Chapter 17
By Mersey
Like all the other previous
nightmares, it had started with thousands of voices whispering at once. Some
louder than the other, some belonging to men while others sounded like women
and even children. And like other times before, he could never quite comprehend
what they were saying but it always ended up with him feeling that it was
calling for him to wake up and understand. He never did though and tonight, he
would expect no
different.
It got louder with every whisper and
much more urgent. Some of them came out sounding like spats of disgust while
others sounded down right pleading. And in between the land of the slumber and
reality, he found himself standing in the core of nothingness. No ground, no
roof, no walls, no lights, no nothing. When it got really bad, he would feel
himself spinning slowly, which like everything else in his nightmare, turned
faster and went out of control That night however, he had not found himself
jolted out of his nightmare drenched in cold sweat because of the spinning; it
was a voice that called out to him that did.
AJ!
One syllable that sounded desperate,
urgent, fear and even menace
The voice of Nick Carter.
The beating of the pneumatic drill
that was his heart now told him that it wasn’t just a nightmare anymore. That
there had to be some truth in his mom’s claims that he could be somewhat
psychic. Something told him that there was a reason why he felt strange, that
no normal person could have recurring nightmares for over weeks. That there
must be a reason why the voices had finally became one to that of Nick Carter.
Yes, something was terribly wrong.
Before he could even regain his
composure, he was startled yet again and this time by the barking of his cell
phone. Good thing Sarah wasn’t here to witness how jumpy the supposedly cool AJ
could be.
“Which continent of the Earth are you
at now?”
“Hopefully same as yours...right?”
AJ sighed, stifling a yawn in the
process. “Then you do know it’s almost two in the morning.”
“You’re asleep?”
“Most people are during this time of the
morning, but then again, you’re not most people.” AJ replied sarcastically.
“Don’t have to be so peachy about it.
Anyway, I need your help.”
AJ forced himself out of bed and
strolled to the bathroom.
“Brian, is Baylee breathing?”
“Wha...of course he is! What kind of a
question is that?”
AJ pulled the single towel hanging by
the hanger and started wiping the back of his neck with it. “Well, Leigh’s not
home and you’re not exactly father of the year.”
“I’m fully capable of looking after my son all
by myself, thank you very much!” Brian gritted. “Besides, this is urgent, can
you not fool around for a sec?”
“Fine...what?”
“I need you to check on Nick for me.”
AJ froze. If that wasn’t a good enough
reason to start worrying, nothing would
-
How long does it take to get to Nick’s
house if you’re only living a few streets down away from him? Considering the
fact that it was AJ behind the wheels, it shouldn’t take too long.
But half an hour had gone and still no
call from the man. The clock on the wall showed it was already fifteen minutes
past two in the morning and he was wide awake. If Nick is sleeping it off when
AJ comes, he’d get hell from him tomorrow. There would be a lot to spill for
the interview too. The interview, Brian wouldn’t want to think about that now.
Just the thought of how sleep-deprived he would look early morning was enough
to make him cringe.
But something felt wrong, he could
feel it in the air, as cliche as that might sound. “How come you’re never awake
when daddy’s awake huh? ”Brian whispered as his worried glance fell back to
Baylee, sleeping on their bed. He knew it was selfish, but he wished the baby
would wake up and keep him company.
Then, out of nowhere, it happened
His cell phone rang.
“AJ?”
“I’m here.”
“What took you so long?” Brian whispered urgently
as he got out of bed and went for the window. Outside, everything felt stilled.
Even the crickets weren’t too excited to make much noise.
“It’s way past 2 in the morning Brian,
I can’t be speeding and not get into a fatal accident.”
“Shush, don’t talk like that!” Brian scolded,
shaking his head as if AJ could see him.
“Yeah whatever...I’m going in now, I hope I
catch him watching porno or something.”
Brian smiled, that was expected of AJ
Mc Lean. “You might catch him making out with some woman on the couch.” You do
not expect that from Brian Littrell
“B-Rok! You Rule!”AJ chuckled on the other
line.
“I try.”
“What’s that noise?”
Brian stopped on his track. Noise? He
pressed the cell phone against his ear but still, it was hardly possible to
hear anything.
“AJ? What noise?”
“It’s coming from the back, I’m gonna check it
out.” AJ whispered. His heavy breathing penetrating into Brian’s ear. He felt
uneasy, something was definitely wrong
“AJ be careful, and don’t hang up on me.”
