I went downstairs and showed the note to Howie. 'I lost my necklace and I found it on the floor under my bed. This note was attached to the chain.'

'This must be one of Nick's pranks. It has to be. Nothing to worry about.' Howie thought and returned the note to me.

'That's what I thought.' I said. 'I'll ask him about it as soon as he gets back.'

'Let's fix dinner together. What do you say?' Howie said. I nodded and started to slice the groceries.

Nick arrived around 19.00. Which is 2 hours after dinner. He was as white as a ghost when he came in, but he claimed to be alright so we left him alone. He quickly disappeared into his room.

'What's wrong with him?' Howie asked.

I raised my shoulders. 'I don't know. He's been acting weird ever since this morning. Maybe he's been day-dreaming again and he just had a nightmare.' I figured.

Howie smirked. 'He had a day-mare! You getday-mare.'

'That's not very funny D!' I snapped. 'I'm pretty worried about Nick. I've never seen him like this.'

'He'll be fine. Nick is a grown up now. When are you gonna see that?! He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself! And I wish you'd stop worrying about him! He's not a baby!' Howie shouted angrily.

'Howie, what's wrong with you?!' I asked remaining calm.

Howie was starting to loose control a bit. His eyes where shooting fire and his hands where sweating. A common site and a warning for the people around him. 'Nothing!' he snapped. The angry look on his face began to frighten me so I left.

Up in my room I picked up the phone. 'Kristen Richardson speaking.' Kristen said.

'Hello Kris. It's me Kathy.' I replied.

'Oh hi Kat. How are you?'

'Well, I'm fine. But Howie's acting really weird. And so is Nick. They're starting to scare me. But eh....how are you? Any good news you would like to share with me?' I curiously informed.

'I'm sorryit's not working very well. What if Kevin and I can never have children? I love children so much. Lucy is so adorable!' Kristen said worried.

'It's gonna be okay Kris, trust me. Has Kevin ever been tested? Or you? Maybe a test will take away all your worries.' I suggested.

'Kev's never been tested and neither have I. Maybe we should do that.' Kristen figured. 'But I bet that's not why you called.'

'No, you're right. I needed to talk to Kevin. Is he home?'

'I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning. He was too busy to even have dinner with me. But I'll go look around. Be right back.' Kristen said and she put me on hold. It took her more than 10 minutes to find her husband.

'Hello Kevin speaking. How are you Kathy?' Kevin asked.

'Hi Kev. I'm fine thanks. And you?'

'I'm doin' great. Very much in love and happy to be home. But what was it you wanted to talk to me about?' Kevin informed.

'It's about Nick and Howie. I'm at the beach house and so are they. But something is wrong. Howie told me about Jasmine.and Nick has been acting strange ever since Howie arrived. Both of them are starting to scare me.' I explained.

'So you know.' Kevin said. 'I always thoughtthat I'd be the one telling you about her But I guess it all happened so fast'

'Well, I can't turn back the hands of time so that's a done deal.' I said and told Kevin about Howie's behavior.

'His eyes where shooting fire?' he repeated. 'Are you sure? The last time I saw Howie do that was with Sarah's kidnappingand that's years ago.'

'I know. And I'm absolutely sure. He scared the hell out of me! I thought he was on medication for that kind of behavior.'

'Not anymore. The doctor stopped prescribing it to D because he hasn't had an attack in years. We thought he was cured.' Kevin explained and added. 'I advise you to go home. And tell Nick to leave as well. Howie needs to be alone.'

'I can't go homeI don't know what the weather's like at your place but over here it's pretty damn dark. And besides, I'm tired.'

'Okay. But leave tomorrow. Just get out of there as soon as you can. Please tell me that you'll leave as soon as you can.' Kevin begged. That's when I realized that Kevin was holding back information. And I was determined to find out what that was.

'Kev. I've got the feeling that you're holding something back.about D. Why is he so dangerous? Why should I leave so sudden? Isn't there anything I can do for him? I don't want to leave him behind Kevin, I can't. What if he hurts himself oreven worse. What if he hurts someone else?' I wondered.

'I don't think it's wise to explain that through the phone. And at this houryou won't sleep tonight. And I need you to be fit enough to leave in the morning.' Kevin said.

'Yeah. I'll get some sleep and tomorrow I'll decide if I'm staying or going. Okay?' I suggested.

'Okay. But call me if you're staying and if something else happens. Promise me that you'll do that Kathy. This is really important.'

'I promise Kevin. Goodnight.' I said, waited for his reply and than hung up the phone.

I locked the door incase Howie went crazy over night. (I can forget about sleeping'cuz that's not gonna work!) But I turned out to be wrong. I was fast a sleep even before my head even touched the pillow.

