Sam awoke strapped down to a stretcher being rushed through a fluorescent lit hallway. "What?" Was the only word that escaped him. He swallowed hard, but his dry mouth fought back, causing him to cough trying to release flem into his parched mouth. Pain unlike any he had ever experienced rippled through his drug addled body. He screamed, arching his back causing more pain to shoot through everything. Finally he was able to muddle out "What's going on? Where am I?" although through clenched teeth. A nurse who was slightly startled from the initial scream was now holding him to the gurney as they rushed down the hallway and through door after door. "Sir!" She demanded. "I need you to calm down! You were in an…” The pause would have been disturbing to Sam on any regular day but the pain overwhelmed any and all thoughts he could muster. “...accident.” She finished. “No one is really sure of exactly what happened but, it would appear that you have several very severe injuries. There may be several cracked or broken vertebrae, severe leg trauma and a severe concussion to name a few. We are taking you to surgery now. I just need you to remain as calm as possible while we do our job." Sam swallowed, finally feeling moisture return and laid his head back and closed his eyes. The excruciating pain finally overtaking him.

Alone wrapped in bandages, he opened his groggy eyes. He tread through the slosh of what felt like his mind as the euphoric drugs coursing through his body were definitely wearing off. The pain slowly seeped through his drug addled mind. His confusion was dwarfed by fear but the fear was caused by the confusion in a helpless loop spiraling down into madness. His descent into insanity was halted by the poor bedside manner of the nurse attending to him. “Sir!” He said firmly. “I need you to calm down, you’re in the hospital.” He said matter of factly. Sam only just realized his breath was short and quick. He took a deep breath in and winced from the pain. “Do you know what happened to you?” Sam’s eyes were clenched shut. The sudden pain from his attempt to calm himself sent searing agony through his spine which ripped out through his body like a stone disturbing the serenity of a calm lake. “Sir! I need you to pay attention! And tell me what you remember!” The nurse demanded. “Sam couldn’t respond even if he knew what happened. The pain was too much and the drugs were doing too little. The curtain that surrounded his bed was flung open as a woman in scrubs walked into the makeshift room. “Who are you? What are you doing?” The woman said concerningly. The male nurse made a harumph sound and walked out between the curtains. “Security!” the woman yelled out. And then focused back on Sam. “I am so sorry…” only just realizing that Sam was in significant pain. “Oh my your drugs are probably…” She trailed off and reached for a syringe and inserted its readied content into Sams IV. Almost instantly the pain lessened he could still feel it but it deadened away second by second until he could finally feel some semblance of relief.

He spent the next few days in and out of consciousness. Wandering through his own mind reliving the moments of that horrible dark space over and over again. When he finally came to his senses he was not greeted by family or friends or loved ones, no, simply a man standing outside his apparently locked hospital room. He watched him through the glass window that comprised half of the door staring particularly at the holstered firearm on his hip. He stood there looking forward, occasionally checking out the nurses as they walked by. He didn’t seem to even notice Sam moving around in his bed. It was apparent his goal was not to monitor his condition. Was he there to keep Sam in or keep someone out. ‘Or someTHING.’ Sam thought back to that horrible gigantic creature that he felt in that inky black void. It still frightened him. He rolled his head around on his pillow vaguely remembering being awake long enough for the nurse to explain how to use the PCA pump to administer more medication should the pain be too much. Sam clicked the button. He felt the coldness run through his veins and imagined its journey through his body and into his brain washing over him and bringing a sense of relief. The sun was setting as warm glows of evening bathed the hospital room with cool oranges and deep reds. Particles of tiny dust danced through the light as it cascaded into the room ‘It was a beautiful day and a great day to be alive.’ Sam thought to himself and a small smile grew on his face as he drank in the medication and in his mind danced along foolishly with the beams of light.

