Adrienne gulped down the last of her water and set the cup in the sink.

"I've got to find something to do to keep my mind off everything else."

She tapped her nails rhythmically on the kitchen table, before edging her way off the chair and wandering back into the living room. "There's got to be something I can do." She stood, hands on hips, eyeing the room for some means of entertainment. Finding nothing, she sighed and slowly trudged to BJ's room. "I sure hope she pulls through surgery okay." she said to herself, stumbling over a stack of action heroes Aaron had left out from his play earlier. She picked them up and examined the little plastic people, their faces contorted into vicious scowls, their arms shelled by shiny red armor and large artillery. "And he gets pleasure out of these things?" she laughed aloud, pushing open what she took to be the boy's bedroom.

"Whoa." Adrienne stared in awe at the room that lay before her. Even in the dark, the polished floor shined back up at her as she stepped into the large room lined along one wall with mirrors. "Whoa." she said again aloud, taking another step in. Her footsteps echoed as she padded her way over in front of the mirror. "Sheez, now why can't I have one of these in MY room?" she asked, peering at her reflection in the mirror. She snorted, "Yikes, you can tell I've been asleep!" and ran a hand through her shoulder-length mousy brown hair. Tugging at the edges of her tank top, she rotated around to look in curiosity at the drum set that sat alongside the opposite wall. "You know, I'm beginning to like this room. Whatever it is." She sat down on the drum set chair and looked at the assortment of drums that surrounded her. "I haven't been near one of these since Uncle James came to visit when Momma was.........." She shook the thought from her head. "Drum sticks......drum sticks." Searching the area with her eyes, she located a pair of sticks on a near-by speaker and took them into her hands. "Hokie dokie, let's see if I can remember how to do this........ 5, 6, 7, 8, and 1......" She concentrated hard on her counting as her hands flew from one drum to the next. "Tap, and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4......" The sticks crashed over the cymbals. Traveled to the drum under that. To the drum on the left, back to the one on the right.

Her foot tapped out the beat. The sticks crashed back over the cymbals. Smiling, she beat the drum in front of her one last time and swung down hard on the cymbals. "You know......" she laughed, wiping the sweat that had formed above her brow. "I had almost forgotten how fun playing the drums was."

Getting up from the drum set, she crossed over to an area surrounded by cords and speakers. "Wonder what all this is......" Stepping over a large cord, she walked around a box into a small area containing a desktop covered with a series of buttons and knobs. "This room really smarts." she said, nodding her head. "Let's see...... which button to push?" She plopped down in a chair in front of the desktop and read over each little label. "Base? Line In? Synthesizer? Isn't there just a simple PLAY button here?" She shrugged. "Guess I'll just take my chances." A large red button above her right hand caught her eye. "You'll do." she sighed, pressing the button down. A faint buzzing noise whirred from behind her. A red light flashed on overhead. "This is no fun. I guess I need to turn something else on before anything happens." She got up from the chair and searched around for any switch that looked like it had some importance.

Crawling under the desktop, she felt around for a main switch. Her hand fell across a small notebook tucked neatly in a small crevice between the button control desk and a thin wall partially separating the area from the rest of the room, and she fished it out. "Now, what do we have here?" Her hands brushed over the cover of the worn notebook decorated by an assortment of doodles and comic book characters. "Maybe this will have some instructions on how to work this stupid thing." she pondered, opening the notebook. "Hey, it's music." Her eyes grazed over each hand-written note, as she slowly counted the beats out in her head. "You know, these counts may actually work." Rising from the floor she strode back over to the drum set and sat down on the seat, notebook in hand. "Lemme see....... that would be a eighth count there. Or no, maybe it's a sixteenth count......." Adrienne shrugged. "I dunno. Let's see how this turns out." Once again, the sticks flew over the drums and crashed on the cymbals as she relayed the counts from the notebook to her hands. Coming to the end of the page, she stopped, and grabbed on to the cymbal to silence it. "Not bad." She picked up the notebook and flipped through the following pages. "This must be someone's music notebook. There are other counts and music notes in here besides that one I just played." She stopped on one page and furrowed her brow. "Lyrics even. I must say, I'm impressed with this person, whoever it is." She flipped back a few pages and studied the counts written out on the page. "Let's try this one next." She glanced up at the counts and slowly tapped the beat out with her foot before coming down hard on the cymbals again.

