Chapter IV Don't Come Closer

It's been three days since the first time Sam, Leigh and Andrew came to Harrisonburg. Everything is going pretty well. And as for that, Sam learned how to ignore Anthony all the while but Leigh noticed it but she never had the chance to ask Sam about the matter.

It's late afternoon and the three Sam, Leigh and Andrew are walking around the farm. Sam and Leigh are on the lead while Andrew is at their back taking pictures of the farm.

"Sam can I ask you something?" Leigh broke the silence between them.

"Hmm… what is it?"

"You and Anthony, you already had a truce since the incident, right?"

"Ah…yeah. Why?"

"Well, I noticed that you never talked to each other since then." Leigh commented.

"Well, he's busy. He's always at work." Sam replied.

"Even during our meals? You never really talked." Leigh said.

"Well, maybe talking with each other is not meant for us." The redhead said.

"Something's up. Just tell me. I'm your friend."

"Something's not up. Everything's fine." The redhead continued to walk.

"Come on. I know you. I know you're lying coz your nose becomes red as your head."

"Just cut it Leigh. Everything's fine." Sam snapped.

"And one more thing, you're a people person."

"So?"

"So it means you love to meet new people. That's your character, remember?"

"And the bottom line is?" the redhead stopped walking and faced her friend.

"You'll only avoid a person if you don't like him or if he done something bad to you."

Then there was silence between the two again. And only the sound of the animals can be heard.

"Babe, I'll just go there for awhile, okay?" Andrew interrupted.

"Okay. Just don't go too far." Leigh said.

"Sure." And Andrew left the two ladies.

"And you…" Leigh looked at Sam again. "Spill it out."

Sam wanted to but she doesn't know why she can't even utter a word to tell everything from the start. "Well, let's just say he doesn't want to befriend with me." Sam finally said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Didn't you just here me? I said, he doesn't want to befriend with me." Sam continued to walk. Leigh followed her.

"So you two are fighting again?" Leigh asked.

Sam is now getting irritated. "No."

"Then what?"

"Nothing. We just had an agreement that we won't talk to each other." Sam replied.

"Hey where are you going?" Leigh asked.

"I don't know. Just far away from here."

Oh my God, I'm lost. Sam thought. She has been walking for almost half an hour and now she doesn't know where she is. Only trees and grasses are the only things she could see. There are no animals and people around. It's just her in that place.

"God where am I?" Sam exclaimed.

Sam continued to walk but deep inside she doesn't really now where she's going. Just then she heard a horse neighed. She got her hopes up but when she looked at the rider, she got a little scared. It was an old man, well not really old. He's actually in his mid forties, wearing a cowboy suit.

"What's the problem here lady?" the rider asked.

"I uhh. I am about to go back home actually."

"And you got lost, didn't you?" the rider smirk. And with that smirk, Sam got even more scared.

"Well kinda. But I know I can go home."

The man jumped off the horse and got nearer to Sam. "How?"

"Well I can walk."

"It's getting late. Come on I'll take you home." The man grabbed Sam in her arms.

"No. I can handle this. Just let go of me." Sam tried to get the man's gripped out of her shoulder but the man held her tighter.

"Please let go of me." Sam begged.

"No I won't let you go." The man smiled evilly.

"Let me go!" Sam screamed.

Just as the time Sam screamed, a horse kicked the man away from Sam. Sam looked at the horse but surely it wasn't the horse that the man rode earlier. It was someone else's and it has its rider. Sam looked at the new rider and found it to be Anthony.

"What the fuck!" the old man screamed.

Anthony jumped off the horse. He looked at Sam first questioningly then went to the man. Anthony grabbed the man and punched him on the face. Unfortunately, the man was able to throw sands on Anthony's face. And now Anthony couldn't see. The man kicked him and punched him once, twice, thrice and so on and so forth.

"Aaahh!" Anthony screamed.

Sam found a branch. She grabbed it and forcefully hit the man on the face. He was knocked down. Sam threw the branch and went to Anthony's side.

"Anthony are you alright?" Sam asked and immediately checked him if he got serious wounds.

"I'm fine. Just get the rope." Anthony said who is blinking because of the sand in her eyes.

"The rope?"

"I have a rope in my satchel. Just get it and tie the man on the tree so he won't be able to catch us when he gets up again."

"Okay."

Sam immediately got the rope in Anthony's satchel, pulled the man and tied him on the tree. Once Sam is done with her task, he went to Anthony' side again. "How are you feeling?" Sam asked.

"I'm okay. Argh!"

Sam helped Anthony to stand up. "Can you walk?"

"I can but my body hurts." Anthony said.

"Hop in the horse."

"What are you going to do?"

"Just ride the horse and tell me the direction to the house."

There's no one in the house. Sam helped Anthony to get inside the house. She helped him sit on the couch and then she noticed that Anthony's bruises became visible on his face.

"I'll just get water. Just stay here."

After Sam gets water, she started to clean Anthony's wounds.

"Argh. It hurts." Anthony yelled.

"It will only hurt a little." Sam said and continued to clean his wounds.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault." Sam said.

"Yeah it's all your fault." Anthony countered.

"Wow thanks. I already admit it."

"Why were you in that place?" Anthony's getting mad.

"I was trying to find my way home?"

"Do you know how far it is from the farm?"

"No. Well…"

"You were with Leigh and Andrew, right? The where is she?!"

"Hey stop interrogating me, okay?"

"Do you know how dangerous that was? That man could rape you in that place!"

Sam didn't react. Well, it's too obvious that Anthony is pissed off of her. But there's something more that she sees in his eyes. Anthony is scared but for what reason? She doesn't know.

"Fine it won't happen anymore." Sam said and continued to clean his wounds again. She didn't argue with him anymore because she's already tired. She's tired from a long day walk and she's tired from fighting against Anthony at all.