Harsh shadows from the oncoming night sliced the serenity and brought back feelings of normality. The shadows grew as Sam watched the light show in his room. They grew quickly. Very quickly. But not all of them one shadow on the floor on the other side of the room in particular. It was small, cast from some object behind the curtain to the left of him that obscured the window. At least it started small until it started to slowly stir into a larger and larger mass. It grew steadily as time seemed to slow down. Four feet. Then five feet. Then six. It was no longer massless, it was no longer a mere shadow, it was something and it was big and getting bigger. It bulged out to what looked like shoulders and peaked at the top as it formed together. Whatever ‘IT’ was Sam didn’t want to find out. He was already pressing the nurse call button before he could even think to do so. Harder and faster he clicked it over and over as his breathing increased. Panting he stared at this thing growing before him. Sam willed his eyes to look away to glance at the guard outside his room. Gone. He was no longer there. There was no movement that he could see outside his room. Snapping his eyes back to the forming shadow a head appeared outstretched with depths of darkness that could not be described. Protuberances could be seen on either side of the head as the shadow loomed over him 10 feet in the air. The familiar creature let out a throaty breath and Sam started to scream.

He didn’t stop screaming until the nurse was shaking him. She started gently at first until finally yelling back at him. “Mr. Moore! Mr. Moore!” she screamed while shaking him awake. Sam’s eyes darted open and he snapped up in his bed looking for the creature. There was no creature, just a few concerned nurses gathered around his bed and a guard looking rather bored with himself standing at the door. Still panting as sweat pooled down his face he tried to collect himself. “I’m sorry” Sam said as he swallowed. “I must have had a nightmare.” Relief replaced the looks of the nurses. As one of them let out a sigh of relief and said “Thank God, we were really worried there. I mean it’s never great to have a nightmare but considering what you’ve been through we were…” She trailed off while glancing away. “We’re just glad you’re ok.” She encouraged Sam to lie back down as he glanced at her nametag, Janet. Janet was nice. Sam liked Janet. He was remembering each time he awoke it was Janet he saw. That gave him a significant amount of comfort, just seeing her and hearing her speak felt warm and inviting. Sam finally let out his own breath of relief as he realized none of it was real. The void dream and the creature in the void nor the creature that appeared before him here. He was safe. He still hurt all over but he was safe.

Sam spent weeks in the hospital yet he had no visitors. He had friends, he had family, why weren’t any of them there? When he had asked about it he was alway given the runaround with questions of his health, or his recovery, or his physical rehabilitation. It all became too much 4 weeks into his hospital stay. “I don’t understand!” Sam demanded loudly. “Does anyone even know I’m here! They all probably think I’m dead! Why can’t I call anyone!?” Nurse Janet looked frustrated but sad. She knew she wasn’t allowed to say anything. “Why can't I leave!? I can do physical therapy from home! Thousands of people do that. Why am I not allowed to leave this fucking hospital!?” Sam knew he shouldn’t be yelling at Janet, none of this was her fault nor was it up to her to decide, she was lovely to him and very nice. She was the only person that would actually talk to him and thus the only person he could lash out at. He was allowed to wander the halls of the oddly empty hospital floor but at each stairway or elevator a man in a suit with a bulge in his jacket stood with arms crossed, watching him. Janet’s hands were balled into frustrated fists and her head was bowed in regret. “Sam it’s not up to me, they…” She started. But a man entered the room interjecting. “That’s quite enough nurse.” He said condescendingly. He stood 6 feet tall with a well kept short beard with more white than black in it. His haircut followed the same pattern and was neat and tidy. His suit was cleaned and pressed and looked expensive. His jacket sported the same bulge as the men by the elevators. His shoes shined with a mirror-like surface. He held a leather folder and pretended to read from it. Sam caught on to the show he was being given. “Samuel Moore, I presume.” The man then said. Sam was confused “Yes? That’s me.” “Good.” The man replied. “You will be coming with us now.” Sam was confused. “And who are you? And where am I going?” The man closed his folder, tucked it under his arm and stroked his beard with his right hand. “Well now that’s not exactly something we can discuss out in the open like this.” The man shifted in the doorway which confused Sam. He seemed unsure or annoyed at something. He was acting cordial but there was an undertone of something in his mannerisms and the condescending way he spoke. “Look Mr. Moore, Can I call you Sam?” He didn’t let Sam answer. “Sam, I work for a specific government organization that looks into cases like your own. Now we’ve allowed everything your lawyer has suggested and it’s time to move you into our facilities.” Sam looked worried. “Don’t worry.” The man continued. “We’ve negotiated to continue your physical therapy at the facility.” Sam’s left eye twitched in confused frustration. He didn’t have a lawyer but if this government entity wanted him they certainly could have taken him at any point, he was quite fragile after the surgeries. So he figured, for now anyway, to let them continue to think this lawyer was working for him. “Fine. Will I be able to call my friends and family when we get there?” The man shifted again and leaned his head back “Well…” He dragged that ‘well’ out for far longer than anyone should. “We’ll have to discuss all of those details once we arrive.” Sam thought to himself ‘That’s a no.’ The man stretched out his arm towards Sam and said “Come now let’s go.” Annoyed and frustrated, Sam hobbled slowly towards the doorway. Stealing a glance back at Janet who stood unable to speak with a look of concern on her face. “Thank you Janet.” Sam said as he was led out of the room, with the shadow government agent propping him up under Sam's armpit he practically lifted him down the hall and onto the elevator. The six other men that lined the hospital floor all dressed in their nice bulgy suit jackets Joined Sam and this man in the elevator. “My name is Agent Harlow. You can refer to me as such.” The doors closed and Sam stared across the floor of the hospital at Janet who’s tears started streaming down her face.