"Mr. Carter?"

Nick didn't even stir.

"Nick? Hey, Nick. You're home."

At the mention of home, Nick's eyes fluttered open. "Huh?"

Q, the driver, just laughed. "You're home. Get lost."

Nick sat up and stretched. Grabbing his bag from the seat beside him, he pulled the latch on the door and kicked it open.

"You said the crew was still trying to get that house of yours renovated?"

Nick sighed. "Yeah. They were scheduled to be finished with it all by the time we wrapped up in Belgium, but things apparently didn't work out that way." He ran his hands through his hair. "As of right now, my house is 3 walls and half a roof short, if you know what I mean."

Q snickered. "I can see why you opted to stay back at home for a while." He lifted his eyes past the drive at the cozy home which sat before the vehicle. "Doesn't look like anyone's home."

As he hoisted himself out of the vehicle, Nick followed Q's gaze up at his house. The house sat in silence. Dormant. The wind howled around him as he tried to gain his balance.

"Looks like we may be getting some of that rain off of that tropical depression coming in off the gulf." He and Nick observed the dark clouds that swirled overhead in silence. "Are you sure that someone's home?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, should be." He tossed his bag over his left shoulder and peered back into the car. "Thanks for the ride, Q."

"Hey, when I signed for the job as you guys' security guard, it also meant I'd often have to double as a short-notice chauffeur." He sighed. "Thing is, they always seem to fail on paying me for this sort of volunteer work."

"Should I leave a quarter in the seat?" Nick chuckled.

"Get out of here before I run you over."

Nick said goodbye and stepped away from the vehicle as it did a U-turn in the drive-way and pulled out the large electronic gate. He watched until it disappeared around the corner, then cast his gaze back at his house.

"It's good to be home."

Nick turned the key in the door and slowly pushed the door open. Finding no one to greet him upon his arrival, he strolled through the foyer and threw his duffel on to the nearby sofa, before wandering into the kitchen. "Mom? Dad? Hey, is anyone here?"

No answer.

"Weird." he thought to himself, trudging back into the living room. "I would have figured someone would be home." He scratched his head, confused. Suddenly, his ears picked up on something coming from somewhere in the house. Nick wrinkled his brow as he took a step towards the direction the noise was coming from. "Sounds like....... drums? It sounds like drums." His body grew tense as he slowly edged his way down the corridor. "It's coming from the studio. Someone is here." Finally reaching the door, he pressed his ear against the wood and listened to the commotion coming from inside.

Sweat poured down Adrienne's face as she focused her mind on the beat written out in the notebook in front of her. She had been playing non-stop for almost 3 hours now, and had only stopped once to take a quick break to cool off. She didn't know why, but when forced to focus on setting the right beat according to the counts written out on the notebook, it helped take her mind off the inevitable that she would be facing soon. With each pound of the drums, with each crash of the cymbal, her troubles were pushed farther and farther to the back of her mind. Adrienne gritted her teeth, focusing on keeping her beat steady. "Count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, tap, tap, boom.... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, tap, tap, boom......" As she counted, visions of her nightmare slowing flooded back into her mind. Trying to ward them away, she peered straight ahead of her, watching her reflection in the mirror. "1 and 2, 3 and 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Tap, tap, tap. Pause. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4......" The visions kept coming. The room swayed and started to cave in on her. She closed her eyes and focused all her energy on her drumming. "1, tap, 2, tap, 3, tap, tap, tap, boom, and 1....." The shadows lurked closer. Adrienne kept drumming. "Tap, 5, 6, 7, 8...." She felt them creep up behind her. Felt them seize her shoulders. She screamed.

Adrienne screamed.

Nick screamed.

Adrienne dove over the top of the cymbals, sending them and her crashing to the floor.

Nick grimaced as he watched the strange girl topple over his drum set and take the cymbals down with her. For a while, he stood there, gazing at her. "Who is she?" Finally, he spoke. "Who the hell are you?!"

