Nick heard the loud click, indicating the metal door was opening. He stood as a man entered and yanked his arm roughly.
"Hurry up, Carter. I don't have all day," he forced him out into the corridor.
The sun was shining brightly through the small barred window. Nick hadn't seen light for two days and the sudden glare forced him to shield his eyes. He hated days like these. He wished it would rain.
~ * ~ 7 years before ~ * ~
"Cali!!" Nick shouted, coming into his house. It was a hot day, not an ordinary one, and Nick Carter was not in a good mood. "California, where are you??" he jogged up the staircase and into his room to find Cali taking a nap on top of the bed, in nothing more than underwear and a tank-top due to the intense heat.
California awoke instantly as she heard Nick's footsteps bound into the bedroom, "What, what is it??" It had been a week since the conversation with Nick in the kitchen about the dream she'd heard him having. She'd been walking on egg shells around him, she'd been depressed, stressed, and completely confused. She didn't understand what was going on. There was something that was haunting Nick, and following him into his sleep, that was a very serious and dangerous matter. Nick was scaring her.
"You told Hattie!! You told Hattie about what happened with Brian and me!! It was 5 years ago, Cali! I was 15! We were 15!!" Nick screamed as sweat poured from his face, and his body shook. California couldn't tell if it was from anger or the emotion caused by whatever had happened with Nick and Brian when they were Freshmen. "How can I still be punished for this!! Why can't I just forget this?! Why does it have to haunt me?"
California watched as Nick collapsed against the bed. She wrapped her arms around him securely as he began to sob violently. "Nick, what's going on? You're scaring me," her own tears found their way down her face. "I don't know what you're talking about, Nicky. I didn't tell Hattie anything."
"You know... You know and Hattie knows."
"Baby, I don't know a thing. I don't know what happened when you were 15, but you have to tell someone. Tell me, Nick. Tell me what you and Brian did, and make Brian tell Hattie. We need to know, Nick."
"No!!" Nick shouted, pounding his fist against the mattress. "I can't tell you!! You wouldn't understand."
California shook as he began to wail harder. What could possibly be this bad?
"We were only 15. We didn't know what we were doing."
~ * ~ 5 years before ~ * ~
Nick took a deep breath as Brian and he stepped into the rowdy party. He spotted the alcohol and drugs making their way through the young, drunk teenagers, as soon as he entered. He'd never been in this kind of environment, and though it was a shock to him--and slightly frightening--it was exciting in a way. He felt, for the first time in his life, as if he were grown up ... as if he were accepted. It didn't matter that no one noticed his presence. After all, maybe it was better that way.
He quickly fell into the pace of things, and was beginning to enjoy himself. Brian had begun to dance with a girl since the moment they'd arrived, and Nick had had his eye on a young girl for a while. Finally he mustered up all of his courage--maybe the alcohol he'd managed to consume had loosened him up--and made his way towards the smiling beauty. She was standing by the punch bowl, and she was willing to dance with him. And that's how it had started.
~ * ~ 12 years later [present time] ~ * ~
"Have fun in confinement, baby?"
"Maybe next time you'll behave yourself."
Nick merely growled, sitting himself on the bench that he rarely left. After all, there was hardly anywhere else to go.