He was helped into an extremely shiny black sedan. The helping was forceful but there was no intention of harm to him. They certainly wanted him for something, obviously something to do with the erasing incident but he was a victim like everyone else. The vehicle pulled away from the hospital entrance down the streets of the city and onto the highway out of town. There was complete silence in the car until 10 minutes of highway driving passed. Agent Harlow was the only one to speak. "Sam, we are going to a private government facility about 2 hours out in the middle of nowhere. Before you ask, no I will not be discussing its exact location." Sam was worried at the beginning of the trip but after the hour driving through the city he had gotten bored and the worry just slipped away. It was back now in a serious way. He wasn't blind folded nor where the windows blacked out. How could he not learn the exact location? Was he never going to leave this new place? "Why am I not…" Sam started to speak before being interrupted. "The location is not top secret but I don't want to be receiving Christmas cards in the future." Those words calmed his nerves a little. Sam sat in the back seat of the large sedan sitting in the middle between Agent Harlow on his right and who he liked to call no name agent number 2 on his left. There was also an agent driving and one in the front passenger seat. Sam laughed a little to himself. 'Four agents to bring little ole me to a top secret building.' The thought was preposterous what could possibly require this much security. Were they afraid of what he could do to them or what other people might want to do to Sam. The thought of the government agents being helpful crossed his mind but movies and books were doing their damndest to pollute his thoughts and spur on the evil government entity idea.

Sam tried to look out the window to find road signs or landmarks that he could identify if needed. However he was positioned well. The car was well chosen and placing him in the middle of the two men made it impossible to really see anything noticeable out the windows. His best view was forward into the endless straight road ahead of them. An hour and a half into their highway excursion a blacked out divider went up between the back seats and the front seats. it startled Sam at the sudden movement. "We're getting close." Agent Harlow said. Sam tried to look out the windows on either side of him but the agents were obviously keeping him from being too noisy and insisted he sit still. Sam couldn't really move around all that much anyway he was still in recovery. The car continued on with a couple turns here and there but there were so many that Sam gave up trying to memorize directions and decided if he needed to escape and could escape he would just make a run Westward which he was sure was the general opposite direction they traveled on the highway. Eventually the outside got dark and artificial light blinked through the widows as they rode through the tunnel into the facility.

