Katie was still sobbing hysterically, but had calmed down a little once Nick started stroking her hair. "Shh," Nick whispered into her ear. Katie thought that he was just trying to comfort her so she continued crying, but once again, he shushed her. The second time, he seemed more adamant, persistent. Then she felt his muscles become tense. It must have been intuition. Katie quieted down immediately.

That was when she heard it. The sound came from behind her. It was the sound of static from a t.v. Katie thought it was strange. She cowered even further into Nick's embrace. But if Nick and Katie had not moved away from the couch since exiting the chamber, who turned on the t.v.?

She slowly turned her head away from Nick and directed her gaze towards where she heard the sound. Behind her were two stereos and a huge screen. There was snow all over the screen. Katie trembled, not knowing what to expect anymore. She and Nick didn't move from their spots.

They were now both staring at the screen in disbelief. Suddenly, the snow stopped and an image appeared on the screen. It was pretty dark at first so Katie couldn't really tell what was going on. But then, she gaped.

On the screen was a 13 year old Nick standing in what seemed to be her old room. He was completely wet and was beginning to undress himself. Once done, she saw him pause while he was listening to something very intently; they were footsteps. After the footsteps could no longer be heard, the young Nick began to dry his hair.

And that was when she saw Roy creep up behind him. She heard two thuds as Nick was hit in the head. The next minute, he was sprawled on the bed with Roy straddling him. Nick had nearly lost his consciousness and lay weakly on the bed while Roy ripped his clothes off. Katie never blinked as Roy kissed and then raped Nick. He finally flipped Nick over and entered the boy. All the while, Nick was groaning from the pain.

Katie's mouth was agape. How did . . . why . . . how come? Katie tried to slow down and think straight. Where did that tape come from?!!!!! How and who had recorded all of that on tape? Everything seemed so unreal. She was completely flabbergasted. Still, she looked on as the scene slowly unraveled on the screen.

Finally, Roy collapsed onto Nick. After a long while, she saw Nick turn his head as a door creaked. Then she saw herself, six years ago, slowly walking towards Nick. Katie never realized how murderous her eyes looked that night until this moment. How come she looked so foreign, so unlike her? She stared at her younger self in disgust. Did she look that evil that night?

She saw Nick reach out his hand, begging for her to help him. But she didn't. She walked close to him to pick up the glass bottle from the ground-the one her father had dropped.

Katie was forced to witness her crime. She wanted to close her eyes, but found that she couldn't. The visions of her past were too compelling. She looked on as she walked to the other side of the bed that Nick laid on. She raised her right hand and lashed out at Nick over and over and over until finally, shards of glass were all over the place and Nick lay deathly still.

After moments of deep thought, Katie finally dared to raise her head and look at Nick, who stood paralyzed, stunned by the reality of his horrid past. His eyes were so focused on the screen. He had not moved since the whole scene had started.

Nick couldn't believe it. Was this some supernatural thing that was going on? Had they been dead and are now facing judgment day? Was God himself playing tricks on their minds. True, all he remembered up to this point was an amorphous sense of pain while he was being raped, but seeing it on t.v. made everything so much more real.

Nick felt like his mind was detaching from his body. He felt depersonalized. All of a sudden, it didn't matter anymore why they were forced to watch those images of the past on the screen. That replay was a reminder to Nick about what Katie had done.

Impulsively, he yanked Katie's arms off his body and pushed her away. The thought of that woman touching his body began to repulse him. He stepped back and collapsed onto the nearest couch. His mind had stopped asking why because he sensed that even if he found out the reason for all these happenings, he wouldn't be able to comprehend it anyway. This was simply insanity.

He began to cry out. "What is it that you want? Who are you? What do you want from us? What are you trying to prove?!!!" His string of questions were left unanswered. Only the eerie silence of the night answered to him. He raised his hands and grabbed his head, the pain almost throbbing now. He hated it all. He hated the world. He hated those around him. He didn't want to see any of their faces anymore. He wanted peace. He wanted rest.

His wailing scared the heck out of Katie who had shrunk to a corner of the couch now. She became afraid. She had no idea how their actions had been recorded on camera, but one thing's for sure-they elicited quite a reaction from Nick. She had felt his repulsion and the bitterness in his words. She was so scared now-more so of him than of anything else. Any traces of the old, sweet Nick was gone. He looked like a mad man, ranting and screaming wildly.

She didn't dare do anything. She simply cowered in her little corner, hoping that he would calm down before he tried to hurt her. Her patience was rewarded because after about 10 minutes, he had completely stopped wailing. His breaths came in gasps by now. He didn't even bother looking at her. He sat there, his energy drained.

>>>>>

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