Death #61:
Helpless When He Dies
By Tracy
It was the
summer of 2005 and Nick was taking some time off from BSB, spending a vacation
in the Florida Keys with his brother and some of his close friends. Nick was
having a good time, finally able to relax from the hard work he'd been putting
into the group.
He felt like he
was on top of the world even though his solo album had flopped, but he blamed
that on bad promotion from Jive. None of this was on his mind as he hung out
and partied with his friend Chris until the wee hours of the morning, before
sleeping most of the day.
"Morning,
Nick." Chris said, walking into the kitchen of the beach house. They'd
opted to stay in the night before, hearing about a storm coming through. Nick
was on the phone with his brother, who'd left a day earlier.
"Aaron, I
will be fine. This storm isn't gonna be that bad......I want to see it."
he said calmly. Things weren't too bad yet but Nick wanted to shoot a video for
the fans on the hurricane. Hurricane Dennis was to make landfall in Key West
that day, so Nick and Chris made their way out to the Mayor's office. Nick was
cheerful, using a makeshift poncho made out of garbage bags over his grey
T-shirt.
"I got a
bad feeling about this." Chris said once they got into the car and headed
out.
"Nothing
is gonna happen. Don't go all Star Wars on me, bro. It'll be great." Nick
grinned, taking out his video camera.
Once the
commissioner had picked Nick and Chris up, they began heading into town. It was
quiet and eerie, not raining hard but a bit gusty. Nick was having a hard time
getting his footing in some spots, but he perched himself near the pole....this
pole was special because it was the most southern point in the US. The poncho
was being blown around, Nick almost falling before the camera began to roll.
"We are
right now at the southernmost point in Key West, Florida. As you can see, the
storm has not arrived yet. See this? This says 90 miles to Cuba. Right now the
hurricane is in Cuba." Nick said, pointing at the darkening sky.
"I still
don't think we should be out here." Chris said, the camera not picking his
voice up. Nick ignored him and continued his report.
"The
waves.....they're a little choppy....HOLY SHIT." he exclaimed. The waves
were a little choppier than he'd expected, the storm was picking up. A wave
crashed against the pier, nearly washing Nick out.
"You could
have died there, bro." Chris commented as they ran (Nick hobbled on his
broken toe) to the car.
"I'm just
lucky, I guess. Let's get the fuck out of here." Nick said shakily. The
two of them went back to the house, not thinking anything of it being by the
water. Nick figured as long as they weren't by the ocean, they were safe.
Well, he was
wrong.
As the night
went on, the power went out at the house. Nick turned on the camera, holding up
a flashlight for an effect. He filmed himself pretending to be scared, but in
reality he was freaking out. He wished he hadn't stayed for the hurricane,
which was a Category 3 storm. They could hear the wind picking up outside,
things crashing as the roof got torn apart.
"What the
fuck is that noise?" Nick asked. It sounded like a freight train. They
heard a tornado siren but it was cut off by the loud noise.
"That's a
fucking tornado." Chris said. The two of them scrambled for what they
thought was a bathroom, but it was a recording booth. Nick closed the door
behind them and they huddled in the corner, wondering why it was damp there. It
was too dark to see anything. As they sat there, the tornado seemed to move on,
but now there was a bigger problem, the water was still rising.
"Nick, I
told you this was a bad idea." Chris said angrily. Nick moved to open the
door but the handle wouldn't budge.
"It's
stuck." he whispered. A large piece of furniture had lodged itself against
the door, trapping them as the water continued to rise.
"Where is
this fucking water coming from?!" Nick screamed, immediately regretting
his mistake. They frantically attempted to open the recording booth door, each
one unsuccessful. All they could do now was sit and wait for their demise.
Nobody could
get to Nick's house because of the debris clogging the street, but when they
found the two bodies in the flooded basement.....Nick and his friend Chris were
declared among the deceased. Part of his home had been blown away, fallen like
a house of cards. Nick's body was carried out in a body bag and laid to rest on
the sidewalk as the rest of the house was inspected, the sound of the rain
falling on the plastic interrupting the silence.
***