"I'll make sure of that. I'll tell grandma not to allow you to go outside without someone with you." Anthony said.

Sam narrowed her eyes at Anthony. She was stopped from what she was doing again. "You can't do that to me."

"Yes I can. If that's the only way from keeping you away from harm." Anthony said. There, he already said it. Sam felt her stomach fluttered. Did she hear him correct? Sam wanted to smile at that but dared not to, instead they were locked in each other's gaze. Blue eyes against blue eyes but none of them looked away.

"You are staying here in our house so you are our responsibility." Anthony continued.

Sam only nodded. She continued to clean his wounds once again. And now they're faces are only inches apart from each other. "By the way, thank you…for saving me." Sam muttered.

Anthony wanted to get away from her but he couldn't for his body is frozen like an ice. He couldn't move. Her smell is lingering on his nose and he couldn't get away from that.

"What's wrong?" Sam frowned at him.

Anthony met her gaze and held her hand that is holding the towel. Then, Sam felt electricity ran through her body.

"I uhh… I'll do this." Anthony said and got the towel from Sam. He moved away from him a little. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stay closer to her any longer.

A moment after, the door burst open and Grandma Amy, Leigh and Andrew popped in the door. Both Sam and Anthony looked at them.

"Oh there you are dear sweetie. We've been looking at you all over the place." Grandma Amy said and immediately went to Sam.

"What the hell Sam? You had me worried! You've been missing for three hours. I thought you were home since you left us." Leigh said. A little pissed off of Sam.

Sam stood up. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this to happen. I swear. I was on my way home that time but I got lost." Sam explained.

"It's okay. At least you're safe." Grandma Amy said just as the time she saw bruises on Anthony's face. "Oh my God Anthony, what happened to you?"

Sam bit her lower lip and wasn't able to look at Anthony and Grandma Amy anymore. "It's actually my fault."

"Why? What happened?" Grandma Amy turned to Sam.

"Well there was incident that happened when I was finding my way home…" Sam started.

"She met a stranger but she didn't know that he was dangerous. The man harassed her and tried to touch her." Anthony continued.

"Oh my God, were you hurt Sam?" Grandma Amy asked.

"She wasn't." Anthony looked at Sam this time. "Just please don't let her go out alone again."

"What about your bruises?"

"Well, he saved me from that man." Sam answered. She met Anthony's gaze.

Sam went to Leigh's room that night. She couldn't sleep because she knows her friend is mad at her. Sam knocked at the half-close door and her friend automatically signaled her to come in.

"Hey." Sam greeted.

Leigh rolled her eyes. "Hey yourself."

"Hey I know you're mad but please let me explain first." Sam said.

"Go on. Explain yourself." Leigh crossed her arms against her chest.

"I left you cause I got irritated from your questions. You know I just don't want to talk about what happened to me and Anthony anymore." Sam explained.

"So you decided to walk out of me." Leigh finished.

"Yeah. But I was actually finding my way home when I realized I got lost."

"And that came the incident. Hey why don't you just make me understand more why you reacted that way?"

Sam fell silent. Her mind is racing with thoughts whether she'll tell her friend or not. But the first won. "Okay, he told me that he doesn't want to befriend with me and it struck me a lot. I don't know why, maybe because I hate being rejected."

"Because you're a people person."

"And addition to that I never done anything bad to him…well except our first incident…but hey, I already apologized to him sincerely."

"Was that the reason why you wanted to leave this house the other day?" Leigh asked.

Sam only nodded. "I was angry at him that time."

"Now that explains." Leigh muttered.

"You're not mad at me anymore?"

"Actually I'm not really mad at you. You just had me worried. I invited you here so you're my responsibility. So next time, if you're really pissed off of my cousin, just punch him, okay?" Leigh smiled at Sam.

Sam chuckled and hugged her friend tightly. "I don't know what I will do without you."

"Well, you'll be lost again." And both of them laughed.

"Don't do it again, next time again, okay? Or else I don't know what I will do when your parents found out you're dead." Leigh said.

"You're so morbid." Sam slapped Leigh's shoulder lightly.

"And one more thing, your boyfriend will kill me."

"I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh then who's Edward in your life, huh?"

"Well he stopped calling. It's almost six months and I don't have any news from him, so I don't know if he's still my boyfriend." Sam said.

"Whatever Sam. Well, I'm glad Anthony found you earlier."

"Yeahh me too."

"And you know what? You two look so cute with each other earlier." Leigh said as she wiped her tears from laughing.

"What do you mean?"

"When you were cleaning his wounds, you look so so cute." Leigh teased. Sam slapped Leigh's shoulder again.

"What?"

"You're match making."

"Maybe, Anthony will be your future boyfriend and then you'll get married then bam you're not only my best friend but cousin also. Isn't that great?" Leigh grinned.

"Whatever. I'll just go downstairs and get some water." Sam stood up and started to walk.

"Hey that can come true."

"Whatever Leigh." But as soon as Sam was out Leigh's room, a smile was formed on her lips.

Sam found Anthony in the kitchen. Just like before they only have a dim light that lights their way. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Sam asked.

"I'm okay. Thanks for helping me." Anthony said but didn't look at Sam.

Sam nodded. "And thank you for saving me." The redhead said.

"You already thanked me."

"I know. I just wanted you to know how grateful I am."

"Just don't do it again. And don't leave the house without someone with you." Anthony said.

Sam nodded again. "And one more thing…please don't come closer to me again." Anthony continued.

Sam raised an eyebrow. She wanted to know the reason why but shut her mouth instead. "Fine if that's what you want. I will not argue anymore and I will not ask you the reason why." Sam said and left the kitchen and forgot what she was about to do.