Chapter
5:
Scared
I must have stared at the door for fifteen minutes before I had the courage to
grab the envelope. I then ran for the door, tore the letter off and threw it
across the room. I treated it like it was a bomb or something. Way to go
wussy-boy. It's just a friggin piece of paper! I then tried to calm myself down
by taking long deep breaths and walked over to the letter, picked it up and sat
down on my bed. I opened the envelope and read the letter. It looked the same
but it was a little more legible than the previous ones. The words were still
written in red ink complete with devil heads, angel on a noose and Mizpah,Nick
but the consonants were only gibberish for two-thirds of the letter. The last
few sentences were clear as a bell;
desfhvnfsijvrdfrejgepodwpefbhjtvkspckwprerrhepsaodwc,rgjeogvwjwjfc,gjergerjfoi
jfcersogferotnger..life is going to get more interesting for you my young
friend. I hope you can handle it. I always get what I want and I want you!
Mizpah, Nick
I put the letter down and got angry. I ran toward the door, threw it open and
looked down the hallway. No one was there. I was going to be damned if this
chick thought that she can scare the be-Jesus out of me. Who the hell does she
think she is anyway? I ripped up the letter and threw it in the trash, now I
was pissed. How dare she break into my hotel room and leave that crap on my
door. When I tried to rip the envelope I was met with resistance. That's when I
realized that there was something else in there. I placed my fingers in the
envelope and pulled out two pictures. My heartbeat raced again as I looked at
them. The first one was of me getting ready in my hotel room before I met with
Howie and Kevin and the second one was of the three of us sitting in the
restaurant. There were little devil heads drawn over all of our faces. That's
impossible. we had a private room, there was nobody even in there with us! And
how could she have been in here while I was getting ready. Shivers ran down my
spine as I thought about that last thing. She was in here for God knows how
long. I then picked up the phone and called for help.
I realized who I called after I heard his voice on the line. "Hello?" Shit Carter why did you call Brian? "Hello is anyone there?" Shit. shit. shit.
"Um, Hi Bri, it's um."
"Nick, is that you?"
"Yeah, sorry dude I um.. must
have dialed the wrong number." Tell
him your scared shitless you idiot. Ask him if you could go over
there. You know he'll say yes.
"Okay, well I guess I'll see you
tomorrow then." No Brian you can't
hang up, I need you!
"Okay, sorry man. See you
tomorrow. Bye." I hung up the phone
and felt so defeated. Why couldn't I just talk to him? I didn't know what to do
next. I didn't want to bother Kevin or Howie so I dialed A.J's cell phone
number. "
Yello?"
"Hi J, it's Nick"
"Did you dial the wrong number
again dumbass?"
I was confused, "What?"
"Well, didn't you just call Rok
like thirty seconds ago? Or was it me you were trying to call"
Dammit, they were together. I feel
like a total ass!
"Uh...yeah,I was calling to see
what time we had to be at the studio tomorrow?"
What a lame ass thing to say. I think
A.J must have felt the same way because he sighed before he said "Why
couldn't you just ask Brian that?" Ugh why couldn't I tell Brian
that...because it's an obvious cover idiot!
"I guess I could have...I didn't
even think about it. I guess I was also going to ask you if you wanted to do
anything tonight. I'm kind of bored."
"Didn't you already do something
with Howie?" I realized at that last statement, that it was a lost cause.
I either needed to come clean or hang up.
"I guess your right J, I'm kind
of tired anyways.I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Bye"
"Oh, Nick yoo-hoo, don't you need
to know what time to show up tomorrow? Isn't that why you called?"
Now I felt stupid again.
"Yeah"
"9a.m."
"thanks"
"no problem kiddo, bye"
"bye"
I hung up the phone and did the only
thing I could think of to do. I headed for the bathroom, locked myself in and
rocked back and forth hoping that I would get up the nerve to go back into the
bedroom and go to sleep.
***********************************************************************************************
I woke up with a start and was temporarily confused as to where the hell I was.
My neck hurt and my cheek was cold against my pillow?...wait... That wasn't a
pillow. That's when I realized that I had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor.
I immediately sat up only to be met with a sharp pain in my neck and back. I
stretched and pulled myself up off the floor. I looked at myself in the mirror
and wasn't pleased with what I saw staring back at me. I looked awful. Deep
circles under my eyes and my hair was a mess. I was just about to leave my
sanctuary when I heard a creak. Oh my God someone just came into my room! The
door than slammed shut and I heard footsteps pacing around right outside the
bathroom door. I held my breath and placed my ear to the door hoping to hear
that maybe it was housekeeping. The person sounded like she was going through
my dresser drawers and tearing apart the room. I really was angry at myself for
not bringing my cell phone in here with me. Then I heard the footsteps get
closer....and closer..and KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God The
doorknob jiggled as if the stalker wanted to get in really badly. KNOCK KNOCK
KNOCK body slamming!!! My heart was racing as I stood like a dear about to meet
an untimely death at the hands of a Jeep. My feet frozen, my brain shut off
BANG
The door bursted open and Joe, came running in and stopped when he just saw me
standing there looking at him dumbfounded.
"Why the hell didn't you answer
Nick?" I was still so scared that I
couldn't move. He noticed my temporary paralysis and walked over to me, put a
hand on my shoulder and said "What's wrong, you look like you just saw
your pet rat die or something." His pet rat statement woke me out of my
trance.
"I didn't here the phone, I slept
in the bathroom and I don't have a friggin rat!!!" After staring at me for
what felt like a small eternity he led me back into the bedroom where I
explained to him what happened. When I was done, he looked at me with a very
stern look.
"Nick, this is serious, you
realize that right? You did everything wrong last night which could have ended
with me finding your corpse in here instead of you cowering in the bathroom.
You should have called my room immediately and then we could have moved you to
another hotel and we could have given the envelope to the police."
I knew I shouldn't have thrown out the
last letter. I not only threw it out, but I ripped it up. "I'm sorry Joe,
I wasn't thinking clearly. I panicked."
"That's all right kid but I
highly recommend that you sleep somewhere else tonight. What about Brian's or
one of the guys. It would probably be safer for you to be with them then at
another hotel." He was right, but I didn't feel like I could bother them
about this. What I really felt was they wouldn't care.
"Okay Joe, I will ask one of them
today."
"Great, now I'll leave you to get
ready, you have to be at the studio in an hour," fantastic, I got maybe
three hours of sleep on a floor nonetheless and now I had to be at the studio
before I had time to process anything. With that thought I got ready feeling a
little more safe knowing Joe was right outside the door.
***