2023

Sam glanced over her final exam one last time, making sure everything was to her liking before gathering up her belongings and placing them back into the backpack resting at her feet. She slung the bag over her shoulder before rising from her seat, wandering over to where her professor waited at his desk, looking up from his computer at her arrival.

"Thank you, Miss Donlan," Dr. Jacobs said, taking the exam packet from her. "Enjoy your summer break. You've earned it."

Samantha gave him a brief smile, nodding in response before making her way out of the lecture hall and towards the exit of Briner Hall, letting the Providence sunshine hit her face and warm her bones from the chilled room she'd been cooped up in for the past two hours. As she walked down the steps towards the nearest student parking lot to find her car, she pulled out her phone, revealing a series of unread text messages from her step-brother, Lucas Howard.

4:02 PM: Through security and at my gate. All is well except for a family of kids running wild the next row over.

4:13 PM: I swear to God if these children bump into me and make me spill my coffee you may be bailing me out of airport jail. Do airports even have jail?

4:30 PM: On the plane. Kids have been upgraded from annoying in the gate to kicking the back of my seat. Send reinforcements and bail money.

4:45 PM: Taking off now. See you on the other side (preferably as a free man).

4:46 PM: Also, hope your final is going well. Break a leg, loser.

Sam smirked to herself, shaking her head as she fished her car keys from the depths of her purse to unlock the doors to her Jeep and throwing open the door to the backseat, tossing her backpack inside before climbing into the driver's seat. She turned the key in the ignition, the engine roaring to life as All Time Low began to pour through the vehicle's speakers. Running a hand through her hair, Sam set her phone down in the cup holder of the car, switching the car's gear into reverse as she backed out of her parking space and made a beeline for the quickest route to the Providence airport.

As she sped down the highway, Sam rolled the window down, allowing the fresh summer breeze to fill her lungs as she took a deep breath. Gone were the stresses and worries about her final exams, but instead she allowed her mind to wander to the upcoming week ahead to kick off summer break, to celebrate finishing her first year of college.

She'd be picking up Lucas to spend the last week in her dorm before having to move out, her roommate already long gone on a family trip to the Bahamas as soon as her essays had all been submitted, the two of them exploring the sights around Finch College along with a string of never ending pizza deliveries and beer Conrad had somehow managed to procure under the name Fritz Herbertson on his much-less-than-legitimate looking fake ID, the stash currently making a home behind a bin full of books under her bed. And, once the week guiding Lucas around Providence had finished and Sam needed to be out of her dorm, Boston would be calling her back home to see her father for the first time in over a month, since making the trip home to celebrate the life of Conrad's mother, Susannah Fisher.

As Sam grew closer and closer to the airport, the first sign of landing planes coming into view, her phone began to ring, along with Lucas's name popping up on the screen of her car radio, killing the music playing through the speakers as it changed to the soft melodies of her ringtone. She hit the button to answer his call, running a hand through her hair as she continued to navigate through the airport's traffic.

"Hello?" Sam asked.

"Howard to base, I repeat, Howard to base." the voice on the other end spoke. "The eagle has landed, I repeat, the eagle has landed."

"I'll be there in ten," Sam assured him. "Try not to get into any fights with small children before I arrive, I'd like to spend my evenings with pizza and The Boys instead of bailing your ass out of jail."

"No promises can be made," Lucas replied, causing Sam to smirk in response. "See you soon, Sammie."

Sam smiled as she bid Lucas goodbye, the line going dead with a soft click as the music gradually returned to the speakers. When she finally reached the arrivals, she could see Lucas sitting on a bench with his black duffel bag sitting next to him, his gaze immediately lifting from his phone as Sam pulled over in front of him with a quick honking of the car horn. Lucas hoisted the duffel bag over his shoulder before rushing over to the car, pulling the passenger door open and hopping inside.

"There she is!" Lucas exclaimed, giving Sam a quick hug before pulling the door shut behind him and securing his seatbelt.

"There he is!" Sam exclaimed in return. "Luke Howard, Benson High's newest graduate! My mom FaceTimed me just in time to see you walk across the stage and get your diploma."

