Chapter 4

Sam turned and took one last look at the home she was sure she would never see again. She hung her head in misery and huge tears began to roll down her cheeks. Amy approached from behind and in the first affection she had ever shown, embraced Sam as she stood there motionless.

"I'm so sorry Sam. I'm sorry this is necessary and I do hope you will like your new home," she whispered. "Let's go," she added and guided Sam to the passenger side of the car. She opened the door and helped Sam into the seat before going back around the car and getting in on the driver's side. Sam gave her home one last look as it receded behind them and then hung her head in sorrow.

Amy drove all night and stopped just before first light. Sam had been silent all night and had eventually fallen into sleep. Amy pulled into the hotel and got them a room.

"Are you hungry Sam?" she asked.

At the negative shake of Sam's head she then continued, "Ok, well then, I am going to get some sleep and you can watch TV, listen to the radio or do most any other thing you want but do not leave the room. If you get hungry you can call and have food delivered. Just charge it to the room." Amy stripped to her thong panties and crawled under the sheets.

For a long time Sam just sat in the darkened room at the table and hung her head but at last she turned the TV on. It was background noise if nothing else.

I wonder where we are headed, she thought. I should stop looking at my past life and what I have lost, at least, as Amy said, I am alive. I should start looking at my future and wondering what it will be like. I wonder what Amy's house looks like. I wonder where it even is, Her thoughts continued.

She opened the book she had brought and started reading. That afternoon she undressed and crawled into to bed to take a nap before they started their travels again. She awoke to Amy's shaking. When she got dressed they got something to eat, purchased some bottled water and drove back onto the highway to continue their journey. This time Sam was more talkative and she and Amy passed the hours visiting about many unimportant things. They even took turns driving.

Amy was driving when she turned off the highway and headed through a small town. After she had passed through it she turned on a small paved road drove a short distance and turned into a paved driveway. After driving nearly a quarter mile they came to a large gate. Amy got out of the car and walked over to a box that was mounted on wall that supported the gate. She flipped the lid on the box open and punched in a code on the keyboard that had been exposed.

The gate swung open and they drove through. The gate closed behind them and they drove further up the tree shrouded driveway. When they rounded a bend, Sam sucked in her breath as Amy said, "Welcome to my home Sam." The house was huge compared to Sam's. Amy got out once more and opened one door of the four car garage. She drove the Charger in and when they got out of it she handed the keys to Sam once more.

Sam was speechless and just looked at the three other cars that shared the garage. One was a vintage Ford mustang convertible that looked to be in showroom condition, a Porsche 911 that looked brand new sat next to it. A fancy sky blue and white conversion van finished the line of shiny vehicles. Amy just laughed and asked Sam if she wanted to stay in the garage or take a tour around the rest of the house.

At Sam's nod, Amy took her by the hand and led her through the covered walkway that connected the garage and the house. They walked into a kitchen that was beautiful and had every convenience that Sam could think of along with being almost as large as Sam's whole house. Adjoining the kitchen was a huge formal dining room. Amy led her into a living room that was huge also and had a sunken conversation pit at one end which had a large fireplace. Amy led her down a hall that joined the living room and pointed out the four bedrooms that opened up off of it, each one of them large enough to be a master suite and each had its own bathroom. She rounded a corner in the hallway and came to another door. Amy opened the door, flipped the light switch and Sam looked inside, she could not believe her eyes. This must be Amy's bedroom it was huge and had the biggest bed in it that Sam had ever seen. The bedspread and curtain coverings were a deep dark red and made of velvet material. The carpet was dark red also and so plush you sank into it with each step.

"As you have no doubt guessed, this is where I sleep," Amy chuckled. Let's go see the rest of the house. Amy flipped the light switch plunging the bedroom into darkness once more. Sam was to discover that the bedroom was nearly as dark in the daytime as it was at night thanks to the heavy dark red curtains, in fact most of the house when not lighted was dark. Amy went on down the hallway further. Here were two more doors: The first one led into a gym that would put many commercial ones to shame. The second door led in to a Recreation room that had in addition to a huge big screen TV, all sorts of pin ball machines, a pool table, a tennis table and a large stereo. The room contained many other things that Sam could not even identify.

They went down the hallway once more and found themselves back in the huge kitchen. They went back in the living room and to the inner wall. Amy pulled a cord and opened the drapes. Sam was shocked to see the inner courtyard. The house was constructed in a square. Amy opened the sliding glass door and stepped through followed by Sam. The whole inner courtyard was roofed and surrounded a pool. Amy explained that the roof could be adjusted to filter out the sunlight so she could go out into the courtyard during the day. Right now, during the nighttime hours it was lighted by indirect lighting that was fully adjustable from a dim that barely dispelled the dark to ultra bright that was almost as bright as sunlight.

"This house is huge and very fancy. How many people live here with you?" Sam asked.

"No one," answered Amy. "I used to entertain a lot though but lately I have been gone a lot tracking people like Charlie."

"You live in this place alone?" Sam asked in an incredulous voice.

"Well yes, I used to but now I share it with you," Amy smiled. "I'll be honest I'm not entirely unhappy about how things have worked out, you having to move here and all. I have grown lonely over the years and I find that I long for companionship. Of course I wish the circumstances had been a little different and that you had not been forced to join me here." Amy gave Sam a huge smile and then asked, "So does this place meet with your approval?"

"You know it is far more than I would ever have expected. Where will I fit in here? Am I to be a maid and clean this place, I mean what will I do? Surely you don't clean and maintain this place by yourself. I obviously can't just run out and get a job now can I? I don't know what you expect of me," Samantha questioned.

"First of all, you are not going to be my maid. I have a service that cleans and maintains everything. I neither want, nor expect you to go out and get a job. I want you to be someone who keeps me company. I want someone to talk to who will reply to my questions and will pose questions of her own. Someone who rattles pots and pans around fixing meals. Someone who disrupts the silence that reigns when I am here alone. I am tired of one person conversations. I am not saying that I expect you to consistently entertain me and talk to me. Just the fact that there is someone else besides myself in the house will be enough. Sam, I hate to admit it but I am lonely and I selfishly hope that you will help end that situation. I noticed that you enjoy reading books, what about converting one of the bedrooms into a library for you? I have a computer you can use to search the internet and find most any book you desire."