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The night was pitch black and very warm, but the breeze carried a cold bite that sent goosebumps running up and down Sam’s arms. He shivered, rubbing his exposed skin as he stumbled across the velvety black grass toward the small flag where the graves were rumoured to be. Just patchy grass, nothing to indicate graves. Something rustled in the darkness beyond the fence.
The camera shed a soft white light across his face, but everything around him was forced into deeper shadow. It was creepy as hell to see his own shadow twist and ripple across the ground.
The spirit box provided a few helpful answers, giving Sam the go-ahead to start reciting a prayer to hopefully aid the dead soldiers. An exorcism. Never thought he'd be performing one.
He pressed down on the radio, waiting for the beep. “Just checking in, is everything okay?”
Colby’s voice came back, garbled and delayed. “Sam! Oh fuck, Sam, the rem pod-”
Sam’s heart started beating faster as he heard the terror in Colby’s voice. God, if something bad happened now... “What’s happening?”
“The rem pod is going crazy and the music box, everything is-” his voice got cut off. Sam quickly pressed the reply button, thumb shaking. Beep.
“Do you need me to come back?”
Staticky noises. Sam jumped as something rustled to his left. The receiver beeped again.
“No no no, I’m okay, I just-”
Sam’s shoulders slumped in relief and he calmed his racing heart. Colby was okay, and far braver than he was, apparently. He couldn’t imagine being all alone in the basement like that, with their equipment going off. He'd probably be pissing himself to be completely honest. Now all he had to do was wait.
He stood there for a few minutes, looking around him, waiting for Colby’s signal to start the prayer. The breeze chilled him, and he suddenly shivered. The hair on the back of his neck rising, he turned. He might have yelped.
There was a perfect shadow, standing in the lit windows of the conjuring house. A person, watching him.
And it was right in the way of Colby’s escape route from where he was currently alone in the basement.
“Colby? Colby, come in,” Sam’s hand was shaking so badly he could hardly press the button. There was dead silence. Sam tried again, his whole body shaking so badly he was surprised he was still upright.
Dead silence.
Not now, please not now, please not now. More rustles sounded off to the left. Sam wheeled around, torchlight finding nothing. When he turned back, the shadow was gone. Fuck. This couldn't be happening.
And then something crackled. The radio, Colby’s voice.
“Sam, help! Help me! Fuck! Sam! Please-” it cut off immediately, but it sent Sam’s heart racing, sweat pooling on his skin as he stared at the now empty window where the shadow had been. Summoning all the courage he had left, he started sprinting toward it, toward the doorway.
The terrain was dark, and he almost lost his footing on the uneven grass. He yelled Colby’s name as he ran toward the brightly lit windows.
In the doorway he collided with Colby, who was sprinting out of the house. Sam fell back, hurting his wrist with the impact of body on concrete. And then Colby was there, pulling Sam into his chest, both their bodies shaking.
“Fuck, are you okay? Holy shit-” Colby gasped, his pupils blown so wide the black obliterated the blue. Sam slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, acutely aware of how Colby was holding him.
“What was that? Why were you screaming?” he asked, suddenly angry at Colby for scaring him. Colby stared down at him, confusion in his eyes.
“You were the one who asked for help-?”
Both their eyes widened at the same time with the realisation that neither had dialled the radio for help. Sam gulped, and realised with a groan that a throbbing pain was spreading up his leg from his ankle. Maybe he had hurt himself more than he realised running toward the house in absolute darkness. Colby wheeled around to look at the house, terrified. “Fuck dude- Sam, are you okay?” he said, finally noticing Sam's position.
Sam clutched his ankle, which seemed to be swelling, and shone his camera light down at it. He’d definitely twisted it. But that was the least of his problems- they’d both heard each other calling the radio for help. So who had done it?
“We should get out of here,” Sam murmured, looking up into Colby’s fear-filled and worried face. “I think… I think we made it worse.”
In response, Colby’s arms tightened around Sam’s chest. He'd never held him like that before. Sam’s eyes looked past his friend’s face to the window where the silhouette had stood.
“We got overexcited,” Colby’s voice was higher than usual. He was trembling, too. Sam had never seen him so afraid. “Maybe the soldiers were right, we should have left it to a psychic, like they said.”
Sam slowly twisted around so he could get to his feet, instead of leaning into Colby’s chest. As soon as he tried to put weight on his ankle he almost fell again with a yelp of pain. Colby caught him, pulling one his arm around his shoulder.
“Sam-”
But he never finished his sentence, because with a loud crack of thunder, the skies opened above them.
