Now God had taken Diamond. For the first time in his life Sammy was alone.
"Okay."
The man in black scrubs covered Diamond.
"Thank you."
The man in the black scrubs nodded and just for the briefest of moments Sammy thought he saw the hint of a smirk. He looked again only to see the same solemn face and empty eyes that he saw earlier.
Walking out of the room Sammy concluded that he was slipping. He didn't care; he needed to find out what exactly happened to Diamond. Sammy called the superintendent of the school. It went to voice mail.
"You've reached Diane Donald; I am not able to get to my phone right now. Please leave a message."
"Mrs. Donald, this is Sammy. If you could get back to me as soon as you could I would appreciate it. I need to know what happened."
Sammy knew that she would be one of the few people who would know what happened and be willing to tell him about it. Diane had been like a grandmother to Diamond.
Sammy couldn't bring himself to do anything and decided that he would just have to wait until after he had spoken to Diane. He went home. Walking in the emptiness of the small house became oppressive. Three tears fell to the ground. H needed some noise. Something. Anything. Sammy went to his closet. The shoe box was right where he left it. The box was heavy.
You let this happen, God.
Sammy walked over to the living room and sat by the small coffee table. As he set the box on the table memories of the contents came back; memories before Collete and Diamond. Sammy took the lid off the box. Inside was his old Sig Sauer P226 and an aging Gerber Mark II. Pulling the dagger out of the sheath he saw a little rust on the blade. The metal clinked against the glass as it was placed on the table. Sammy found his arkansas stone and retrieved a bottle of olive oil from the cabinet over the sink in the kitchen. The steady sound of stone against steel settled Sammy's mind. Slowly yet surely the rust was disappearing from the double edged tool. After giving the gerber a light coating of oil he placed it back in the sheath and back in the box. As Sammy picked up the pistol he heard a voice behind him.
"Diane won't be calling you back."
Sammy spun around, pointed the gun, and pulled the trigger twice. Nothing happened.
"Don't you remember? You stored it unloaded."
Sammy then realized that this was the same man that was in the black scrubs. This time, though, he was in a black suit. He was also wearing the same smirk that Sammy thought he had seen earlier.
Sammy grasped the dagger as he said very slowly, "Who are you?"
"My name is Azazel. More importantly, though, I have an offer for you.
