As he carried another box down the stairs, he thought about how to bring up the subject. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Nick had in store for them. He would have to speak up eventually, it wasn’t as if he had he a choice.
“What’s in this one?” Brian asked as he softly tapped the box.
“Guess.” Howie smiled. “I’ll give you a hint. It’s the sixth one.”
“More towels?!”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll never understand why he had so many.” Brian smiled, then shook his head as he opened the door. Howie thanked him as he walked out and handed the box to Kevin. The eldest was standing in the truck that would take a lot of Nick’s belongings to different charities, something he asked them to do.
As Howie walked back in, he looked around. A lot had been done in the last few days. Most of the furniture was still there though, seemingly untouched. But when you looked closer, you could see a lot of greasy fingerprints on the corners. It was obvious that a lot of it had been moved around, only to end up in the space it was originally in. They had talked about taking the furniture out, but decided against it every single time. It was easier to move out other stuff. Stuff that had no real important meaning to any of them, like glasses and plates Nick never used, his towel ‘collection’ and such. Photographs and other meaningful objects were still there. With the cabinets and closets closed, it looked like Nick was just on vacation instead of buried on top of a hill.
After he checked if a copy his letter from Nick was still in his back pocket, he sat down on the stairs and rubbed his face with both hands. There would never be a good time to be doing this, so he figured they’d might as well do it now.
“Guys!” he called.
“Yeah?” he heard Brian ask from the other side of the door.
“Could you guys come here for a sec?”
“Coming!!” he heard A.J. yell from upstairs. “Watch out everyone, I can’t see shit.”
Howie quickly got up when he heard A.J. stumble down, holding another huge box.
Kevin and Brian walked in only to hear the rebel mutter. “I swear, the kid is nuts.”
He put the box down and softly kicked it. “Yes, gentlemen. This one is filled with towels too.”
All four of them softly laughed at the statement. They never seemed to laugh out loud anymore, as if it was a crime nowadays.
Howie cleared his throat and shifted on his feet, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable.
“So, what’s up D?”
“Uhm.. well..Did Nick mention a treasure hunt in your letters?” He rushed out.
Kevin looked at him as if he had just grown a second head. “A what?”
A.J. re-adjusted his baseball cap, fearing he had misheard Howie. “Come again?”
“Did you just say treasure hunt?” Brian asked as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.
Howie nodded. “I guess I can take that as a no, right?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Yeah.”
Kevin sadly smiled. “A treasure hunt.. typically Nick..”
“I know. Well, I guess it’s time to go hunting then..”
“Wait.” Brian said in a whisper. “Did he say, well write, what we we’re supposed to find?”
“No.” Howie shook his head. “Only how to find ‘it’.”
“Alright.” Kevin sighed. “Let’s do this.”
“And let’s hope that he’s given us the right clues, otherwise we’ll be here forever.”
“Well, luckily it’s not really a treasure hunt, Jay. There are several things we gotta do, after which we should find something. No clues, thank God..”
After getting the final key which should give them entrance to the secret room, Howie decided it was time to tell the others about it. Kevin then ofcourse said exactly what Nick had predicted. Now knowing where they were supposed to go, the others protested. None of them, including Howie, wanted to go in to the walk-in closet. They had stayed out on purpose, not wanting to smell Nick’s scent, see his favorite outfits, not wanting to feel that close to him. It would be too hard, too real, too heartwrenching. A.J. sat down on the floor, his head against the wall, wishing he was everywhere but in Nick’s house. Brian stood next to the rebel, hands in his pockets, eyes closed and reminiscing. Kevin was standing across from them, his hands resting on the wall, his head hanging down.
About fifteen minutes later, Howie decided to open the closet and walk in. As he did, Nick’s scent hit his nose, and various images of Nick flashed before him. He swallowed in an attempt to get rid of the lump in his throat and blinked the tears away. Then, he allowed himself to embrace the memories of better times and smiled as he saw some of the clothes Nick felt the happiest in. He could see him wearing each and every outfit that was hanging in the front. He saw Nick acting like a child, an adult, being excited and being serious. When he walked out again, the others were all staring at him, trying to read his emotions. Howie gave them a sincere smile.
“Let’s do this guys. Nick wants us to..”
They all nodded, but none of them moved an inch. Howie knew why. They didn’t want to move any of his clothes as if that would erase the fact Nick ever existed. So, the Latino moved everything that blocked the secret door that was no longer secret out of the closet and into Nick’s bedroom. After getting the key from Kevin, he walked back into the closet, the others now slowly following, knowing Nick would have wanted them to. The tension grew as they waited for Howie to open the door.
As soon as the Latino walked into the secret room, the others hurried to get in. None of them wanted to be the last to find out what was in the room. When Howie suddenly came to a halt, Brian bumped into him, which caused A.J. to stumble and he almost knocked the two men in front of him to the ground.
“Hey man.. watch it..” the rebel muttered.
“Just try to find the lightswitch, alright..”
“If there even is one in here..”
“Nick is-was afraid of the dark, remember. There has to be one!” Brian whispered.
“I think I found it.” Kevin calmly said as the light came on.
The men found themselves in a room much more spacious than expected. The walls were painted white and on the floor lay a thick caramel carpet. In one of the corners stood a single bed, with simple white sheets and one pillow. Next to it stood a small bedstand, with what appeared to be sketch and writing pads on top if it. Brian couldn’t resist the urge to take a look at the top one, which turned out to be filled with sketched pictures of happier times. Brian and himself with the Frick and Frack hats, Howie and Nick on stage, the five of them at a photoshoot in the desert and so on. He smiled and told the others what he was looking at, after which they too took a quick look at the pad. Then Kevin noticed the four boxes standing on one of the shelves of the small closet across of the bed. All four of them had one of their nicknames written on it with black marker.
“Guys, I think I found the things Nick wanted us to look for.” He said as he pointed to them. “So.. what’s next? Do we..” A.J. hesitated. “check out what’s in them together or..”
“I don’t know. What do you guys want?” Brian asked.
“I think we should do this together.” Howie replied. “He wanted us to search for them together, so my guess is that he wanted us to check out the contents together as well.”
“I agree. Let’s take these downstairs.” Kevin said as he handed the others their boxes.
Once they were seated around the dining table, Howie was the first to open his box. When he peeked inside, he started to laugh uncontrollably.
“What’s so funny, D?” A.J. frowned.
“This is.” Howie laughed as he took a “Tickle-me-Elmo” out of his box. The others bursted into laughter as well. Curious as to what they would find, the quickly opened their own boxes now. Rounds of laughter followed by sad smiles that then were followed by chuckles again. They all got a framed picture of only Nick and themselves taken on memorable days. All four got several things that once belonged to Nick or that he had obviously bought for this occasion. Amongst other things, Howie got one of Nicks combs and an old tape of all five of them rehearsing back in the days; A.J. got a set of toys that once came with a Happy Meal and a new black and blue beanie; Kevin got the demo for “I got you” and a parenting book (in which Nick had written “Just in case even YOU don’t know what to do..”) Brian found an old copy of “Mario King Racing”(on which Nick had written that he would ALWAYS be the king) and a new set of Frick and Frack hats since they once tossed out the old ones, deciding they were too old for that kinda thing.
For the first time in weeks the men were joking around and just having fun. Nick’s mission was accomplished, even though he wasn’t there to see..
Author's Chapter Notes:
We want to thank everyone for their patience and support! It will really be finished soon! Love, A-rok Obsession and Nijntje
