloth and cleaning the cuts, which Jacob doesn't make easy.

"That's cold," he says, pushing it away.

Sam gives him a look, and he decides to endure the cold.

While Sam does whatever he does, I get up, looking around the house. Jay watches for a second, then follows. At least three microscopes scatter the room, along with test tubes and other science things. Surprisingly, I don't find a single picture of the rest of the family.

By the time I get back to the couch, Sam's done with Jacob.

"Do you need to be fixed up?" Sam asks me.

"Probably."

"You're going to need to go to the bathroom. Not to discriminate, but you're a girl."

I nod.

He leads me to the bathroom, and I hop onto the sink counter-top. He shuts the door behind him as I pull my shirt off. Sympathy fills his eyes when he sees me.

"What's with the giant leap from Jacobs state to yours?"

"I didn't eat much in the first place. And the scientists started abusing me since I didn't stand up against them, I—they acted like Lavender."

He gently runs his hand down one of the cuts, sending shivers up my spine. "Who's Lavender?"

"My sister."

He grabs the washcloth, brushing the dirt off me. "What'd she do?"

His gentle, warm touch makes it hard to form words. "She used to abuse me. She stopped when I moved here, but the damage was already done. When I got kidnapped and all that happened, I was already an easy target for abuse."

Cleaning off the dried blood, he says, "Is that why you use to starve yourself? And don't say you weren't, you can't trick someone like me."

"I couldn't risk going downstairs for dinner. There were times during school breaks, I didn't have anything to eat for five days straight. I have a stash of Gatorade in my room, so I had something to drink."

He grabs my arm softly, cleaning the cuts on it. "You should've told someone."

"Like you're not hiding anything. What is it with wolves and you? Where are your parents?"

His hand freezes, making me instantly regret saying it. After a minute he sighs and continues. "I use to have a sister."

That wasn't the response I was expecting. "And what happened?"

"She was on the swings one day when a wolf came up behind her."

My eyes go wide. "Oh my god, I'm so sor—"

"It dragged her off, picking her skin off piece by piece. Simon had tried to help, but I held him back." He turns the sink on and washes the blood out of the washcloth, squeezes the water out, then returns to cleaning.

I don't say anything, too shocked to think of what I could say.

"Our parents blamed us for her death. They constantly fought and yelled, and even though I knew I shouldn't have, I believed every word they said. If I hadn't held Simon back, he could've saved her."

I stare at him, astounded that I've always assumed he had a good life.

He puts the washcloth down and starts applying something to the cuts that stung, but I didn't flinch. "You would think it would be the younger one, Simon, to break first, right? Well, it was me. I couldn't take it and convinced Simon to run away with me. We lived on the streets for a while, until our parents died of old age, leaving the house in our legal possession.

"We moved back in, but we had nothing. Our sister's body was still in the backyard. Our parents didn't even bother to have her buried. So, being the older one, I had to get a job. I was only ten. I took the role of a mother, father, and a brother for Simon. Ever since, I've had to have multiple part-time jobs at a time, while going to school, and always had to be there for Simon while he has flashbacks of Lindsey."

"But what about you? Who's there for you?"

He shrugs. "No one. Nobody can."

I go silent for a little while before saying, "How did you escape Nico?"

He doesn't answer but instead avoids the question. "I've done what I can for you."

Putting everything except the cloth back into the box, he hands me my shirt. I grab his hand. "Don't push everyone away, you'll end up like Jay."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He hasn't smiled, cried, or anything since he was five. He doesn't even know what happiness is."

"Why?"

"It's not for me to tell his secrets, and don't go asking, but trust me, don't let Nico turn you into Jay."

He looks up at me, locking his eyes on mine, his fingers lacing around mine. "It's not Nico you should be blaming."

"I knew it! This whole time, I knew it."

Something outside the door crashes, making a loud thump. Sam's lips curve upwards slightly. "Put the shirt on, you gotta see this."

"I need my hand to do that," I say, and he looks at our hands, the tips of his ears turning red as he realizes he was holding my hand. I can't help but smile at this.

Once he lets go, I pull the shirt on, sliding off the sink counter-top. "I'm never going to forget that, and I'm going to haunt you with that for the rest of your life. You were holding my hand and didn't even know."

