"Be happy . . .
Enjoy every moment of your life.
Life is too short to waste on grudges.
Laugh when you can,
apologise when you should
and let go of what you can't change." -- Anonymous.

Guys, check out "The Chosen One: Awakened", it's really nice!

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Sam was still sleeping when the car came to a stop.

Lucas turned in his seat and found that Sam was asleep.

Her glasses were crooked and he had an urge to fix them. Despite their current situation, he couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds longer than he should've.

"Come on, son. Let's go."

Chief opened his door and stepped out, gesturing for his son to do the same.

Lucas nodded and repeated his actions. Chief opened Sam's door and gently shook her. Her eyes slowly opened and she waited for her eyes to adjust. He fixed her glasses and stifled a yawn.

"Sorry," she apologised to the chief.

"Don't worry about it," he gave her a warm smile and helped her out of the car.

Sam straightened herself and looked at her surroundings.

There was a massive warehouse in front of them, and it was clearly old. It was made of wood that was now chipped and had holes. Some of the wood had rotted away. The windows were dirty and stained.

Sam could see cobwebs behind them. It was situated in the middle of nowhere. The only things that surrounded the warehouse was dead grass and dirt.

The three of them walked up to the door which was -- unlike everything else -- in perfectly good condition.

Sam mentally scoffed. This was so obvious.

There was a broken lock on the door and the chief pushed it open. It creaked slightly.

They walked through the door and into the warehouse. She saw the chief switch a light on and the entire place was immediately covered in blinding light. Sam shut her eyes closed and waited a few seconds before opening them again. She squinted and after a few seconds got used to the bright lighting.

The warehouse had rows and rows of tables with various things placed on top of the first few. Bins were lined up on the side and the only thing it contained was ash. Pin boards and whiteboards were placed on every wall. A few papers were scattered around and boxes here and there.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary besides a mark on the wall furthest from them.

It clearly showed that this place was used and was hurriedly cleaned up.

Sam walked through the tables and passed boxes to reach the wall. She looked at the boards more closely and saw that there were a few marks on them and ripped papers.

She stopped in front of the wall and examined it.

The sign was exactly as chief had described it, and Sam shuddered as she realised that she had pictured the same thing.

This had to mean something, right? She couldn't have pictured the exact thing if she hadn't seen it somewhere.

As she came to the bottom, she saw three bold letters, a sign short for 'and' and three more letters marked in black at the tip of the anchor: C.L.S. & T.R.T.

Sam frowned as she studied it, trying to decipher a meaning. It had to stand for something or someone. What disturbed her the most, however, was that the first three letters seemed familiar and in her head, she pictured someone writing those three letters on a piece of paper.

She jumped when she felt a hand in her shoulder.

"Sorry," chief chuckled. "What you think about it?"

Sam forgot that the chief and Lucas were here, too. She looked at the letters again and took a few steps back. She raised her camera and took a clear shot.

"I don't know, really. It definitely stands for something, but I'm not sure," she replied.

"Seem familiar?" he looked at her properly, taking in her reaction.

Sam shuddered. "I feel like I've seen it before," she paused. "And those first three letters."

Chief nodded. He had already expected that answer.

"If you remember anything, please tell me immediately."

"Wait," Samantha frowned. "You were expecting me to remember it?"

"Yes, I was. I told you earlier, I just had a feeling."

Sam jumped again when Lucas spoke, forgetting -- again -- that he was also here.

"What is this?"

"I prefer you rather not know," the chief replied.

"Why?" Lucas whined. "I came here for a reason."

"Lucas, we are not having this argument again."

Lucas huffed. Sam was too absorbed in her thoughts to notice this.

She looked around and scanned the place again.

"You think they've been working in here."

Chief nodded.

"Because I think so, too," Sam said. "Nobody would've guessed they were here, although the door and lock were kind of obvious," she added.

"I got something to tell you, and I think it's important," he looked at Lucas to make sure he wasn't listening and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Earlier when we were here, there was only one thing which confirmed our suspicion. If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't have guessed they were working here. They cleaned up everything else properly."

"What is it?" her voice had dropped to a whisper.

She looked at Lucas over the chief's shoulder and saw that he was trying his best to hear wheat they were saying without trying to be obvious. He failed at that, though, since Sam spotted it easily.

She turned her attention back to the chief and saw him pull out two pictures from his pocket. He handed them to her and she looked at them.

The first one was of Sam when she was sitting in the forest, taking a picture. She recognised her surroundings as the forest behind her house. This had to mean that it was taken recently. She turned it around, hoping to see the date but instead, she saw those three letters: C.L.S.