Sam was shown into an unexpectedly large room. He was thinking he was getting thrown into a small cell with a metal toilet, metal bed, solid metal stool. Instead he was greeted by soft tan colored carpeted floor that was impeccably clean, the walls a light cream color that accentuated the color of the carpet. Warm light spilled into the room from the two bedside table lamps. The lamps seemed cheap but nice. The bed appeared to be a twin size but Sam was no expert and was simply going off his knowledge gained from mattress commercials he had seen online. There was also a single comfortable looking chair, a couch, and a coffee table with some magazines and a book on it. He couldn't tell what the book was from his position in the doorway, which was a very sturdy heavy looking solid steel door. Across from the entryway was another door Sam could only guess was the bathroom from the tile that was peeking through the bottom of the door. Leading up to the bathroom door was a desk like table attached to the wall and a nice sturdy looking wooden chair tucked underneath it. The wall across from the bed was an enormous mirror. Sam guessed, correctly, that this was a two way mirror and there were also two security cameras to round out the security that Sam could see anyway. He assumed if there was this much out in the open there had to be many more hidden throughout the room. There were a few paintings on the walls but none of them really stood out to Sam. It was what he'd always referred to as 'motel art.' Which is simply the least offensive piece of art that held talent, sure, but no real soul behind them. Landscapes of fields of wheat, a cabin in the snow, and a barn in front of a wooded backdrop.

"Welcome to your new home" Agent Harlow finally spoke up. The entire walk from the car was held in silence. Pointing towards the door in front of them, "Through that door is a bathroom with a shower." Waving his arm towards his left. "A nice bed, some fresh clothes in the night stand drawers, a couch, a chair, and some reading material for you." Sam looked around dejected and sighed. "That's great but why am I hear?" "All in do time my boy!" Agent Harlow replied immediately. "For now I want you to get associated with your new surroundings and take it easy. Perhaps have a nice nap. We've had a big day today so far." Sam rolled his eyes and replied. "Oh sure, sure, I did 2 hours of physical therapy, got dragged away by a shadowy government agency, stuffed in a hot car next to two very sweaty guys for what…3 hours? And I still have no idea where I am or why I'm here!" Sam screamed. " Agent Harlow ignored Sam's rant "Exactly, you take a rest and we'll be back to get you." Sam was shocked that he felt surprised by the agent's bluntness and general uncaring attitude towards his well being. Dejected, his response was only "What if I get hungry." Agent Harlow clapped his hand together. "YES!" he exclaimed. "I had completely forgotten about that. As mentioned, one of the bedside tables has some fresh clothes and the other has a small fridge for you with some drinks and some light snacks. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner will be served at their respective times during the day. As of now you have just missed lunch and so dinner should be ready in 4 hours. But'' He held his finger up as he continued. "That is where the small fridge comes in." Motioning towards the bedside table. Sam looked at the table then back to agent Harlow. Agent Harlow motioning again with his hands towards the fridge and repeating. "Snacks” And with that final word on the matter grabbed the door handle with his right hand and threw his left up in the air to wave goodbye. "I'll see you in the morning." Sam turned towards the door, realizing he was being left alone, reached for the door and yelled out "No, no, no what if I get bored!?" and the door slammed shut. He heard a muffled yell that Sam assumed was some mention about the materials on the coffee table. Alone in his new room Sam's shoulders slumped and he let out a large sigh and surveyed the rest of his new living arrangements. He just noticed the crutches in the corner of the room next to the entryway he was currently in and grabbed them and hobbled over towards the bed. His physical therapy was going well enough that he was able to walk a little bit but given the amount of exercise he had already experienced today he was grateful for the crutches. He plopped down on the edge of the bed hoping the bedside table he first chose was the refrigerator since the only thing he could think about now was a nice cold drink. He opened the drawer and was greeted with a nice set of sweat pants and t-shirts. Sam sighed again in frustration. He just realized he was sighing a lot today and made a note to stop, all this anxiety couldn't be good for his mental well being. He smirked just a little at the thought of willing anxiety away, he knew it didn't work litke that but he was reminded of what his mother always told him 'fake it till you make it.' He got up from one side of the bed and hobbled over to the other. Opening the fridge it was filled with various juices, sodas, and bottled water he grabbed a water and shut the fridge. drinking the water he stared at himself in the mirror on the other side of the room wondering if anyone was watching him. He lied down and promptly fell asleep.

