Chapter Text
“Ben! Ben, wait!” Sammy knew his shouts were fruitless, that no force in heaven or earth could make Ben stop right now, and that his words were likely being swept away by the wind as the approaching storm grew more ferocious.
Slipping in the muddy cornfield, he chased his frantic friend deeper and deeper into the mangled crops. “BEN!” he screamed again, fruitlessly.
A flash of lightning lit up the sky, and Sammy caught sight of Ben fifty yards ahead of him. Putting on a burst of speed, he closed the distance between them and grabbed Ben’s arm, pulling him around to face him.
Ben jerked out of Sammy’s hold, angry but absent, still frantically scanning the skies for the lights, for the shapes, for a sign.
At the edge of his patience, Sammy reached for Ben again. “Ben.”
This time Ben looked at him for a moment. “Sammy, please. Let go, let me go, let me find her!”
His patience - for Ben’s crazy plans, for the secrecy, the lies, the damn notebook - ran out.
“What makes you think she’s even here? Why here? Why now? Do you actually know something - and would you even tell me if you did - or are you just chasing every crazy thought that drifts across the surface of your brain these days?!”
The thunder roared and both men jumped. Regaining his composure, Sammy sighed and took Ben’s other hand in his. “I get that you’re scared. And I get that you’re desperate for anything you think might bring her back. But what good are you going to do her if you get yourself killed here tonight?”
Ben looked at him sadly for a long moment, and heaved a sigh. “Sammy, I... I just... I’m so...”
Sammy felt a faint flicker of hope that he was getting through, when another bolt of lightning split the sky behind him. Ben’s eyes went huge.
“EMILY!” he shouted, tearing away from Sammy and pelting off into the dark again.
Heart-pounding, Sammy wheeled around and took off after him once more, half-blinded by the pouring rain and straining to see whatever it was that Ben had seen. For a desperate, horrible moment, he could see nothing except wildly thrashing corn stalks.
Then he spotted them. Them. Ben was crouched in a small clearing in the field, kneeling next to a prone shape.
Sammy’s breath caught in his throat and for a minute, he swayed dangerously on his feet. They refused to obey him, refused to carry him forward, seeming to insist that it was better to prolong this one last moment of blissful ignorance before the horror of the truth was revealed.
He forced himself to step forward, once, twice, a dozen times.
As the lightning lit up the world again, he could just make out the faded features of the fallen scarecrow that lay at Ben’s feet.
Sammy’s knees gave out and he fell to the muddy group beside his best friend. Resting a tentative hand on Ben’s shoulder, he whispered, “Ben... I’m so sorry.”
Ben crumpled sideways against him with a sob that carried even over the noise of the storm and Sammy felt his heart shatter. Gathering Ben close, he held him tight and rocked back in forth slightly, brushing his lips over his temple.
Tears mingled with the rainwater on their faces as the storm raged around them. And the rainbow lights, faintly visible behind the thick cloud cover, faded into the night.