Strange Day at Dance Studio A  

I was so dead tired that I couldn’t help but lay down, not even taking off my lucky orange jacket before collapsing on my bed…and it really is a lucky orange jacket. I am living proof of that.

You always hear about the adrenaline rush you get when your life is actually in danger. How you can be near fatally wounded but still able to run around and act as if you are completely fine. I would actually laugh about that when I saw it in the movies. Nick and Brian would roll their eyes at me but I couldn’t help but bring it to their attention, how asinine the idea of someone being shot twelve times in the back but still running around like a maniac could be.

Before you ask, I wasn’t shot twelve times in the back or anything.  But now I’m getting ahead of myself.

Basically it all started because Nick fell asleep at the wrong time in the wrong place.

We had a very long day rehearsing since before the sun came up until long after the sun went down. Lou made us do that a lot, dance until he felt like we had the moves exactly right. How he could be the one to decide that was beyond me but, he did. Who was I to argue? Apparently he was the one that was going to make us super famous.

Our home away from home this week was a rented house that belonged to a dance teacher. She remodeled her basement into a dance studio and gave it the totally unoriginal title of Dance Studio A. Lou was able to rent it by the day for a pretty reasonable rate. He said he enjoyed doing business with quirky folks like her.

Quirky he said.

“Where the hell is Nick?” I remember asking clear as day when we were just about to leave and head back to the hotel.

“I think he went upstairs.” AJ said as he wiped his sweaty neck with a towel.

“Why is he up there? We were told not to go up there and bug the lady who lives here!” I was annoyed, cranky, hungry and wanting to kill the small blond.

“How the hell am I supposed to know? He said he’d be right back but that was at least a half hour ago.”

“He’s been missing for a half hour? What the hell?”

I couldn’t help but look over at my cousin with a disgusted look on my face. “What?” He asked me, just like I knew he would.

“You are supposed to keep your eye on him Brian.”

“He went upstairs Kevin, it’s not like he went out to rob a bank or anything, relax.”

I sighed and swept my hand across my face. “That’s not the point….” I decided not to even continue my thoughts because I knew the real point I was trying to make would be lost on them, so instead I shook my head and ventured up the steps to grab Nick so we could get the hell back to the hotel. I wanted to call my girlfriend, take a shower and go to bed.

“Kevin!”

“WHAT!!” I screamed at Howie. I didn’t mean to, but I was still in grouchy mode.

He put his hands to his mouth and mocked covering up a scream. He’s such a wise ass when he wants to be. “Never mind…” He said after getting the laugh from Brian and AJ he was looking for.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I lightly tapped on the door. We were told that we shouldn’t bother the older woman who lived there unless absolutely necessary. Everything we needed was right downstairs, including a bathroom and even a small fridge filled with water. I was just about to knock again when the door slowly opened to reveal the lady standing on the other side, “Can I help you?” She asked in a very sweet voice.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I was looking for the youngest member of our group.”

She nodded and smiled at me, “Oh yes, the poor boy was so tired I told him to rest for a second on my couch. He fell asleep within minutes.”

Talk about being completely embarrassed. I couldn’t believe the nerve of that kid. Who does that? Who is rude enough to invite themselves into a stranger’s home and then fall asleep on their couch? Nick Carter, that’s who. Sure enough there he was, sound asleep and laying in a fetal position on her couch.  Even though I was madder than hell, part of me felt sorry for the kid.

“I’m sorry about that ma’am.” I said as I made my way over the couch to wake him up.

“Not a problem at all, you can let him sleep. He’s the cutest little thing. He was telling me all about your little group and he seemed so excited. I gave him some milk and cookies, would you like some milk and cookies?” She pointed to the plate on the coffee table.

“No thank you. If you don’t mind me asking, why did he come up here in the first place?”

“He said he thought he heard someone scream. I think he was just curious, you know how little boys are.”

I nodded at her, “Well either way I’m really sorry he came up and bothered you.”

I was just about to shake him awake when I heard the faintest groan coming from right above my head. I looked up at the ceiling, “Did you hear that?” I asked her, pointing to the spot the sound came from.

“Hear what?” She answered.

“I thought I heard a…never mind must be my mind playing tricks on me.” I turned back to Nick and gently placed my hand on his shoulder. I probably would have just smacked him to get him to open his eyes but knowing I was being watched made the polite me come out.

“Nicky, wake up…it’s time to go.” I whispered softly and in my mind sickeningly sweet.

He didn’t budge, not even one bit so I rolled my eyes and tried again, “Come on little man, it’s time to go home!” I tried my best to fight the urge to just flip him off the couch.

“Really it’s okay to let the boy sleep.” The little old lady insisted.

I went to gently and yes once again I’m stressing the word gently…anyway I went to lift him up, resigning myself to the fact that I might have to carry his ass out of there when I noticed a small puddle of blood on the couch right beside his head. This alarmed me, so I moved quickly to pull him up. That’s when she screamed and came at me like a banshee.

“I TOLD YOU TO LET HIM SLEEP!” She said when I felt her land on top of me.

I fell on the floor next to the coffee table housing the cookies she had seconds before warmly offered me. For a little old lady, she was pretty strong. I tried my best to shield myself from the huge knife she had in her hand as she bore down on me with it. She actually stabbed at me, missing me by mere inches but getting my orange jacket right in the shoulder, temporarily pinning me down. When she pulled it out of my jacket I grabbed her wrist and pushed her off me with all my might.