Adrienne shook her head, trying to rid of the ringing that the cymbals had left in her ears. Slowly, she pulled herself up on to her knees, and brushed the tousled strands of hair from her face. "I was wondering the same thing." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Who do you think you are, coming up behind me and scaring me like you did?!"

Nick was taken aback by her reaction. "Not quite the friendly type, is she?" He looked down at his feet, not knowing how to answer. "What the......?" He raised his foot and lifted the dinged-up remains of one of his cymbals from the floor. He was in shock. "My cymbals! Oh my God, my cymbals!" He gaped, turning the cymbal over and over in his hand. He looked past the girl on the floor, searched for his cymbals. One lying by the mirror. Another resting near the girl's foot. Yet another flattened underneath the girl's thigh. "What have you done to my drum set?!" He lowered himself to the floor, reaching out to touch the thin brass platters which only moments before had been capable of making music. "Until THIS GIRL came along!" Nick glowered up at the girl, who returned his intense gaze. "Listen, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but......."

"I'm Adrienne. I'm a friend of BJ Carter's." she said coldly, barely moving her jaw. I already don't like him. she thought, as she rose back to her feet.

"BJ? As in my sister, BJ?" Nick watched as the girl's expression softened a bit.

"His SISTER?" she asked, eyeing him closely. Her eyes traced over his facial features...... the oval face, the high cheeks bones, the angular nose........ the sun-kissed hair....... the crystal blue eyes. So blue..... "Just like BJ." She nodded.

Nick stood too, the cymbal still in his hand. "Oh yeah?" he queried, stepping closer to her. "What are you doing here then?"

Adrienne scowled at him. "What does he take me for? An idiot?!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "For your information, I've been staying here as your sister's guest for over a week now."

"Why?"

Does this guy even have a shred of decency in him? She rolled her eyes. "I assume you would be Nick, am I correct?"

He stooped to grab another cymbal from the floor . "Yeah, I'm Nick." He stretched his free hand to shake hers then sighed as he set the cymbal upright on its stand.

She studied him carefully. "No one mentioned you were going to be coming home. What's with this showing up unannounced?"

Nick ignored her question. "Do you know where everyone is?"

"Yeah, they're at a hospital not too far from here." Adrienne grabbed Nick's arm before he could leave the room. "No, really. Everything's okay. BJ just has....."

"What's wrong with BJ?! Is she sick? Hurt?!"

"Listen, will you just let me finish?" she commanded, pulling him over to a couch located on the far corner of the room. "BJ was complaining about a pain in her side last night and when it hadn't gone away this morning, Mr. Carter, um, your dad, went ahead and took her to the doctor. She's going to be okay though, so there's no reason to get all....."

"What's wrong with her?" Nick scooted closer to her, his eyes wide with fear. "Tell me!"

Adrienne let her shoulders slump. "The doctors say it's nothing to get stressed about. She.... she has appendicitis."

"What?!"

"She's going into surgery later tonight."

Nick flew up from the couch and whirled around to face her. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"

She grew agitated, and it could be heard in her voice when she replied, "When was I supposed to tell you? As I took that flying leap over your drum set?!"

Nick threw his arms up in frustration and stormed out of the room with Adrienne following close behind. The two parted paths as Nick threw the door open to his bedroom and she proceeded into the living room and flopped down on to a love seat sitting adjacent to the couch. A few moments later, Nick emerged from his bedroom with a set of keys and paced quickly down the foyer towards the front door. Adrienne followed. "Where are you going?"

"Where else would I be going? To the hospital."

Nick reached for the doorknob and pulled the door towards him. A gust of wind mixed with a heavy mist of rain greeted him and Adrienne as they stepped outside. Adrienne cowered back into the foyer as a crack of thunder rumbled and the wind suddenly picked up.

Nick winced. "When the hell did this get here?"

"You aren't going to try and drive in this, are you?" Adrienne called from the doorway, the excess rainwater cascading from the overhanging roof. A clap of lightning sounded from overhead, and she was quick to seek refuge behind the heavy wooden door. "God, I hate storms."

