Brian squinted as he desperatly tried to make out where the road ended and where the shoulder began. The rain was falling so hard that he couldn't even see in front of the vehicle.

"C'mon, Selena...where are you?" Brian muttered as he ran his fingers through his curly bangs. They stood on end because of the dampness in the air. A few minutes later he came upon the diner we had disapeared from minutes earlier. He noticed that Nick was parked in the parking lot for soem strange reason. Brian pulled his Jeep up next to Nick's truck. However, it wasn't until he had approached the driver's side of the vehicle that he realized that Nick wasn't even in the truck. Brian turned off the ignition and locked the truck up. From where he was standing, he had a clear view of the diner, and he knew that neither Nick nor Selena were in there. Taking a deep breath he pocketed Nick's keys and went inside to get some answers.

The car stopped, and Carl and Christina hopped out. After the doors shut I heard nothing but the rain pelting on the roof of the car. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was waiting for my mother in the grocery. It wasn't making me feel any better. Too scared to even sit up fully in order to peek out the windows, I turned my head slightly to check on Nick. I felt the back of his head, and wasn't too surprised to find a lump the size of an egg near the occipital lobe. I swallowed and looked at his closed eyes. If anything happened to him, there was no way I was going to be able to forgive myself. I sighed and scooted in closer to him, and layed my head on his chest, his steady heart beat was a source of comfort to me.

I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but suddenly the backseat door near Nick was opened, and were tumbled onto the wet earth like dirty laundry down the chute. The rain storm had subsided, and the smell of fresh earth filled my nostrils. Under normal circumstances I would have enjoyed it. Carl had tied a red bandana to his head, which, for some reason made him seem even more beastly. I watched him grab Nick from under the arms and began to drag him towards a small house about ten yards away.

"Why don't you follow them Angela?" asked Christina.

Reluctantly I followed her orders and starred at the motionless body that seemed to be floating backwards in front of me. The gastly image of Nick's unconscious form sent shivers accross my already chilly form. The cabin was small and cozy, and the lights had been dimmed. The walls of the main room were covered with pineapple paintings and decorations. Well that's ironic, I thought bitterly. Pineapples were like horshoes--a symbol for good luck, although I didn't seem to be having much luck right now. I caught Christina's eye, and stopped in my tracks. "I'm not going another step until you tell me what the HELL is going on!"

She ran her hands nervously through her brown hair. With her bangs brushed backward, it was rather erie, because it was like looking into a mirror. "I can't explain right now, please...just go along with everything ok?"

I could tell from the look in her eyes, that she wasn't very confident with herself, or what she was going to do. I expreienced a small amount of relief, I knew that I could use this weakness somehow. But I wasn't going to get anywhere without knowing what was going on.

Christina lead me into a small room in the corner of the cabin. It wasn't until the door was in the line of my eyesight instead of her face, that I turned around to inspect the room. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness I could make out a form on the bed...it was Nick. I made my way over to him and placed my cheek over his face. Faintly, I could feel the heat of his breath. I sighed with relief, at least he was still breathing, I checked his pulse again, and it was still errratic....but it was strong.

Sighing, Brian tapped the dashboard of his Jeep. He had no idea where Angela or Nick was, now they were both missing. Closing his eyes, he said a silent prayer, and asked God for guidance. He knew from the waitress in the diner that she had seen Angela with some other girl. They had left together with a guy. Thinking that the man might have been Nick, Brian asked for a description, but the man had been tall and dark, not tall and blonde. Please God, give me a sign, Brian thought desperatly. His focus remained constant, starring straight ahead through the windshield. Since the rain had stopped, he could see clearly. Suddenly his vision was captured by a yellow ticket setting on his dashboard. It was a receipt. Suddenly an idea occured to him, and he hopped out of the Jeep and ran back into the diner.

The steady breathing of his form was lulling me to sleep, it was gently rocking me to sleep. Just when the heavy cloak of sleep had begun to envelope me, I was startled to a conscious state my a low, throaty moan.

"Awwww, man my head ."

I bolted upright, and turned on the lampside bed. Silently I watched as Nick massaged the back of his head. Not wanting him to worry too much I gently asked "how are you feeling?"

He blinked and then shook his head back and forth "like my head was run over by a frigging train. What happened? And where the hell are we?"

I thought for a minute about lying, but then I realized that he was going to find out soon enough, so I told him the entire story.

"Man, what the hell does she carry in that purse of hers?"

"A brick, I saw her show Carl," I said ruefully.

"Well, from this throbbing pain I'm experiencing, I wouldn't have expected any less," he closed his eyes and lowered his head into his hands, and took a deep breath. I could tell he was battling a lot of pain.

I reached into my purse and located a bottle of Excedrin, "here, do you think that you can swallow this without water?"

He nodded and popped the pills into his mouth, grimacing a bit as he chewed and tasted their bitterness.