Nick sat sullenly in the back of the limo, gazing with unseeing eyes out the window. He was on his way home from the venue where he performed his last concert for the tour that had just ended. It was a long tour. To everyone else, it didn’t seem to be, since the tour was only four months long. It wasn’t the chronological length of the tour that was long. For Nick, it was the events of the tour that made it last forever. It was the events of this tour that changed Nick, possibly forever.
The limo pulled into his driveway. He got out and grabbed his luggage. The house was dark, and for that he was glad. He didn’t want to see anybody.
He opened the front door. “SURPRISE.” Nick looked around, unbelieving. His house wasn’t empty as he had hoped. There were a few rounds of welcome home before the music started. He walked to the stereo and shut it off.
There were groans of protest. “Nick.” He ignored them. He grabbed his bags and walked upstairs, ignoring everyone.
Brent stood dumbfounded in the middle of the living room. He looked around the room. He shrugged before saying. “I guess the party’s over.” The guests left the house.
Brent went upstairs. He knocked on Nick’s bedroom door. When Nick didn’t respond, he opened the door. “Nick?” He looked at Brent. He wasn’t showing any emotion and he didn’t say anything. Brent approached him. “Are you ok?”
“I’m tired.”
“That’s never stopped you before. Come on Nick. What’s really wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Nick, I’m your best friend, you can talk to me about anything.”
Nick looked pathetically at Brent. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“So you admit that there’s something wrong?”
“I admit it, but I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, you can talk to me when you’re ready.”
“I don’t ever want to talk about it. Brent, would you mind leaving me alone? I want to go to sleep.”
“Sure. Goodnight Nick.”
“Night.”
Nick climbed under his covers. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. He tossed and turned for awhile, before giving up and lying on his back and starring at the ceiling.
He rubbed his eyes. He desperately wanted to sleep, but like every night for the past 2 weeks, he knew sleep wouldn’t come. He was torn. He wanted to get up and get one of his sleeping pills, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to get hooked on them. So, he lay in bed starring at the ceiling and not sleeping. After about an hour of no sleep, he felt his eye lids grow heavy, and he was soon sleeping. It was a tortured sleep, but sleep none the less.
He woke up in a cold sweat and looked at the clock. It was only 5 in the morning, but he knew he wasn’t getting any rest that night. He rolled out of bed and went downstairs. He turned on the TV and settled on the news.
Brent woke up to Nick screaming. His first instinct was to run to Nick and see what was wrong. But, for the moment, he decided against it. He already knew something was wrong with Nick, but he also knew that Nick wasn’t able to tell him yet. He rolled back over and fell asleep.
Downstairs, Nick was watching the TV. “Murder strikes a small town.” Nick looked up at the TV. He was shocked to see a picture of Casey and her family. This sparked his curiosity. Granted, he hadn’t kept in touch with her like he had told her he
would, but she was still all he could think about. He raised the volume on the TV a bit.
“Jim Shybell, has been convicted of a double homicide. A little over two years ago, he murdered his youngest daughter, Brianna by throwing her down the stairs. He almost got away with it. However, more recently, he murdered his wife, Mary. He tried to get out of this murder, but the investigation clearly shows that he is guilty. It was this guilty charge that reopened the case of his daughter’s murder. On police record there’s a statement by his daughter Lindsay saying that he murdered her sister.” Nick looked at the screen slightly confused. Lindsay? Does Casey have another sister? The news caster flashed a picture of Casey onto the screen as her statement from her sister’s murder was played. Or is Casey not her real name? Is it really Lindsay? “There will be a trial to decide his sentence. Back to you.”
Nick lied back on the couch deliberating what he just heard on the news. Soon he fell into a restless sleep.
Brent came downstairs. He spotted Nick sleeping on the couch. He shrugged. He started to the kitchen when he heard Nick whimpering. Brent made his way to the couch. He placed his hand on Nick’s shoulder.
Nick woke up immediately. “Don’t touch me.” He practically screamed.
Brent looked at Nick confused. Was that fear? Brent approached Nick. Nick was now standing and backing himself in a corner. “Nick?”
“No. Please, don’t. What’d I ever do to you?”
“Nick, it’s just me.” Brent was now trying to hold Nick steadily.
“Please stop. I’m sorry. Whatever I did to you, I’m sorry, just please don’t hurt me.”
Brent was a little shocked to see tears escape Nick’s eyes. He had no clue what to make of this. “Nick? It’s ok Nick. I’m not going to hurt you. What’s going on?”
“Please stop. I’m begging you, don’t do it. Please stop.”
Brent reached out to touch Nick’s shoulder, but Nick recoiled. Brent wasn’t sure if he should be hurt by that gesture, because Nick just wasn’t himself. Brent backed away and just watched Nick.
Soon, whatever was going on with Nick ended. He looked around the room to try and get his bearings. He spotted Brent giving him a concerned look. “Nick, what just happened?” Nick didn’t answer. He stood up on shaky legs and ran from the room.
Meanwhile, Casey and Abby were sitting in Abby’s living room. There was boxes and luggage surrounding them. “Can you believe it? We’re leaving to go to school tomorrow.” Abby seemed to be almost in shock.
Casey nodded. “Yep, tomorrow off we go to University of Florida.”
“Nick lives in that area. Do you think we’ll see him again?”
“Don’t care if we do. He was supposed to keep in touch. Did Brent keep in touch with you?”
“No, but they are both busy.”
“Yeah, whatever. Come on, let’s go to sleep, we have a big day tomorrow.”
