The afternoon passed without event. A welcome change, I had to admit. AJ and Howie brought a ton of food and we enjoyed a nice lunch. Despite the concern about Leon’s whereabouts, the mood remained light. Soon after that, Brian got sleepy and we all left except for Howie. Kevin was more than happy to settle down with the rest of the book he was reading and AJ passed out on one of the couches. It didn’t take long for Nick and I to get bored.
After about twenty minutes of fidgeting, Kevin finally got fed up with us. He hefted a loud sigh at us and plopped his book down into his lap. “What is wrong with you two? Can’t you just settle down?”
I glanced guiltily at Nick. Were we being that obnoxious? He met my look and snickered. “No, can we go down to the vending machines?” He asked Kevin.
“No.”
“What?! Why not?” Protested Nick indignantly.
“Cause we just had lunch less than an hour ago,” Kevin stated simply, going back to his book.
Nick made an exasperated face at me before turning back to Kevin. “So what? What does that have to do with anything?!”
“Hey, one of those vending machines has ice cream sandwiches and stuff in it.” I chimed in.
“Dude, that sounds good. C’mon Kev, we’ll even bring one back for ya,” whined Nick.
I snickered.
Kevin lowered the book again. “Ugh, whatever. Go. But take Jenkins and Mac with you.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “We will. Come on, El.”
“Hm, what sounds better, an ice cream bar or one of those ice cream oreo things?” I rubbed my hands together. Ice cream was one of my weaknesses. I think it was going to be the oreo thing this time.
“Hey!”
I stopped before letting the door fall shut behind me. Nick was already in the hallway, digging through his pockets for loose change. “Yeah?”
“Bring me back something.” Kevin grinned sheepishly at me.
I laughed. “I’ll bring ya something all right.”
“Come on already.” Nick urged.
“Impatient much?” I smacked him on the arm.
“Yes. I just felt the need to stretch my legs for a few minutes.” He admitted as we started down the hall.
“I know, me too. I felt like we were just sort of sitting around, waiting for something to happen.” I explained.
“Waiting for something to go wrong, you mean?” Nick corrected.
“No!” I exclaimed, looking at him. After a moment, I couldn’t help but sigh. “Okay maybe. I don’t know what it is, but I get this feeling like it’s the calm before the storm. Almost like when you’re watching a movie and it’s getting towards the end where everything just starts happening all at once. You know it’s coming, but there’s nothing you can do, but hear the ominous heart beat or the freaky music while things happen in slow motion.”
Nick laughed. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this haven’t you.”
I shot him a dirty look. “No. It’s just what I feel like.”
The smile dropped off Nick’s face. “I know, me too. I guess that’s why I was trying to joke about it. Really though, we don’t need to worry. We’ve got constant security around us and around Brian too. Leon, or anyone for that matter, won’t be getting near him without getting cleared first.”
I nodded, letting Nick’s words reassure me. Although, I couldn’t help but tense up once we stepped onto the elevator. Vivid memories of Leon trapping us inside haunted me and when I saw the uncomfortable expression on Nick’s face, I guessed they were on his mind too. Almost as if he read my mind, Jenkins turned around and smiled at me. I returned the smile, feeling a little better.
The little room with the hoards of vending machines was down in the basement. We’d all gotten pretty familiar with it since there were vending machines of every variety. When we stepped off the elevator the two security guys stepped off first, Nick and I following behind. I’d grown accustomed to being observant on my surroundings since this whole thing started. Whenever I was with any of the guys, I was always watching for people, trying to gauge what their reactions would be if they noticed us. Usually it was staff that we ran into and they didn’t spare us a second glance. Security remained real tight outside so there hadn’t been too many fan encounters. When rounded the corner, I saw two boys standing near a cluster of pay phones. As we passed them, they immediately stopped their hushed conversation and watched us walk by. I glanced at Nick, a tiny smile forming on my lips. They looked shocked to see us, like most people did when they recognized the guys.
“Fans?” I whispered, grinning.
He chuckled. “I doubt it.”