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*KACHUNK!* The large metal door made a horrible sound opening which startled Sam awake. In doing so pain rocked through his body. His medication was warring off. A young man entered the room with a tray of food. The man was dressed in a tightly ironed olive drab uniform. No decorations or government seals adorned the outfit. 'Secretive to the very teeth' Sam thought to himself. The food was placed down on the desk across from the bed and the man left without saying a word as quickly as he came in. Sam slowly and carefully got up from his bed and hobbled over to the desk and investigated its contents. It looked to be a salisbury steak with gravy, a side of mashed potatoes and a pile of chopped up carrots and a cup of sealed pudding for dessert. It all looked hand made, except of course the pudding which came in a small plastic container with a foil lid. There was also a small plastic cup with pills in it off to the side and a note neatly folded next to it. Sam picked up the note and read it. It was a list describing what was in the plastic cup. Sam felt a slight relief as he shifted his in seat to feel the pain that was still surging through his body. Immediately he popped the pills into his mouth and began eating his dinner. Or was it lunch? He assumed eggs would be for breakfast. He didn't really care, he was starving and ate every last bit. After finishing his meal he hobbled back to the bed, switched off his lamps and let the cool darkness fill the room and drifted off to sleep again.

Upon waking and enjoying a breakfast of eggs and toast Sam was led out of his room and down a long cement block built hallway. The hallway was dark and foreboding near the end was an open door with light pooling out. That was the room Samm was led into. A metal table sat in the middle of the room and 3 bottles of water sat upon it. Two cameras on either corner surveyed the area. Three chairs sat along the table, two on one side and one on the other. Sam was directed into the single chair. And he waited.

Agent Harlow entered the room with a large coffee in one hand and a thick manilla folder in the other. "I am sorry about the wait, Sam." He said as he turned to close the door behind him. Sam felt his mouth salivate to the thought of a nice warm coffee. Besides his friends and family it was the one thing he missed most. They refused to allow him to have any caffeinated drinks at the hospital and while there were sodas in his new home here in what Sam was calling a bunker, there was no coffee. Agent Harlow juggled his belongings around his arms and finally sat down in a huff. "Woah…" he exclaimed. "I really need an assistant. Alright Sport. Can I call you Sport?” Without letting him respond, agent Harlow continued. “Well Sport, I want you to tell me everything you remember about the day of the Erasing.” Mumbling to himself agent Harlow continued “God, I hate that name.” He proceeded to place the folder and coffee cup on the table. Sam sighed, thinking to himself ‘There I go again.’ “Where do you want me to begin?” Agent Harlow moved the coffee cup in front of Sam “Why don’t we start with this.” Sam smiled for the first time in such a long time. “Thanks? I uh… appreciate it” He replied and sipped the coffee. As the liquid gold flowed down his throat a peace followed shortly behind it. Drinking coffee was always soothing to Sam. It took him back to a more peaceful time, a happy time he spent brewing and drinking coffee with his dad. He would spend any morning he could when he was young drinking some coffee with his father on the porch of his family home overlooking the streets or suburbia like a king surveying his lands. They would sit and watch their neighborhood breath and continue living while in comfortable silence taking in the early morning calm. Every sip of that mediocre coffee in that dingy concrete room brought him out of this prison and back to that joyful moment.