"And that is, of course, the last time I'll be setting foot in that auditorium." Lucas said as Sam pulled the car out of the airport, heading back on the road towards Finch as his eyes fell back on his phone screen, typing out a text to his girlfriend, Amber. "How'd the final go?"

"Yeah, it went alright," Sam said with a shrug. "Not quite as prepared as I could've been, but I definitely passed. Ready for freshman year to finally be over."

"Hey, my dad always says C's get degrees," Lucas said, leaning back in his seat and watching from out the window as the city of Providence passed by. "But everything else is going good? I know the last time we talked, things weren't great with your friends."

Sam shrugged. "It's hard," she admitted. "The funeral was last month. I haven't talked to Conrad much, we've been so busy with finals, he just broke up with his girlfriend, and everything with Susannah's really taken a toll. I haven't seen him since the services. He's supposed to come hang out with us one of these days this weekend, but it all depends on how studying goes for his final."

She shook her head. "But enough being sad," she insisted. "You just got here. How's everything back home? Toby and my mom?"

"Are on their way to Chicago for a week now that they have a kid-free household." Lucas explained. "It's weird not having you come down for summers anymore, but they're making the most of us both being gone, I guess."

As the welcome sign for Finch College passed by the two siblings in Sam's Jeep, she followed the familiar paths leading to Cleaver Hall, the building Sam had called home for the last nine months of the school year. As she pulled into the parking lot, they could see students already moving out for the summer, eager to get home and begin their summer vacations rather than enjoy the time they still had left on campus, as Sam had elected to do. Sam grabbed her backpack while Lucas grabbed his duffel bag, and he followed after his step-sister as she climbed the stairs to the second floor, where her empty dorm room awaited.

"Here we are," she announced, turning the key in the lock and pushing the door open to reveal the room waiting beyond.

Although the half of the room previously occupied by Sam's roommate was now completely barren, with the exception of a set of sheets and a blanket placed on the bed for Lucas's visit, Sam's belongings still remained mostly intact on the other side, with the exception of a few boxes that had already been packed up in anticipation for the move back to Boston for the summer. School supplies were strewn all over the desk from Sam's late night study sessions for her last few finals, and her television still stood propped in one corner, ready and waiting for the binge watching session that awaited her and Lucas later that evening.

As Lucas began to unpack his things and Sam had ordered a pizza for the two of them, she jumped slightly at the sound of her phone beginning to ring from where it now sat on her desk. Crossing the room to the ringing cell phone, Samantha peered down at the screen, the picture flashing below the caller ID name causing her eyebrows to furrow together in confusion.

Jeremiah Fisher

"I'll be right back," Sam announced to Lucas, who nodded in response as she picked up the phone, pressing it to her ear and stepping out into the hallway. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sammie," Jeremiah's voice came through from the other end of the line, a tone evident that she couldn't quite decipher. "Are you with Conrad, by any chance?"

"No, he's not here," Sam said. "Why, is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," Jeremiah said. "He hasn't been answering any of my calls or texts since yesterday, he took off somewhere and we haven't been able to find him. So I was just wondering if maybe you'd heard from him."

"Oh," Sam said, her blood turning to ice in her veins. "No, I haven't heard from him in a little while. Should I head over to Brown, see if he's there?"

"I'm going to head that way in the morning." Jeremiah explained. "See if he's around there at all, or if anyone there can tell me where he went."

"I'll come meet you there." Sam offered. "If anyone there knows where he went, we'll figure it out."

"Yeah, sure," Jeremiah said. "See you then. Bye, Sam."

"Bye," Sam said as a click sounded from the other end of the line, signaling that Jeremiah had hung up the phone.

Sam shoved the phone into the back pocket of her jeans, turning the door knob leading to her bedroom and pulling it open to reveal Lucas watching her with a curious expression, arms crossed over the boy's chest as he looked back at her.

"I take it that wasn't the pizza guy?" Lucas guessed, and Sam shook her head in response.

"Afraid not," Sam said. "Change of plans: we're heading over to Brown first thing in the morning."