An old lady was trying to fucking kill me?  I mean what’s that all about?

I got up as fast as I could and pulled Nick off the couch throwing him over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. That’s when I heard AJ’s voice.

“What the hell is going on up here?” He asked just as the banshee got up and starting screaming again. She took the plate of cookies and chucked them at AJ. I’m sure if she wasn’t a homicidal maniac it would have been funny, seeing AJ duck behind a chair right before the plate hit the wall and crack into a million pieces. Right under a Home Sweet Home sign of all things.

“Jesus Christ!” He yelled.

“I TOLD YOU TO LET HIM SLEEP!!” She screamed once again, now standing and holding the knife, ready to stab at anything that got in her way, like out of a scene from Psycho.

All the commotion had both Brian and Howie running up the steps now as I stood with Nick slumped over my shoulder, backing myself into a corner. “I’m not sure what you want, but we promise if you let us go, we won’t tell anyone about this.” I tried bargaining with her.

“That’s what they all say.” She said. That’s not a good sign.

Luckily her attention was so focused on me that she didn’t notice Brian and Howie as they managed to sneak into the room frantically searching for some way to get us out of this situation. I let out a small sigh of relief when I heard the smallest groan escape from Nick’s mouth. I wasn’t even sure he was alive up until that point.

“You should have just listened to me and let the boy sleep.” She said once again as she inched her way closer to me. The unmistakable sound of someone screaming right above us was stronger than ever.

I was just about to try something else, tell her we’d give her a million dollars that of course we didn’t have but before I could, both Brian and Howie tackled her from behind, knocking the knife out of her hand as they did. She screamed and for a second Howie almost apologized. I could see it on his face. “I’m so sorry… here let me get that knife for you. Is there anyone you’d like me to stab to help you out?” 

“Let’s get out of here!” Brian said, glancing at Nick as he was still hanging over my shoulder.

“We need to go upstairs and see if we can help whoever is groaning!” I said gently passing Nick off to Howie, “D, you and AJ get him out of here. Brian and I will go see what’s going on upstairs!”

Howie nodded and took Nick as he groaned. “It’s okay Nicky, let’s go.”

As the two of us ran up the stairs I looked back to see that the lady was slowly getting herself up and looked madder than ever. “Let’s hurry!” I said wondering if she was going to follow us or Howie.

When we reached the top of the steps we saw someone lying on the floor in the hallway, tied up and struggling to break free. It was her we heard screaming. We ran to her and loosened her binds. “Thank God! I thought I was a goner!” She cried hysterically. Her entire body was shaking.

“You’ll be okay…we have you now.” My cousin reassured her, just as we helped her up on her feet. She was a beautiful, blond.

“Thanks so much!” She said finally calming herself down. “My name’s Leighanne. Thanks for saving my life.” She said this to Brian as if I wasn’t even anywhere to be found.

“You can thank me later.” My cousin said smiling at her.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!!” The old lady screamed as she made her way up the stairs. I guess she decided on us over Howie.

“Quick we can get out through the window.” Leighanne said just as the crazy lady came into view.

I was having a hard time trying to get the window opened. It was jammed, “I can’t get it!” I said as Brian closed the door to the room so the lady couldn’t get in.

“Try harder!!” He urged just as the crazy woman started kicking at the door.

I finally managed to open the window just as she broke in. The rest happened so fast…

The ex dance teacher came barreling through the door, wielding her knife as she did. Brian meant to shield the blond but accidentally turned her towards the blade which then went right through her heart. Leighanne’s eyes grew wide as she felt the blade and then she was gone…just like that.

When I saw the old lady about to stab my cousin I took a running leap at them both, hoping I wouldn’t be too late…

~*~*~*~*~

I gasped and opened my eyes. Once again my pillow was covered with sweat. I can’t even recall the last time I was able to have a full night’s sleep. Then I did what came naturally after I would have a dream like this. I glanced over at my wife to see her sleeping peacefully next to me.

The clock said 3:33. It was always 3:33 when I woke up.

I decided to get dressed and take the dogs out for a walk. True it was the middle of the night but I know I needed to get out just as much as they did. Besides Baylee would be waking up soon for his morning feeding. I couldn’t let Leigh see me like this again. She would start to worry and there was no way I was going to tell her about this. I put on my favorite green army shirt over my pajama tee and headed out into the crisp night air.

I dialed the one guy I knew would be awake and expecting my call.

“I was wondering when you’d call.”

“Sounds like you look forward to these calls.”

“Not really…so how did it happen this time?”

“An old lady stabbed her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah and get this, I wasn’t even me this time. I was Kevin.”

“Well that truly is a nightmare then.” I laughed at my best friend. “Was I in it?”

“Yup, you were knocked out on the couch. We were young this time. Right when we were first starting out.”

“Oh…well that’s boring. I want a staring role in the next one at least.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

There was a small pause, “Frick…why do you keep dreaming about your wife’s death? I mean that’s a little crazy don’t ya think?” If he only knew…

“I don’t know buddy but I should go.”

“You’ll be okay, right?”

“Fine as always.” I lied.

Then he said what he always said after our nightly chats, “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” When we hung up I found myself standing by a broken gate. The house this gate belonged to was in a shambles. That’s how I felt too as I looked out into the night wondering why I was constantly having these thoughts about killing my wife. The whole time thinking, this would be a great spot to bury her body.