“So, how was it?”
Kevin smiled warmly, “It was fine… it wasn’t actually as bad as Nick made it to be…” he turned to look at a sleeping Nick as he said that. “said he was hearing voice… shit, I didn’t hear a thing!”
Both Howie and Brian turned to stare at him, taken aback by his sudden odd behavior. Just as Kevin was about to close the door, AJ busted in, glaring at Kevin as he did so. He brushed past everybody and walked right over towards his cot. He began to strip off his gear, tossing his stuff onto his bed.
“Hey man…” Brian called out. “What happened to your hand?”
AJ stopped what he was doing to look down at his covered hand, he forgot all about it. “I guess I cut myself…” he said before he started walking towards the bathroom. Howie looked over at Brian before he rose from his seat and had followed AJ to the bathroom as well. Brian looked back over towards his cousin and just stared at him, watching him as he too, began to disassemble his gear.
“So… did anything happen?”
Kevin abruptly turned around, “God damnit, what the hell did I say? I said that Nick was exaggerating it all; he was making it out to be worse than it really was! There was no damn voices, no fucking shadows, nothing!”
Brian simply stared at him, eyes wide. He didn’t mean to upset him or anything; he just asked a simple question. He turned back around in his seat and just stared at the computer, pretending to be occupied with the computer, when in actuality, he was wondering what in the hell was wrong with his cousin.
Meanwhile, Howie had grabbed the first aid kit in the bathroom and decided to help AJ bandage his wound. “What’s wrong man… you look pissed.”
AJ turned the faucet on, letting the cold water run over his open gash. He sighed when he felt he felt a familiar stinging and burning sensation, causing his hand to go numb once again. He looked back towards the door, noticing that Kevin had his back facing them. “It’s Kevin…” he muttered as he turned back to the faucet.
Howie turned to look at Kevin as well. “What about him… he got you this pissed off?”
“Look, I don’t really know how I’m suppose to say this, but it’s as if he changed somehow… he was fine when he walked in to continue Nick’s dare, but as soon as I went to go get him, he just… changed! He seemed angrier.”
Howie turned to look back at AJ, “Why do you think this is?”
AJ shrugged, “I don’t know… but, when we were walking back, he kept referring to me as Alex, saying that that name suited me better than AJ. And you know him… he never calls me Alex unless he’s serious or mad. I asked him one simple question, and he just snapped… he grabbed me by the fucking dude!”
Howie stared at him in shock, “Are you kidding me?!”
“Would I make up shit like that?”
Howie glanced down at AJ’s hand, grabbing the hydrogen peroxide bottle and pouring the clear liquid over the wound. AJ hissed as he watched a cluster of bubbles begin to form on his hand. He then began to shake his hand, shaking the bubbly liquid off and had grabbed a hand towel, blotting the wetness away. Meanwhile, Howie had grabbed a roll of gauze and had begun to wrap it around his hand.
AJ looked out of the door, staring at Kevin, who seemed to be pestering Brian. “I don’t know man… but if I was you, I would stay out of his way, and while your at it, keep him out of mines!” and with that, he ripped his hand away from Howie, walking out of the bathroom.
Howie turned back to the sink, cleaning up everything and placing the rest of the supplies back into the first aid kit. Once he was finished, he walked out of the bathroom and over towards Brian. He looked to the side and noticed that AJ was now on his bed, trying to be in the same state Nick was in.
“I’ll be back…” Kevin announced, making his way towards the bathroom.
AJ, Brian and Howie’s eyes followed him to the bathroom, and they broke their stare as soon as the door closed.
“Am I the only one who thinks he’s fucked up?” AJ whispered harshly.
Brian and Howie had looked back at him, watching him as he placed the pillow on top of his face. “What’s his problem?” Brian asked, and Howie had explained everything that AJ had told him.
“Are you serious?” Brian questioned
“Like AJ told me… ‘would I make up shit like this?’”
Brian shook his head, turning his head to look at the computer. He moved the mouse over towards the “NEXT” button and had clicked it.
“Mission Accomplished. This completes day two of ‘FEAR’, you have tonight and tomorrow morning to get all the rest you need. Be prepared at exactly 7:00 tomorrow evening to complete three missions that await three amongst your team. Good night.”
Brian rose from where he sat, making his way towards his cot. “Well, what do you suppose we do with him?”
Howie shrugged, raising from his seat and making his way towards his own cot as well. “Stay out of his way,” he glanced towards AJ’s sleeping form. “And keep him out of AJ’s way.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
He heard a long and deep creaking noise, which awoke him from his deep slumber. He raised his head and noticed that their door was ajar, and the wind was blowing it back and forth. He looked back towards all the cots, seeing that AJ, Brian and Howie were still sleeping, but Kevin was missing.
