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Sam was up, dressed and sitting on the living room couch by the time her babysitters got there. AJ had assured her that he and Nick would be back as soon as they could and that Drew was given explicit instructions that he should do whatever was necessary to protect them. As it turned out, Drew was licensed to carry a firearm but didn’t usually need it since the guys rarely required armed protection.

Drew showed it to both her and Lauren and made sure they knew how to work it in case they needed to. He would have preferred to take them to the firing range but there was no safe way to get Sam out of the house with Ryan lurking around. However, she knew that when AJ said to do anything to protect them, he really meant anything.

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AJ and Nick made their grocery run in record time and found Lauren and Drew in the living room.

“Where’s Sam?” AJ demanded.

“Easy J.” Drew said as he stood. “She’s upstairs taking a nap.”

“Is she ok?” Nick asked.

Lauren nodded. “I think it’s the nightmares. They’re draining her and she has no other way of coping with them besides sleeping. She really needs to get some exercise AJ. I saw how she looked at the pool…”

“You opened the blinds?” AJ shouted.

“Just a crack. She needs some fresh air. We need to find some way to get her out of the house so she can breathe.”

“But Ryan…”

Lauren sighed and slouched back onto the couch. “I know how much of a nightmare he is but she needs some kind of release. There has to be some way for her to tire herself out so that maybe she won’t have to deal with the terror at night. Please just promise me you’ll try J.”

AJ promised but he had no idea what to do. Their friends stayed for dinner and then left, leaving Sam and him along again. They were just heading to bed when AJ had an idea.

“Did you keep the bathing suit you had while you were here?” he asked jumping in front of her.

Sam gave him a strange look. “I think so. Why?”

“Go change.”

“But…” she protested as her eyes got big.

“No buts, go change.”

Sam stared at him to see if he was serious and, from what she could tell, he was. She had no idea what he was planning but she did what he asked her to and then met him back in the hallway.

“What are we doing?” she asked when she saw him dressed in swimming trunks and carrying two towels.

“Going for a swim.” he answered as he took her hand.

“No.” Sam shrieked and dug her heels into the carpet. “It’s not safe. I can’t.”

Her eyes started to well up and AJ slid his hand gently across her cheek to wipe the stray tears away.

“You said you trusted me right?”

Sam nodded but looked terrified.

“Then trust me.” AJ pleaded. “It’s dark, there’s no lights and the pool is surrounded by trees. As long as we don’t have a cannonball contest, we should be fine.”

“But…”

“Please trust me Sam. You need to leave the house and get some fresh air. Even Lauren mentioned it. Maybe it’ll even help with the nightmares.” AJ paused. “I swear to God that I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Sam finally relented and followed AJ out to the back yard. The pool was pretty well hidden and he was right about there being no lights around. They quietly slipped into the pool and she was struck by how good it felt to be out and in the water. AJ watched her as she silently and gracefully moved through the dark water; he couldn’t help but notice how happy she seemed. They stayed out for a while longer but made sure they didn’t talk just in case someone was listening.

Sam started to shiver and AJ motioned with his head that they should probably get out. As he followed her out of the water, a small sliver of moonlight broke through and illuminated the scars on her back. Seeing all those marks and now knowing how she got them made AJ furious; all he wanted to do at the moment was wrap his hands around Ryan’s neck and choke the life out of him.

He grabbed one of the towels off the lounger and wrapped it around her. Pulling her a little closer, he started to rub her arms to try and warm her up and to distract him from his murderous feelings. She finally whispered that she was ok and they made their way inside; he waited until she was upstairs before locking the door and setting the alarm.

When he made it upstairs, her door was closed and he could hear the shower running. He decided to leave her in peace and changed his clothes, climbing into bed a few minutes later. The night had gone to well that as he lay down to sleep, there was a smile on his face and a great night to dream about.

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Sam woke up in the middle of the night with her throat scratchy. She looked over at her bedside table and her water bottle was empty. Debating between waking AJ up and going downstairs herself, she decided that she would let him sleep. It would be a quick trip down to grab a bottle of water and she could make it back up in a few minutes.

She avoided the windows the best she could and when she opened the fridge, she couldn’t find any water. Knowing he kept some bottles underneath the island, she knelt down and dug around until she found one. As she stood up, she heard a noise and looked across the counter at the windows, now completely open from blinds.

There was a shadowy figure slowly making its way across the lawn and towards the windows. She started to panic and tried to think of a way to get upstairs as fast as she could. As she was trying to figure it out, the shadow made its way closer to the windows and when she looked over, the person came into focus and she found Ryan staring back at her. He crooked his fingers in some kind of evil wave and his grin was absolutely terrifying. She looked down to see where his other hand was and she noticed he was holding a fairly big rock. Just as she realized what he was going to do, the rock came up and she let out a bloodcurdling scream as she was hit by the shattering glass.