“Why don’t we start that morning of July 2nd the day of…” agent Harlow paused, not wanting to say the stupid name again “...the Erasing.” finishing he grumbled to himself. Sam looked at the agent and back down to his coffee in contemplation. ‘Should I tell him about my dream? Was it a dream? What was it that he saw? No.’ he thought ‘It doesn’t matter. What matters are the facts, not some crazy dream he saw.’ He needed to get out of there and the truth would surely get him out of there faster, right? “Well…” Sam started. “I had gotten up that morning very excited as it was only my second time attending U-Con” Agent Harlow was writing something down and interrupted. “U-Con?” Sam nodded and continued. “Yes, it was short for Ultra Convention. it was a combination of a bunch of different types of conventions, comics, graphic novels, movies, ttrpg, video games, anime and manga. Everything really!” There was some joy in remembering what little joy there was going into the event. “The previous year was such a success, this one was bigger and better than the first! There were a lot of companies that wanted to attend and were releasing new trailers for various projects they were working on too. So uh, July 2nd was day two of the event. I wasn’t able to go to day one as I was finishing up some things at Finders.” Agent Harlow continued to scribble in his notebook. “Finders, that’s where you work? What do you do there?” he said sternly. “I’m a recovery investigator. It started as a repo business but quickly expanded into other recovery related projects like finding lost or stolen items, people, funds and recently Manny has gotten into data recovery as well.” Agent Harlow looked up from his scribbles and asked “And who is Manny?” Sam realizing he wouldn’t know, or would he? Maybe he’s just testing him to see if he would tell the truth or maybe it’s to help him discern a truthful answer from a lie. “Sorry, yes, Manny is the owner of Finders along with his Wife who runs Keeps next door which is like a pawn shop. Agent Harlow nodded along motioning Sam to continue. “Right, so anyway, I got up that morning really excited to go to the convention center and see everything that was going on. I was really big into comics and video games growing up.” Sam chuckled to himself at the thought of describing his hobby as only when he was a kid. “I mean I still am very much so but I just, obviously, don’t have as much time to indulge in those activities nowadays. So I grabbed a light breakfast of a hard boiled egg, a bowl of cereal, Lucky Marshmallows…” Sam said shyly. “I don’t know there’s something nostalgic…” Agent Harlow cut him off. “Let’s stay on track here. I don’t really care about your dietary habits.” Sam tilted his head downward in shame. Unsure why he felt shame for what he said, ‘Agent Harlow seemed very good at his job’ he thought as he continued. “So I Tuber, the uh ride sharing app, and got a ride out to the convention center. He had to drop us off about a block from the convention hall since that was where the convention people wanted drop offs to take place. So we started walking. Which you would think would be a bit of an inconvenience but seeing all of the cosplayers and people dressed up as their favorite characters made the short walk pretty enjoyable.” Sam smiled, reliving the happy moments before all of this started. “As we approached the convention center… uh this was in Hall C so on the east side of the area…” Agent Harlow stopped Sam again, lifted his pen from his notepad and pointed it at Sam. “You said we, who were you with? You seem to be leaving out some very pertinent information here Mr. Moore.” ‘Mr. Moore?’ Sam thought to himself. ‘Maybe he’s not as good as I thought he’s trying to establish some sort of power dynamic when he thinks I’m lying or withholding information?’ Sam smirked internally, at least he hoped it was only internally. “Sorry, I had met a few people during the walk, it wasn’t a long walk but it was long enough to meet some new friends.” Agent Harlow twirled his pen to insinuate to continue and went back to writing his notes. “So yeah it was I think Tammy, Nick, and Mr. Pringles…” “Mr. Pringles?” Agent Harlow asked. “Uh…yeah.” Sam stuttered. “They were dressed in a furry cat suit, it was actually quite detailed and impressive.” Agent Harlow stared blankly at Sam. Sam stared blankly back before letting out a light nervous chuckle and continued. “Hehe… we, uh, as we were walking, that is, we saw the reporter. I recognized him from the news but couldn’t place him until I heard him say his name ‘ This is Ryan Winters reporting live from U-Con. We’re interviewing people on the street here at the world’s largest convention of all things science fiction, fantasy, and video game related!’” Agent Harlow stopped him with what sounded like a question. “Quite strange that you remember his words exactly.” Sam looked away bashfully. “Well his