“Shit, you have got to be kidding me!” Nick muttered as he rose from his cot. He leaned over towards AJ and had nudged him. “AJ… Jay…” no response. “Bone… Jay you shit, wake up!” still no response. Sighing, he leaned in really close to his ear. “Alex…” he whispered in a dark tone.
Immediately, his eyes snapped open and he flung his fist to the side, lightly punching Nick in the head. He could’ve sworn it was Kevin, whispering in his ear, but he later realized that it was Nick.
“Son of a bitch!” Nick exclaimed.
“Nick, what the fuck are you trying to do?” AJ whispered harshly. “Trying to give me a goddamn heart attack?”
“Now, why would I do something like that?” he replied sarcastically. “What are you trying to do, reconstruct my goddamn face?”
“I tried to do that years ago, and you're still ugly as hell! Now, what in the hell do you want?”
“The door’s open.” Nick replied, pointing to the swinging door.
AJ just stared at him, not believing the fact that he had woke him up to tell him that the damn door was open. “My, aren’t you an observant little boy? Why don’t you stand up, walk over towards the door, and close it. And do you know what that would mean? That would mean that the door’s closed.”
Nick rose up off the ground, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Well, if you would have let me finish what I was gonna say, you wouldn’t have made yourself look like a complete jackass! Anyway, the door’s open and Kevin is missing.”
“Well, halle-freaking-julah! He can stay out there for all I care! Now please, let me go back to sleep, I was having the best dream of Pamela Anderson until you ruined it.” He went to lay down, but was only yanked back up by Nick. “What the fuck?”
“Does every damn word that comes out of your mouth have to be a swear word? Now, I don’t know what you have against Kevin, and I don’t care, I’m just asking you to help me find him, that’s all.”
AJ stared at him, and then glanced at the door. He kicked off his covers, “I can’t believe I’m gonna go out there in my fucking boxers and wife beater to look for some jackass… hurry up, lets go!”
Both he and Nick walked out of the safe house, not hearing or seeing anyone. “You go that way, and I’ll go this way.” AJ said as he began to walk towards the area he appointed himself to go in. Nick began to walk the other way, glancing in every direction. Minutes passed, and they ended up meeting each other again.
“Anything?” AJ asked him.
Nick shook his head. “Nope… you?”
AJ shook his head as well. “Nada…”
They stood there for a while, until a drop of water had landed on Nick’s head. Nick wiped away the drop of water on his forehead, looking down at it. Before any of them could say anything, rain began to fall hard and fast, drenching their wife beaters and boxers.
AJ just looked up at Nick as water began to run down his face. “Should I kill you now or later?”
Nick looked away from AJ’s glare, but then he saw something, more like someone in the distance. He squinted, the rain blurring his vision. “Kevin?” he shouted.
AJ looked towards where he was looking through the woods. He saw Kevin standing there, at the edge of the cliff, as if he was preparing to jump off. “Kevin!” AJ shouted this time.
They both began to sprint into the woods, over to where Kevin was standing. They skidded to a stop, the mud and grass caked on their bare feet. “Kev?” Nick mumbled, but Kevin didn’t turn around. He simply rose his arms in the air, and began to fall forward, off the cliff.
“Kevin!” Nick exclaimed, rooted to the spot. AJ quickly sprung into action and lunged towards Kevin, catching him and yanking him backwards. They both fell back, Kevin landing on AJ”s smaller form.
“Oh my god…” Kevin exclaimed, pushing himself off of AJ and sitting on the wet and muddy ground. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…”
Nick continued to stare at Kevin as AJ got up off the ground. “Don’t worry, I’m fine!” AJ said, wiping off the mud that was now stuck to his boxers and wife beater.
“What’s wrong with him?” Nick asked, watching Kevin’s odd behavior in puzzlement.
AJ shrugged, “Beats the hell out of me, but if we don’t get back into the safe house soon, we’re all gonna be sick as hell!”
Nick knelt down in front of Kevin, who was still rocking back and forth, muttering “oh my god”. “Kevin.” Nick called out, but he didn’t respond. “Kevin.” He said a little louder this time, but Kevin still ignored him. All of a sudden, Nick rose his hand and slapped him across the face. AJ smiled as he watched Kevin’s head snap to the side.
Kevin placed his hand on the cheek Nick had slapped. “What was that for?”
“Well, you we’ve been calling you for the longest, and you didn’t say anything. You mind telling us why you were about to jump off this damn cliff?”