The second picture was, again, one of Sam. This time, however, she was a small baby and there was someone else in the picture, holding her. The whole person was cut out, but it showed that someone was holding her, and it looked like a women. Again, when she turned it around, she saw those same three letters.

Sam was utterly shocked. If these people had pictures of her from the time she was a baby, then that meant that they have been following her her whole life.

Sam frowned as she thought about the person they cut out. It didn't look like her Aunty Anne at all, so then who was that? Could it have been . . .? Sam shook away the thought the second it came and refused to finish it.

She studied the picture harder than she had earlier and saw nothing else. It was pointless, there was nothing in the picture that could give her a clue.

The person's arms were around Sam and blonde hair could be seen behind her. From there, the head and body was cut out and only Sam remained.

Only then did Sam feel confused. If this wasn't her Aunty Anne holding her, then who else could it be? She hadn't been given into the care of anyone else, Anne had told her, but this person was holding her.

Maybe it could be a relative, Sam thought.

But something didn't seem right with that thought.

That only left her with one other option. Her mother.

She shuddered as she thought that. Her mother had abandoned her a few days before she was sent to jail when she was a baby. Her sister, Anne -- who was now taking care of her --, found her on the road and immediately took her into her care. When Sam was old enough to understand, Anne told her that she adopted her. She said that she didn't want to deceive her by saying that she was her mother. Sam accepted it once Anne told her the reason and was happy with living with them.

Anne could only tell her what she knew, which was not a lot.

Her mother, Candice Smith -- Anne and Ian changed Samantha's surname to their one, Woods --, had fallen in love with a dangerous man. They never gave a name and Sam never asked for one.

She ran away from home and had Sam with him. He walked out of her life, not wanting to deal with a child and never came back. Candice abused Sam, blaming her for -- according to what Anne said Candice thought -- making him walk out of her life.

She hurt Sam even though she was just a baby at that time. Anne said that she never knew why Candice was arrested, but part of it was because of the abuse. Sam still had marks from the abuse up until today, they never went away. It's a good thing she doesn't remember it at all.

Anne repeatedly told Sam that Candice was always horrible, even when she was a child. She told Sam that it was best that she gave her up; she wouldn't have raised her properly. And even though she was their own sister, she and Anna were always ashamed of her. After that day, Candice wasn't mentioned again and Sam preferred it that way.

She sighed as she relived the memory of Anne talking to her in their lounge. Now that she thought about it, Anne was coming home tomorrow. She booked the earliest flight home when she heard about the incident, Ian had told her.

Sam realised that she was still staring at the picture and when she looked up, she found Lucas and chief staring at her in silence, both looking so similar.

"Do you think this means this person knows me," her voice sounded louder than usual as it cut through the silence, breaking it.

"Yes."

"But who?" she asked in a strangled voice. "Who could it be?"

"That's what we need to find out. It's up to you to find that out, you're the only person who can, unless we catch someone and get them to talk. You need to remember something to figure it out."

"So, you're saying it's someone from my past?"

"I am."

Sam let out a breath and glanced at Lucas.

He was looking at her with an unreadable expression and she wondered what he was thinking.

"I'm going to need some time," Sam said, referring to the previous question.

"No problem. Let us go now. I'll drop you back home," he started walking and she followed behind, walking slowly.

"You okay?" Lucas asked her softly.

"Not really," she replied.

He gave her a small smile and walked next to her. Their shoulders brushed lightly as they walked to the door. Her mind was preoccupied with the pictures she'd just seen.

Once they closed the door behind them and got into the car, Sam relaxed a little and sinked into the seat.

"Can I keep these pictures?" she asked chief.

"Yeah."

"Thanks," she said gratefully.

"No problem," he looked back at her and then focused on the road again.

She was silent throughout the ride, taking in the view. She couldn't stop thinking and her head was all ready starting to hurt.

When they reached her house, it was already noon. She thanked the chief and greeted them both before getting out.

The second she stepped into the house, her Uncle came up to her, and noticing the distress on her face, pulled her into a hug.

"I'll make you something to eat," he murmured.

"Thank you."

He nodded and kissed the top of her head before heading to the kitchen.

Sam walked to her room. She took her glasses off and placed her camera on the table. After taking some tablets for her increasing headache, she headed to the kitchen.

After eating the food her Uncle made and a hot cup of coffee, she went back up to her room. She kicked her shoes off and fell into her bed, pulling the blanket over her. She tried her best to block out all thoughts but didn't succeed. Sleep overtook her body, making up for the lost sleep during the previous night. She fell into a deep sleep and nothing disturbed her and, thankfully, she had a peaceful sleep.

- - - - -

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Croc