AJ didn’t answer but he could hear his
soft foot falls threading the ground. He tried picturing Nick’s pad in LA and
guessed where AJ might be heading right then.
“At the back...AJ, wouldn’t that be his
kitchen?”
“Yeah,”AJ whispered, followed by a
short silence before adding, “I think it’s his mutts. They’re barking for some
reasons.”
“All three of them?”
“Um,” paused. “I heard two.”
“He did say the dogs were barking non stop when
he called me earlier, that’s when that strange voice came to the phone and
threatened me...”
“Brian, I have a feeling that ain’t a prank
call.”
Brian didn’t dare to say anything.
More silence ensued. He moved away from the window, desperately needing
something to do to divert his attention from the growing tension building in
his body. He turned towards Baylee and assured that he was too deep in sleep
and the bed huge enough for him, he walked out of the room and started pacing
the corridor.
“Come on AJ, what’s going on over
there?”
“Brian, his back door is opened but the
kitchen light is off. Something’s definitely wrong man.”
AJ sounded scared, rightly so, Brian
thought. He started to tremble a bit and wondered if AJ had worn enough clothes
in his hurry to get out. The night was too cold.
“AJ, I don’t think this is a good idea, I
think you should get out of-”
“Brian, listen to me carefully,” Brian, again
for the umpteenth time that night, stopped breathing. There was something in
the way AJ talked that convinced him whatever was about to be said was nothing
good.
“I want you to get on another
phone...call...call 911. Tell them someone is critically injured and need help
now! I’ll wait for you on this line.”
“AJ, tell me what’s wrong! Why do you want me
to call 911? Did you find Nick? Is he okay?”
“I...I don’t know...but there’s a trail of
blood on the kitchen floor Brian...there’s too much of blood...”
“AJ, listen to me, get out of the house NOW!
Don’t try to be hero on me now Bone, get out of there, I’m calling for help!”
-
Howie would love to kill the person
who had successfully woke him up in the middle of the night, but considering
the ID caller showed Kevin’s number, the intention was blown with the wind.
Please say they cancelled the
interview! Please, please, please!
“Yes Kevin, good morning to you!” Howie
answered, hoping to sound sarcastic enough
“Sorry to wake you up D, did anyone from
Management called?”
YES!
“They cancelled tomorrow’s interview?” Yes
please!
“I wish it’s that simple D, but no.” Kevin
replied. A small sigh later, he continued. “Management called. Does the name
Desdemona Wainwright meant anything to you?”
Desdemona...Desdemona…
“No offence Kev, but it is 2.30 in the freaking
morning.” Howie yawned. As expected, he was drawing blanks, although Wainwright
sounded familiar.
“She’s Gary Wainwright’s sister, you remember
him?”
“Should I?” Howie asked, a little annoyed that
Kevin had woke him up for a little name quiz.
“Gary Wainwright, the wacko who attacked Nick
like four years ago outside the hotel; remember him?”
Howie was wide awake; he found it
strange for Kevin to call him that late just to recall the past. That would
normally be Nick. And he always had fun dozing off while the blonde one was
still blabbering on the other line. But it wasn’t Nick on the line playing this
little game now, and he had no intentions of sleeping it off when it comes down
to Kevin.
“What about him Kevin?”
“It’s not him, it’s Desdemona, his
sister...she...she was found dead in her room today and Gary was nowhere to be
found.”
Howie thought he heard fear in Kevin’s
voice but wasn’t sure why. “Kevin, did Management tell you this?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it must be something serious...”
“They’re searching for Gary, he’s the main
suspect now. And D, if what the police found in his room are true, then we
might be in danger.”
Danger. Us?
“Kevin, tell me what’s going on. No one called
me so far.”
“They tried calling Brian but his cell phone
was busy for the longest time and they couldn’t get hold of Nick and AJ.” Kevin
explained in a hurry. “And I offered to call you myself.”
Danger.
“Why couldn’t they get hold of them? You think
something happened to them?” Howie asked in a panic.
“Howie slow down...all I know is they tried
calling Nick and AJ but couldn’t get through and Brian’s busy. Anyway-”
“Did you tell them Nick and AJ are in LA?”
“Oh, aren’t they in Florida?”Howie sighed. Not
like Kevin to forget that easily.
“They’re supposed to record their
parts today, remember? And I have a feeling Brian might be on the phone with
Leigh about some baby trouble.”
