Sam II by Alina Udrea - HTML preview

CHAPTER 5

Sam woke up. The first thing she saw was the basket of sticks next to her. She had a slight headache like one has after a long sleep. Then she heard somebody whining beside her. She turned her head to her right and….what in the world? What was Jeff doing there? And where was everyone else? Wait, there was nobody else because this was the woods where she had fallen asleep before the inn burnt to the ground with everyone inside. There was her basket of sticks and twigs for the fire she was meant to gather. But Jeff was here too!!

Then it dawned on her. He had been the one holding her hand earlier so the oak must have brought him here too with her! This was getting…interesting. But wait! Her basket was here, Jeff was just coming to his senses ….. But she was already aware of everything as it wasn’t the first time she had time-traveled.

“Get up! Hurry!” she yelled frantically at him. “ Follow me and be quick about it! I'll answer any questions you might have after we save my mother, the inn and everyone inside! Come!”

She left the basket there although it had been her only reason for being in the woods in the first place, and, with Jeff on her heels, she started running as fast as she could. She knew that Jeff must be confused as to where he was, where his gang was and what she meant by it all but there was no time to lose. The oak had brought her before the worst moment of her life was going to happen and she could prevent it! She could stop Tom from burning down the inn and from killing all those innocent people, including her mother.

She was running so fast that her feet were burning. But it didn’t matter. She had been given the chance to save the one person in her life that meant everything to her, her mother! She was sure she would succeed, she had to. The oak brought her back here with this reason. She could see the inn in the distance already and there was no smoke in sight yet. So she wasn’t too late. She couldn’t believe this. If only….

All this time she hoped to get back to her own time but she never thought she would go back before the incident and that she could have a chance to change it all and save her mom. She could hear Jeff running right behind her without uttering a word. He was just following her, no questions asked yet.

As she got a few feet from the inn, she saw the flames. She looked back and saw the horror on Jeff's face at the sight as he clearly wasn’t expecting a burning inn. They covered their faces with their sweaty shirts and pushed the front door of the inn to the floor. There was smoke inside but Jeff was holding her hand again, reassuring her.

She led him to the kitchen where she knew her mother must be and they found her on the ground. They could hardly breathe themselves. She knelt beside her, crying. Had it all been in vain? She felt for her pulse hoping for a miracle and there it was! She had a pulse, faint, but it was there. She was still alive. And Maria was behind the stove, too. Jeff and Sam dragged both women outside to safety just before the inn burnt to the ground. They couldn’t save anyone else, but they had saved her mom and Maria at least!!!

Sam helped the two women come to their senses and so she found out that Tom had indeed burnt the inn. Maria had seen him do it and she could testify. But he had surely died in the fire too, with the innkeeper Jim and with a few other people. People were already gathering to put down the fire. She had already seen this before, had already lived this, the only difference being that back then her mom and Maria had also been inside and died with the rest of the people in. She was still in disbelief, her mom was safe standing next to her. She would never leave her side, never! Flashes came to her mind with her wanting to leave this place, but now all she wanted was right beside her….and someone extra.

When Isabella came to her senses, her beloved daughter's face was the first thing she saw. And she was glad. Then she looked above her daughter, above the crowd that had gathered there meanwhile and she understood. The inn had been burnt to the ground. And her daughter and the man standing next to her had saved her. But they would have no roof over their heads anymore, she wouldn’t be able to provide for her daughter anymore so her mood quickly turned from gratitude to utter despair. Sam didn’t know what was wrong until her mom explained her thoughts. Jeff on the other hand was still trying to understand what had just happened and where he was.

Sam saw the look in her mother's eyes and the puzzled look in Jeff's eyes. They both needed reassuring. Good thing that at least Maria was calm and content and grateful to have escaped hell and its burning flames.

Then Sam saw someone in the crowd. She couldn’t believe it, it was Kevin. Just that now he was there to help with extinguishing the flames and didn’t have to save Sam anymore.

“Mom, trust me and follow me!” Said Sam and grabbed her mother's hand while making way through the people to get to Kevin. When she got next to him, she pretended to bump into him.

“Excuse me, aren’t you Kevin? I am Sam and this here is my mother.”

Sam knew that Kevin hadn’t met her yet as things went different this time and she didn’t need to be saved, on the contrary, she had just saved her mom. But she knew that Kevin's mom wanted a good housekeeper to help her old one so this could be a good job for her mom.

“Do I know you, miss!?” Kevin asked busy to empty his bucket of water on the smoldering building.

“No, but I was wondering if your mother could use a good and trusty maid? My mom here is the nicest person you'll meet and she could use this job so if you could ask your mom for a meeting….”

An hour later Isabella was already working in Kevin's house as a helper. And she was also welcome there. As for Maria, she had some relatives in Clover Town and she went to them. Jeff on the other hand only had questions for Sam.

So after Isabella was safely installed in Kevin's house, it was time for Sam to explain things to Jeff. It took him a while to really get a grasp of what had happened and to make peace with the fact that he was in the future and that the only person he knew there was Sam!

But after the initial shock, Jeff was glad. It was like he had also been given a second chance to make something with his life, a clean start, a decent life, one that his father would be proud of. There was nobody besides his father in his old life whom he would miss, so this was in fact great! He would turn his life around and be an honest man with an honest living. He was strong and hard working and a great smith and he was sure he could find work pretty easy. So when Sam tried to apologize for having dragged him into this, although he had been the one grabbing her hand just the moment she touched the oak, she was surprised to find out that instead of being upset, he was rather delighted.

It was a bit weird for Sam to have a room to share with her mom in Kevin's house. As for Kevin, she wasn’t so sure now that he was the one she wanted anymore although they got the chance to become friends again….

By ALINA UDREA

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