"Life is like a camera . . .

Focus on what's important.
Capture the good times.
Develop from the negatives.
And if things don't work out,
take another shot." -- Anonymous.

- - - - -

Ding, dong!

The bell rang repeatedly, not having stopped for the past five minutes.

Sam groaned. "I'm coming! Hold on a sec, please!"

She had all ready gotten out of bed when the bell rang the first time, but had to get done before going to open it.

"Doesn't this person have any patience at all?" she muttered under her breath.

She yanked the door open after unlocking it and once she realised who it was, glared at them.

They had their bags with them, she noted.

"Morning to you, too, Sam," Jeff's amused voice greeted her after several seconds of her saying nothing.

"Jeff," Megs hissed and drove an elbow into his side.

"How you doing, Sam?"

"Yeah, yeah, all good. Come in, guys."

She shut the door behind them and joined them in the kitchen.

Sam was surprised that they were here.

Megs wasn't supposed to come back for another week or so and Jeff was busy with work in the city.

"What brings you two here?"

"Where's Mum and Dad?" Megs asked.

"They're at work, Megs," Sam replied.

"Surely they would've stayed with all that's going on?"

"Yeah, well, I told them to go to work and carry on."

"So what d'you do at home the whole day, then? You're all alone, don't you get bored? Oh, and can't you go out with your friends? You need to tell me everything that's going on, Sam, I need to know. I can't believe this even happend. And to you of all people," Jeff said.

"What do you mean by 'to me of all people'?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, you know . . . never mind."

"But seriously, what brings you two here?"

"Mum and Dad said that since you're all alone and stuck in the house, the least we can do for you is to come here and keep you occupied," Megs said.

"Oh, no. I do go out with Chief from time to time. I'm not lonely, though, I keep myself busy. You guys didn't have to cut your hol short for me, y'know."

"But we wanted to. We don't mind, Sam. Spending time with you is super fun, besides, I never see you in a long, long time," Jeff argued.

"Yip, I agree with Jeff."

Sam rolled her eyes and a smile spread across her face.

She missed them too much to explain and was glad to have them here. They would also keep her very busy, no doubt about that, and she needed that right now.

Even though she has been occupying herself with things, that didn't stop her mind from wandering off, Jefferson and Megan would make sure that didn't happen.

"How's Nic doing? I haven't seen her in ages," Sam said.

"She's okay. She's gonna handle the restaurant while I'm here, she kept on stressing about it," Jeff chuckled.

"You should come here more often, y'know, you hardly ever here," Megs said, pointing a finger at him.

He put his hands up. "You should also come and visit us there because at the moment Nikkie can't drive, let alone walk properly, y'know," he mimicked the last part and Megs stuck her tongue out.

Samantha laughed.

Typical of them. She was used to their brother and sister fights, but since they're much older now, they don't fight like they used to.

"How's her leg?" asked Sam.

"It's healing nicely, she'll be up and about in no time at all. Right now she's pulling through. She can walk, but not for too long," Jeff replied.

Nicole had a passion for dancing -- she still does.

In one of her performances, the structure behind the stage fell and her leg was badly injured. Since then, she's being trying to walk properly and she's getting there slowly, little by little, but according to the doctors, her leg won't be completely healed.

And because of this, she won't be able to dance properly. She reluctantly resigned from her position and started to work at Jeff's restaurant, and from there they met and ended up where they are today.

Sam held a soft spot for Nicole; to give up your dream and heart's desire isn't easy, but Nicole did that and is happy where she is today, even if that means she won't be able to pursue her dream.

Sam sighed. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Nic.

"Well, come on, guys. Let's go do something," she started up the stairs and they followed her.

"What d'you do alone at home all day?" Megs asked.

"Don't you get bored?" Jeff added.

"As I've said before, I keep myself busy," Sam replied.

"One of them being this," she opened her bedroom door and let them pass her.

"Wow," Megs breathed. "You did this all by yourself?"

"This is amazing. What did Mum and Dad say?" Jeff asked.