The next morning I woke up around 1 o'clock. The sun was sneaking through the curtains trying to get in. I opened the curtains, took a quick shower and got dressed. The house was empty. There was a note on the kitchen table from Howie saying that he had left to do business in Jacksonville. And that he'd be back in a few days. He left his cell-phone number incase of an emergency. I fixed myself a snack and went outside to eat it. I looked around and spotted Nick on the beach with his body board. I finished my snack and decided to join him.

'Hey Nick.' I said and sat down next to him on the sand.

'Hello Kathy. Did you sleep well?' he asked.

'Yes. I slept like a baby.' I replied.

'I wanted to serve you breakfast this morning but your door was locked from the inside.' He said and stared at his hands.

'I locked my door because of Howie. He had an attack last night. And I got really scared so I locked my door.' I explained.

'Has he been drinking again?' Nick asked.

'No, he had an attack. You know; fire shooting eyes and sweating hands.' I explained.

'I understand. But Howie's condition comes from drinking too much. I thought you knew' Nick said.

'Oh yeah, of course. I forgot. But he was acting pretty normal. Not drunk or anything.'

'Howie's very good at hiding thingsspeaking of hiding: where is the little maniac? Haven't seen 'em around since.last night. Do you know where he disappeared to?' Nick asked.

'Yes. He left a note on the kitchen table. He went for business to Jacksonville. He should be back in a few days.' I explained and failed to notice the smile on Nick's face.

'Why don't we go play pool?' he suggested mischievously. I looked into his eyes and drowned in them. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Less then a second later we where kissing passionately on top of his body board. 'I love you Katherine.' He whispered into my ear. Katherine, the name echoed through my head, the note!

'Nick. Did you leave a black note underneath my bed?'

'What note?' Nick wondered.

'The one with my name on it. Next to my necklace.' I added.

'I don't know anything about a necklace or a note. Trust me. I'm telling the truth this time.' Nick promised.

'That's okay. I believe you. We thought it was one of your sick jokes. But if it wasn't you who was it?'

'Howie?' Nick figured. 'He's the only other person in the house.'

'Howie would never do something like that. He's too level headed for such a thing.I'll show you the note later.' I promised.

We went back inside a while later. I ran upstairs to get the note but it was gone. I looked everywhere!

'Did you get it?' Nick asked when I came back.

'No. I can't find it anywhereit's so strange. I left it on the night stand next to the necklace. But it's gone' I answered.

Nick looked at me and started to smile. First a small one but it got bigger and finally he started to laugh out loud. 'What's so funny Nick?' I wondered.

'You're fooling around with me right?' Nick said smirking.

'I'm not do anything Nick. This is very serious. The note was there last nightI showed it to Howie and than I placed it on the night stand. But when I looked jus nowit was gone. I don't get it.'

'And you say that you locked the door..yeah, I know you did. A black note with your name on it. That shouldn't be too hard to find. Let's go find it.' Nick suggested.

We went into my room and messed up everything but we didn't find the note. Nick walked up to the bed and threw back the sheets. He jumped back with a loud scream. After that he gave a slight laugh.

'Very funny. This is a very sick joke Kathy.no, I don't even consider this amusing. It's too sick.' Nick muttered.

I stepped up to the bed and screamed. A few inches down from the pillow was a dead rabbit with a black ribbon around his neck. There was blood everywhere! It was horrible. I stood next to Nick in shock. Nick looked at the animal and thought of something funny to say but he couldn't find the right words. 'This is the sickest thing I've ever seen! You're even worse than I am.' He said.

I stared at the rabbit and felt like throwing up. 'This wasn't me Nick.' I whispered. 'You have to believe meThis is horrible. Poor thing. I could never.Who'd do such a thing?'

'But if it wasn't youand it's not me. Who did this? Howie?'

'Neh. He left really early this morning. It had to be someone else. Do you swear it wasn't you' I thought out loud.

'Me! I'd never do something like that. This is too sick for me.' Nick promised. The thought of a stranger in the house scared me to death.

'You go downstairs.' Nick said. 'I'll clean up our little buddy.'

'Okay.' I replied and went downstairs. I sat down in front of the TV and tried to concentrate on a stupid soap opera.

Meanwhile upstairs in the bedroom Nick was cleaning up the dead rabbit. 'I sure would like to know how you got in here buddy.' He said to the rabbit as he dropped it into a plastic bag. While changing the bed sheets Nick came across another note under the pillow. The note said: Soon Nick, soon

'Okay! Who's in here? This is not funny anymore!' Nick yelled into the walls. An icy wind blew threw the room, the door slammed shut, all the blinds closed from the outside and all the lights went off. Within seconds the whole room was filled with darkness.