"You can ask Simon, that won't end well for you," He says, the red spreading to his cheeks.

He opens the door, and I cover my mouth to keep from laughing. Simon lies on the floor unconscious, his arms open as if he were trying to fly, his hair tangled around one of his legs and his other leg next to his face.

"You see what I have to deal with daily?" Sam says, picking him up, and carrying him to his bedroom. He lays him down on the bed, pushing his hair out of his face gently.

"You were still holding my hand." His face only gets redder. "You look so adorable when you blush."

He snaps his fingers, and it starts down pouring on me, then stops once I'm soaking wet. "Still adorable?"

I glare at him.

"You look so cute when you glare," He teases, walking out, making my face burn, but I don't back down.

"You just called me cute," I say, following after him.

"And you called me adorable. I was only giving back the compliment."

"You held my hand."

"You held it first," he says, opening some cabinets in the kitchen.

"I had to tell you to let go."

"You randomly showed up on my doorstep. What do you have to say to that?" He takes out some things, puts a pan on the stove, and turns it on.

"Well...Uh...You allowed me in."

"Simon did, I wasn't home. Just admit it, I won. You can't outsmart me."

I cross my arms, glaring at him.

He stops doing what he's doing long enough to look at me, smirking, and say, "I'm smarter than you."

I slam my hand on the counter, a little harder than I meant to. "Oh, it's on. Jesus, I hit that too hard, but I don't care. It's on."

He copies me. "Good luck, you're gonna need it."

"Hey, guys, why—Whoa, what happened to you?" Jacob says, walking in, Jay close behind.

"Him."

"What happened?"

"Oh, well, you see, this naive little girl thinks she can just walk into my house and try, keyword try, to embarrass me. Guess it didn't work out too well, now did it?"

Jacob laughs, and Sam resumes making something on the stove.

"And this stupid little b—"

"Stop that story right there. I'm not stupid, I have read the entire biology textbook multiple times for fun."

"This stupid little boy," I continue, and he glares at me. "Thinks he can start a war of intellect with me and win. But intellect isn't just education, it's also any knowledge that person knows. You forgot that."

"Just stop trying, you little fopdoodle."

I laugh quietly. "I love that word."

"Do you even know what it means?"

"Yes, I have the dictionary app for no reason. But no, I am not insignificant."

"Yes, you are."

"Says the person who held my hand," I say, and Jacob stops laughing, looking from me to Sam.

"Says the person who held it first."

"Do you two...Like each other?" Jacob says.

"No," we say in unison.

"Really? Because I could've sworn holding hands was a romantic thing."

Sam snaps his fingers, drenching Jacob.

"Oh, Sam...Now you've got two of us mad, and we make a good team."

"Mm-hmm, sure. Whatever you do, wait until after dinner, or you'll get a frying pan to the face."

After half an hour, Sam finishes cooking, and we have dinner. I don't know what he made, but we haven't eaten in so long, that I don't care. I wolf it down, savoring ever bite of it.

Sam quickly cleans the dishes, then lays down on the couch. "Thank god today is Friday."

"Why?" Jacob asks.

"You try going to school and working two jobs and cleaning the house and making the food. Oh, and there's —"

As if on cue, a wolf howls.

"At least you have a house," Jay says under his breath.

"Hm?"

"You think your life is tough? Try sleeping in a tree. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"

"I'm not saying my life is difficult but compared to Jacob's it is."

He pulls his knees to his chest and says something too quietly for me to make it out.

"What?" Jacob says.

"I want a family. Everyone has parents, and brothers, and sisters, except me. I don't even know if I had siblings."

"Everyone has a family," Sam says. "You can't come from nowhere."

"That know who they are at least."

"Clearly, you don't like people pushing too much, so let's just figure out where you guys will sleep. Two people can take a bed, and the other will have to go on the couch. You can figure out who goes where."

"I call the bed," Jacob says.

"I'll take the couch," I say.

"Can't I sleep in a tree?"

"No, you're coming with me," Jacob says.

MAN THAT'S LONG! Actually, no it's not. It's only 5.3 pages approximately. NEVER MIND!

Anyway, vote, comment, etc.

So, what do you think of Sam? Don't be a silent reader, and just answer the question, ok? Thank you.

-Mc out