The next morning I realized I must have been imagining things. It must have been dehydration because of the intensive running I had done that had made me hear and feel things. I nodded in an attempt to convince myself. Oh how wrong I was back then..
As I rubbed my eyes, the clock on the opposite wall suddenly caught my attention. 6 AM, why in the world was I awake at this hour? Maybe it was the clock’s fault, because of the loud ticking noise it made.
Strangely I hadn’t noticed that the night before. But then again, my mind was occupied with other things. No, nothing dirty in case you were wondering.
I was thinking how easy it is living with the guys. Without an argument, Kevin made dinner (tagliatelli with salmon and tomatoe sauce, which was jummy!), A.J. set the table and Howie and Brian did the dishes.
Me? I made coffee afterwards. I can make quite a nice cappuccino, thank you.
You didn’t think they’d let me do nothing, did ya? I mean, they might still see me as their little brother, but they don’t cut me that much slack anymore. I don’t mind though. As stupid as it may sound, I like to do something for my brothers, even if it is just getting them coffee.
Luckily none of them seemed to notice anything off about my behaviour. When I got back to the cabin, exhausted and out of breath, I just shouted a quick hello and ran up the stairs with the last bit of energy I had.
As soon as I saw my bed, I launched myself on it. Then I figured if any of the guys would walk by, they’d make fun of me being dead tired and I’d be hearing about this for a long long time. I mean, normally I wouldn’t care, but at that moment, I was too caught up in what had just happened.
So, I managed to get up, close the door and fall back on top of my bed again. I rolled on my back, folded my hands beneath my head and stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to make sense of it all.
Eventually I decided it just didn’t, so got up and took a long, hot shower. It took me about half an hour, but eventually the exhaustion seemed to go right down the drain along with the water.
When I got down, A.J. was still working on the song and Brian was doing some exercises to help strengthen the muscles in his ankle and Howie and Kevin had just returned from their ‘shopping spree’.
I handed the groceries that had to be in the fridge to Kevin, who organized everything. No, I’m not kidding. Kevin ORGANIZES the fridge. Soda goes with soda, cheese with cheese and other dairy products and so on. It’s kinda handy though. You can actually find stuff.
At home, I just throw things in, and end up looking for it for ten minutes, after which I realise it’s right in front of me. So, no complaints from me while Kevin neatly packed everything on the shelves.
We had dinner, coffee, talked for a few hours about past tours and how things have changed through the years. Then we just sat together in silence for a while. I don’t know what was going on in the other guys’heads, but I was thinking about what happened that afternoon.
Looking back, it seemed ridiculious. But what was even more weird, is that I got THAT scared. I considered the possibility of the other guys pulling a prank on me. But usually, they pull physical pranks, like the time A.J. shaved off my hair when I was so drunk I passed out on his couch. When I woke up the following morning, he was right there beside me to witness my reaction. And boy, did he think it was funny! I sure as hell didn’t, I looked like a fucking criminal!!
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. In the media, I said I thought it was time for something new, blah blah blah. Well, now you know it wasn’t! I was so pissed I ignored him for a week. I mean, totally, completely ignored him. Sadly, he didn’t seem to mind that much. So what did that teach me? Instead of ignoring A.J. while pissed at him, annoy him by constantly texting him or asking stupid questions. It always works like a charm.
Besides, even if the events of this afternoon had been a prank, none of asked me how my work out had been or something that would hint they knew about it. Well, they.
It probably could’ve only been A.J.’s doing.
I mean, Kev would’ve thought of the risks involved. He’s anal like that, like you probably know! Seriously, I could have tripped and broken my ankle or something.
Speaking of ankles, Brian could’ve never gotten there before me. Howie and Kevin had the car, and he was very careful not to strain his ankle. Otherwise it could become a longterm injury. That left only A.J. and he’d make sure he got the glory that came with getting Nick scared like a little girl. So I was 95 percent sure it hadn’t been the guys’doing.
So, what was it then?
I had no idea. Maybe other people pulling a prank on me. I hadn’t seen anyone, but it probably could’ve been children.They’d fit behind a tree, or could hide up high in one of them. But why would they do that?