'Kathy! Kathy, help me!' Nick screamed. Unfortunately, I was too far away to hear him. He was on his own. Nick thought he heard something behind him so he slowly turned around, dropped the bag and walked into the direction of the sound. Another loud bang behind him made him trip and fall. He scraped his knee while falling. Nick crawled towards *what he thought was* a window. Lucky for him, it turned out to be the door. He jumped up, opened the door and ran outside. As Nick ran down the stairs behind him in the shadows a silent voice whispered: You can try to run, but you can never hide

Nick came into the room and dropped onto the couch. 'Nick. What happened to you?! You look terrible!' I asked. 'What happened to your knee?' Small drops of blood where dripping onto the couch.

'I scraped it when I fell down.I'm telling you! Something is very wrong with this house.' Nick said while breathing heavily. When I asked him why, he told me what happened to him in the bedroom.

'It was really scary. And the room was completely darkeven the blinds on the outside closed!'

'But when I went down earlier all the curtains and the blinds where open. Your not getting delusional, right Nick?' I asked.

Nick shook his head. He had the appearance of a cave man. His hair was messed up, his face pale and his eyes filled with fear. We sat next to each other on the couch in silence.

'Oh yeah. And there was another note' Nick said and told me the scene with the rabbit.

'Where is it?' I curiously asked him.

Nick searched his pockets and handed me a note. 'Here. I found it underneath the pillow.' Nick replied. Alike the other one; the note was black with the same silver colored handwriting.

'Let's line up the facts. We found 2 notes, from which one is missing. We found a rabbit with a black ribbon around it's neck.anything else?' I asked Nick.

'Not really. Apart from a few scary eventsbut the note is the only touchable evidence. Should I go get the ribbon from the rabbit?' Nick wondered. 'I'm gonna bury the poor thing.'

'Yes, remove the ribbon before you bury him.'

Nick went upstairs to get the rabbit but he came down empty handed. 'Did you remove the rabbit?' he asked me.

'No. I was down here the whole time. Why, is it gone?'

Nick nodded. 'I'm absolutely sure that I left it next to the bedbut now it's gone. Someone trying to scare the hell out of us.' Nick figured.

'Yeah. And he's succeeding too.' I added. 'I don't feel like staying here. Let's go out to eat.'

'Okay. Let's do that. I'm gonna go fresh up a bit first.' Nick said and walked into the kitchen. 'Kathy, I think you should come look at this.' I walked into the kitchen and saw the rabbit laying on the kitchen counter staring at us through his little black eyes.

'There he is.' I said sarcastically and walked over to the counter. Next to the rabbit was another note. It said: Enjoy your meal.

'He's eas dropping on us!' Nick yelled.

'No, it's just a coincidence!' I said, took Nick by the hand and pulled him outside. 'You'll fresh up when we get there.' (Nick's right! Someone is listening to every word we say. This is getting scarier by the second.) Nick locked the door and we both hopped into the prowler.

We came home late that night. Nick had been drinking way too much so I was destined to drive. Around the time that I was ready to go home, Nick suddenly decided to go out to a club. 'I don't wanna go back to that house yet.' Was his excuse. He had a point, staying away would be better. Actually, I didn't feel like going out but I wasn't brave enough to enter the house alone. So I tagged along. We went home around 4 o'clock the next morning. The house looked peaceful.considering what was hidden inside.

'Nick. I don't know how to ask this butcould I PLEASE sleep in your room tonight' I begged.

'Sure.' Nick said rubbing his eyes. We walked up the stairs and went into Nick's room. I dived into the closet to get a blanket and a pillow.

'No Kat. You can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the couch.' Nick said.

'Are you sure you don't mind?'

'Kat, look at me. I'm drunk! I'll be a sleep before my head hits the pillow. Trust me, take the bed.' Nick explained and threw the pillow on the couch. He quickly got undressed and snuggled up under the blanket on the couch.

'Good night Nick.' I whispered. But Nick didn't respond. He was already lost in the world they call dreamland. I got into bed and pulled the sheets close.

I forced myself to sleep but I was awake just as fast. Bathing in my own sweat I got out of bed. I kneeled down next to Nick and tried to wake him up.

'Nick.wake up baby.please Nick.' I whispered.

'Huh.' Nick said. 'What is it Kathy?'

'I had a nightmare. Pleasewill you sleep next to me? I'm so scared Nickplease.' I begged. 'It's only for tonight'

Good hearted as he is, Nick agreed on sleeping next to me. He even allowed me to wrap my arms around him. We both fell a sleep very quickly. Nick woke up once that night wondering where he was. But when he looked at me, he knew. He smiled knowing that I was a sleep peacefully with out nightmares. Nick kissed my forehead and wrapped his arms around me. He whispered; I love you, into my ear before he fell a sleep again.

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