Kevin chuckled lightly but Howie
remembered that they were supposedly in danger and cut the older man away. “Not
to sound heartless or anything, but what’s her death got anything to do with
us?”
“Everything. The police suspects Gary had
intentions to hurt us and now that he’s missing, he might be...you know...on his
way for one of us. They called to inform that securities are coming over to our
houses as we speak and I’m supposed to tell you in advance so that you won’t
kick them out of your house.”
Was this really happening, or was he
just dreaming this away? They’ve had countless of stalkers before, why would
this one be so serious?
Because he just killed his sister,
slow brain.
Shaking his thoughts off he asked,
“Kevin, where was his sister murdered?”
“In LA...oh shit.”
-
Something out there just killed Nicky,
broke the canine’s neck with its’ bare hands. And it had pounced on him out of
nowhere in the dark, scared the hell out of him too. He couldn’t remember what
happened except that he did all his best to fight it off. It wasn’t easy but he
had somehow managed to scare the thing off and it had leap once again, suddenly
leaving him all alone again.
But common sense told him it wouldn’t
be a good idea to hang around out there. That whatever it was that had attacked
him will come back for him. He couldn’t look at the dead mutt now lying still
somewhere in the bush, it nauseate him just to think that someone or something
had the heart to do the deed. And whatever it was that had attacked him had
managed to kick on his leg good. With a limp, he forced himself to take big
steps back to the kitchen. The two remaining dogs appeared from behind some
bushes and followed their master in. Fear was evident in their eyes too.
“Come on boys, get inside and we’ll think of
something.”
The first thing that caught his eyes
once in the kitchen was the abandoned cordless phone on the dining table. He
remembered the weird call and the sound of the woman struggling before someone
threatened to come for him next. And then he remembered Brian, who must have
been waiting for him on the line. Yes, he could ask Brian for help. Two more
steps was all it took to get to the phone but he never reached it in time. A
sharp pain exploded from the back to every part of his body and he felt his
legs gave way and his head connected roughly to the ground. Footsteps somewhere
near him and a shadow of a man passed him by before a voice was heard.
“Don't think because you're so far away I'm
going to forget about you.”
He didn’t understand what that was
supposed to mean and he didn’t care. The dogs had started to bark again outside
and he was in a lot of pain. What happened to him?
The footfalls came back and out of
nowhere, heavy breathing was heard just next to him. “I could have used the gun
but Chaucer said it would make too much noise. The kitchen knife however is a
silent killer and you’ll die a slow death. That’ll teach you a lesson for
stealing Nick’s body!”
“I...I’m...Nick...” He struggled to reason,
only to be met with his yelling to shut up.
He felt his legs being lifted and
seconds later, he was dragged on the kitchen floor all the way to the living
room. His back throbbed its defiance from being forced to move and he knew he
wasn’t going to last long but slumber never paid a visit. He was forced to feel
everything and hear everything that this mad guy was saying “Stay still, it’ll
soon be over for you, don’t fight it!”
He remained dazed as the lights were
switched off and he watched the shadow of death coming for him. He felt
something cold placed on his forehead and Death’s low growls as he repeat over
and over again what was to be a ‘chant’. And still, darkness never come for him
“WHY AREN’T YOU DEAD YET!!!!”
He watched as the shadow paced the
ground back and forth, wishing that he could somehow escape it’s wrath. But he
knew he was done for.
There is no way to escape this. He
will die. “I can’t wait for you to die, I have four others to stop! And Nick
will die if he doesn’t get his body back!”
But I’m Nick! “Yes, that’s a good idea
Brian! Thanks!”
Brian?
“Brian said I’ll have to stab you again, and
this time, I’ll go for your heart. Isn’t Brian smart?”
Brian?
He felt the sharp cold steel pressed
against his chest; somewhere along the line, he must have ripped his shirt off.
If only he had taken the call seriously “With this charm I beseech thee...”
This is going to hurt like hell. This
is so unfair.
“Out of sight and out of me...”
*I can’t back out now Brian, Nick
might be hurt somewhere,
I’ve got to get to him!*
AJ?
“Shit!”
He felt the sharp steel slowly fading
away and Death backed away from him.
“What do you know...looks like I’ll be killing
two birdswith one stone tonight.”
The last thing he saw was the shadow
of Death backing away
into the dark, hiding somewhere.
Waiting.
***