description of the event wasn’t exactly accurate. It was sci-fi, fantasy and video games sure but it was so much more too, Comics, Anime…” “I get it. I get it.” Agent Harlow interrupted, frustrated. “Just continue.” Sam did just that. “So we were walking up towards Ryan Winters when he rushed over to my little group and shoved a microphone in our faces asking us about the day. Why we were here and other things. Tammy and Nick, along with Mr. Pringles were dressed up as their favorite characters as well so I was kind of the odd one out here. The interview was mostly on them. Once he finished his interviews and cut his video I introduced myself to Ryan. I remembered seeing him doing the weather and I told him I was happy to see him progress into a reporter role.” Sam’s demeanor changed. The happy times were coming to an end and the part that Agent Harlow wanted to hear about was coming up. It was also the part he’d been dreading to re-live since he woke up in the hospital. “Once we got inside I split off from the group. They were still waiting for a friend and our relationship was limited to the two mile walk from the drop off location to the convention itself. I left them and continued on into the massive hall of vendors. The place was absolutely packed.” Sam paused realizing what was about to happen and the sheer number of people that were there. Agent Harlow sat calm and collected writing in his notepad. “I started in the furthest aisle and was going to go up and down. The first aisle is always the cheaper area. There were some silly gacha games and toys from decades old sci-fi movies and tv shows. Oh there was this one…” Sam continued detailing one of his favorite older black and white sci-fi shows describing the plot and how great it was. Agent Harlow had stopped writing and was staring blankly at Sam again. Sam noticed this but didn’t want to continue. He didn’t want to go back to that moment. Agent Harlow’s brow furrowed slightly and Sam knew it was time. He couldn’t stall any longer; he had to go back. He had to be there. He had to relive that moment. He sighed, again. “I was in the middle aisle where most of the crowd had congregated around the booth of a popular t-shirt company and a famous video game company. It… it doesn’t matter which one. I was standing there looking around and out of the bottom of my vision I saw an inky blackness.” Agent Harlow sat up in his chair and leaned forward. ‘Finally the good part’ he thought to himself as he braced for the break in the case that he needed. “Blackness? Was there a bright flash of light? A loud explosion? Anything?” Sam looked down to his lap, he had no answers. Perhaps that is what he feared most in his story. He didn’t have a lead, he didn't have any information on what it could have been. It just went black. But it wasn’t instant. “No, but it’s not like I passed out. It’s not like it was instant either.” Sam said emotionlessly. “It grew.” Sam’s eyes widened at the simple mention of the actual event. “It grew at my feet. It was unbelievably fast!” Sam said, emotion coming back to his voice and demeanor. He leaned forward placing his hands on the metal table in front of him causing a loud bang. “At first I saw it out of the corner of my eyes beneath me and then I was engulfed. I was alone. I screamed out for help. I looked around and only saw an inky black void so deep it hurt to look at. I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were opened or closed.” Sam gazed deeply at agent Harlow with his manic expression. Agent Harlow stared back as Sam sank back into his chair, the adrenaline seeping from his veins back to its darkness.

Sam sat on the couch with his elbows on his knees and his face sunk into his hands. Next to him Ryan and Manny sitting across from him both sat eyes wide in astonishment and wonder as they digested the story Sam was telling them. “After that interview…” Sam trailed off lifting his head, leaning back and staring into the slowly spinning fan blades above him. “...Is where it gets…” Tears pooled in his eyes. He shut them on instinct to stop the flow from coming. Unable to hold back the damn they streamed down his face. “...really bad.” Sam finished. “Sam,” Manny said. “You don’t need… I mean you can take a break if you need to.” Manny was going to say he didn’t need to continue. But he knew otherwise. Sam needed to get this all out; he needed to tell someone his story, especially if it’s as awful as he was leading on. “No.” Sam said sternly. He wiped the tears from his face. “I need to get this out.” Sam continued. “I left out what I saw in that void.” Sam chuckled at the ludacris notion of that being anything but a dream. “I wanted you guys to know about the dream I had but I didn’t mention any of that to them the entire time I was there. After that interview I was taken back to the room.” Sam stopped and corrected himself. “To that cell.” he said with disdain.