The rain soaked Sam to the skin in seconds, and although Colby must have been freezing he managed to support him all the way into the house, an unwelcome respite from the barrage of droplets. The sound of rain on the tin roof of the conjuring house was a sort of creepy ambience that made the hot stillness of the house press even further into Sam’s skin. Colby helped Sam to the couch where he gently set him down, bending over his ankle to see what had happened. Sam let out a little hiss of pain as Colby’s cool fingers probed the swelling gently.
“I twisted it,” Sam explained quietly, his voice sounding wrong and unnatural inside the heavy room. “When I was running.”
Colby’s bright blue eyes suddenly locked on his with a look indecipherable to Sam. He’d never seen that expression on Colby’s face, and he wasn’t sure how to read it. But a second later Colby’s eyes shifted to his wrist, and the expression was gone.
Sam looked down and realised a nasty bruise was blossoming across the porcelain skin of his hand and wrist.
“Fuck, Sam, you kinda messed yourself up, huh,” Colby said, with something like a dry laugh getting stuck in his throat as he ran a fingertip over the dark purple bruise. For some reason, the gentle touch sent shivers down Sam’s spine, but he shrugged it off. He was just too aware of everything, his senses heightened with the adrenaline still pumping through his body.
“Okay,” Colby said, dropping Sam’s wrist and getting to his feet. “I’m going to go grab my stuff, I just left it lying there because I thought you were hurt- and then I’ll try and find the first aid kit, is that cool?”
Sam nodded as he breathed in, facing the idea of sitting in the living room at 3AM, alone, with a useless ankle and wrist. But then again, Colby had to go back down to the basement by himself, so Sam could deal with three minutes alone.
Maybe Colby spotted the fearful look in Sam’s eyes, because he touched his shoulder comfortingly before disappearing down the basement stairs.
And Sam was alone.
He tried not to let his eyes stray to the window where he’d seen the silhouette, or think about the threatening feeling of the walls closing in on him. It was so hot, in the room, that sweat clung to his skin and he was short of breath. Claustrophobic. Like he was trapped here, forever, and ever, and ever-
He almost jumped out of his skin when Colby reappeared at the top of the stairs with an armful of equipment. “Holy shit, you scared me,” Sam said, trying to laugh. Colby sighed affectionately and dumped the equipment beside Sam, before beginning his search for the first aid kit.
Out of nowhere, a breeze caressed Sam’s neck. He jumped and turned around, but there was nothing there.
“He’s pretty,” a voice whispered, as if it was coming from beside him. With a yell Sam turned back around, but nothing was on the couch, either.
Colby ran back into the room, searching for a sign of what scared Sam. Sam’s body was shaking again, as he flattened himself against the couch, terrified. “Dude, you will not believe what just happened, I felt a wind, and then this voice, like, right next to me! Holy fuck-”
“What did it say?” Colby demanded, picking up the camera excitedly. Sam stammered as he considered his words. What had it said?
“I mean- it sounded like ‘he’s pretty’ but I could be wrong.”
“Hell yeah man, got yourself a ghost girlfriend!” Colby teased, setting the camera down on the table as he opened the first aid kit. “Now I learned how to deal with this stuff like three years ago, so bear with me, okay?”
Sam nodded and shifted his leg so it was resting on Colby’s lap. Colby took an icepack and wrapped it in a tissue before wrapping it around Sam’s ankle, covering that in a layer of bandage. Sam didn't know he was so capable with this stuff. They rarely needed the first aid kit.
“That’s better, thanks,” Sam said, gingerly flexing his ankle and setting it back on the ground. Colby wordlessly reached for his wrist, rubbing some arnica cream onto the bruise with light fingers.
“He cares about you,” the whisper was so loud and clear that Sam immediately reacted, throwing himself away from the voice and almost knocking Colby over from where he was sitting beside him.
“What? Fuck! What is it?” Colby demanded, automatically shielding Sam from whatever had startled him. Sam searched the empty space beside him with wide eyes, the whisper so clear he could’ve sworn Colby heard it too. It was so perfect. Like a human sitting right there, invisible.
“You didn’t hear that? It was so clear! A whisper!” Colby shook his head in confusion, releasing Sam from whatever defensive position he’d taken automatically. Sam’s heart thudded in his chest. It was like the ghost was talking to him and only him, and he didn’t like it. Not at all.
“It’s like they’re talking to you,” Colby commented, recapturing Sam’s wrist and wrapping a bandage around it with capable fingers. Sam nodded, his hand shaking in Colby’s grasp. Outside, a lightning flash lit up the yard, flooding the house with momentary white light.