Kevin looked past Nick and seen that he was indeed about to jump off the edge of the cliff. “Oh my god…” he said again. “I don’t know… I don’t remember anything. I just remember falling back, that’s all. I… I don’t even know how in the hell I got out here!”
AJ scoffed, “Bullshit!”
“Jay, help me.” Nick said as he began to pull Kevin up off the ground.
AJ averted his eyes to Nick, “Uh-uh, you asked me to help you find him, you said nothing about helping his ass back to the safe house.”
Nick’s eyes widened at AJ’s reply. “I can’t believe you… who the hell are you?”
At that being said, AJ’s eyes widened in return. That was the same question he had asked Kevin when he had gone whacko on him. He looked down at Kevin, who seemed weak, shivering from the cold rain that drenched his body, and the cold wind was helping matters. He seemed vulnerable and normal, he seemed like the real Kevin again.
“C’mon…” AJ mumbled, grabbing Kevin by the arm and helping Nick to raise him off the ground. Once they got to the safe house, AJ helped Kevin to sit on the chair and had went back to close the door. Meanwhile, Nick had began to dig through Kevin’s suitcase, looking for a warm pair of clothes he could change into.
AJ began to walk towards the bathroom until Kevin’s arm shot out and had grabbed him by the forearm. AJ’s heart rate quickened, and he quickly whirled around to pull his arm away, but he found himself staring into a pair of soft green eyes. “Thank you…” he mumbled softly, his grasp becoming lighter and gentle. AJ only nodded his response as he pulled his arm away and continued to make his way towards the bathroom.
Nick pulled out a pair of fresh boxers and sweat pants and a sweat shirt for him to change into. “Here ya go…” he said as he handed it to him. Kevin rose from his seat and had walked towards the bathroom; he stopped and stared into the mirror at AJ. He just stood there, watching AJ as he unwrapped his injured hand and had allowed the water to wash over the freshly opened bloody wound.
“How did that happen?” Kevin asked.
AJ slightly jumped at his voice, he was oblivious to the fact that he was standing behind him the whole time. “I fell and I either scratched or stabbed my hand on something… I don’t really know.”
“That just happened recently?”
AJ shook his head, “No… when I was inside doing my dare. Do you need to use the bathroom or something?”
“Well, why is it bleeding again?”
“I guess I reopened it when I pulled you back from jumping off the damn cliff.” He quickly shut off the water and had whirled around to face him. “What’s with all the questions?”
Kevin shrugged, feeling uneasy under his glare. “I’m concerned about you…”
AJ chuckled, “Funny, before this you didn’t give a damn about me…”
He grabbed a hand towel off the rack and had wrapped it around his hand. He then grabbed the first aid kit and walked out of the bathroom. Kevin sighed and closed the bathroom door, changing into his new pair of clothes.
“I’m going back to bed…” AJ said as he brushed past Nick.
“In your wet clothes?” Nick asked, looking down at his soaked wife beater and boxers.
AJ looked down as well; he was too busy being angry that he forgot that his whole body was wet. He ripped off his wife beater and began to pat his body dry with his hand towel. “Turn around and don’t look.” He said as he pulled out another pair of boxers and a shirt.
Nick did as he was told and turned around, staring at the closed bathroom door. What in the hell possessed Kevin to go out there and try to jump off the cliff. And what was AJ’s problem? There were so many thoughts running through his mind that he didn’t notice that Kevin had walked out of the bathroom and was now standing before him, trying to capture his attention.
“Nick?” he continued to call out. “Hey man, are you alright? You were just… standing there.”
Nick nodded, “I’m fine… sorry about that. Are you done with the bathroom?”
“Yeah,” he replied with a nod, moving out of the way so Nick could walk into the bathroom.
He turned back towards the cots and was about to lie on his until AJ’s sleeping form caught his attention. He continued to stare at him, wondering why he had hated him so much. He couldn’t remember what he had done to him, he didn’t even know what he was about to do himself. Why in the hell was he about to jump off a cliff? What’s wrong with me? He thought to himself.
Pulling the covers on his cot back, he climbed in and snuggled in, pulling the covers back over his entire body. He was freezing cold; he wouldn’t be surprised if he caught pneumonia. His eyes drifted close, but would snap open every once in a while. Sleep was going to be a problem for him.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay, so these are all the chapters that I had up at Vaffel. Now, it's gonna take me time to post up the rest of the new chapters because it's still in progress, so bare with me here. =)
*Psst, if it makes you guys feel any better, this is a LONGER chapter!! =D*
*Psst, if it makes you guys feel any better, this is a LONGER chapter!! =D*