Samantha looked at her room.
She had pushed all her furniture to one side of the wall because she hadn't been sleeping in her room; she simply couldn't sleep, and when she could sleep, she slept on the couch in the lounge.

Aside from the wall with all the furniture pushed against, the other three walls were covered in multiple colours of paint.

Each painting held a story of one of the things from her life. She was trying to extract a memory, to remember anything that could help her with the case.

But after struggling and getting nowhere after hours, she decided to just paint whatever came to mind. Now that she looked at her walls properly, she realised exactly what she had painted -- the forest behind the house with too many added things to count.

She chuckled. Her imagination went way too far this time.

"Yes, Megs. No, Jeff. And that is why I need you to help me cover this up," she answered their questions and held up a big bucket of white paint that was in the corner.

"You did this without their permission," Jeff raised an eyebrow.

Sam looked at him. "Yeah, why're you so surprised, I thought you knew me by now," she said with a 'duh' tone.

"Jeff, you of all people should know that Sam does what she wants to, and is temped even more if she doesn't get permission to do so," Megs pointed out.

"Mum and Dad would kill you if they find out," Jeff shook his head.

"No, they wouldn't," Sam shook her head. "They'd kill you and Megs, not me."

Jeff huffed. He knew she was right about that, as much as he hated to admit it.

"Well, come on. Let's cover this up already," Megs said, grabbing a paintbrush.

"Just remember to paint in one direction," Jeff warned.

Megan rolled her eyes. "When you live with two incredibly amazing artists, by now you would know that, so thank you for reminding me for the millionth time!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm an incredible artist, aren't I?" Jeff smirked.

"You --"

"Okay, okay, let's not fight on the very first day of seeing each other after months. Let's carry on now, yeah?"

Megs glared at Jeff's smirking face and turned around to face the painted wall.

Sam shot Jeff a look that said, "Seriously?" and put a hand on Megs' shoulder.

"Let's not worry about that sulking nobody who's sitting in the corner --"

"Hey!" Jeff cut in.

"-- 'cause after all, he's only that cry baby who threw a tantrum just because of his soccer ball, remember?" Sam reminded her of the memory that always made them laugh.

"I did not cry over that soccer ball," Jeff argued, fighting a smile.

Megs laughed. "Let's just start painting all ready."

"Let's."

Jeff huffed and turned to the other wall, all ready smearing white paint over the colourful forest with inanimate objects and fictional creatures -- some other things, too -- that Sam painted.

After a few minutes of complete silence, the only noise being the paintbrushes against the wall, Jeff spoke, "But seriously, Sam, what really happend? Mum and Dad didn't tell us anything, nothing at all. You seem fine, but you're not."

Sam sighed.

She was expecting them to ask, but she didn't know what to tell them. Still painting, her back to them, she thought of everything and made sure not to let anything slip.

"That week after school ended, we went camping at Forest Hills on Tuesday. Then on one morning, our third day, I think, Sally was missing. We went looking for her and found her on the floor. She was stabbed in the stomach," Sam's breath hitched.

She blinked back tears and took a deep breath.

"We called Chief and they investigated it all. I can't tell you everything, Chief said I can't, all I can tell you is that these people are after me for some reason. I don't know why or what they want. And then another friend was hurt again -- Drake.

"He was asked to give info about me. When he didn't give it to those people, he was hurt and knocked out. Chief wants me to stay inside the house all the time for safety. I don't know what to do. I don't even know why these people are after me."

Sam took a deep breath again.

She looked up at what was left of the forest painting. Saying it out loud helped her realise one thing: staying in here isn't going to get her anywhere or give her any answers to her hundreds of questions.

There was only one way to do that, and Sam was going to do it even if it meant disobey Chief's orders.

She faintly heard Jeff and Megs talking to her, but was too absorbed in her thoughts for it to register in her head.

As she covered the forest painting, a plan swarmed around and formed in Sam's mind.

She smiled widely.

Sure, it was going to be tricky, dangerous even, and there will be risks, but all she could do was hope that luck was on her side and that this will go smoothly.

She knew what she was going to do. And she knew exactly who she needed to help her with it.

Lucas Cross.

- - - - -

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Croc