Chapter
2
By
Julie
After
renting two cars, a light blue Taurus and a sporty, yellow Mustang, the group
set out for the vacation house they had bought together a few months before.
They had decided it would be nice to have a place for them to stay in Europe
when they vacationed or recorded there.
They
had looked around at houses in several different locations and finally settled
on one. It was out in the country, near a small town in Scotland called
Newbern. They had wanted the house to be in a secluded area for privacy, and
this house was perfect for that. It was a big house, perfect for five young men
to live together in. The house was a large Victorian style house. It was not
actually from the Victorian era though. The realtor had told them that this
house was actually a remodel of the house that used to lie on that property,
which had also been a large Victorian. That made it even better, for although
the house was historical looking, it was fairly new and in good condition.
Although it looked old fashioned on the outside, it had many modern aspects to
it as well. Everything inside the house was modern, with electricity and modern
appliances. There was a Jacuzzi in the master bedroom and a large in-ground
pool in the back. All together, their new home was wonderful, and they could
not wait to get settled in for their month long stay.
The
afternoon was spent unpacking and getting settled. That evening, since there
were no groceries in the house, the guys all went out together to eat dinner.
“Are
you okay, Nick?” Brian asked during dinner. Nick had barely touched his dinner
and didn’t look very well.
“I
don’t feel that well,” Nick said.
“What’s
wrong?” Brian asked, concerned.
“I
don’t know, I just have kind of a headache. I’m going to go lie down when we
get back,” Nick replied.
“We
need to head to the grocery store after this to pick up some food,” Kevin
brought up.
“Oh
man, could you drop me off at home first?” Nick whined. “I really don’t want to
go grocery shopping. I just need to go to sleep.”
Kevin
rolled his eyes. “Fine Nick, we’ll drop you off on the way.”
“Thanks,
Kev,” Nick said happily.
After
dinner, they all piled into the Mustang, Kevin and Howie in the front, and
Nick, Brian, and AJ squeezed into the back. Kevin drove back to the house and
let Nick off in front.
“Do
you want me to stay with you, Frack?” Brian asked.
“No,
go ahead Frick. Make sure you guys get lots of good snacks. I just want to lie
down,” Nick answered.
Brian
shrugged. “Okay, man. See ya later.”
“Bye!”
Nick called, as they drove away. After the car had disappeared down the winding
country road, Nick wandered into the house and collapsed onto the couch in the
living room. He flipped on the TV and watched absent mindedly. Suddenly, he
heard a crashing noise, coming from the kitchen. He jerked up into a sitting
position and looked around tensely. He slowly got up and wandered into the
kitchen. He entered the kitchen and stopped.
Suddenly, a chill ran through him, and he
shivered. He looked down at his arms and saw that the hair on them was sticking
straight up. He looked around. There was no one in the kitchen. He sighed,
relieved that they were not being robbed, but confused as to what the noise
was. Then he saw it, a pan that had been sitting on the counter was lying on
the floor. But what could have knocked it over? He thought at first that maybe
a window was open, and the wind had knocked over the pan. That would also explain
the sudden change of temperature. But when Nick inspected the kitchen windows,
he saw that they were all shut and locked.
He
looked around one more time and suddenly gasped. Standing a few feet in front
of him was a man. The man didn’t look like a normal person, not because of his
old fashioned clothes, but because he had an odd hazy look to him, as if he was
made of some kind of mist.
Nick
blinked and rubbed his eyes furiously, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on
him. And sure enough, when he opened his eyes, the strange man was gone. Nick
shook his head, shrugged, and went back into the living room. Before he knew
it, he had fallen asleep on the couch.
He
didn’t wake up until almost an hour later, when the rest of the guys came home
from the store, carting bags of groceries.
“Hey
Nick, there’s a few bags left out in the car. Will you go get them?” Kevin
asked.
Nick
yawned and made his way out to the car, grumbling. He got the three bags that
remained in the trunk of the car and brought them into the kitchen.
“Nick!”
Kevin suddenly cried.
“What?”
Nick asked indignantly.
“Get
over here and look at this,” Kevin said sternly. Nick walked over to where
Kevin was standing next to the open silverware drawer.
“What?”
Nick whined.
“Look
in the drawer!” Kevin yelled.
Nick
peered into the drawer and saw that all the silverware, which Kevin had spent
much time organizing a few hours before, was scattered and disorganized.
“Who
did that?” Nick asked.
Kevin
glared at him and rolled his eyes. “Well gee, Nick, I don’t know,” he said
exasperatedly. “The silverware was in perfect order when we left, and now it is
all messed up. Who do you think did it?”
Nick’s
mouth dropped open. “Me? You think I did it?” he cried. “Why the hell would I
mess up the silverware drawer?”
“You
and your stupid little practical jokes,” Kevin said with a sigh.
“Kevin,
I swear, it wasn’t me!” Nick cried.
“Yeah
sure, Nick. If it wasn’t you then who was it?” Kevin asked sarcastically.
Suddenly
Nick remembered the figure he had seen earlier in the kitchen. “It was him!” he
cried, his blue eyes widening.
“Who?”
Kevin asked.
“Kev,
I think there is a ghost in this house,” Nick said seriously.
“Nick,
for crying out loud, can’t you do better than that?!” Kevin cried exasperatedly.
“A ghost? Come on.”
“No,
it’s for real! I saw him!” Nick protested.
“Nick,
you are twenty freakin years old!! I think it’s time to stop with the ghost
stories. Grow up!!!!” Kevin yelled.
“But,
Kev!” Nick whined.
“Nick,
get out of here right now!” Kevin screamed. “I have had a long day, and I don’t
need to deal with your childish antics right now!” Nick didn’t move, just
stared at Kevin in shock.
“GO!!!!”
Kevin yelled, shoving Nick away from him roughly. Nick stumbled back and landed
hard on the ground. Kevin looked down at him in disgust, sighed loudly, and
stalked loudly out of the room.
Nick’s blue eyes slowly filled with tears. In
all the years they had been in the group together, he and Kevin had had many
arguments, but Kevin had never been this mean to him. He had never shoved him
onto the ground like that. And Nick didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe the figure
wasn’t a ghost, but still, he was telling the truth about the silverware. But
Kevin didn’t believe him, and Nick didn’t think he ever would. Nick didn’t care
anymore though. What Kevin had done hurt him, more emotionally than physically.
And Nick didn’t know if he would ever fully get over it.
***
