Chapter
4
By
Julie
The
next morning, Nick was exhausted. He had only gotten a few hours of sleep the
night before because of that horrible dream. He couldn’t get it out of his
head. It was so horrifying and so realistic.
Nick
rubbed his eyes and stretched, trying to wake himself up a little. He realized
that he not only was tired, he felt horrible too. His head hurt, and his neck
was stiff. He wasn’t sure if it was from lack of sleep or sleeping in the
grass. Maybe he was just coming down with something.
He
forced himself out of bed and grabbed a bathrobe from his suitcase. Then he
staggered down the hall to the bathroom to take a shower, hoping the warm water
would help make him feel better. Once in the bathroom, he took off his pajamas
and stepped into the shower. He turned on the water full blast and sighed
contentedly as the hot water ran over his body. About fifteen minutes later, he
turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He grabbed a towel and
slowly dried himself off. “Brrr,” he said, shivering. It was very cold in the
bathroom. Nick quickly finished drying off, eager to get into his warm robe.
But when he went to grab it, he realized it wasn’t where he had left it,
hanging on the hook on the bathroom door. He looked around, flustered. The blue
robe was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m
going to kill Brian,” Nick muttered under his breath. This had to be one of his
best friend’s pranks. Nick wrapped the towel around his waist tightly and
stormed out of the bathroom and into the hall. Luckily, it was much warmer out
there. “Brian!!” Nick screamed. A few minutes later, Brian hurried upstairs,
looking concerned.
“What
is it, Nick?” he asked.
“Where
the hell is my robe?” Nick asked him.
“Your
robe? How should I know?” Brian asked innocently.
“Come
on, Bri, give it back,” Nick whined.
“Nick,
I didn’t take your robe,” Brian said seriously.
“Oh
yeah? Then who did?” asked Nick.
Brian
shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“Fine,
then where are the other guys?” asked Nick, annoyed. Brian thought a moment.
“Howie is making breakfast, AJ’s watching TV, and Kev’s sleeping,” he replied.
“Not
anymore,” said a deep voice that was filled with annoyance. Nick spun around to
see Kevin standing behind him, his hair sticking up, his eyes full of sleep.
“What are you two arguing about?” he asked, eyeing Nick first, then Brian. “I
just wanted to know how took my robe,” Nick said. “AJ, Howie, come here!” Brian
shouted. A few minutes later, AJ and Howie appeared.
“What?”
they asked in unison.
“Which
one of you took my robe?” Nick demanded angrily. Howie and AJ exchanged
confused glances. “I didn’t,” Howie said. Nick believed him. Howie was not big
on practical jokes anyway, and Nick could tell by his eyes that he was telling
the truth.
“I
didn’t either,” AJ responded. Nick studied him. AJ looked like he was being
honest too. But if he didn’t do it, who could have?
“It
wasn’t you, was it, Kevin?” Nick asked meekly.
Kevin
glared at him. “Of course not, Nick!” he said exasperatedly. “I was sleeping
until you so rudely woke me up with all your yelling. Grow up!”
Nick
felt his cheeks growing red. “Sorry,” he muttered. Kevin just rolled his eyes
and went downstairs.
“Jeez,
someone should pull that monkey out of Kev’s ass,” AJ muttered as Kevin
disappeared down the stairs. Brian and Howie laughed. But Nick was deep in
thought. If none of the guys had hidden the robe, then who did?
Nick wandered back into the bathroom. He closed
the door behind him. Suddenly, he gasped. There, hanging on the back of the
door, was his robe. Nick just stared at it a few times, blinking in shock. Then
he grabbed it and put it on, for the chill in the room was getting to be too
much for him. Then he turned to the counter and grabbed his comb. He began
combing out his wet blonde hair. Suddenly, he gasped. The comb fell out of his
shaking hand. Nick stared hard into the mirror. Staring back at him, behind his
own reflection, was the man from his dreams. It was the man he had seen in the
kitchen the night before. Nick whirled around. His mouth dropped open when he
saw what was behind him. Absolutely nothing. Nick stared for a moment in shock,
then turned back to the mirror. The figure was gone from the mirror image as
well. Nick stood there for several minutes, just shaking in fear, until
finally, he came to his senses and fled the room.
***