“I just want to get out of here,” Sam murmured, another light breeze giving him goosebumps. Or maybe it was just Colby’s gentle touches on his hand and wrist. Or both.
“It’s storming pretty fucking bad, are you sure?”
Sam nodded definitively. Colby sighed and started packing up their equipment into their bag, slinging it over his shoulder. Just as he held out a hand to help Sam up, the loudest whisper yet resounded in Sam’s ear.
“You’re perfect together. Can I keep you?”
With something close to a scream Sam scrambled off the couch, hitting the wall. Colby yelped, scared by Sam’s reaction, holding up the camera like a weapon. “What the fuck, Sam?”
“We have to go, we have to go!” Sam’s voice shook with panic and he grabbed Colby’s arm, the whisper so crystal clear it was as if a human had said it. As Colby pulled Sam to his side, supporting him, also shaking, the lights started flickering, footsteps resounding from upstairs. Colby kept the camera filming all the way to the front door, which he flung open and helped Sam out into the rain.
They stumbled through the darkness, through lashings of rain that instantly soaked Sam to the skin, making his shirt cling to him as he tried his hardest to hurry to the car, the sore ankle hindering their process. Colby opened the passenger door and helped Sam in, then clambered into the driver’s seat, slamming the door.
There was silence. Muffled rain fell steadily outside. Inside the car, they both were practically hyperventilating.
Sam looked across at Colby, who’s hair was dripping with rain, his shirt plastered to his chest. Sam tried to avoid looking at the sinewy muscle of Colby’s torso, instead looking down at his hands. What the hell had happened?
“What happened, Sam?” Colby was strangely gentle, the camera on his lap, not filming. “You seriously freaked out in there.”
Sam nodded, running his uninjured hand through his sopping curls. “The whisper was so clear, I thought someone was standing right there.” he looked up, into Colby’s eyes. “I don’t get what it was saying- it said something like ‘you’re perfect together’ and then ‘can i keep you?’ and it just scared the shit out of me-”
Again, that undecipherable expression darkened Colby’s eyes. Sam noticed Colby’s foot start to tap erratically, but before he could try and understand what it meant Colby spoke.
“Maybe the spirits were talking about each other?”
Sam tipped his head to one side, not understanding.
“I mean, the only other people they could’ve been mentioning is us, right, and that would be ridiculous-”
Suddenly the realisation of how Colby had interpreted the whisper hit Sam with the force of a truck. The thing was, it made sense. It was like the spirit was some supernatural wingman, with the comments it made. Really, nobody would believe Sam anyways if they left it in the video.
He glanced up at Colby, and saw that same intense expression on Colby’s face. His response died in his throat when he read an emotion in those bright eyes he’d never expected to see. "Yeah, that would be-"
“Ridiculous,” Colby murmured, leaning forward.
Sam froze, unmoving as Colby’s soft hand tipped his chin upwards, lips centimetres apart. Colby’s thumb caressed Sam’s cheek and then his lip, exploring it curiously. The taste of metal ring against Sam’s mouth brought him back to the present, but he still couldn’t move, knowing he should pull away but at the same time…
He didn’t want to.
Colby’s face was inches from his own. He could feel warm breath fanning across his skin, Colby’s intense expression sending blood to his head, his face flushing hot. His stomach did a flip as the burning desire to kiss him took over. He tipped his head down slightly, angled invitingly. With an intake of breath Colby lurched forward, lips on lips, coaxing his mouth open, thoughtless, kissing him fervently. This was so alien and yet so, so good, so fucking good-
Sam broke free with a gasp and Colby drew him back in, like he couldn’t get enough of him. Colby’s hand curled around his bicep, light fingertips caressing the skin as Sam’s fingers knotted in his shaggy hair to pull him impossibly closer. Jolts of excitement flew up and down Sam’s spine from the hungry movement of their mouths and god, his lips were warm, and so soft, sending tingles through his body like lightning through a stormy sky.
Sam realised, right then and there, that he'd always wanted this.
Colby broke the kiss with a gasp, needing air. In the brief moment, a second of silence, swelling shock surged through Sam's body as he stared at the flushed face of his best friend, lips reddened with pressure. Pressure from his own lips. He had just kissed him.
"Sam-" Colby's voice was low, and slightly wary. Sam stopped him immediately, reaching out to brush Colby's fringe back into place. It was enough to tell him it was okay. This was okay.
He leaned back in, kissing him lightly, naturally. It felt so normal. Like something he should have been doing this whole time. As he sat back in his seat, he said quietly. "Drive."
The car took off down the driveway and out onto the road, both Sam and Colby too sufficiently distracted to notice the torrential rain had stopped, or the shadow in the window behind them.