Chapter
6
By Julie
When Nick awoke,
the first thing he felt was pain. He
groaned and slowly pulled himself up.
His whole body ached. He made his
way up the stairs and went into the bathroom.
When he turned on the light and caught site of his reflection in the
mirror, he gasped. This time, it was not
the ghost’s reflection he was afraid of, it was his own.
He looked like he had gotten into a
fight. His body was covered in
bruises. His eye was turning black and
blue and starting to swell. He looked
like shit, and he didn’t even know why.
Surely passing out couldn’t have caused all this bruising. It had to have been the ghost. Nick began to shake with fear. Now he knew that the ghost was after
him. He had scared Nick before, but now
it was even worse because Nick knew the ghost could hurt him and would hurt him
when he had the opportunity.
Nick slowly turned away from the mirror and made his way back downstairs. He realized he was all alone in the house,
and the ghost could be lurking anywhere.
He sat down on the couch and wrapped his arms around himself, as if
trying to protect himself. He silently
prayed that the other guys would return home soon. Maybe they would actually begin to believe
him when they saw all his bruises.
***
The others
returned home a half an hour later. When
Brian walked into the living room, he immediately knew something was wrong just
by the way Nick was sitting there, hugging himself tightly and staring into
space.
“Nick?” he
asked. Nick jumped and whirled around, his eyes wide with fright. When he realized it was Brian, he relaxed a
bit.
“Oh Brian,
thank God you’re here,” he said.
“Oh my God,
what happened to you, Nicky?” Brian asked when he saw Nick’s face.
“I… I don’t
know,” Nick stammered. The other three
guys entered the room.
“Nick! What happened?” asked Howie. AJ and Kevin just stared at him, wide-eyed.
“The
ghost,” Nick mumbled softly.
“Oh Nick,
please!” Kevin cried, throwing his hands up in the air. “I don’t want to hear anymore of this ghost
bullshit. It’s not April Fools Day, now
come on, tell us the truth.” He glared
at Nick. The other three exchanged
glances, not knowing what to say.
“I don’t
know what else to tell you,” Nick said.
“Nick, you
didn’t just hurt yourself as part of your little joke did you?” asked
Kevin. Nick stared at him, horrified.
“Kevin! Of course not! I didn’t do this to myself, how could I?”
Nick cried angrily.
Kevin
sighed. “Sorry, Nick,” he muttered. Nick rolled his eyes and shot Kevin a nasty look,
then ran upstairs to his room, locked the door, flung himself on his bed, and
sobbed.
***
An hour
later, there was a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Nick asked sullenly.
“It’s me,
Bri,” came Brian’s voice. “Can I come
in?”
Nick sighed
and went to unlock the door. Once Brian
came in, Nick locked the door again behind him.
Brian sat down on the bed and patted a spot next to him. Nick sat down.
“Now, Nick,
please tell me the truth about how you got hurt,” Brian said. “I’m your best
friend, please don’t lie to me.”
“Brian, I
am not lying!” Nick cried, his voice rising shrilly. “I swear, there is a ghost in this house, and
he did this to me!!”
“Look,
Nick, I’m not sure what you are talking about,” Brian said, looking utterly
confused. “I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Neither
did I, until now!” Nick insisted. Brian
grinned and rolled his eyes.
“Whatever,
Nicky,” he said, as if it was all a joke.
Nick knew it wasn’t, but no one else did. Not even his best friend believed him.
“Look,
Brian, I’m kinda tired now. I think I’m
going to go take a nap,” Nick said.
“Okay. Do you need some Tylenol? We got some more while we were shopping
today,” Brian said.
“No thanks,
I’m fine. I just need some rest,” Nick
assured him.
“Okay,”
said Brian. “See ya later.” He offered a smile and left the room, closing
the door behind him. Once he was gone,
Nick lay back and slowly drifted off to sleep, praying that the ghost would
leave him alone.
***