An elderly woman passed us a few minutes later. I smiled at her as we passed and she smiled back. Her expression didn’t show any recognition so I guessed she was either distracted or wasn’t familiar with the Backstreet Boys. Fortunately, the vending machine room was empty. I was mildly surprised, but then again, dinner hour wasn’t too far off and people probably didn’t want to spoil their appetites. I snickered, realizing how ludicrous my thoughts were. Spoiling their appetites on hospital food? Uh huh.
“What?” Nick interrupted my thoughts.
“What?” I countered.
“Do you do that often?” He smirked at me.
“What?” I asked, again.
“Laugh at nothing?” He continued to smirk as he passed slowly from vending machine to vending machine.
“I wasn’t laughing at nothing. I was laughing at what was in my head.” I retorted.
Nick busted up. “I can only imagine.”
I blushed. “That isn’t what I meant! Shut up, Carter!”
Jenkins and Mac started to laugh too and I whipped around to glare at them. “Don’t you guys start too!” I exclaimed, shaking my finger at them.
“Okay, we won’t, but hurry up, kids.” Mac replied, smiling.
“I’m not a kid,” I growled under my breath as I fed a quarter into the machine that would deliver my coveted oreo ice cream sandwich.
Suddenly, a high pitched shriek caused me to jump and drop the second quarter.
“Someone help! Please!”
Mac and Jenkins immediately turned and started running towards the woman’s cries. The ice cream forgotten, Nick and I dashed after the two security guards. The elderly woman we had passed just a few moments ago was standing a ways down the hall.
“Please help me! Those two boys just stole my purse. It has everything in it! Everything-”
“Which way did they go ma’am?” Mac interrupted, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady to the trembling that was coming from her frail body.
She pointed a shaky finger down the opposite end of the hallway that we had come from.
“Stay here!” Jenkins ordered Nick and I, before he and Mac took off running down the hall.
Nick glared after him, obviously frustrated at not being able to help. He took a step forward, but I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t. Let them do their job.” I urged hastily, an icy knot growing in my stomach.
“Oh! Oh my!” The woman suddenly cried.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked quickly.
“There! One of them just ran down that hallway! I-I don’t understand! They ran that way!” The woman trembled as she pointed from one hall to the one that Mac and Jenkins had just disappeared down.
“Don’t worry, I’ll catch ‘em!” Nick swore as he started running toward the hallway the lady had just seen the boy run down.
“Nick wait!” I cried, running after him. Unfortunately, his legs were a lot longer than mine and he had a head start. He was already turning the corner before I even got to the end of the hall. Almost immediately my lungs started to burn, but I forced myself to keep going. “Nick! Stop, please!” I cried, a very bad feeling washing over me. I continued to whip around corners like I was in a maze, never even catching a glimpse of Nick. Something was wrong with this whole situation and it was started to scare me. I rounded another corner and came to one big, long hallway.
Nick was nowhere to be seen.
I stopped, giving myself a brief moment to catch some air. There was no way that Nick could have made it all the way to the end of the hall and around the corner. He wasn’t that far ahead of me. Not to mention, it was eerily quiet.
Trying not to panic, I started to jog down the hall. “Nick?! Where are you?! Dammit, you’re scaring me! Please answer me!” I called, my voice quivering.
The hall was lined with doors, most of them not labeled, obviously storage and things of that sort. I tried a few of the handles and they were all locked. Breathing hard, I continued to look around. My eyes fell on a small lump on the ground and I gasped. How could I have missed that?! I ran over to it, skidding to a stop in front of it.
Nick’s sweatshirt.
He’d had it tied around his waste. I dropped to my knees and picked it up, a sob escaping my throat. “Oh God. Please don’t be hurt, please be okay.” I whimpered softly.
I jumped back up, clutching the sweatshirt to myself. The end of the hall only lead to an exit door. There was no way he could have gone through that because the alarm would have sounded. I whirled around and ran back into the hall, frantically banging on doors as I ran by them.
“Nick! Where are you?! Please say something! Someone help! Please! Oh God, someone help me!” I screamed, growing more panicked by the second. The more I cried for help, the more it made my panic increase. I didn’t want to believe what my heart already knew.
Nick was gone.