Nick took a step out the sanctity of the doorway only to be blasted by another gust of wind and rain. He hastily turned about face and tucked himself back into the doorway. "How am I gonna get to the hospital in this?"

"It's the tropical depression coming in."

Nick turned and eyed the girl, who still remained partially hidden by the heavy door. He nodded and turned his attention back to the open doorway. "God, I hate storms."

Adrienne watched Nick's expression as he studied the rain pouring from the roof. The guy has to be nuts if he thinks he can drive in this type of weather.

Nick took one last glance out at the drive. Water flooded the area, rushing rapidly down the gradual descend of the asphalt in big churning swells. The wind continued to whistle as it pressed the blades of grass in the lawn down flat. The trees swayed to and fro as he solemnly shut the door and made his way back into the living room. Sighing, he turned and let himself fall into the love seat, the sound of rain pounding over his head.

Adrienne quietly padded over to a nearby window and peered out on to the patio. The howling winds were forming little ripples in the water as it crested over the pool and swirled around the surrounding trees. "I told myself you had to be nuts if you tried to get to the hospital in this. The wind has to be blowing some 50 miles an hour out there." She turned and slowly trudged back over to the couch, taking a seat nearest the phone.

"I'm sure I could get there. Getting there in one piece would be my main concern."

"Do you realize your mother has been trying to get a hold of you all day?"

Nick raised his eyes to meet hers. Her eyes sparkled a stunning green with flecks of gold swirling within their depths. He shook his head. "On my cell?"

She nodded. "She's been trying to call you and tell you about BJ, but every time she dialed, she got some crap about no service or being disconnected or whatnot."

Nick rose from his position in the love seat and picked the phone up from the hook. Adrienne sat in silence as his fingers flew over the numbers and he brought the receiver up to his ear. "Yeah Mom?...... yeah. I just got in. What's this about BJ being hospitalized........ is she going to be okay?............ surgery around 9? That's in about a half hour........ no, the house is still being renovated, so I came home to stay for a while........ right before the storm started to pick up..... yeah, I already tried. The driveway is practically under water...... Mom, I want to be there when she wakes up..... Mom, I'm 19. I'm capable of driving to get...... no, Mom. I want to...... but...... when she wakes up...... maybe if it let's up...... well..... okay. Okay, I won't try to drive there..... I don't see why not..... Mom, I just want..... no..... okay. Alright, I'll stay here...... Adrienne? At the mention of her name, Adrienne looked up as Nick proceeded to hand the phone to her. "Yeah, here she is."

"Yes, Mrs. Carter...... Yeah, he came in just a while ago....." She glanced up at him momentarily before turning her full attention back to her conversation. "Mmm-hmmm. We tried to just before we called, but the rain is just coming down too hard...... yeah, I wasn't too crazy about heading out into it either...... is she gonna be okay?...... I overheard Nick just now. They moved the surgery up to 9?...... will you be coming in later then?...... oh, I see..... if this rain doesn't let up any no one's going anywhere, I agree...... sure, that's no problem..... I'm sure we can manage..... Okay..... okay...... Yeah, the wind's picking up here too..... I think you're about to lose service on your cell, so I'd better let you go..... I will. If anything happens, please call...... Okay, bye." Adrienne hung up the phone and stared silently at the carpet.

"So?"

Adrienne inhaled deeply and got up from the couch. "She said with the storm coming in and all, that they'll just be staying there at the hospital tonight. And that she wants us to keep everything in order here until they can get back." She made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, Nick following close at her heels.

"So, is everyone is staying at the hospital for the night?" Nick pulled a chair from the kitchen table underneath him as Adrienne turned on the tap and filled her glass.

"That's what I said." she replied, pulling a chair up opposite to him. She took a sip from her glass and continued. "BJ goes into surgery at nine, and they'll stay there overnight and come home when the storms let up in the morning."

A clap of thunder caused both individuals to jump in their seats and Nick stood to glance out the window above the sink. "I think it's about to get worse." Another crash of thunder rumbled as the lights flickered and dimmed.

Adrienne gritted her teeth as her surroundings were plunged into darkness. "Good call."

"Damn."

Chapter 3