I remember that when I was a kid, I couldn’t hold my laughter. Or maybe they had laughed, but it had been drowned out in the other sounds. Still, I could never let the opportunity pass me by to tell everyone it was my brilliant mind that came up with the hysterical idea. Maybe kids in this area were different though.
Then there was the issue of the sound being all around me. I didn’t see any sound equipment, but then again, I wasn’t really paying that much attention. I was just trying to keep my calm (at which I failed) and spot a person, not searching for anything else.
And why would anyone pick that specific location? It wasn’t as if there was just one or two paths throughout the forest. I had checked that before I went running, to see which one would lead me into the forest, instead of up to the road.
Like I said. None of it made sense. I mean, if you have a better theory, tell me. My guess is, you’ll never come up with the one that turned out to be true. But back to the morning of our first day of work.
Well, work wouldn’t actually start until around 10 AM, so that left me with around 4 hours in which I planned to do a short workout, eat breakfast and take a shower. Plenty of time.
I got up, got dressed in work-out clothes and softly tiptoed down the stairs. I set the timer on the coffeemaker, so that it would go to work at 7.30. I put fresh water and coffee in, grabbed an apple and headed out into the forest again.
I didn’t want to go back to the spot I was the day before, not only because of what had happened, but also because it’d take too long. I unlocked my iPod, plugged the ear thingies in and off I went.
Things went smoothly until around twenty minutes later, I seemed to be in EXACTLY the same spot! Now if you paid attention, the day before, it took me more than 45 minutes to get there! I know music makes me run faster, but this was ridiculious.
At first, I wasn’t sure it was the same location. Forests just don’t really have a lot of different sceneries, except for maybe a lake in the middle or something. But when I looked more closely, I noticed small things.
Like for example the same family of rocks. Four big rocks, and six or seven smaller ones placed in a circle around them. Or the tree in which someone carved ‘John’ heart ‘Samantha’. I know those are popular names, but come on, you know as well as I do, that those things meant I HAD to be in the same spot.
‘Great,’ I muttered. “Just the one place I planned on avoiding today.”
I threw my hands up in the sky, and being the drama king I am, I yelled “Why?!”
I decided that wasn’t working either (I knew it wouldn't, but hey, it felt good), so I turned around and ran in the opposite direction.
I kept running like an idiot, not wanting to know if things would happen again if I stayed in that area. The surroundings changed a bit, which almost made me jump for joy. But five minutes later, I had absolutely NO reason to be happy about anything.
Why? Because I ended up in the exact same spot AGAIN! Crazy, right? You can’t do that unless you run in circles. Well, I can tell you, I did NOT run in circles!!
The path couldn’t be any more straight if it wanted to. I did NOT turn around or took a wrong turn, because I only ran straight forward!
I stood still for a moment, with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. Then I lifted my head, kept my eyes closed and said to myself: “This is not happening. This is not happening. This is NOT real. THIS IS NOT REAL.”
When I opened my eyes, I could only admit it was really happening. I WAS in the same spot, with the same rocks and the same carved tree. This time I just screamed out of frustration and a hint of fear as well. I felt like I had gone crazy, no, I was certain that I had.
And there was nobody there to convince me I was not. I can tell you, I have never felt more lonely. But things were about to get even worse before they got better.
After a moment of feeling sorry for myself, I realized I had two options. One was to wallow in self-pity and stay put. The other was to try to get out of there. It didn’t feel like I had much of a choice, so off I ran. AGAIN.
I ran and I ran and I ran. Only to find myself in the goddamn same spot for another three times. By then, I was ready to dig myself a pity hole, crawl into it and wait for the unevitable, whatever that may be.
I was panicking too by the way. I just didn’t know what to do anymore. I was scared, confused, tired, thirsty and soaked with sweat. I actually started to cry at that point.
The feeling was just like the times I was a young kid and found myself in a dark room, when one of my parents turned off the light on my bedstand. I felt eyes on me from all around, staring, waiting for me to move, so they could get to me and hurt me.
I sat down on a large stone, hugged my knees and slowly rocked back and forth in an effort to calm myself down. It actually seemed to work and right after I got up and decided to try and get back to the guys one more time, an unfamiliair deep and growling voice right behind me yelled: “Nicky. Nicky, come play with me.”
I think that’s when I fainted.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Finally back with another chapter. Reviews are always welcome ;)
