Free The Samantha Project by Stephanie Karpinske

senior officer and the man in the suit walked into a side room.
    “Don’t worry about him. He’s just a kid. He doesn’t suspect anything,” the senior officer said, looking fearful of the other man.
    “I’m trusting you to keep him quiet. And keep him away from the scene. I don’t want any rumors starting. And figure out a story for those tow truck guys.”
    “Yes, sir.”  
    The man walked away as the senior officer slumped into his chair and mumbled, “How the hell am I gonna cover up two more murders?”

CHAPTER SEVEN
Alone
    I woke up to a loud beeping noise. “Uhhh,” I moaned, seeing the glowing 5:45 flashing on the clock. It was Monday morning. I had forgotten to turn off my alarm.  
    As I rolled over to shut off the annoying beep, my cell phone rang. I reached over for the phone. It was Colin.
    “Hello?”
    “Sam, it’s me. Are you up?”
    “Barely,” I mumbled.  
    “I had a feeling you would be. Forgot to shut off your alarm, right?”  
    “Yep.”
    “Sooo, how are you feeling today?” he asked cautiously, sounding even more concerned than the last time I had seen him.
    “I’m tired. I keep having these dreams that wake me up.”
    “About your parents?”
    “Yeah. I don’t really want to talk about it.”
    “Hey, I was worried about you yesterday. Dave said you didn’t even leave your room. Did he tell you I came over?”
    “I heard you guys talking downstairs.”  
    “I’m gonna stop by and see you before school.”  
    “You don’t need to.”
    “It’s not about needing to. I want to. I’ll be over in a half hour, okay?”
    “No. Really, I get that you’re concerned, Colin, but like you said, it’s just gonna take time.”
    “I know. But I want to be there for you. Tell me what I can do. Anything.”
    “Just give me some time. That’s what I need from you right now.”
    He hesitated. “Well, okay. At least you asked for something.”  
    “Get to class. And don’t miss basketball practice this afternoon.”
    “I wasn’t going.” His voice trailed off as he remembered his recent commitment to me. “Yep, basketball. I’ll be there.” Colin paused for a moment. “You sure you don’t want anything else?”
    “Yes, I’m sure. I’ll talk to you later.”
    It was still dark outside. But I was sick of being in bed, so I took a long shower, then got dressed. When I went downstairs, Dave was in the kitchen pouring himself some coffee.  
    My appearance took him by surprise. “Sam, you’re up. And it’s so early. You’re not going to school today. It’s too soon.”
    “I know. I just thought it was time to get out of bed.”
    “I have to go into the office this morning, but I’ll be back by lunch time.” Dave seemed rushed as gulped down the coffee.
    “Can I do something while you’re gone? You said the other day that I could help with Mom and Dad’s service.” I felt weird just saying the words.  
    “Sure, honey. But only if you feel up to it. When I was talking to the minister, he said it would be nice to play some music that they liked. Could you help with that? Go through and find some songs? And maybe look for some photos to display?”
    “Yeah, I can do that.”
    He started rinsing out his coffee cup in the sink. “You’re sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone? I could have Jean come over.” Jean was the elderly woman next door. She was very nice and a great baker, but I didn’t need a babysitter.  
    “No. I’ll be fine. You should get to work.”
    Dave left and there I was—alone in the house. I had been alone in that house millions of times, but this was different. It was painfully silent and felt colder than normal.  
    My mind wandered back to the dream that I’d had. The dream in which my parents were murdered, their crash made to look like an accident. I decided that the dream must have been a form of denial, my inability to believe that my dad could have somehow been careless enough to lose control of the car.  
    I couldn’t